By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University football coach Craig Schurig didn't necessarily want a bye week after the Ichabods' 2024 season-opener.
Former St. Marys star Keller Hurla (5) got his first start at quarterback for Washburn against Emporia State after an injury to Sam Van Dyne. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
But after starting quarterback Sam Van Dyne went down with a knee injury less than a week before WU's Aug. 29 game against Emporia State -- forcing redshirt freshman Keller Hurla into a starting role -- everyone in the Ichabod camp is happy to have a total of 16 days to get prepared for Saturday's 1 p.m. home-opener against Colorado School of Mines, the 2023 national runnerup.
"When you first start out you're like, "Well, we really don't want a bye after Game 1, you kind of want to keep rolling,' but with the way everything transpired, this is perfect so we can get a week to just focus on us and not have to worry about Mines until (this week) and it gives us a chance to kind of re-set things that we want to do,'' Schurig said.
"It came at a good time and getting those guys (Hurla and backup quarterback Hayden Clark) playing experience is huge and then hopefully now we can get a lot more efficient.''
Hurla, the former St. Marys state champ, agreed.
"I think the bye week actually came at a great time, just with the situation that we're in, to just get reps with all the guys and get everyone on the same page,'' Hurla said. "If everyone's on the same page I think that's when good things are going to happen.
"I think this is a good time for us to get that down and make sure everyone's communicating. If everyone's on the same page every play, I think that's when good things are going to happen.''
Hurla, who saw spot duty as a freshman before redshirting, had just a few days to get ready for the first start of his college career and said he really didn't even have time to get nervous.
"Not really,'' Hurla said. "It was just thrown at me so fast that it's time to go, right from the jump. Just always being prepared and being ready to go, that's going to help you.
"You've got to always be ready because you never know when your number's going to be called and it just so happened to be a few days before the game, but I think I was ready for the most part.''
Redshirt freshman Keller Hurla (5) passed for 116 yards in Washburn's 30-14 season-opening loss to Emporia State. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Hurla completed 14 of 25 passes for 116 yards with two interceptions in the Ichabods' 30-14 road loss to the Hornets while also rushing for 21 yards on 10 carries.
"I think I'm definitely my worst critic, I'm always very hard on myself, but I think we saw some good things,'' Hurla said. "There's always some good things and some bad things. I had a few mis-reads or maybe not reading the right coverage here or there, but I think we saw what we can do when we get the ball into our playmakers' hands.
"Obviously, we have a ton of speed and if we can use that speed I think we can find a lot of success on offense. Just getting the ball into our playmakers' hands and finding ways to do that I think is going to help move us forward.''
Schurig gave both Hurla and Clark, also a redshirt freshman, high marks for how they handled an extremely tough situation.
"Emporia was smart, they brought pressure and made it uncomfortable for them but they both handled it really well and didn't get rattled and competed hard,'' Schurig said. "You're playing your opening game and a rival and a good team, but I thought their mental toughness and physical toughness was really good.''
Now Hurla is looking to putting that experience and the two full weeks of practice to good use while also relying on input from Van Dyne, who ironically was in a similar situation as a freshman when he was pressed into duty after an injury to WU starter Kellen Simoncic in the second game of the season.
"He's always there watching, trying to give me a few tips, giving all of us a few tips because obviously he's got a year of experience that we don't,'' Hurla said of Van Dyne. "He tries to throw in things that maybe we're not seeing or things to look for and it's been a huge help.''
