Post spring game QB depth chart

[NebraskaHarry]

From watching the spring game, if I had to go with a QB with a game tomorrow...

1A. Darlington (Played better than Armstrong IMO for spring game, only mistakes I really remember are the botched snap and missing Turner on a wide open pass. Other than that, kid has best QB mechanics of group)

1B. Armstrong (Left some plays on the field for sure, but his experience and leadership make it hard not to put him at top with Darlington. Best play was the roll out pass to Westy. Very nice pass.)

2. Bush (Potential is there, but didn't have a strong spring game. Yet, I'd go with him first over Broekemeir or Fyfe.)

3A. Broekemeir (Actually was pretty good, but he wasn't exactly playing against a first team Big 10 defensive unit.)

3B. Fyfe (I'm not sure he could handle a first team Big 10 defense either.)

...

#? Stanton

I can't give Stanton a number on the depth chart. I honestly think Jamal Turner would be a better replacement at QB than Stanton at this point.

In conclusion, I'd have it narrowed down to Darlington and Armstrong for the starter. Who makes the least mistakes between the two?

Gonna be a long summer.

 

[RunMickeyRun02]

Armstrong

Darlington

Bush

Fyfe

Broekemeier

Johnny Football

Johnny behind Broekermeir...ouch

Not unrealistic though, even Damon Benning during the broadcast had him 5th.

 

[HuskerNation1]

I'm just watching the spring game now. Couple things:

Can't wait to go to my first game this fall!

Tommy Armstrong looks awful. System or no system, I hope the staff doesn't feel an allegiance to him. He doesn't look like a quarterback

I agree. I don't understand why the experience factor would play to TA's odds of being the starter this fall. If anything, with his experience he should have been far ahead of all the other QBs yesterday. Instead, after starting over 20 games, he looked like the 3rd best QB out there, and I don't see much upside for him.

Because experience is the difference between throwing an interception on 3rd and 3, against a real team with the game on the line, or making a play with your feet/finding a more open receiver. I would've thought experience and it's usefulness would have been a bit obvious? I stand corrected.

While his numbers may not have jumped off the page, he led three scoring drives - more than any other QB Saturday.

If they were ALL freshman learning to play at the college level for the first time then I'd be more open to the suggestion that he's the third best quarterback. But you have to think about this all reasonably and logically - it's going to take significant evidence for someone to supplant TA. I'm not saying that won't happen, because it certainly could.

But, it is equally as foolish to discount experience as it is to discount a back up.

You act as though TA did not throw INTs in clutch situations or make bad decisions in the past season. You are supporting the point I was trying to make in that TA should look substantially better out there in his 3rd season compared to the other QBs because of his experience, and he simply did not. I do still think that TA's "experience" factor will give him the edge for the opening game, but what I'm saying is that I don't believe that should be a deciding factor UNLESS all other things are equal with the #2, which does not appear to be the case. TA's advantages compared to someone like Darlington are his running ability and that he's played in 20-plus games. His disadvantages are his footwork, mechanics, and accuracy, and I would even say that ZD flashed better vision of surveying his open receivers than I've really ever seen from TA.

If Riley and company truly want a passing QB this early in their tenure, and ZD continues to impress in the fall, then they will make the change. If they don't want to rock the boat and are ok with a QB that prefers to run, then TA will remain on top of the depth chart.

As for the scoring drives, I would be interested to see how many minutes and drives TA had relative to ZD. Outside of 2 nice passes, I didn't see a lot of good things from TA throwing the ball yesterday.

 

[BellyOption]

I can't help but feel the health considerations are going to keep Darlington away from serious contention this year, as good as he looks.

Otherwise, I feel Tommy should have a battle on his hands in fall camp. AJ seems very talented, but not ready.

I hope you're wrong and I think you're wrong about the staff's opinions on Darlington. He's live and going full contact. What we don't know about him and Bush is what those first 14 practices really looked like? Was Bush's performance on Saturday an anomaly? I had heard that he threw quite a few picks during spring ball and Darlington had not. But, there was so much chatter about Bush. Was that just the media or does the staff really believe that?

