Waiting His Turn
August 28, 2003 10:02 AM | General
August 29, 2003
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – For the past three years, Wisconsin quarterback Jim Sorgi may have been the most experienced backup in the country. This Saturday against West Virginia, Sorgi finally gets a chance to run his own team.
Playing behind starter Brooks Bollinger, the Fraser, Mich., native periodically found himself getting into games because of injuries to Bollinger.
Sorgi came off the bench twice as a freshman in 2000 to lead Wisconsin to Big Ten road victories over Michigan State and Indiana. Sorgi also earned a start against Purdue as a freshman and actually outperformed Boilermaker quarterback Drew Brees, hitting 21 of 29 passes for 243 yards and two touchdowns. His passing total against Purdue was the second-most in school history for a freshman.
In 2001, Sorgi saw significant action against Virginia (5 of 11 for 150 yards), Oregon (16 of 32 for 231 yards), Fresno State (13 of 31 for 246 yards), Illinois (10 of 20 for 157 yards) and Michigan State (10 of 19 for 191 yards).
And last season, Sorgi saw noteworthy action against Ohio State (7 of 15 for 137 yards) and Illinois (13 of 23 for 162 yards). He also completed 4 of 8 passes for 73 yards in a blowout victory against West Virginia.
“We can’t let him sit around for 10 seconds to throw the ball like we did last year,” said West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez. “Otherwise, we’re going to be in for a long day Saturday.”
Despite being a three-year backup, Sorgi ranks 14th on the Wisconsin career passing yardage list with 2,247 yards. That total is actually more than West Virginia second-year starter Rasheed Marshall, who shows 1,943 yards in 18 career games.
“I think Jim Sorgi is ready for a breakout year,” said Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez. “He’s had some outstanding games and now this is his team. He’s a good leader and we’re looking for him to have an outstanding year.”
In many ways, the 6-foot-5, 195-pound Sorgi is well-suited for Wisconsin’s offense. Alvarez prefers to run the football and draw defenses close to the line of scrimmage before hitting them deep with long passes. Sorgi is known for his deep-ball passing touch and he hooked up with Lee Evans on 10 passes of more than 30 yards (five of which were touchdowns) in 2001.
Considering the number of times he goes downfield, his 54.6 career completion percentage is pretty good.
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| Quarterback Jim Sorgi finally gets an opportunity to shine as a starter for Wisconsin. (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
Sorgi also has a plus touchdown-to-interception ratio of 16-12, and his career passer rating is 134.9.
Yet the one statistic that has captured the most attention in Madison this fall is his record as a starting quarterback: 0-5. Alvarez says even bringing it up is ridiculous.
“It’s important for Sorgi to get a win, like it’s important for our entire team to get a win,” he said. “I’ve already instructed Jim, if anybody asks him that question, don’t even respond to it, because it’s a foolish question.”
West Virginia players have a great deal of respect for what Sorgi has done in his three seasons as a backup.
“He has a great arm,” said junior safety Jahmile Addae. “He can get the ball to his receivers and he has good accuracy. I don’t think he is as athletic as (Bollinger) but he can hurt you with his arm. So we have to buckle down as far as pass defense goes.”
In addition to having three outstanding receivers to throw to, Sorgi also will benefit from a punishing ground game that has helped develop junior Anthony Davis into one of the most productive ball carriers in the country over the last two seasons. According to West Virginia senior cornerback Lance Frazier, having a good rushing attack makes it even more difficult to defend the pass.
“You have to put forth a team effort,” he said. “Everybody has to be on the same page and everybody has to do their part in the defense. You have to be disciplined and read your keys and do everything the coaches taught us to do.
“They try to get you to bite up on the run,” Frazier added. “They’ll run up the middle, run left, run right and then all of the sudden they’ll do a play action pass and hit you deep. It is something our coaches have been going over with our safeties to try and focus on how not to get beat on the play action pass.”
Saturday, West Virginia’s game plan is to try and get as much pressure as possible on Sorgi.
“Getting more than we did last year is critical,” said Rodriguez. “We’ve got to react a lot better to play action situations, too.”
Briefly ...
Because of ongoing construction at the Star City exit, fans traveling on I-79 are encouraged to access the stadium via the University Avenue or Pierpont Road exits off I-68. Long delays are expected around the Star City bridge.
