Football: UL’s new leader – Broadway brings mature approach to his new role 10/4/12

UL plays Florida International in a NCAA football game Saturday at Cajun Field in Lafayette, La. By Leslie Westbrook September 29, 2012

Tim Buckley, The Advertiser, October 4, 2012

With Terrance Broadway stepping into the director’s chair left vacant when senior starter Blaine Gautier broke two bones in his hand during a win over Florida International last Saturday, the question is a natural one.

Just who is this redshirt sophomore from Baton Rouge who, barring injury of his own, may be running the Ragin’ Cajuns at quarterback for most if not all of 2012, ’13 and ’14?

For starters, he’s a proud father of one young son — whose mother comes from Olympic bloodlines.He’s a solid student, and not just of the game.

He’s a kid who deemed it quite important to move from his first school, the University of Houston, to get as close as possible to his elderly and ailing grandmother.He’s someone who made his first college start, for Houston, against Tulane, the team he and the Cajuns face Saturday.

And he’s someone who felt the sting of rejection when the SEC program in his own backyard didn’t show much love until it was much too late.Mostly, though, he’s simply someone who — like so many in college — is doing plenty of growing while also learning and playing.

"When he had his son, I could really tell that changed a whole lot in him," said Cajuns backup slot receiver Bradley Brown, who played two seasons with Broadway at Baton Rouge’s Capitol High."He really grew up in the course of a spring and a summer. He’s way more mature, and he’s way more hungry than he was."

Before, during and after his senior season at Capitol High, schools from throughout the nation — big, small, in-between — bombarded Broadway with interest.The first offer was from Alabama.

Nebraska, Oregon, Mississippi State, Utah and Louisiana Tech soon followed. Tulsa and Louisville eventually did too.LSU, however, took some time before making its offer late in January 2010. Broadway was happy it finally came, but seems baffled by what took so long."By that time," he said, "I felt like it was too late for me to make a decision by that date, with Signing Day being Feb. 3.

"Of course it’s disappointing to have your home team not offer you until late. I was really looking forward to it, hoping for it. I mean, who knows? I might would have (gone). You never know."

The Tigers certainly never will.

That’s because Broadway instead accepted an offer from Houston, largely because the coach who recruited him — Jason Phillips, now SMU’s offensive coordinator — made quite an impression.

"(The decision) was talked about a lot in Baton Rouge," Broadway said, "because the perception (there) after LSU offered was Nick Saban wasn’t gonna let me get out of town."But I really had made my decision early."

Broadway said Alabama actually had planned to sign just one quarterback that, and the Crimson Tide got a commitment from Phillip Sims, who since transferred and now is at Virginia.Alabama said its offer would be back on the table if Sims decommitted, but he did not.

"After that," Broadway said, "I just felt Houston was a wide-open offense and somewhere I felt comfortable."During his first year at Houston, Broadway fully intended to redshirt. His time with the Cougars, he guessed, would come later, not sooner.

But Houston’s Heisman-hopeful quarterback, Case Keenum, tore an ACL and his backup, Cotton Turner, broke a clavicle in the same September game at UCLA.That thrust Broadway, who frankly figured he was just along for the ride to the Rose Bowl, unexpectedly into action.

"I was 18 years old," he said. "My (maturity) was on the lower level. I really didn’t know the importance of what I needed to do at time."I wasn’t watching too much film. I was just traveling with the team. But now I watch film every day. This time, I’m more prepared."One outing after the UCLA game, in that first start against Tulane, however, Broadway did complete 19 of 28 passes for 174 yards in a 42-34 victory over the Green Wave."Two guys went down, he had to step in in the middle of the season in some big games," receiver Brown said. "So I think he’s going to handle (the situation at UL now) really well.

Broadway wound up going back and forth that 2010 season for a while with another freshman and the Cougars’ only other scholarship quarterback at the time, David Piland, who didn’t even make the trip to Pasadena — but who now is Houston’s starting QB.

Broadway threw touchdown passes in October against Mississippi State and at Memphis, but by season’s end had appeared in just four games.

Yet there are no regrets over having to strip the redshirt."Everything happens for a reason," said Broadway, who considers Keenum "like a big brother."

"For Case to go down, and Cotton to go down, in the same game — I’m a very spiritual guy. I feel that God set that up just for me."Perhaps part of the reason was so Broadway could benefit from the perspective he has now.

