'99 WAS SO FINE TWO YEARS LATER, OUR QBS THRIVE TAFT'S HANCE EAGER TO FACE PURDUE TEST.

Byline: Lee Barnathan Staff Writer

If a child's mindset is shaped at an early age, then Brandon Hance's was set the moment his mother read him ``The Little Engine That Could.''

Just about everyone knows the story's message, but the 6-foot, 3/4-inch, 205-pound Hance has lived it, turning what many thought impossible into reality thanks to his planning and hard work.

His father, Roger, recalls his only child's competitiveness as far back as age 3, when after Roger playfully tripped him, Brandon ran at Roger, grabbed his father's face and started screaming and crying.

``It was like, 'I am going to kick your butt.' I don't think he could speak,'' Roger said. ``That was his nature.''

At Taft High in Woodland Hills, Hance led his team to the City title his junior year, the most recent of only 11 times a Valley team has won the City.

His high school football coach, Troy Starr, credits Hance for almost single-handedly turning an 0-3 Taft team into West Valley League champs in 1999, then leading the Toreadors to a near-first-round upset of San Pedro.

``That was the most magnificent leadership job I'll ever see, and I didn't appreciate it when it was happening,'' Starr said. ``Brandon Hance made those kids play better. He willed his personality on those kids. He held a whole group of kids who lacked character or lacked structure.''

Now, Hance, just a redshirt freshman, will start at quarterback for Purdue. He replaces Drew Brees, who set numerous school and Big Ten Conference records and led the Boilermakers to their first Rose Bowl in 34 years, and had a West Lafayette, Ind., street named after him.

Hance, who has thrown for just 40 yards and rushed for just 37 more, says he feels no pressure whatsoever.

``I have confidence in my abilities,'' Hance said. ``Last year is over. Drew's now with the San Diego Chargers and I'm the starting quarterback. It's time for me to show everybody what I can do.

``I think I can win, and I think I will win, and I think the Purdue program will progress. I don't think anyone should doubt that just because Drew's gone.''

Wherever he goes, Hance has a plan and carries it out with his determination and dedication. He knew he wanted to be the next Purdue starter after Brees, so he graduated early from Taft and enrolled at Purdue in January 2000. After spring football, Hance had beaten out a senior, junior and sophomore for the No. 2 spot behind Brees.

``The effort he made to come at the semester, he was the first person to do that on a conscious level,'' Purdue coach Joe Tiller said. ``To get here, to spend the spring to get to know the offense, it worked to his advantage. The most critical thing is being at the right place at the right time.''

Once the backup, Hance closely watched Brees and learned how to lead, how to handle himself in pressure situations and how to deal with the media.

``He never let it get to his head,'' Hance said.

Hance also knew it's much more difficult for a redshirt freshman to lead a team, so in this past spring's practices, when Tiller suggested Hance let the defense try and hit him in scrimmages, Hance readily agreed. That way, he better gets a feel for the blitzing he expects to see in the first games and practices his scrambling and throwing on the run (which he expects to do since Purdue's offensive line returns no starters).

In the first scrimmage, Hance completed 27 of 46 passes for 310 yards and five touchdowns. In the second scrimmage, he was 24 of 47 for 259 and three scores.

``Brandon has great, quick feet and a strong arm,'' Purdue quarterbacks coach Blaine Bennett told the Madison (Wis.) Capital Times. ``He's the perfect guy for this type of offense. He needs to scramble around and throw the ball on the run and still be able to throw the ball down the field.''

Tiller said live scrimmages also have helped Hance see his limitations: He needs to adjust when he can't see over the line, which especially happens when he's not in the shotgun formation; and he needs more patience in the pocket.

Yet by the end of the spring, players such as senior defensive end Akin Ayodele and senior tight end Tim Stratton complimented Hance on his leadership and said they look forward to watching him play.

His father isn't at all surprised.

``I told him the best thing to ever happen to him was he wasn't 6-foot-4 or -5,'' Roger Hance said.

``It's because of my work ethic,'' Hance said. ``I wasn't the biggest. I wasn't the strongest. I wasn't the fastest. But through hard work, it's gotten me to where I'm at.''

He thought he could, he thought he could, he thought he could.

``It is ironic,'' he said about that children's tale, ``(considering) the kind of person I am now.''

HANCE'S NUMBERS GAME

2000 Season Totals

Record Cmp. Att. Yds. TD INT

8-4 5 9 40 1 0

2000 Game Log

Date and Opp. Result Cmp. Att. Yds. TD INT

9/02 C. Michigan W 48-0 1 3 18 0 0

9/09 Kent. St. W 45-10 4 6 22 1 0

CAPTION(S):

3 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- 2 -- color) Two years ago, the Daily News declared eight special high school quarterbacks, collectively, as the best the region has ever seen in a single year. None has disappointed, though their careers have taken them in widely varied directions. We profile here the two who have made the biggest impact on the national collegiate scene thus far - Purdue's Brandon Hance from Taft High at left and Tennessee's Casey Clausen from Alemany at right - and look at the remaining six on page 7.

Pictured above, as they were posed individually in our studio two years ago and electronically pieced together to form the image above, are, from left, Valley College's Zac Wassermann of Westlake High; Clausen; USC's Matt Cassel of Chatsworth High; Hance; Oregon's Chris Lombardo of Newbury Park High; College of the Canyon's Jason Winn of Granada Hills High; UCLA's John Sciarra of St. Francis, and Stanford's Kyle Matter of Hart.

Photo Illustration by Traci Wooden

(3) no caption (Brandon Hance)

Box: HANCE'S NUMBERS GAME (see text)