Taylor Martinez 2013 discussion - running tougher? better decisions in the pocket?

[onlyHskrfaninIL]

Anybody think we will see a much more aggressive Taylor Martinez in terms of his open field running? He looks like he has put in the work in the weight room so he finally looks like he could run a guy over if he needed to. If he could break a tackle every now and then he would be pretty unstoppable on the ground. RKIII and Armstrong are to the point now where I feel like they could at least come in and manage a game if they had to so I don't think Martinez will have to worry so much about getting hurt anymore. If he would learn to throw the ball away that would be great too but I won't hold my breath on that one.

 

[HuskerNationNick]

Taylor has already stated that he will run the ball, and run harder, not be afraid to take hits, since there is a depth now at the QB position.

As far as Armstrong goes, Beck stated that he will clearly be the #2 QB coming out of fall camp. The kid has all the intangibles to be successful.

 

[NUance]

I'd guess Beck will use him about the same way as last year. Don't want to run him *too* much for fear of injury. Still, even though T-Mart ran less last year than the years before, he's a threat to hit a homerun on any play. Martinez gives O-coordinators sleepless nights. See:

 

[tmfr15]

Yikes with thread title. Put a sub-heading up or something. I was half expecting to click the link and read that Martinez had somehow blown out his knee playing basketball or something.

As far as Taylor's running ability, it is unquestioned. He still needs to stay healthy though. I am hoping Tommy has got a lot of what it takes as well. But I would really rather see him displaying those skills in a QB showdown with Stanton in SPRING 2014 after performing some mop up duty roles in blow outs during 2013.

 

[Count 'Bility]

From what I saw in the Georgia game, I expect a very determined and flat-out pissed off Taylor Martinez. It's his 5th year. He's seasoned. He's primed. He's healthy, and I think he's gonna kick some a$$.

 

[AllNRed]

This year will be the first year since his freshman season that Martinez will have quality back up behind him. I would like to see Martinez run more aggressively but not necessarily trying to "run people over". That's not his forte nor should he try to make it that way. Martinez has been a warrior as a signal caller. The way he braces for tackles on the run some times causes whole sections and bars to cringe. Martinez is as durable as any, regardless of the high ankle sprain/turf toe that hindered the second half of his freshman season. But he doesn't exactly have a huge "upside" as far as development to be able to play at the next level. If his goal is to attempt to play QB (which I doubt he ever will in the NFL), he won't enhance his chances if he bruises himself up trying to run people over and, which I pointed out already, was never a part of his game. Hell, breaking a tackle is a rarity for him. 9 times out of 10 the first defender that can get a hand on him gets a stat for that play. His running ability is slightly different from Eric Crouch, who he's compared to often.

Armstrong, will be the #2 QB next year. Last season, it's safe to say he was the "silent #2" as he was turning heads when he first arrived on campus with just his athletic ability, but the staff chose to red shirt him to give him time to mode into a serviceable college QB rather than just throwing him in the fire and depending on his raw ability. He had an excellent spring, and I heard from a few players that he demands respect in his actions and how he approaches his workouts on the field and in the weight room. If Martinez would have went down for an extended time last season Armstrong would have been the guy we seen stepping in for him. But since Martinez was healthy most the season, and no significant injuries, Armstrong was able to save a year and get into his playbook.

RKIII is a great guy, goofy kid, but I doubt we will ever see him take a significant snap or a snap at all barring injury. Last season, in his limit snaps, he didn't show himself to be much of a better option than the back up he replaced (Brion Carnes). He'll be the "LaTravis Washington" of the group this year.

Johnny Stanton, he will redshirt and get an opportunity make a case for himself as a valuable back up in 2014. An Elite 11 finalist (would have won had he not left camp to be with his team, great teammate). He's the exact type of QB Beck wants/needs in his system, but I think he will have an up hill battle after his redshirt year trying to grab the starting spot from Armstrong as he would be in his 3rd season as a husker in 2014 (red shirt sophomore). He'll have some game time experience under his belt also.

 

[AllNRed]

I'd guess Beck will use him about the same way as last year. Don't want to run him *too* much for fear of injury. Still, even though T-Mart ran less last year than the years before, he's a threat to hit a homerun on any play. Martinez gives O-coordinators sleepless nights. See:

Another thing to add that with his better mechanics, he's also working with the best receiving corps NU has ever had and hands down the most dangerous unit in the conference. We won't need him to be an aggressive runner but a smart runner. We already know he has the play making ability, that's what strikes fear in any DC he has to face, but imagine if he becomes just as strong at game management. Taking off running when nothing is open down field rather than leaving the pocket too early nullifying his pass protection. Throwing the ball away rather than forcing the ball in double coverage. And so on and so on.

 

[knapplc]

Yikes with thread title. Put a sub-heading up or something. I was half expecting to click the link and read that Martinez had somehow blown out his knee playing basketball or something.

