MOBILE, Ala. — A day before Stanford’s 45-16 win against Iowa in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day, Kevin Hogan led his offensive linemen, tight ends and running backs into a meeting room just like he had done before every game during his senior season.
Coaches Mike Bloomgren and Tavita Pritchard were there too, but they hardly ever said anything other than asking the quarterback if he was ready. During these protection meetings, all eyes were on Hogan as he detailed a masterful plan to guard against opposing defenses and which checks he’d run through in the course of a game.
Bloomgren, Stanford’s associate head coach and offensive coordinator, made sure there was a videographer present to document it. Hogan’s time at Stanford was about to end, but Bloomgren wanted the meeting to last forever. Having it on video was the next best thing so he could show it to the Cardinal’s next quarterback and the one after that.
“The confidence our team left with after doing that meeting every week was incredible,” Bloomgren said.
During this week’s Senior Bowl practices and its seemingly endless meetings, the McLean, Virginia native wants to leave potential NFL suitors with that same confidence. The hundreds of front-office types that descend on Ladd-Peebles Stadium have scouted the nation’s top seniors for months. It’s through the various meetings that help shape a more crisp picture about each prospect as teams try to gauge character and football acumen.
The questions are usually straightforward, often about a player’s family and background, but they can get more complex, which had Hogan glowing at the chance to analyze film during a meeting with the New Orleans Saints.
“We watched their film and they’d given me stuff to look at on the sheet and see how much I can recall from watching the film,” Hogan said. “I’d call some stuff out, get on the board and draw some passing concepts up. I love that kind of stuff. I just want to show [teams] that I’m a competitor and I can handle everything they throw at me, whatever they put on my plate.”
Hogan hardly garners the attention from those in attendance at the Senior Bowl quite like Carson Wentz, the quarterback from North Dakota State tracked to prove he can compete with the best from the Bowl Subdivision. When the South Team takes the field for practices, any lingering thoughts about the Stanford quarterback are erased once trained eyes lock onto the state’s darling, Alabama quarterback Jake Coker.
As a fifth-year senior who finished his career at Stanford with a school-record 36 wins, Hogan has long heard the qualms about his elongated, loopy throwing motion. After throwing for 2,867 yards, 27 touchdowns and eight interceptions while teammate and Heisman Trophy finalist Christian McCaffrey ran amok against opposing defenses, he is also cognizant of the game-manager label he’s often slapped with.
He’s not listening.
“As long as I’m winning, I don’t care what people label me as,” Hogan said.
While Hogan is not the most highly regarded quarterback at the Senior Bowl, the format will allow him to showcase intangibles such as how quickly he can process an offense in three days of practice. What helps immensely is Hogan’s experience in Stanford’s pro-style offense, which features similar terminology to the game plan Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett and his staff dumped on the North Team.
“I admire his career,” Garrett said. “It’s fun to get a chance to be around him in the meetings and walkthroughs. He’s a smart guy and picks things up easily and has a good demeanor about him, and you can see why he was such a good leader at Stanford.”
It wasn’t always that way, even when Hogan took over as Stanford’s starter during in 2012 with five games remaining in his sophomore season and won his first 10 starts.
“Here’s a guy who, five years ago, was hard to call a play in a huddle, it was a whisper,” Bloomgren recalled. “The kid starts his career 10-0 and wasn’t the leader he was going to become.”
Now, those whispers have transformed into booming, reassuring commands. He’s not afraid to get after players — even his own, such as North Team left guard Josh Garnett, who played with Hogan all four years at Stanford.
“I’m always talking a lot of smack, always jawing at the other guys and taking away from the atmosphere of the huddle,” Garnett joked. “Even in the Rose Bowl practice, winning the Outland Trophy, being an All-American, you’d think I’d be safe from Hogan, but nope, he doesn’t hold anyone above the team or above himself. If you’re talking while Hogan is in the huddle, he’s going to get you. You’ll learn real quick.”
That’s why Hogan never struggled to command a huddle comprised of players he mostly hasn’t played with.
“If I was able to step into an NFL huddle, I’d handle myself a little bit differently than I did the first time in a college huddle and that takes experience,” Hogan said.
For Hogan, the hope is that the work he’s done this week will ultimately allow him that chance.
• Anthony Gulizia can be reached at agulizia@washingtontimes.com.
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