Sam Harrell never thought his son would be on a big college stage

Sam Harrell never thought his son, Texas Tech quarterback Graham Harrell, would one day play on one of the biggest stages in college football.

"We just thought he’d go to college, play quarterback somewhere and enjoy it,'' Sam Harrell said. "So for all this to be built up and get as big as it has, it looks a little surreal at times.''

  Graham Harrell will play the biggest game of his life at 7 tonight when the second-ranked Red Raiders (10-0, 6-0 in the Big 12) meet fifth-ranked Oklahoma (9-1, 5-1) in Norman, Okla. At stake for Tech is a trip to the Big 12 championship game against Missouri and a possible trip to the BCS national championship game.

  The excitement is enough to make a quarterback's father cringe.

  "You want to enjoy it,'' said Sam Harrell, the high school football coach at Ennis. "I wish at times that I can just stop thinking about the next (game) and enjoy this a little bit.

  "I don’t want to act like I don’t enjoy it at all, but as soon as the game’s over I start thinking the next one is huge. That’s the coach side in me that won’t ever let you stop thinking about the next one.''

  When discussing Graham, Sam Harrell becomes offensive when people refer to him as a system quarterback.

  "I think he can be in any system,'' Sam Harrell said. "You can put him in Georgia, you can put him in Texas and he can do what they do.

  "Now will he throw for 5,000 yards there? No, because they’re not going to throw it that many times so he can get 5,000 yards.''

  Harrell's father believes his son's job is more difficult because defenses know Tech is going to throw the ball probably over 50 times a game.

  Harrell has completed 332-of-463 passes for 4,077 yards and 36 touchdowns this season. He is one of the most efficient quarterbacks in college football, but still can't shake that "system quarterback'' tag.
"The other thing I’d say about that is if you think it’s that easy (piling up the passing yards), No. 1., if you’re out there coaching, then why aren’t you doing it?, Sam Harrell asked. "And No. 2, if you think it’s that easy,then try doing it.

  "That’s not easy being a quarterback in an offense where the defense knows 90% of the time you’re going to throw. You’re going to see every kind of blitz imaginable, you’re going to see every kind of coverage imaginable.

  "Really and truly I think with (Tech's) offense you have to be better executing it than any other offense imaginable. How many different formations do they get in? Not really very many. (Opposing) teams know exactly what they're going to get it.''

  Harrell is engineering a Tech offense that is first in the nation in passing (433.7 yards per game), second in total offense (571.2 yards per game) and third in scoring (47.9 ppg).

  "I always thought he’d do well in that system, but I never dreamed of it being where it is right now with that kind of success for the team and for him,'' Sam Harrell said. "I always felt like Tech was going to be good and (Graham) was going to be good on offense.

  "But to be a Top 5 team and all that, I really didn’t see that, but I wasn’t concerned. I said Graham would go there and it’ll be a good place for him and he’ll get to play a little football.''

  -- Dwain Price