THINKS THE EAGLES STOLE ONE
What he achieved in the first five weeks of the season put him squarely on a path tread by Wolverines legends at the position, and in record time.
To review: Forcier brought the Wolverines back in the fourth quarter of their second and fourth games, throwing the winning touchdown passes late in victories over Notre Dame and Indiana. He led two fourth-quarter touchdown drives - with his pass tying the game with two ticks left in regulation - to force overtime against Michigan State.
That's three comebacks in his first five games.
OK, so Michigan lost that game to the Spartans when Forcier threw an interception on his team's overtime possession. But he's off to a good start toward joining Tom Brady, Jim Harbaugh, and Chad Henne in the annals of great Michigan quarterbacks.
Forcier and the Wolverines will play Penn State tomorrow at Michigan Stadium.
Joe Paterno, who used to go long stretches of time - like years - without talking about freshmen, likes what he sees in this one.
"I think he's a kid that just got a little something about him," the Penn State coach said. "He reminds me of the kid when he started playing at Florida, [Tim] Tebow.
"He has that confidence, that leadership quality. He comes from a family of football players. When he goes to bed at night, he's thinking about, 'Hey, I want to be in this situation.' He plays the game before, maybe on Thursday night and Friday night. But he's really a coach's player, really a good player."
Forcier has that brand of confident quality that has made believers of the Wolverines' upperclassmen.
"It's just his confidence, on and off the field," fifth-year offensive tackle Mark Ortmann said. "For a freshman, it's pretty remarkable to see that. Some people consider it cockiness, but as long as he can back it up I have no problem with that.
"With the Notre Dame and Indiana comebacks, there wasn't a whole lot of change in his demeanor. Going into that last series against Indiana, you'd think it was his first one. That helps the whole offense."
Forcier admitted that graduating from high school and enrolling at Michigan early helped him learn head coach Rich Rodriguez's spread offense during spring practice. He adapted smoothly to the speed of the college game, which has helped him cope with the pressure of late-game situations.
"When you're in the game, you have a tendency to rush sometimes," he said, "but I've learned how to stay calm in that situation. My teammates do a great job of keeping me calm. We know how to keep each other loose and keep playing. Me and Brandon Minor were joking around on the last drive against Notre Dame."
Even with Forcier's accomplishments in his brief career, he will likely share duties behind center with fellow freshman Denard Robinson tomorrow.
Rodriguez calls his plan "kind of a rotation by feel."
"Some people will think maybe we pulled one guy, but in reality we're just rotating guys in there," he said. "That's the way we do it in practice. They're going to both be ready to play."
Forcier could have been lining up tomorrow wearing a white helmet with a blue stripe rather than maize and blue. Penn State recruited him and offered him a scholarship before he decided on Michigan.
"Probably if I didn't come here I'd have probably gone there," he said.
Paterno said that he talked to Forcier and his father during an unofficial visit to State College but that "we really didn't recruit him."
Now Paterno gets to encounter him on a football field, and his team will try not to give him another opportunity to walk on the path of legends once again.
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