Utah football: Terrance Cain: A man of few words

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As the recruiting coordinator for the Utah Utes, Morgan Scalley made several trips down to Texas last year to scout receivers at Blinn College.

They were good, but his gaze kept going back to the quarterback.

"He had a quick release and the ability to make a play with his legs," Scalley said. "He had poise as a quarterback and never got ruffled. As a safety when I played, I'd watch that on film, when this kid is feeling pressure does he have a tendency to stop looking off the safety? This kid, he was a calm, cool sucker who won games."

The receivers never made it to the Utah's campus, but the quarterback did.

Now Terrance Cain is introducing himself to the world of Division I football as the Utes' quarterback.

So far the initial greetings have been mixed. Cain was efficient enough to help the Utes win their first two games, but Saturday's loss at Oregon featured what coach Kyle Whittingham called a "poor effort" from the offense.

Cain was 20-for-41 for 178 passing with a touchdown, and he rushed 16 times for 68 yards and another TD. His performance was marred by two interceptions, a fumble and an overall lack of success on third down.

The Utes managed just 15 first downs and had 10 three-and-outs.

"You won't win many games with those statistics; you have to move the football," Whittingham said.

The offensive woes weren't all Cain's fault, according to Whittingham, who reiterated Cain is still Utah's No. 1 quarterback. There has been no discussion of bringing in freshman Jordan Wynn, he said.

"There is no quarterback controversy," he said. "We think [Cain] is the guy who gives us the best chance to win so we'll keep heading in that direction."

The Utes are willing to give Cain time to grow into his role believing he has what it takes to succeed in the offense.

"I don't think there is a glaring deficiency," Whittingham said. "He has to continue to get his whole game elevated in the process of being a quarterback, not that he has been bad. We are pleased with what he has done."

What the Utes expect out of Cain is what the Utes had in their last quarterback -- a guy who can throw the short routes accurately, occasionally go deep and beat defenses with his feet.

What the Utes don't expect out of Cain is for him to be another Brian Johnson vocally. Where Johnson became the Utes' winningest quarterback (26-7) with his fiery leadership, Cain is a very different kind of player. He doesn't say much on or off the field. He simply goes about his business.

"Being a motivational leader is great, but I'm not that kind of leader," he said. "I'd rather lead by example."

Such a different personality took the Utes a while to get used to when he arrived on campus in January and left Whittingham wanting more from him when spring ball started.

"He was definitely not as demonstrative as we wanted him to be," Whittingham said. "As he gained more confidence he started to be more outspoken and be more of a leader, but he'll never be a rah-rah guy. He is doing a better job of being a general on the field."

That laid-back demeanor has been with Cain as long as his quarterback skills and possibly affected his path to Utah as much as anything in his career.

Despite excelling at North Shore High in Texas, Cain wasn't recruited. He was surrounded by other good skill players, he said, and he wasn't the showy kind of quarterback who gets attention in the big-time world of Texas high school football. He ended up at Blinn College because no one else offered him.

Blinn coach Brad Franchione studied him and saw what others didn't take the time to notice.

"I thought he was a winner," Franchione said. "I don't claim to be a wily veteran; I'm only 35 years old, but I've coached since I was 22, and in my short career he is one of the most accurate passers I've ever seen."

Franchione had to go through a learning experience similar to the Utes'. He wasn't accustomed to such a quiet quarterback but learned Cain's nature didn't harm his success.

"I had to learn about Terrance Cain to understand what kind of leader he was going to be," Franchione said. "In 2007 when he was our starter I was concerned, but I learned he knows his teammates better than his coaches. Terrance always had an idea of what he wanted to be viewed as a leader. You could never tell him how to be a leader, he had his own idea."

His ideas turned out to be fairly solid, considering he was junior college's Offensive Player of the Year last season, leading in passing yards (3,138), completions (223) and touchdowns (29).

Once on arrived on Utah's campus in January he joined the offseason workouts and earned his teammates' respect.

"When you have a guy come in like that, you see how they work," lineman Tony Bergstrom said. "He was perfect in the offseason, especially when we were running and lifting. When you see a guy working as hard as you like, that gets you on their side more than anything."

Even so, his quiet ways still caused some of his teammates to overlook him.

"In the spring I thought, 'Yea, we got another quarterback backing up Corbin [Louks] or whoever," center Zane Taylor said. "But he really has flourished. He has definitely impressed me and he is getting better every week."

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