While getting bombarded Tuesday with questions about his first college start, Todd Reesing turned back the clock seven years to discuss his favorite season opener.

“Seventh grade,” said Reesing, Kansas University’s sophomore quarterback from Lake Travis, Texas. “It was my first year to play tackle football. First game. It was our big rival. I scored a touchdown as the clock expired to win. We won 13-12. That’s a nail-biter. Lake Travis Middle School against Dripping Springs Middle School.”

Good omen for the born leader who beat out the injury-dogged Kerry Meier for the starting job. One of many.

Reesing settled into a chair at Hadl Auditorium Tuesday afternoon and fielded questions for 22 minutes in a way that revealed he has natural leadership qualities required of the position.

As a reserve, it was not Reesing’s role to lead the offense. It would have been inappropriate of him to be in the ears of teammates constantly during the week when Meier started.

Now that it’s his show, his take-charge style is even more obvious. Asked to speak about his high self-confidence level, Reesing didn’t scramble from that label, didn’t apologize for it.

“I’ve always had confidence in myself whatever I do, whether it be school or sports or whatever it may be,” Reesing said. “I think it’s the fact that I’d rather have pressure put on my shoulders than someone else’s. I would rather take the blame for a group of people failing than push the blame on someone else. If an offense flutters and has a bad game, the first person they look to is the quarterback. You have to take that responsibility and with that comes a lot of good press and bad press. People will love you one day and hate you the next. I don’t really focus on that stuff. I just try to keep all the guys around me excited, have them make plays that make me look better, and make the offense look better.”

Notice he doesn’t talk as much about making himself better as about elevating teammates. That’s leadership.

“When you know you’re starting, you enter the week with a different attitude,” he said. “You want everyone on offense to feel good about the game and be excited, and so with that you’ve got to be going to practice every day with a different level of intensity and enthusiasm, making sure everyone knows their assignments so when Saturday comes you can execute as best as possible. … When I’m playing a game, my only focus is what can I do to get my team in the end zone. If I’m talking to receivers, running backs, O-line, I’m going to figure out what can I do to help them do their jobs better.”

On the responsibility of interacting with the media, Reesing said: “It means you’ve earned something. You’ve earned the right to answer questions and speak on behalf of teammates. You’re the person under the spotlight to take the fall and take the praise for good and bad things. It’s a sign I finally got where I wanted to be.”

He’ll be nervous Saturday. And within a few plays he’ll demonstrate one of the main reasons he won the job: He’s the most accurate passer on the roster. If he doesn’t see a complete pass anywhere on the field, he’ll scramble to buy time. Responsibility is one thing he won’t pass on.