Line up the starting quarterbacks in college football today and have them throw passes and Brandon Doman probably will not make the top of any scout's list. Now ask the college coaches for these same quarterbacks if they would like Doman on their team. I imagine there would be more than a few that would say yes.

Obviously Brandon Doman is some what limited in his passing ability, but he has something more important, at least for a college quarterback. That would be a lot of heart and competitive drive. The will to win is one of the most overlooked qualities when evaluating quarterbacks or any player for that matter.

I remember when I first started watching football and I saw this scrawny Texan take the field at the vaunted quarterback position for the BYU Cougars. I was young enough to be totally unaware of the fact that this scrawny kid was not suppose to be able to do the things that I saw him do from that point on through his senior season. All I knew was that Ty Detmer got the job done and led the Cougars to many victories.

As I grew older I became aware of how truly amazing it was that a kid like that was able to break all of those records and help win all those games. I also found out what a big time quarterback was "suppose" to look like, but I never forgot the way Ty Detmer played.

I also remember watching a High School quarterback from Skyline. At the time all he was to me was the little brother of Cougar receiver Bryce Doman. I remember thinking "man he would make a good wide out just like his brother, but he would make a great quarterback for Nebraska."

The thing I remember most, though, was that he seemed to want to win as much as Ty Detmer did. It just showed in the way they played. I kind of lost track of what happened to Brandon Doman after that until I read about how effective he was in his first spring game a couple years later.

Even then, I thought the move to wide receiver was inevitable and although he dabbled there, he kept popping up on the deep chart at quarterback. Doman was even willing to move to safety, but Coach Lavell Edwards said no. That was partly due to the killer schedule that the Cougars were facing last year and the belief by the coaches that three quarterbacks would be needed.

The coaches must have known what they were talking about because the injuries came and so did Doman's opportunity.

A good second half showing in a blow out lose to Colorado State last year was good enough for Coach Edwards to name him the starter. The emotion level was dramatically different with Doman at the helm and the move paid of big with wins over New Mexico and the now famous last minute comeback

over Utah.

This last Saturday, Doman showed again that he just has that little something that keeps him fighting to the very end. When you watch

this guy play, especially in close games, you just get the feeling that he would literally scratch & claw his opponent if it would help his team win.

His performance reminded me a little of that Holiday Bowl against Texas A&M were only two separated shoulders could keep Ty Detmer from the field. It reminded me of that because in case you didn't notice, Doman hurt his shoulder again on that two point conversion in the first half and I bet both shoulders would have had to been separated for Doman to leave that game.

That combined with the last Cougar drive just showed the kind of heart coaches want in all their football players and the heart they grave in a football player that just happens to play quarterback. That is what Brandon Doman is, a football player that just happens to play quarterback.

Doman has done the job, but has had some help from coach Gary Crowton who has done a brilliant job of taking Doman's heart and using it with his talents to run the offense. Still a lot of the credit does need

to go to Doman and his competitive drive. I can remember a physically gifted quarterback, Cade McNown, who just couldn't run Crowton's offense.

Now, whether he has heart or not I can't say, but he sure didn't seem to when he played in Crowton's system. On there other hand you can't help, but notice it in Doman's play. Lots of physical talent with no heart or some talents with lots of heart, give me the second one anytime. All you will do is win more games.