Chargers' Volek ready for chance to shine

SAN DIEGO -- This is hardly the same cookie-cutter story of the hometown boy does good. Instead, it changes directions in the same way a spider's web does, which is appropriate considering how intertwined Billy Volek's family is with Southern California.

Thirty-one years, 37 weeks and one day before he led the San Diego Chargers on a game-winning, 78-yard drive that culminated in his 1-yard touchdown surge and produced an unthinkable victory last Sunday over the defending Super Bowl champion Colts, Volek was born in Hemet, Calif.

(One e-mailer proudly refers to Volek as "our guy." Never mind that Volek says he lived in Hemet until he was "6 weeks old" because the family moved to Walla Walla, Wash., and says if there were any picture proof of his time there it would be "maybe in the archives, I'll have to have my mom and dad check, but I don't think so.")

More than Volek's roots will be of interest across the NFL if he starts in the AFC championship game Sunday against the unbeaten New England Patriots.

Chargers starting quarterback Philip Rivers didn't practice Wednesday because of the knee injury that knocked him out against the Colts. Volek, a backup most of his eight NFL seasons, practiced with the first team.

"We have been in this situation a couple times this year already," coach Norv Turner said. "Billy took all the reps today, and Billy had a good practice. There are things that he does differently and there are things that he does the same. We just have to get everyone else ready to play so if Philip is playing then they are playing at a high level, and if he isn't then I think Billy is ready to step in and play well."

Playing well runs in the Volek family.

Volek's father, John, played and coached at Cal-Riverside while his siblings, Joseph and Heather, were also standout athletes.

"We all get vicarious pleasure watching our own kids or kids of our friends do well," said Nick Goldware, one of the Voleks' closest friends and a former Cal-Riverside star quarterback.

"What Billy did in that fourth quarter ... was an unbelievable performance. You'd expect a guy who's working every day to get better at his trade. But, not getting any game activity, to come in at game speed where everybody is going full bore, and to come in and do that is phenomenal. I'm awestruck."

John Volek was a graduate assistant coach for Cal-Riverside beginning in 1969, coaching an offensive line that included Pat Hill, now Fresno State's head coach, and UCR Hall of Fame inductee Steve Clute, who called John Volek "a coach who gave seemingly unlimited time and effort to teach and coach young men to be better football players and, more importantly, better people."

After a brief stop as Santa Cruz High's head coach, Volek became the offensive coordinator for three years at Mt. San Jacinto College and, while there, was disappointed to see Cal-Riverside drop the football program in 1976.

"It's sad that UC Davis can have football and UCR can't," he said. "Maybe if UCR gets football (back), they can get their medical school and play with the big boys."

Hill coached Billy at Fresno State for three years, showing so much faith in the signal-caller that eventual No. 1 NFL draft pick David Carr was Volek's backup.

"The thing I liked about John was he was a very physical-type of coach, and he wanted physical players," Hill said. "He was a heck of coach, and I enjoyed playing for him. ... I learned a lot from him -- he was my first college coach, the first guy I ran into and learned from. In high school, it's not as detailed as college. I knew when I was a freshman in college that I wanted to go into coaching, (and) John was very inspirational for me."

Hill watched Billy Volek toss 30 touchdowns to just three interceptions his senior year and says he wasn't surprised by Volek's heroics, "because he's a fierce competitor."

"I'm not going to sit here and say I knew he would drive them down the field," Hill said. "There are a lot of guys who compete and a lot who have trouble competing ... and he had just as good a chance to do it as anybody, and I'm glad he did."

Volek could be the NFL's most reliable backup. When given the chance to play, he's shined, and that doesn't include Sunday. Since 1970, Volek leads all quarterbacks in passing yards in his first 10 starts. "He's a tough kid, he's accurate and he's got a little mobility back there," Patriots coach Bill Belichick said.

There is a chance he will play on Sunday because of Rivers' right knee, which would be nice for his parents since they are leading a contingent of family and friends to Foxboro, Mass.

"I'm very excited about the opportunity that is in front of me, and I'm just going to go out there and if I do get the nod, just keep this thing going," Volek said. "I know my job on the field, and I've got to go out there and execute it."

(Contact Matt Hurst at mhurst@PE.com.)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)