best QB to ever run the option at NU

[beorach]

I had a brief exchange with another Husker alumnus and fan on Twitter last weekend.  He wouldn't offer up a basis for his claim that Scott Frost was the "best QB to ever run the option at NU."

 

I personally think it's a toss-up between Crouch and Frazier but I'm not old enough to remember some others.  I started watching during Turner Gill's time under center but was too young to really judge his place.

 

My case for Tommie is as follows:

 

1) true dual-threat QB who seemed to know how to get the most out of any option play;

2) statistically superior career numbers despite missing games due to health issues;

3) true leader of his team every day of the week and not just by setting an example;

4) should have won the Heisman; and

5) signal-caller for what may have been the greatest college football team of all time.

 

My case for Crouch is as follows:

 

1) true dual-threat QB who retained his "homerun hitter" ability throughout his career;

2) statistically superior career numbers overall, even compared to Frazier's, despite not having the same kind of talent around him;

3) won the Heisman; and

4) carried Nebraska to a national title game it didn't deserve (but at least we can say we were in the discussion this century as a result).

 

The toss-up, for me, has to do with whether Tommie could have had the whole offense run through him in 2001.  Part of me thinks that any athletic difference between him and Eric might have been made up for by that team having to deal with being accountable to TFraz.

 

What do y'all think?  It's Jerry Tagge, right?

 

p.s. - I tried to be as inclusive as I could think of being within reason.  If you think it's Mickey Joseph or Gerry Gdowski, please feel free to make your case.  I'm sorry if this is old news but I'm partly checking to see how many people have Frost Fever.

[ColoradoHusk]

FYI, Tagge didn't really run the option.  NU's offense back in his day was a power running, pro-style offense.  NU didn't start running much option until Osborne decided to copy Oklahoma and use power-running, option offense out of the Power-I formation (rather than OU's wishbone).

 

Personally, I would put Gill, Frazier, and Crouch as my 3-best NU option QB's (in no particular order really).  They were each different.  Gill was so smooth and was great at passing from an option look.  Frazier was so quick and great at making decisions while running the option.  Crouch had the pure speed at an option QB that not many NU QB's could match.

 

If someone was arguing for Frost, I would put Frost well down the list.  Nothing against Frost because I am a huge fan of his playing days at NU, but a lot of Frost's runs were designed QB runs (more like an old, single-wing style) rather than a pure option play.

[GBRFAN]

Don't know his name yet, however he will be the NU QB starting in the BigTen Championship game.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ok - not going to be the case, but it was too hard to pick from all the greats we had and it's fun to dream about the future.

[Enhance]

I think Eric Crouch is the easy selection here. IMO, he was the best/most natural option QB Nebraska ever had.

[Guy Chamberlin]

Hard to say, really. As someone else mentioned, Gill was just incredibly smooth. Didn't put up the biggest numbers himself, but with Mike Rozier and Roger Craig in the backfield, that was the smart call for a QB to make. Steve Taylor played  a lot like Gill on a lesser team. No one would argue with Tommie Frazier as best option QB ever, because the results speak for themselves. I think Crouch may have been the toughest in the whole bunch; he was at the center of every play, took and delivered some incredible hits, and always popped up and ran back to the huddle. Frost was pretty smooth himself, and also downright tough. I think the only knock on Scott was that he came right after Tommie Frazier and always looked just one step slower and a slightly more erratic passer. 

 

The option game is really about split second decision making and there are a lot of high-risk plays. We've had some great athletes and exciting players running the option, including Martinez and Armstrong, but the guys on this list made good decisions and limited turnovers and that's really the difference. 

[ZRod]

Tommie or Scott. It's hard to choose because they were equally effective, but opposite styles. Tommie was just so smooth that it never looked like he made people miss, they just looked like they were out of position. Scott was the bulldozer with some speed, holding on to the ball till the last minute or just running guys over.

 

If you made me choose, I'd probably say Tommie because it was a thing of beauty to watch.

[Gage County]

Crouch is easily my top pick. It's #2 that I'm hung up on, Gill or Frazier. My favorite play, the counter option, love how those QBs used to do a 270° whip around. Here's how it done

 

 

 

[beorach]

I'm sure the goods will continue to be shared but I wanted to write and thank people for both the educational and humorous feedback.  I suppose I could have had TM and TA on the list, too, but I just thought the offense was too different (not that the Tagge one wasn't, I guess, but I have only watched the Game of the Century once a long time ago).

[Mavric]

I’m too young to remember watching Gill play so that skews my perception.  It’s almost a toss-up for me between Frazier and Crouch but I went with Frazier.  

 

I love me some Frost but he’s not near the top of this list.  Steve Taylor was also pretty good.

[NUance]

lol.  Once again Jammal Lord gets no love.  

[ColoradoHusk]

5 minutes ago, Mavric said:

I’m too young to remember watching Gill play so that skews my perception.  It’s almost a toss-up for me between Frazier and Crouch but I went with Frazier.  

 

I love me some Frost but he’s not near the top of this list.  Steve Taylor was also pretty good.

I was pretty young when Gill was at NU, so I don't remember him playing much, except for a lot of videos from that era.  He was the first QB of my Husker consciousness, so I romanticize him and bump him up in any Husker QB rankings.

 

As mentioned above, the Turner Gill reverse pivot when running the option was something that me and my brothers would copy all the time in our back yard.  My favorite play design of Osborne's was the option-pass play where Gill would take a couple steps down the line, and then take a quick drop back to throw a pass to a tight end or wingback streaking down the middle.

[ColoradoHusk]

Just now, NUance said:

lol.  Once again Jammal Lord gets no love.  

Lord was a great running QB, and is a victim of the team's he played on, but he is still a notch below the top QB's in NU history.

[Cdog923]

In terms of just purely running the option, it's hard to argue against Frost. I don't recall a lot of QBs being able to throw no-look pitches like he could. I would say both Frazier and Crouch were better as runners than Frost was, but I think he was better at running the option itself. 

[Guy Chamberlin]

36 minutes ago, NUance said:

lol.  Once again Jammal Lord gets no love.  

 

Those were the two seasons when I decided that Nebraska shouldn't be so dependent on a running quarterback.

[Cdog923]

Just now, Guy Chamberlin said:

 

Those were the two seasons when I decided that Nebraska shouldn't be so dependent on a running quarterback.

 

Or, a running QB who should have been playing safety.