California Bowl : McClure Is the Attention-Getter as Bowling Green Meets Fresno St.

FRESNO —  When Brian McClure was a 10-year-old tight end in Pee Wee League football, he was asked to throw an option pass in practice. McClure threw the ball farther than his team’s quarterback could.

The next day, McClure was told that his number would switch from 97 to 16. He was no longer a tight end, but a quarterback.

By the time McClure was a high school freshman, he stood 6-4 and weighed 170 pounds. The family physician advised him not to be a quarterback anymore.

“I was so thin and frail that he thought I’d get hurt,” McClure said. “The doctor told me to use my best judgment, and I did.”

He continued playing quarterback.

McClure will conclude an illustrious college career today when he leads Bowling Green (11-0) against Fresno State (10-0-1) in the California Bowl.

If Bowling Green weren’t situated between Ohio State and Michigan, McClure might have been the talk of the Midwest this season. He has set 5 NCAA records, 22 school records and 25 Mid-American Conference records in four seasons with the Falcons.

McClure’s NCAA records are for career completions, 900; passing attempts, 1,427; 200-yard games, 30; offensive plays, 1,630, and seasons gaining more than 2,500 yards, 3. He is also second in career passing yards with 10,280, trailing Doug Flutie by 299.

Flutie won the Heisman Trophy last season at Boston College, but McClure was only 10th in this year’s Heisman balloting.

Lately, it seems as if most of the attention McClure gets is for not getting attention throughout his college career.

“I thought I put good numbers on the board,” McClure said. “I’m pleased to have been in the top 10 for the Heisman Trophy. But when you look at my statistics, I could’ve been higher. People didn’t recognize me until this year. We haven’t been playing Ohio State and Michigan.”

Denny Stolz, Bowling Green’s coach, attempted to draw attention to McClure last summer by taking him on a promotional tour through Chicago, Detroit and New York. It must have helped, because the Mid-American Conference is not known for having players among the top 10 in Heisman Trophy balloting.

Coming out of high school from the tiny farming community of Rootstown, Ohio, McClure had been highly sought. Among his pursuers were Penn State, Ohio State and Miami, Fla.

“There are a bunch of different reasons I decided to come (to Bowling Green),” McClure said. “Coach Stolz’s philosophy of throwing the football was one of them. I also thought I would fit in quicker here. I wanted to play right away, not sit on the bench.”

By the third game of McClure’s freshman season, he was Bowling Green’s quarterback. He missed the season’s last two games with a broken thumb but has started 33 straight since. His record as a Falcon starter is 32-9.

McClure passed for 3,264 yards as a sophomore, an NCAA sophomore record later broken by Bernie Kosar. When McClure passed for 362 yards and two touchdowns against Brigham Young in his sophomore season, BYU Coach LaVell Edwards called him a young Marc Wilson.

McClure now stands 6-6 and weighs 230, and has drawn constant comparisons with Wilson.

“The only quarterback I can think of near my size is Marc Wilson at 6-5,” McClure said. “You have a big advantage being tall because you can see over the line. It helps me pick out my second and third receivers better.”

Though Bowling Green doesn’t receive a lot of attention, Stolz considers McClure a potential first-round NFL draft pick. Stolz said NFL scouts have a way of finding out about players of McClure’s stature.

Gil Brandt, Dallas Cowboys executive, said of McClure: “He is a high draft pick, for sure.”

Jim Sweeney, Fresno State coach, turned his attention toward McClure at a Friday luncheon.

“We’ve had more pro scouts in our office the last week looking at you,” Sweeney said. “While your coach was out looking for jobs, I’ve been pumping you up.”

Stolz found new employment this week as San Diego State’s coach. McClure is so certain of future NFL employment that he has taken out a $1-million insurance policy against a career-ending injury before he turns pro.