"He showed this incredible presence in the huddle," Sidlecki said. "That caught the attention of everyone and I said that this was going to be interesting."

Little did Sidlecki know that he had the perfect match for his offense. The speed and quick decision-making that Walland honed in high school was just the prototype to fit the Yale scheme.

"In high school, we moved the pocket a lot and we ran a lot of rollouts," Walland said. "We ran options that required the quarterback to really read the play. That prepared me for the concepts of what we were doing in college, if not the level of play."

While Sidlecki has not installed a run-and-shoot offense per se, it is a scheme that relies upon the quarterback to really read the defense and, in the coach's words, "take what the defense gives us."

Whoever takes the snaps must be able to react quickly and be highly mobile. Often, the defense "gives" a quarterback scramble and this style of offense welcomes the movement of the pocket and a fleet-footed passer.

This fits right into Walland's strengths.

"I'm not really a drop-back passer," he said. "I'm more of a scrambler, moving the pocket and making plays. I bring two options of running and passing and go to them both."

With those physical attributes plus Walland's accuracy has allowed him to throw for 5,068 yards in his career.

"Once we got through spring practice of his sophomore year, I knew that as a staff we had a quarterback that understands what we are doing better than anyone I've ever coached," Sidlecki said.

If the coaching staff was sold on his abilities after spring practice, the rest of the Bulldogs must have known they had someone special after the first game of the 1998 season at Brown.

The Bears held a 21-10 third quarter lead, but Walland managed to tie the score. Brown took a 28-21 lead with :54 left in the game. He then marched his team 81 yards, including a 27-yard touchdown pass with six seconds left, to hand the Elis a victory.

"The Brown game was the breakthrough for me," Walland said. "Scoring on the last play of the game was just an unbelievable moment. It was a big feeling doing it in front of thousands of people."

The Elis have continued to feel the good vibrations ever since as Walland has instilled a winning attitude in the squad.

Walland capped off the 1998 season by solving a fearsome Crimson defense in the fourth quarter. Shut down for almost the entire game, he awoke midway through the quarter to drive Yale 71 yards, ending with a 9-yard touchdown strike to cut Harvard's lead to 7-6 with 5:33 left to play.

The Yale defense did the rest, forcing then-junior quarterback Rich Linden to fumble the ball around his own 15-yard line to set-up the game winning field goal and a 9-7 Eli victory.