"I played a great game against Tulane; I played a pretty good game against Mississippi State," he said. "But, at the time, I really didn’t understand football in college and the speed of the game."Now," Broadway added, "I’m just taking that approach on a different level, and watching film, and learning from (UL offensive coordinator Jay) Johnson everything I could, and asking questions."

Listening to answers, too."He absorbs everything Coach (Johnson) talks to him about," Cajuns head coach Mark Hudspeth said. "Some guys — you just think, ‘Does it go in one ear and out the other?’ He absorbs everything that he gets, and tries to learn from it."

The question of why Broadway left Houston is best answered by the quarterback himself.

His answer is not one popular perception among some would suggest — that with Keenum, now in the NFL with the Houston Texas’ practice squad, returning to the Cougars in 2011, and Piland projected as Houston’s potential QB of the future, there be not be ample playing time for the righty from Baton Rouge.No, Broadway suggests, the real reason is all about relatives."My grandmother has Alzheimer’s disease, and I really needed to be closer to my family at the moment," he said. "I feel it really worked out great for me to be able to come back to the University of Louisiana, because it’s closer to home. I can go home in the summertime on Friday, and spend time with my grandparents.

"It was no disrespect to Houston. I had a great relationship with all the coaches and players. I’m still rooting for the players down there right now — because I was very close to some of (them)."

Broadway was able to get back to Baton Rouge during UL’s recent bye week, too, and even had his grandmother, Rosetta Broadway, in town for last Saturday’s game against FIU — the one in which Gautier was injured.

She, however, had to remain back at the team hotel because of her health, and wound up watching the ESPN3-covered game on a computer.

"When I was a child,my mother (Connie) worked a lot, so my grandmother, my grandparents, really raised me and all my cousins," Broadway said. "My grandmother couldn’t make it to Houston. Or my grandfather."So it was really important for me to get them the opportunity to see me play, and put a smile on their face and make them proud."

Three years into his college career, Broadway is making his family proud in the classroom as well.

He was named last year to the Sun Belt Conference’s Commissioners List, and carries a 3.75 grade-point average with a sports-management major.For that, Broadway — who is all about doling out credit, and does so with teammates by singling each of UL’s offensive starters and several key backups by name — thanks two coaches in particular.

"It all started when I was in high school," Broadway said. "My coach (Chad Germany, now Southern University’s (co-)offensive coordinator) pushed me and made sure I kept my grades up, so I could be eligible for college."That just continued on. Coach Johnson is the same type of guy."

Johnson, not one prone to overstatement, yields a snippet of grin when discussing Broadway."He’s a very focused young man, and does a good job in school and has his priorities right," the Cajun coordinator said. "He’s competitive, and wants to do extremely, extremely well.

"He takes the time, and he studies, and prepares, and he’s conscientious of what he does and how he does things, and you can see that’s been paying off."Broadway smiles widest when the subject of his son arises.Terrance Joseph Broadway II arrived last Feb. 21 — Fat Tuesday of Mardi Gras.

"My son, he really impacted me a lot as far as maturity," Broadway said. "Before that, I knew I had to be here and step up.

"But after my son was born, it rose the level of intensity for me right now. My son was really an inspiration to me. A blessing from the sky. He makes me work hard every day.

"I pray for him when I come out here (to practice)," Broadway added. "I honestly don’t think about it when I’m out here, but in my opinion I’m working for him."Broadway often watches his son when his mother, University of Houston graduate and track star Kayln Floyd, works for what she hopes will be an appearance in the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Floyd is the daughter of Stanley Floyd, a former NCAA 100-meter champ at Houston who made the United States team that boycotted the 1980 Olympic Games in Russia, and Delisa Walton-Floyd, who competed at 800 meters in the 1988 Olympic Games in South Korea.Her sister, Ebonie, was a 4-by-400-meter relay member of the U.S.’s 2008 Olympic team in China.

"She (Kalyn) pretty much juggles it while I’m (practicing) and at school," Broadway said, "and I’ll watch him in the morning when she trains."But she does a lot while I’m here, and I really appreciate her for that."

He appreciates, too, just what Terrance II’s presence means for him.

"He’s my top priority right now," Broadway said. "I’m out here doing everything for him, just so he can live a better life when he grows up."