As far as Taylor's running ability, it is unquestioned. He still needs to stay healthy though. I am hoping Tommy has got a lot of what it takes as well. But I would really rather see him displaying those skills in a QB showdown with Stanton in SPRING 2014 after performing some mop up duty roles in blow outs during 2013.

I modified the thread title. It was really ambiguous.

Re: Your second paragraph, I'm concerned about Martinez' health as well. What if he goes down, a la Burkhead last year? Half a Martinez in his senior season leaves us starting a Redshirt Freshman again, and while Armstrong may be as talented as the last Redshirt Freshman we started at QB, we also had to suffer through a year of growing pains with that Redshirt Freshman. Poor decisions, turnovers, basic learning-on-the-job stuff. While Kellogg is a good passer, his knees concern me, and he would necessitate a change in offensive strategy midstream if Martinez goes down.

Taylor's health is the key to the season, and our Big Ten brethren know it. They'll be gunning for him, big-time.

 

[Nobody]

taylor running people over... that'll be the day.

 

[husker_99]

Taylor has already stated that he will run the ball, and run harder, not be afraid to take hits, since there is a depth now at the QB position.

As far as Armstrong goes, Beck stated that he will clearly be the #2 QB coming out of fall camp. The kid has all the intangibles to be successful.

LOL that's priceless. we don't have depth at qb that would imply we have backups who have a lot of playing time which we don't. Just because we have more players at the back up spot for qb's isn't depth. The way we run the offense and if Martinez goes down and we don't change the offense for the less experienced qb's. the season won't amount to much.

 

[knapplc]

taylor running people over... that'll be the day.

While Martinez isn't a power-running QB like Crouch or Frost, he did blow through some would-be tacklers last season, the first year he was green-lighted to accept contact since his R. Freshman year. Go watch films of the Penn State and Michigan State games where we needed a first down and Taylor plowed through defenders to get it. I'm not remembering exactly when, but these happened near the sidelines, if I recall correctly.

 

[kchusker_chris]

This year will be the first year since his freshman season that Martinez will have quality back up behind him.

Didn't he play hurt most of his freshman year because we had no "depth" behind him?

We haven't had depth at the QB spot in 4 years. I don't see this year being much different than a couple years ago when Brion was looked to as the next great Husker QB, or Green, or whatever other name you want to insert in there that hasn't panned out. We need to see some Armstrong this year, and we actually need to see a lot of him. Until then I'm going to assume outside of Martinez, we're screwed...because that's how it's been for pretty much Bo's entire time here in regards to the QB spot.

We need him healthy. But with Heard's exit I expect him to get 4-5 extra carries a game that he wouldn't have otherwise. With the increased tempo it's quite possible we'll be running another 8-10 plays a game, so there's another 1 or 2 Martinez runs. Scary to say, but I think we're better off as a team relying on his arm if possible.

 

[QMany]

From what I saw in the Georgia game, I expect a very determined and flat-out pissed off Taylor Martinez. It's his 5th year. He's seasoned. He's primed. He's healthy, and I think he's gonna kick some a$$.

Was coming in here to say this, almost verbatim.

I want ONE run where he stiff arms sometime or just truck-sticks them. I want him cocky and talking sh*t like against Georgia.

 

[HuskerNationNick]

Taylor has already stated that he will run the ball, and run harder, not be afraid to take hits, since there is a depth now at the QB position.

As far as Armstrong goes, Beck stated that he will clearly be the #2 QB coming out of fall camp. The kid has all the intangibles to be successful.

LOL that's priceless. we don't have depth at qb that would imply we have backups who have a lot of playing time which we don't. Just because we have more players at the back up spot for qb's isn't depth. The way we run the offense and if Martinez goes down and we don't change the offense for the less experienced qb's. the season won't amount to much.

I am just saying what Taylor said. Call it priceless, or whatever you want to float your boat. We don't have depth? We have depth, just not experienced depth. This year, we have 4 QB's who could start at any other schools. I think our offense would be just as dangerous with RKIII or Armstrong in, and actually I think it would bring more versatility to our offense with Armstrong in. Our passing game would be a bigger threat, and our rushing game would be just as it still is, a huge threat. Why would we change the offense for the "less" experienced QBs? Those two backups know the offense, and know it quite well, especially RKIII.

 

[AllNRed]

LOL that's priceless. we don't have depth at qb that would imply we have backups who have a lot of playing time which we don't. Just because we have more players at the back up spot for qb's isn't depth.

Multiple players at one position is......depth... :lol: Now the quality of that depth we don't know til they are tested, but it still is depth. We have 4 scholarship QBs on the roster (Martinez/Armstrong/Kellogg/Stanton). That's depth.

The way we run the offense and if Martinez goes down and we don't change the offense for the less experienced qb's. the season won't amount to much.

I'm not sure what the point was with this comment.