Out of the Lurch

By David Wharton

Dec. 26, 2003 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

Make a list of all the criticisms that fans and the media have heaped upon John Navarre over the past four seasons.

The Michigan quarterback was too slow. Not accurate enough. Cracked under pressure.

“What John had to endure was beyond anything that I’ve ever been familiar with,” Michigan Coach Lloyd Carr said.

Critics called him “Lurch.” They compared him to a deer caught in the headlights.

“The media has a job to do and I understand that,” Navarre’s father Larry said. “But it got personal.”

The hue and cry have calmed, at least for now, because the quiet young man from Wisconsin has responded in a way that skeptics cannot refute.

Navarre has won tough games on the road this season. He has defeated rival Ohio State. Most important, he has led No. 4 Michigan to the Rose Bowl against top-ranked USC.

“It’s very satisfying,” he said the other day, sitting poolside at the team’s hotel. “You know when you go to the Rose Bowl, you’ve accomplished what you wanted to do.”

Along the way, he has guided Michigan to 271 yards a game through the air. That could be significant against the Trojans who, despite their success on defense this season, have surrendered a relatively hefty average of 277 yards.

And if the spotlight is firmly on his counterpart, USC quarterback Matt Leinart, that hardly bothers Navarre. “He’s a guy who doesn’t let anything in the media affect his play,” Michigan receiver Jason Avant said.

Five years ago, Carr warned Navarre about the perils of playing quarterback at Michigan. On a recruiting visit to Cudahy, Wis., the coach discussed keeping him on the bench for a few years.

Things did not work out that way.

After redshirting his first season, the 6-foot-6 kid with the strong arm was pressed into action in 2000. He started with a bang, throwing for seven touchdowns in victories over Bowling Green and Rice. The cracks began to show in a 23-20 loss to UCLA -- at the Rose Bowl, no less -- when he completed only eight of 28 passes for 111 yards and threw a late interception.

“He had been riding a pretty good high,” his father said. “Out of anything that happened in his career, that hurt him the most.”

The next week, against Illinois, Navarre struggled in the first half and was benched for the rest of the season. But in 2001, when starter Drew Henson left early for a multimillion-dollar baseball contract with the New York Yankees, Navarre was back in the huddle.

In the 2001 and 2002 seasons, he completed more than 50% of his passes, threw for more than 2,400 yards and kept interceptions to a minimum. Both seasons, the Wolverines went to Jan. 1 bowl games.

Still, the critics had ammunition.

Navarre went 0-6 against ranked teams on the road. He had a tendency to overthrow when pressured. He wasn’t exactly a Michael Vick-type scrambler, hence the reference to Lurch of “The Addams Family.”

Worst of all, he lost both starts against the hated Buckeyes.

Navarre tried to keep some perspective about the mounting pressure.

“At most schools, a quarterback is in there for one, two seasons at the most,” he said. “He’s developed by then. He doesn’t have a chance to be criticized.”

How about four seasons?

“You’re going to have ups and downs.”

USC fans might recall Carson Palmer’s enduring a similar roller-coaster ride, including talk of his being benched as a junior. Like Palmer, Navarre never complained.

“John’s a quiet guy, likes his privacy,” said Tony Pape, an offensive lineman and roommate. “He tries not to express his emotions.”

But Pape and others could tell that Navarre was getting down on himself, taking the blame for every offensive miscue, whether his fault or not. After losses, talking with his father in private, he would get emotional.

“There were low times,” he said, “but not to the point where I didn’t want to do it anymore.”

The road to redemption meant getting smarter and more mature.

Navarre grew comfortable with the offense and was able to go through his progression of receivers more quickly, which cured some of the overthrows. He stopped trying to make big plays on every series.

At the same time, the Wolverines adjusted their offense to accommodate a quarterback who is better suited to staying in the pocket.

“We talked last year and the year before that John was trying to gain his confidence,” receiver Braylon Edwards said. “It seemed like it was this summer when John gained that confidence.”

Navarre tied Rick Leach as the only Michigan quarterback to open four seasons as the starter. He led the Wolverines to 31 fourth-quarter points in a comeback victory at Minnesota. He became the school’s first 3,000-yard passer and surpassed Elvis Grbac’s career yardage record.

But Leach and Grbac had led Michigan to the Rose Bowl. To add that achievement to his resume, Navarre needed to defeat Ohio State on Nov. 22.

That day in Ann Arbor, he passed for 278 yards and two touchdowns and the Wolverines won, 35-21. Afterward, Carr fired back at the critics.

“The way he has handled all of the things that were said about him and written about him -- I can’t tell you how much I admire him,” the coach said. “I have had some great quarterbacks here. I mean great ones. John Navarre is one of them.”

Even as he hugged the Big Ten trophy, Navarre insisted he did not need the victory to prove himself. In retrospect, however, he recognizes the significance of that day.

“That was the picture created for me by the media and the fans,” he said. “If that was what they wanted to use to define me, then I guess that’s what they wanted, and I came off with a win.”

Now comes another test, the Wolverines an underdog to a USC team known for getting to the opposing quarterbacks and forcing turnovers.

“Their defensive front is very good,” he said. “They have great team speed.”

Navarre shrugs it off. He is accustomed to the pressure.