Triaging the QB room

JJ Husker said:
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I’ve always found it interesting when people complain about a thread or how much discussion a certain thread is getting or why people are discussing things inside a thread.  

Do they not understand they aren’t required to read every post or thread within this board.  that it’s ok to not read something you aren’t interested in? 

 
Lorewarn said:
I don't really get this. Maybe people are seeing something I'm not, but our offense all season has pretty much only worked with the qb run game or threat of the qb run game.
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The discussion is, would that have not been an issue if Thompson was here. I'm not saying we would have for sure seen better offensive production with him as the starter, but that's the point of the conversation.

Lorewarn said:
It's responsible for almost every single big chunk play we've had all season...
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Well we've actually had a few long throws (a couple of them TD's) this season that got drives going, kept them going, or finished them off.

Maybe helpful thing to do is to look at points per game this season versus previous seasons. Here's what that looks like:

- 2023 currently: 114th

- 2022: 101st

- 2021: 78th

- 2020: 101st

- 2019: 63rd

- 2018: 54th

In the 2020 season we didn't get the benefit of playing two complete nobodies to blow out because of COVID. But anyway, we're just so bad this year at getting points on the board. So if a QB run game is the only thing making our offense work, is it even saying very much?

 
Undone said:
Well we've actually had a few long throws (a couple of them TD's) this season that got drives going, kept them going, or finished them off.
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And most of them were off option passes after we'd established the option and qb run game and defenses bit.

We would add some amount of better passing production with Thompson, but how much considering the state of our receiver room? 

 
We've had some big pass plays keep us in games and win games.

We've had some big QB run plays do the same. 

We also lead the world in unforced turnovers. That's the difference.

Let's not pretend we can tweak our not-ready-for-prime-time quarterbacks into schemes and playcalls that will be both safe and successful. Rhule and Satt can take all the heat in the world for choosing Jeff Sims as the horse they want to ride in their transition year, but what they're asking QBs to do are things every QB should be able to do.

Might be nice to have a couple of those starting receivers and running backs we lost. That's not Haarberg, Sims, or Purdy's fault. But they just aren't P5 worthy quarterbacks. And that's sad. For them. And us. 

 
ColoradoHusk said:
Because so many people thought it was better for the young WRs to get snaps in games, even if it was detrimental to NU’s offense this year. 
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In the long run and for next year’s growth it is better that those young receivers are getting meaningful snaps and making mistakes to learn from this year when the QB’s are not good.  

 
lo country said:
Not that we need elite talent like Trevor Lawrence (but it'd be great) is a perfect example of this.  Dude was a decent runner, but he wasn't a running QB.  A few designed runs to keep the D honest and have to account for him and an ability to scramble when needed.   
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I think Nebraska earned a great reputation as a rushing steamroller operating with option quarterbacks, but we haven't been able to coast on it as both offenses and defenses have adapted the past 20 years. We still hold the door for high school dual threats who want to keep playing quarterback, when other schools want to convert them to other positions. Great athletes with great YouTube clips, but not the passing skills needed to succeed at the next level. Agree we don't need the elite 5 star or air raid guy, but we may want to identify the competent passer first before we get excited about what he can do with his legs.  

 
Archy1221 said:
In the long run and for next year’s growth it is better that those young receivers are getting meaningful snaps and making mistakes to learn from this year when the QB’s are not good.  
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Yes, I agree it’s good in the long run. However, the young receivers may have not produced as well as they could have to get another win or two this season. It’s easy to blame the OC, OL coach, or QB, but the whole offense has had issues with health and reliability. 

 
Lorewarn said:
We would add some amount of better passing production with Thompson, but how much considering the state of our receiver room? 
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It's a good point. Now maybe it's more of limiting dumb interceptions though also. That's been a pretty big problem this season also.

Another thing that's similar to your point would be how we had two key RB's get injured for the season. So maybe the running QB's filled the gaps there because if I'm looking at team stats correctly, we're actually 32nd in the nation in rushing yards per game.

Hard to say all things would have been equal with injuries if Thompson had been the starter but maybe there's something to that one.

 
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Archy1221 said:
I’ve always found it interesting when people complain about a thread or how much discussion a certain thread is getting or why people are discussing things inside a thread.  

Do they not understand they aren’t required to read every post or thread within this board.  that it’s ok to not read something you aren’t interested in? 
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I mean I sort of get it.

No amount of message board discussion is going to change the QB room diagnosis from critical/near death. Tough to “triage” when there is no pulse to be found. But yeah, it can be passed by easily by anyone who doesn’t want to see it.

I was just giving him the business (as Wally Clever would say).

 
Lorewarn said:
I don't really get this. Maybe people are seeing something I'm not, but our offense all season has pretty much only worked with the qb run game or threat of the qb run game. It's responsible for almost every single big chunk play we've had all season, so without it, I don't see how our offense would be moving the ball at all.
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Because he was better than what we have this year.

 
BigRedBuster said:
Because he was better than what we have this year.
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I think in a hypothetical world with Casey still here, we'd have a handful less turnovers, some amount more passing production more than offset by a greater loss in rushing production, and he'd miss at least 4-5 games being hurt and maybe we get one more win that we left on the table. Based off nothing other than my own intuition, I think this year's offense was more or less doomed to be mediocre and then was fated into all-time-bad status with injuries no matter what.

 
Let this be a lesson to us all- you simply cannot live and die by the portal year in and year out, particularly at a position of utmost important like QB.  I dont like bagging on frosty at this point because its been well covered, but so much of this issue goes back to us hitching our wagon to 2AM and pretty much refusing to bring in another qb until 2am was an upperclassmen.  We as a progrum left very little options besides going into the portal and we're left with a swing and a miss on a portal guy, forcing a local kid who prolly 2nd/3rd string at best, and another project from the portal that simply doesn't seem to P5 material consistently. 

Lets hope Kaelin is the start of us building out a qb room organically and truly up-leveling QBs where they dont play until they're truly ready and their time is now.  

 
gossamorharpy said:
Let this be a lesson to us all- you simply cannot live and die by the portal year in and year out, particularly at a position of utmost important like QB.  I dont like bagging on frosty at this point because its been well covered, but so much of this issue goes back to us hitching our wagon to 2AM and pretty much refusing to bring in another qb until 2am was an upperclassmen.  We as a progrum left very little options besides going into the portal and we're left with a swing and a miss on a portal guy, forcing a local kid who prolly 2nd/3rd string at best, and another project from the portal that simply doesn't seem to P5 material consistently. 

Lets hope Kaelin is the start of us building out a qb room organically and truly up-leveling QBs where they dont play until they're truly ready and their time is now.  
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I agree with your premise on not living in the portal year to year - but we're taking another one next year anyway. I don't think we can count on any true freshman saving us right away. But hopefully down the line we can avoid constantly needing to grab a QB from the portal.

It's also more difficult than it sounds to keep a homegrown QB room. I don't think Martinez was among our biggest problems on the field to be honest, but any 4-year starter is going to make QB recruiting more difficult. If Kaelin wins the job and looks good, that will negatively impact our 2025 and 2026 QB recruiting. Or with the one-time free transfer, at least make it more difficult to keep those guys after they don't win the job.

As far as number of QBs and their qualifications (recruiting ranking and/or play at previous schools), honestly we've done well since Frost's second year. Just through misevaluations or poor coaching, too many have underperformed what you'd expect from their pedigree and experience.

 
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