Based on Saturday, Darlington should be the backup, at least.

 

[suh_fan93]

I can't help but feel the health considerations are going to keep Darlington away from serious contention this year, as good as he looks.

Otherwise, I feel Tommy should have a battle on his hands in fall camp. AJ seems very talented, but not ready.

I hope you're wrong and I think you're wrong about the staff's opinions on Darlington. He's live and going full contact. What we don't know about him and Bush is what those first 14 practices really looked like? Was Bush's performance on Saturday an anomaly? I had heard that he threw quite a few picks during spring ball and Darlington had not. But, there was so much chatter about Bush. Was that just the media or does the staff really believe that?

Based on Saturday, Darlington should be the backup, at least.

Based on 7 completions? So many jumping the gun and so much learning and football still yet to be played. Both Bush and Darlington would get eaten up if you put them against a team with a pulse right now.

 

[Mierin]

I can't help but feel the health considerations are going to keep Darlington away from serious contention this year, as good as he looks.

Otherwise, I feel Tommy should have a battle on his hands in fall camp. AJ seems very talented, but not ready.

I hope you're wrong and I think you're wrong about the staff's opinions on Darlington. He's live and going full contact. What we don't know about him and Bush is what those first 14 practices really looked like? Was Bush's performance on Saturday an anomaly? I had heard that he threw quite a few picks during spring ball and Darlington had not. But, there was so much chatter about Bush. Was that just the media or does the staff really believe that?
Based on Saturday, Darlington should be the backup, at least.

Based on 7 completions? So many jumping the gun and so much learning and football still yet to be played. Both Bush and Darlington would get eaten up if you put them against a team with a pulse right now.

As would Armstrong.

 

[suh_fan93]

I can't help but feel the health considerations are going to keep Darlington away from serious contention this year, as good as he looks.

Otherwise, I feel Tommy should have a battle on his hands in fall camp. AJ seems very talented, but not ready.

I hope you're wrong and I think you're wrong about the staff's opinions on Darlington. He's live and going full contact. What we don't know about him and Bush is what those first 14 practices really looked like? Was Bush's performance on Saturday an anomaly? I had heard that he threw quite a few picks during spring ball and Darlington had not. But, there was so much chatter about Bush. Was that just the media or does the staff really believe that?
Based on Saturday, Darlington should be the backup, at least.

Based on 7 completions? So many jumping the gun and so much learning and football still yet to be played. Both Bush and Darlington would get eaten up if you put them against a team with a pulse right now.

As would Armstrong.

Make no mistake. I'm hardly confident in him either. Pretty safe to assume he's going to be the starter however and hopefully by then these coaches make a game plan that emphasizes what he can do the most consistently without turning the ball over consistently. Frankly I think it's going to be challenging but one thing even I have to remind myself that he along with everyone else are dealing with new coaches and new plays and are starting over from scratch in terms of the offense they'll be running. He's still learning too.

 

[Branno]

I can't help but feel the health considerations are going to keep Darlington away from serious contention this year, as good as he looks.

Otherwise, I feel Tommy should have a battle on his hands in fall camp. AJ seems very talented, but not ready.

I hope you're wrong and I think you're wrong about the staff's opinions on Darlington. He's live and going full contact. What we don't know about him and Bush is what those first 14 practices really looked like? Was Bush's performance on Saturday an anomaly? I had heard that he threw quite a few picks during spring ball and Darlington had not. But, there was so much chatter about Bush. Was that just the media or does the staff really believe that?
Based on Saturday, Darlington should be the backup, at least.

Based on 7 completions? So many jumping the gun and so much learning and football still yet to be played. Both Bush and Darlington would get eaten up if you put them against a team with a pulse right now.

As would Armstrong.

Make no mistake. I'm hardly confident in him either. Pretty safe to assume he's going to be the starter however and hopefully by then these coaches make a game plan that emphasizes what he can do the most consistently without turning the ball over consistently. Frankly I think it's going to be challenging but one thing even I have to remind myself that he along with everyone else are dealing with new coaches and new plays and are starting over from scratch in terms of the offense they'll be running. He's still learning too.

