Senior quarterback Tony Romo is an avid golfer and like most is always thinking about his next shot.

Romo would be considered by many in his hometown of Burlington, Wis., to have a better swing than throwing arm.

So why isn’t Romo thinking about making possibly the biggest shot in his life – to the NFL.

“I’m just thinking about next week,” Romo said. “You can’t get too far ahead of yourself.”

Panther head coach Bob Spoo believes Romo has what it takes to play in the NFL, but doesn’t want him to think about it.

“I hope he’s not thinking about the NFL much,” Spoo said. “I hope he will have the opportunity. I think he does have the intangibles, but where that all happens I don’t know. That’s (the scouts) business, they’re studying him, he’s got a lot of things they want.”

Last week can’t be that far back in his mind either.

That’s when Romo scurried eight yards into the end zone to score the game-winning touchdown in a 25-24 win over Eastern Kentucky Saturday at O’Brien Field.

The scamper and stretch over the goal line came after Romo led a 48-second drive 75 yards down field.

Nothing unusual for Romo.

“That’s a quarterback’s job,” Romo said. “You do what you have to do to get a win.”

Romo completed 19 of 38 passes for 359 yards for two touchdowns and two interceptions. He’s moved back into the top 15 in the nation in passing efficiency.

But what may be more important than those statistics is something that can’t be computed – his ability to squirm.

Pass rushes are constantly keying on Romo and are in a hurry to slam him into the turf before he can do any damage passing.

Romo has had the ability to juke and elude defenses on almost every down.

“That’s instinctive and it’s a lot of the knowledge of the game I have that allows me to do that,” Romo said. “I’m not going to let them get to me.”

But Romo wasn’t always a formidable passing force at Eastern. When he arrived at Eastern as a freshman, something Spoo was nearly against in the recruiting process, he had only raw athleticism.

“I think just about any freshman who comes in here was better than I was,” Romo said.

So Romo threw and then threw some more and didn’t stop even when people told him to. He is notorious for being the first person on the practice field and the last one off it and is always throwing the ball when he’s not on the field.

“I wonder about that, how he throws – gosh, he never complains about it,” Spoo said. “He’s gifted with the right physiology or something. He’s got God-given talent and it doesn’t get sore or hurt or whatever. If a guy is doing that, he obviously feels good about it. I’m sure if the pain were there he’d stop.”

The Panthers will ride on the strength of Romo’s rubber arm this season and he’s OK with that.

“We want to go to the national championship this year and I’m going to keep doing whatever it takes to get there,” Romo said.

(Editor’s note: Top Cat is a weekly series taking an in-depth look at Eastern’s top athlete from the previous week. Winners can be selected only once each year. Selection is made by the Daily Eastern News sports staff.)