Hollywood debuts for Gophers football

LOS ANGELES — Poor MarQueis Gray, overshadowed once more.

It's supposed to be his day, his inauguration, his debutante ball, the end to almost four years of disappointment and the start of something big.

But the new Gophers starting quarterback is being one-upped before he even takes a snap, because Gophers fans have been waiting even longer than Gray for a new era to begin. Win or lose, Gray is destined to take second billing at Saturday's season opener against Southern California to Jerry Kill, the former who's-he, small-college nobody who already might have set a record for most optimism grown around a 3-9 team.

"I don't mind. It's a big game for everybody," said Gray, who last started a football game at quarterback in 2007, at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis. "Coach is probably as excited as I am."

Excited, maybe. Curious is probably a better word. Kill has been on the job for nine months and conducted almost four dozen practices and scrimmages, but he admitted this week that he has little idea what all that work has wrought.

"I'm not trying to avoid the question -- I don't think as a coaching staff that we know," Kill said. "Until you get out there, it's like [his oft-repeated tagline], 'I hear what you're saying, but I trust what you do.' I've got to see them do it."

Actually, it might rank among Kill's most amazing achievements thus far that he has created so much belief in himself and his staff that Minnesotans -- and even a handful of national observers, including ESPN.com's Pat Forde -- consider Saturday's outcome in doubt. The No. 25 Trojans were national champions only seven years ago and have been ranked among the nation's top 10 teams 86 times in the past 109 AP polls.

The Gophers, meanwhile, went through a nine-game losing streak a year ago, have lost eight of their past 10 road games and last beat a ranked team on the road in 2000, which was 33 years after they last shared a piece of the Big Ten title (1967). They are 24-point underdogs, and though the game will be broadcast by ABC to 87 percent of the country, they are widely seen as opening-day chum in an L.A. Coliseum shark tank.

"Oh, we know people don't expect us to win," Gophers junior defensive end D.L. Wilhite said. "We're used to that."

MarQueis attraction

The doubters are overlooking one important factor, Wilhite said: Gray.

"He's a special player. I think we'll see it Saturday," Wilhite said. "He's one of the greatest athletes we have at the University of Minnesota. Seeing him line up in the backfield, it gives everyone a lot of confidence."

He gives the Gophers a weapon they haven't had in years: a ball carrier who is quicker than most defenders who will pursue him and, at 6-4 and 245 pounds, is more powerful, too. Gray has averaged 5.4 yards per carry in his limited action as Adam Weber's backup the past two seasons, numbers that are even a little misleading because he often was called upon for short-yardage plunges into the line.

"He probably wouldn't be able to play offensive tackle, but outside of that, I feel MarQueis can play any position on the field," Wilhite said. "He's fast, he's strong, he's everything you need. ... We're all excited for him to show what he's capable of."

Certainly the Trojans are wary, given that Gray burned USC's defense for 98 receiving yards and a touchdown on only four catches during the Trojans' 32-21 victory at TCF Bank Stadium last September. "It's very scary for us," said USC coach Lane Kiffin, a graduate of Bloomington Jefferson High School.

The Gophers have to be a little antsy, too. His running ability is unquestioned, but Gray is a quarterback, not a tailback, one who has completed only eight passes since high school, in 23 attempts. His receivers say they have been impressed with his improvement as the summer wore on, but Gray's passing ability remains one of the biggest unknowns on a team full of them.

"We're going to find ways to make sure MarQueis has a chance to be successful passing the ball. We've really tried to make sure he feels comfortable," offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover said. "And it starts with the offensive line. It's important that we take hits off the quarterback, that we give him time. Our quarterback is someone who will run the ball eight or 10 or 12 times a game, whether it's planned or unplanned, so we don't want him taking any other shots."

'This is just the beginning'

For his part, Gray said the biggest challenge will be calming himself down, and that has nothing to do with the 70,000 or so fans expected to gather in the Coliseum to see if the Trojans can win their opener for the 14th consecutive season. He will have a hard time putting aside the fact that his long wait, through a season of academic problems and two years behind record-setting QB Weber, is over.

"I've got to not think about anything, just come out and go 100 miles per hour and play football. Get out there and have fun," Gray said. "I know our receivers are going to do some good things, and our running backs will put us in a good place. We'll be playing with a lot of energy and confidence. ... This is just the beginning."

The beginning, it is. Of what, is the question.