HEART AND SOLES
By MIKEY HIRANO CULROSS
RAFU SPORTS EDITOR
Sunday, Sept. 23, 2007

Gahr’s Corey Nielsen has stepped up, with the starting job at quarterback and perfect grades–along with some stylish footwear.

Photos by MIKEY HIRANO CULROSS/Rafu Shimpo
Corey Nielsen has the Gahr starting quarterback assignment all to himself this year, after calling signals as part of a split squad last season.

“It takes hard work, patience, dedication, all that stuff,
whether you’re a junior, a freshman or a senior,” said
the 16-year-old Nielsen, seen here running drills at
Wednesday’s practice. The Gladiators play rival Cerritos
tonight.

CERRITOS.–It would be safe to say that Corey Walter Masaru Nielsen has got his feet on the ground, and that he does it with style.

“I like to wear shoes. I’ve got a bunch of different shoes I like to wear,” said the Gahr High School junior, as he pointed to a new pair of Converse Chuck Taylor sneakers he was wearing. “You gotta have new shoes at the beginning of the school year.”

Nielsen was still in street clothes late Wednesday afternoon, awaiting a practice under the lights, in advance of their game Friday against crosstown rival Cerritos.

Nielsen is walking the walk this year, taking over as Gahr’s full-time quarterback after sharing the job last season in a split-squad situation.

“We made big steps this year, in the off-season. Players know better what they’re doing this year,” Nielsen said. “Last year, we had to change our offense halfway through the season because what we were doing wasn’t working, so it’s more of knowing what we’re doing and just going out there and doing it.”

“This year, he’s the guy. We’ve changed the offense for him and the things that he can do best,” said Gahr head coach Greg Marshall. “He got a lot of reps last year. In the last five games he was right there, in the mix with our seniors, so it’s not like now is his first time out.”

Anytime a team begins a season with an underclassman at QB, it commands attention, but in many ways, that can only serve to put more pressure on the player–and the program.

“It takes hard work, patience, dedication, all that stuff, whether you’re a junior, a freshman or a senior,” said the 16-year-old Nielsen. He is a well-spoken student with well-thought answers to this interview’s questions. He appears to fully understand that he needs to take charge to keep his job, on the field, on the sidelines and in the locker room. Last season, he could watch and learn. Now is his time to lead.

“Last year, I think I earned the respect of my teammates, so this year is more just going out and playing, just making plays out there with my teammates,” Nielsen explained. “My O-line does a good job, my receivers catch the ball, so it makes my job easy.”

It sure seemed easy last week in the Gladiators’ season opener–a 62-42 win over neighboring Valley Christian–Nielsen made a statement as to why he’s the man calling the signals, throwing for 453 total yards, including six touchdowns in the air and one rushing.

“It’s the adrenaline rush you get when you’re playing, there’s nothing like it,” Nielsen said about the excitement he feels in games like last week. “Everything went right that game. I was 21 of 23, the O-line did well, receivers caught the ball. No mental mistakes, really.”

Nielsen’s success makes Marshall’s decision to put him there look like genius after a 5-5 season last year, but the coach said his choice was a no-brainer.

“He’s a smart kid. He understands the details of the offense, more than most high school kids would,” Marshall claimed. “You’ve really got to trust your quarterback when you’re throwing the football, because most things that can happen are bad. With him, we know that if he’s throwng the ball 30 or 40 times in a game, we can really trust him. His decision-making skills are tremendous.”

Gahr is a comparatively small team that runs a no-huddle offense to keep the defense from fully regrouping after each play. The by-product of that strategy is that it puts more pressure on quarterbacks.

“Corey’s taken on that responsibility,” Marshall said. “He has to orchestrate the whole thing, but without the huddle, giving hand signals, making sure everyone’s on the same page.”

Nielsen is on the right page in many ways. In each of his four complete semesters at Gahr, he’s perfect: straight A’s in all subjects. While it’s a bit early for serious college committments, he has an early eye on the University of Hawaii, in his mother Cheryl’s hometown of Honolulu. Mom has made it plain that she’d prefer to have him on this side of the Pacific.

“I know my mom doesn’t want to hear that, but I have some cousins who go there and I have family out there, so that seems like home right now,” he said.

He’s not sure of a possible major, but he enjoys history.

“It’s interesting,” Nielsen said. “You learn what other people have done and try to learn from their mistakes as well as their success.” Coach Marshall said that his grades will satisfy just about any college, but they’ll have to look past his comparatively small size–he’s listed at 5-foot-11, 180 pounds–to see the talented player he is.

“He’s not a great big kid, so it’s going to take a college that’s going to see him as a good football player, not simply as a specimen,” Marshall said. “He’ll have the grades, so they’ll have to think outside the realm of just the body and see that he understands the game.”

This week, the Gladiators know full well that Cerritos, perhaps not fielding the best of teams this year, will play with a heightened intensity in Friday’s game. In a rivalry, win-loss records go out the window and all bets are off. Just ask USC about last year’s predicted cakewalk over the Bruins.

“Obviously in a rivalry game, they’re going to play at their top level and so are we,” Nielsen cautioned. “We have to go out and play the game the way we know how.”

Coach Marshall said they’ll need to make their opponents work for all their points and not give up the big play that can turn the tide of a game.

“We’ve had teams in the past that should have beaten Cerritos and didn’t.
If you don’t come to play in that game, you’ll come away with an “L,” Marshall said.