Nebraska the Wrong Place at the Wrong Time for Gragnano : Football: Former Los Alamitos quarterback hopes to find the lost thread at Louisville.

Todd Gragnano was a hot property coming out of Los Alamitos High School in 1990.

The Orange County graduating class that season included fellow quarterbacks Danny O’Neil and Steve Stenstrom. Gragnano was considered the best of the three.

The big schools came a-callin’ and he choose one of the biggest, Nebraska. So what if the Cornhuskers weren’t much on the forward pass? With Gragnano there, that would soon change.

Everyone was predicting great things.

Gragnano has cooled considerably since those heady days.

O’Neil starts for Oregon. Stenstrom starts for Stanford. And Gragnano? He started for home last spring.

In two years in Lincoln, he played in one game and threw only one pass. Sure, it was for a touchdown, but it was during garbage time of a 59-28 victory over Utah State. It covered one yard and got him chewed out.

He was the one who went a-callin’ when he decided to transfer. Louisville answered and took him on.

No one is making any predictions, especially not Gragnano.

So why is this can’t-miss quarterback missing from the headlines? What is he doing in Louisville, where’s he’s No. 6 on the depth chart? Just what went wrong, Todd?

“I’ve had to answer questions over and over again,” Gragnano said. “Friends ask me, “Why aren’t you starting?’ or ‘What happened to you?’ It’s tough searching for those answers.”

One does come to mind.

“So many things that could have gone wrong, did,” Gragnano said.

When Gragnano left Nebraska, it was by mutual agreement with Coach Tom Osborne.

So it was off to Louisville. He left behind two turbulent years in Lincoln.

At times, he was the victim of circumstance. Like the touchdown pass, which was supposed to be a running play.

Other times, he was just another irresponsible college kid. Like when he drove some teammates over to a party, then watched them start a brawl.

Most of the time, though, he was just out of sync.

“I would wake up every morning and wonder, “What’s it going to be like today,’ ” Gragnano said. “I don’t want to make excuses. All I want to do now is wake up in the morning and ask myself, ‘What can I do to better myself today?’ ”

At Louisville, it won’t be easy. It’s a gamble and Gragnano knows it.

Playing for Coach Howard Schnellenberger can do wonders for a quarterback. Just ask Jim Kelly, Bernie Kosar and Browning Nagle, three former Schnellenberger proteges now in the NFL.

But getting to play at a school that has an abundance of quarterbacks--all of whom return next season--won’t be easy. Gragnano will sit out this season, then have two years of eligibility left.

“Even if I never get on the field, it will be worth it,” Gragnano said. “I’m going to bust my ass. I’m not going to blow it. If I don’t get a chance, it will be because they didn’t give me one. It won’t be because I cheated myself.”

Cheated is how Gragnano describes his tenure at Nebraska. He said he cheated himself and felt cheated by the program.

In three seasons at Los Alamitos he threw for 6,160 yards, third-most in county history. The only guys with more yards were named Marinovich and Johnson.

The Griffins were 33-5-1 with Gragnano running the show and twice reached the Southern Section Division III title game. Some publications called him the top quarterback prospect on the West Coast.

Then he picked Nebraska and eyebrows were raised.

“He seemed completely different than what a Nebraska quarterback is like,” one high school coach said.

Gragnano, not exceptionally quick or fast, had been a drop-back passer at Los Alamitos and ran the option only occasionally.

Not the resume usually submitted to run Nebraska’s I-Back offense.

“Tom Osborne was in my office the day after they were beaten by Florida State (in the Fiesta Bowl),” Los Alamitos Coach John Barnes said. “He said, ‘We’ve got to change. We’re getting killed by teams that throw the ball. We can’t beat them.’ Maybe they couldn’t do the things they wanted. Maybe they couldn’t change.”

And neither could Gragnano.

“He was a fine thrower and scrambled pretty well,” Osborne said. “We thought he had some running ability. I’m the guy who evaluated him on film. I probably misjudged his ability.”

Gragnano struggled in the Nebraska system. He was redshirted as a freshman and learned.

But knowledge could take him only go so far.

“If you can’t run a 4.4 (40-yard dash), you’re behind the eight ball there,” Gragnano said.

But football was only part of his problems.

Gragnano discovered freedom, like most college freshmen. He would often be out past midnight.

He also said he developed a passion for beer. When Gragnano got to Nebraska, he weighed 180 pounds. When he left, he weighed 216.

“I just wasn’t being smart,” Gragnano said. “It wasn’t always drinking. I’d just be out really late. I wouldn’t be home studying or worry about the next day’s practice.”

Last year, Gragnano seemed to get into trouble without really trying.

In the season opener, he was sent in with Nebraska leading Utah State, 52-20. He took the Cornhuskers to the one-yard line, where he threw a touchdown pass to Billy Wade.

“I guess Todd felt he had the freedom to call an audible anytime he wanted,” Osborne said.

Gragnano was told otherwise.

“It was sort of a mix-up in communication,” Gragnano said. “The guy who brought the play in called for the pass. He then told coach something else.”

That “ faux pass” was minor compared to the incident with the baseball team. During the spring, a few members of the football team got in a fight with some baseball players at a party.

The football players regrouped, then went back in greater numbers. Gragnano, who had not been involved in the earlier fight, drove one of the cars.

“I was one of the only sober people, so I drove five guys,” Gragnano said. “It got pretty serious and the police were called in. I wasn’t involved in the fight.”

But Todd Gragnano, designated driver, got a ticket for trespassing.

“You ever have one of those periods where everything goes wrong?” he said. “That’s the way it was for me all of last year.”

Gragnano, who had minor knee surgery during the winter, felt he was ready to challenge for the starting spot. But after spring practice, he found out he wasn’t in Osborne’s plans.

He began making contact with other schools, with Osborne’s help. Louisville was eager to listen.

The Cardinals’ quarterback situation was up in the air. Jeff Brohm, the team’s starter the first two games last season, was coming off an injury. Marty Lowe, listed as No. 2, had academic problems. A third quarterback transferred.

“Todd has all kinds of ability and we needed some insurance,” Cardinals’ offensive coordinator Gary Nord said. “Our quarterback situation looked a little gloomy.”

Then the clouds parted. Brohm healed and Lowe passed. The depth was supplemented by two talented freshmen: Todd Kehrli, from Corona del Mar, and Jason Payne, who joined Jay Austin as reserves.

Suddenly the Cardinals had plenty of quarterbacks and not enough footballs to go around.

“The kids we signed are probably as talented as we’ve ever had here,” Nord said. “But Todd has all kinds of ability, especially his arm strength. He has a good shot.”

This season Gragnano will learn the system and work on his weight. He has already trimmed off 16 pounds.

Next year, he will take his chances. Maybe then, it will be the old Todd Gragnano again.

“The change in scenery has changed me,” Gragnano said. “At one time, I might have had a special talent. I lost it. Maybe I can find it.”