So we're gonna see a lot of wildcat?

 

[suh_fan93]

I can't help but feel the health considerations are going to keep Darlington away from serious contention this year, as good as he looks.

Otherwise, I feel Tommy should have a battle on his hands in fall camp. AJ seems very talented, but not ready.

I hope you're wrong and I think you're wrong about the staff's opinions on Darlington. He's live and going full contact. What we don't know about him and Bush is what those first 14 practices really looked like? Was Bush's performance on Saturday an anomaly? I had heard that he threw quite a few picks during spring ball and Darlington had not. But, there was so much chatter about Bush. Was that just the media or does the staff really believe that?
Based on Saturday, Darlington should be the backup, at least.

Based on 7 completions? So many jumping the gun and so much learning and football still yet to be played. Both Bush and Darlington would get eaten up if you put them against a team with a pulse right now.

As would Armstrong.

Make no mistake. I'm hardly confident in him either. Pretty safe to assume he's going to be the starter however and hopefully by then these coaches make a game plan that emphasizes what he can do the most consistently without turning the ball over consistently. Frankly I think it's going to be challenging but one thing even I have to remind myself that he along with everyone else are dealing with new coaches and new plays and are starting over from scratch in terms of the offense they'll be running. He's still learning too.

So we're gonna see a lot of wildcat?

Lol. I really hope it doesn't come to that!

 

[alexhortdog95]

A lot of these QB woes can be helped by establishing a POWER RUNNING GAME.

Just sayin....

 

[BigRedBuster]

I can't help but feel the health considerations are going to keep Darlington away from serious contention this year, as good as he looks.

Otherwise, I feel Tommy should have a battle on his hands in fall camp. AJ seems very talented, but not ready.

I hope you're wrong and I think you're wrong about the staff's opinions on Darlington. He's live and going full contact. What we don't know about him and Bush is what those first 14 practices really looked like? Was Bush's performance on Saturday an anomaly? I had heard that he threw quite a few picks during spring ball and Darlington had not. But, there was so much chatter about Bush. Was that just the media or does the staff really believe that?
Based on Saturday, Darlington should be the backup, at least.

Based on 7 completions? So many jumping the gun and so much learning and football still yet to be played. Both Bush and Darlington would get eaten up if you put them against a team with a pulse right now.

As would Armstrong.

Make no mistake. I'm hardly confident in him either. Pretty safe to assume he's going to be the starter however and hopefully by then these coaches make a game plan that emphasizes what he can do the most consistently without turning the ball over consistently. Frankly I think it's going to be challenging but one thing even I have to remind myself that he along with everyone else are dealing with new coaches and new plays and are starting over from scratch in terms of the offense they'll be running. He's still learning too.

So we're gonna see a lot of wildcat?

Lol. I really hope it doesn't come to that!

It won't.

 

[NUance]

A lot of Stanton's issues with accuracy can be fixed by improving his mechanics. His footwork, and his throwing motion can be fixed. He seen the open guys, he just needs to refine his skills.

I think some of Stanton's issues would be resolved by getting a few reps during the course of the season. He was throwing with too much adrenaline. He needs to get used to the crowd and gain some composure. But at least he did a decent job of seeing receivers, for the most part.

 

[Red Five]

Darlington's performance looks more impressive to me when you remember that he hasn't played in game conditions since August 2013 (20 months).

 

[The Dude]

If Bush gains a little confidence and a little consistency, it's going to be tough to keep him off the field. His ceiling is much higher than any other QB on roster, but he's still very rough around the edges. Langsdorf has his work cut out for him, but it would be worth the effort.

Darlington seems more polished, and I think his arm talent and athleticism are a little underrated. I realize he's been cleared to play, but his health is always going to be a big concern.

 

[Red Five]

Armstrong

Darlington

Bush

Fyfe

Broekemeier

Johnny Football

Johnny behind Broekermeir...ouch

Not unrealistic though, even Damon Benning during the broadcast had him 5th.

You don't have to do mental gymnastics to realize the Stanton is/was 5th just based on the fact that he didn't see a snap until the 4th Q.