Brooks: Dad's Advice Rings True For Hansen

BOULDER - Tyler Hansen has traveled this road before. His father, Rick, has made the trip, too.

The circumstances, minus the element of surprise, were similar last season when Colorado's offensive coaches told Tyler, then a true freshman, to consider taking off his redshirt before the Buffaloes played Kansas State.

Can you say déjà vu? Or maybe, as the late George Carlin preferred, vuja de?

Tyler was told to be prepared to shed his redshirt early last week before the Buffs traveled to Texas - and his reply was the same: If it can help us win, color my redshirt gone.

But before he offered that answer, Tyler made a couple of telephone calls seeking advice. Any guesses as to the recipient of Call No. 1?

Of course, it was to his father, who coaches football at Vista Murrieta High School in Southern California and played the same position (quarterback) at San Diego State (1978-83) as his son does now at CU.

This was the fatherly advice, recounted to me three nights ago in a telephone conversation after Rick walked in from football practice (his team is 5-0 and rolling):

"Ultimately, it's your decision," he told Tyler. "You're a young man and capable of making it. Do you feel you can help the team? That's the No. 1 thing.

"And what can you offer to help out? If you can offer something, then do it. But it's team first. Always. There's not a lot of chances in life; you think you can put off (playing) until next year, but you don't know what's going to happen.

"Your teammates are close to you, and you can support them by playing . And remember, football is football, playing is playing. Whether you play in your second year or your third year, it's still football. But have fun with it and take it all in.

"Then, Tyler said, 'I think I'm going to do it, dad.'"

The thought that "it's still football" was never far from Tyler's mind last Saturday night in Austin, Texas, when he came off the bench in the fourth quarter of then-No. 2 Texas' 38-14 win against CU.

His 2009 debut, made when the game was out of hand and an athletic Longhorns defensive front was in hound-and-harass mode, wasn't quite scrapbook material: He engineered three drives, resulting in three punts. He ran five times for 14 yards (minus-15 after sack yardage). He completed three of five passes for 17 yards - but one of the completions was Scotty McKnight's only reception of the night, building on McKnight's school record (29) of consecutive games with a catch.

And Tyler, perhaps remembering his dad's team-first mantra, liked that a lot: "I got a pass to Scotty - so the streak continues. I was happy with that."

Bet on the finely woven thoughts of "team first" and "it's still football" being fairly prominent again this Saturday night when Tyler opens against No. 17 Kansas at Folsom Field (5 p.m. FSN).

Rick Hansen and his wife, Pamela, a former All-American sprinter/hurdler at San Diego State, were in Austin last weekend and will be in Boulder this weekend. They wouldn't miss it, even though, "We're traveling on a couple of teachers' salaries, so we have to plan these things well in advance," Rick said.

After pulling son Cody in the loss at Texas, CU coach Dan Hawkins seemed adamant that, barring the unforeseen, the offense would be directed by Hansen for the immediate future.

On Tuesday, though, Dan Hawkins and offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Eric Kiesau waffled a wee bit and said Cody could play against Kansas. That announcement hit Boulder and the surrounding area like a small nuclear device.

But Rick Hansen wasn't perturbed upon hearing it: "You never know what's going to happen, so you better be prepared for it," he said.

"You can never flat out say what's going to happen the rest of the year . . . Tyler knows that and he'll make the most of it. Dan saying what he did didn't faze me at all; I didn't think anything of it. He'll get them both (Cody and Tyler) ready. It's a tough game; you never know."

In five games last season, Tyler completed 34-of-65 passes for 280 yards (one touchdown, four interceptions). He ran 63 times for 261 yards, and it is his ability to move in and out of the pocket that separates him from Cody Hawkins.

"There's a couple of things we can do with me, a couple of things we'll do to utilize my feet a little bit, that we didn't have in (the game plan) for Cody," Tyler said. "But that's just being able to take advantage of what you've got.

"I feel really good about this. I feel like I'm prepared and know their defense. I know our game plan is pretty good and I know it real well. So, I feel like I'm good to go."

He called Kansas' defense, which surrendered 36 points and 512 yards last week in a 41-36 win against Iowa State, "pretty unique in what they do . . . maybe some of what they do is similar to Texas, but obviously they're not Texas - not as physically gifted."

With the change in starters, CU's offense isn't being scaled back any to accommodate Hansen, Kiesau said. Hansen believes he's as competent as Hawkins in his grasp of the playbook, but added, "I just have to execute. I feel like I know everything mentally, I just have to go out there and show I can do it."

His game-night priority list is topped by "getting (pass) completions, for sure. And we've got to get the running game going, convert third downs.

"And I can't turn the ball over - that's the last thing I can do. I can't give their offense any more opportunities than they're going to get. They've got a pretty darn good offense."

If his son has "put the time in to be successful, put in a whole lot of hours and plays it in his brain, he can do this," Rick Hansen said.

"I know he's a competitor, and competitors want to play."

The Buffs (and numerous others) are counting on him playing very well, too.

Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU