Could Stanley Morgan's greatness hampered Martinez's view of the offense?

jsneb83 said:
I think it was more telling about the depth at receiver than it did Martinez's knowledge of the offense.
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Yeah, I don't think reliance on Stanley hampered 2AM in the least. Morgan often just happened to be one of his few and best options to target. Sure there were a few times he may have missed other open receivers because he was tempted to lock in on SM but you're going to have situations like that all the time. We have to remember 2AM was a true freshman.....I can't say he was hampered at all except for his injury. Considering how well he did last year, it's pretty exciting looking forward to what he'll do in year 2.

 
I think my Kool-Aid soaked opinion is that the offense might be even better since AM has a better understanding of the offense and how it puts the defense in conflict and having to choose a poison. I never meant to imply that AM wasn't any good last year as a true freshman. If we have receivers that can play catch, this will be a fun offense to watch. I'm hoping our unknowns come out in our favor in regards to that receiving corp.

 
Some of you will kill me for these statements. 

I would never associate great with Stanley Morgan. I think he is a fine player, but thats it. 

A scout for the Raider's that I know personally told me this about Stanley: "Great amongst subpar competition, average to non-existent against the best in the conference" And I agree. He was hardly doubled-teamed. Teams did not fear him. He is slow in pads, and cannot beat a good DB one on one. He does have tremendous hands though. His routes were flat at times, and he struggled to sell them. Nebraska ran plays to isolate him, and he could not separate.  His last really good game against good competition was in 2017 against Oregon. Stanley worked well underneath but it was hardly game changing type play. So that sounds bleak considering that he had 1,000 yards last year. This Offense will work better with true WR's who have 500 yards receiving but have the ability to fly right by you, because that is what opens up the offense for the Duck R position. 

 
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I think its irrelevant at this point really. I think Martinez is going to be head and shoulders above last year and so is our offense. Less to do with Stanley leaving and more to do with having more playmakers, a better line and more experience. If we thought Martinez was great last year, he is about to have our jaws on the floor. This will be the best season on offense in almost 2 decades. And it won't be particularly close.

 
Vince R. said:
Some of you will kill me for these statements. 

I would never associate great with Stanley Morgan. I think he is a fine player, but thats it. 

A scout for the Raider's that I know personally told me this about Stanley: "Great amongst subpar competition, average to non-existent against the best in the conference" And I agree. He was hardly doubled-teamed. Teams did not fear him. He is slow in pads, and cannot beat a good DB one on one. He does have tremendous hands though. His routes were flat at times, and he struggled to sell them. Nebraska ran plays to isolate him, and he could not separate.  His last really good game against good competition was in 2017 against Oregon. Stanley worked well underneath but it was hardly game changing type play. So that sounds bleak considering that he had 1,000 yards last year. This Offense will work better with true WR's who have 500 yards receiving but have the ability to fly right by you, because that is what opens up the offense for the Duck R position. 
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Not controversial at all, just fact. 

 
I get the point but I don’t think so.

That’s something I’d worry about with a QB like Tommy Armstrong. I don’t think Martinez will have any trouble finding multiple targets.

 
@Vince R.

As a Vikings fan, we have no one behind our top 2 receivers. Absolutely no one. Due to trading down multiple times this draft, we had so many day 3 picks.

Rick Speilman, Minnesota’s GM (thus the drafter) knew full well who was across from his son JD, so I was absolutely expecting Morgan to be picked by us. But even in the 7th round, we drafted two receivers... neither of whom were Morgan.

There could have been unreported lingering injuries or something else that kept him from being drafted, but it’s pretty telling that JD’s dad didn’t draft him with every chance in the world for his WR-desperate team.

That’s not to say Morgan wasn’t great for us. It’s all relative. He was a great Husker who did good things here and was a good leader during bad times. He’s one of the seniors who made a big effort in turning the culture around before the NW game. We are much better off with him than we would have been without him.

 
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Husker03 said:
Not controversial at all, just fact. 
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It can be both - although the fact that he went undrafted definitely makes it less controversial. I definitely thought he would be drafted higher and would've disagreed a few months ago. But seeing that and then hearing comments like Vince's make you look at it again and I can see what they're saying. Still one of my favorite recent players, but lighting up Minnesota and Illinois does prop up your numbers.

 
Vince R. said:
Some of you will kill me for these statements. 

I would never associate great with Stanley Morgan. I think he is a fine player, but thats it. 

A scout for the Raider's that I know personally told me this about Stanley: "Great amongst subpar competition, average to non-existent against the best in the conference" And I agree. He was hardly doubled-teamed. Teams did not fear him. He is slow in pads, and cannot beat a good DB one on one. He does have tremendous hands though. His routes were flat at times, and he struggled to sell them. Nebraska ran plays to isolate him, and he could not separate.  His last really good game against good competition was in 2017 against Oregon. Stanley worked well underneath but it was hardly game changing type play. So that sounds bleak considering that he had 1,000 yards last year. This Offense will work better with true WR's who have 500 yards receiving but have the ability to fly right by you, because that is what opens up the offense for the Duck R position. 
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I'm a big fan of Stanley Morgan, but everything you said here is totally fair. The worst problem that I see is that fact that you appear to be friends with someone who works for the Raiders. 

 
I think Martinez' grasp of the offense was scary good. As a homer, I have some reservations about what @Vince R. said up there, but I can't refute any of it. Stanley was good, but not great. He has work to do to be an NFL WR. Still, I'm glad he got to be our first 1,000 yard receiver. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

As this year develops and we have multiple Stanley-esque guys on offense, I think we'll see numbers skyrocket.

In just one year (from 2017 under Riley to 2018 under Frost) Nebraska went from 87th in the country in total offense to 26th.

We went from 67th in yards per play to 19th.

We went from 122nd in the country in Rushing Yards Per Game (OMG!) to 28th.

From 84th in Points Per Game to 58th.

Passing yards per game actually went down, from 27th in 2017 to 52nd last year, but completion percentage was way up (77th in 2017 to 32nd) and attempts were way down (15th to 47th). So we were WAAAAY more efficient in the passing game.

The biggest problem we had was penalties. We went from 52nd in the country in 2017 to 15th last year. That's WAAAAY too many penalties, but it's also not outrageous to think we'd have mistakes in a new offense. Clean that up and we're in good shape.

And all that with a Freshman QB.  And frankly, if what Vince says is true, Martinez made Stanley look good.

Who's he going to make look good this year? 

 
One thing to keep in mind with these receivers who have great hands, like Westerkamp and Morgan - if you’re a really fast receiver or you’re able to separate because you’re a great route runner, the QB doesn’t have to throw the ball as far away from the defender because there’s enough separation to make it unlikely the defender can reach the ball. So maybe it’s the slower guys who make more circus catches because they have to. 

(OTOH the QBs can be more lazy with their precision if the WR is more open, so I think I just argued against myself)

 
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