Nansen Makes His Move Qb-Turned-Linebacker Makes Jarring Impact

Washington State had just lost to No. 5-ranked Southern California 26-14, and Johnny Nansen was making a rare appearance in the Cougars’ postgame interview area - a stark, cramped room just off the dark and dank concrete tunnel leading from the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum playing field.

He was holding court amid a stack of steaming pizza boxes, the contents of which would later serve as dinner for Nansen and his teammates.

Earlier in the afternoon, Nansen had performed admirably for an underdog WSU team. As the Cougars’ starting strongside linebacker, he had made seven tackles, intercepted a pass and forced a fumble with a vicious third-quarter hit on USC tailback Delon Washington.

Washington left the field visibly shaken, but returned on the Trojans’ next possession.

One local writer, who remembered the 6-foot, 222-pound Nansen from his prep days at Jordan High School in nearby Long Beach, Calif., wanted to know if the hit on Washington was the biggest he had ever delivered.

“No,” Nansen replied. “In a practice scrimmage I hit one of our wide receivers and he didn’t come back for two weeks. That was probably my biggest hit.”

Three years earlier, as an option quarterback in high school, Nansen had been taking most of the hits instead of delivering them.

And as he looks back now on his strange evolution from a calm, cerebral signal caller to a ferocious, read-and-react linebacker on one of the most aggressive defensive units in the country, he can’ help but marvel.

“It was kind of tough at first,” he admitted Wednesday prior to an afternoon practice in preparation for Saturday’s 7 p.m. game against defending Pacific-10 Conference Oregon in Eugene. “It was hard because the change is so complete, especially the mental part.

“As a linebacker, I had to change my whole attitude. I got turned around from being a nice guy and leader to a whole different person. Now I’ve got to make plays and be a mean guy on the field.”

The attitude adjustment seems to have worked.

In his first season as a starter, Nansen has had a hand in 23 tackles, despite missing the Cougars’ 38-21 win over Montana after undergoing arthroscoping surgery to remove bone chips in his knee and sitting out most of a 35-21 loss to Nebraska after suffering a first-quarter concussion.

His position coach, Jim Zeches, said Nansen has improved “by leaps and bounds,” since moving over from offense as a true freshman in 1992.

“We gave him every opportunity we could to play quarterback, but I think he saw the handwriting on the wall,” Zeches explained, noting that Nansen was behind Drew Bledsoe and Mike Pattinson when he arrived on campus. “We tried him a little bit at running back, but that wasn’t a fit, so we brought him over (to the defense).

“He’s been a pleasant surprise. He’s become more of a student of the game, and two years ago, he wasn’t like that.”

Nansen said he requested the position change.

“I thought I’d get more playing time earlier from the defensive side,” he said. “As a quarterback, I was afraid I’d never get a chance to get on the field. With Drew and Patty ahead of me - and I didn’t know Drew was going to leave early - I was like, ‘Man, I’ll probably sit here for three years before I get a chance to play.”’

Zeches has taken advantage of Nansen’s intelligence and experience as a quarterback by letting him make defensive calls at the line of scrimmage.

“When we break the huddle, Johnny will set the defensive front by finding our where the tight end is,” Zeches said.

“Having played quarterback makes it a lot easier,” Nansen said of defensive responsibilities. “I learned to understand defenses, so even as a linebacker, I’m able to think like a quarterback. I have a pretty good idea of what the quarterback sees and what he’s going to try to do.”

As a high school junior, Nansen threw for more than 1,500 yards, connecting for 19 touchdowns. As a senior, he threw for 1,110 and 13 TDs and was named to the Tacoma News Tribune’s Western 100. He also received six out of a possible 10 votes on the Long Beach Press-Telegram’s Best in the West voting for the region’s top prep prospects.

He was recruited by UCLA as a safety and by Kansas and Oregon State as a quarterback. But after he failed to make his SAT scores, every school but WSU backed off.

And after Nansen met the NCAA’s minimum SAT requirements on his final try, he decided to reward Cougars coach Mike Price for his loyalty by signing a national letter of intent with WSU.

He admits he had dreamed of becoming the next great quarterback at WSU. But he has learned to live with what has happened to his dream.

“It was tough giving up a spotlight position like quarterback,” Nansen admitted. “But I’m happy now to just be playing.

“I wouldn’t change anything about the way things worked out.”

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