Lots of room to grow for Martinez

[th3r0m]

There are different kinds of leaders too. Some are vocal, some are cheerleaders, and some are quiet people who lead by example. Nobody questioned Suh's leadership, even though he was never a vocal guy - he always led by example. No one knows Taylor Martinez very well, but he certainly seems to be one of those players who prefers to just lead by example. This article tries to comment on a person's "attitude" without knowing that player or even interviewing that player, which is crappy journalism. If Chatelain had broken down Martinez's mistakes in the zone read, that's an article worth reading. But instead, he broke down a 20 year old's body language as if the kid was a politician in a debate. He implied that the kid doesn't care enough about his team because Martinez didn't get too excited after a first down (never mind that Martinez doesn't get too excited after rushing for 4 tds and 241 yards).

It's not hard to tell if someone cares about the team winning or not. It doesn't matter if one is animated about it, jumping up and down or simply standing up near the sideline watching intently. Sitting ten yards back on the bench with arms crossed pretty much tells the story.

If you or Chatelain feel so sure about that, feel free to go ask Martinez to his face whether he cares about the team winning or losing. But I won't feel sorry for you if he punches you in the face.

edit: And if you're not sure - then don't write the article implying such.

When asked to comment about the game or give an interview Martinez declined to be available, which given his "behavior" on the sidelines points towards a little bit of immaturity. He has a lot of growing up to do and this isn't just with regard to football - he's 18/19 years old and has a lot of life and growth ahead of him. It's kind of a delicate process of giving him room to grow whilst at the same time holding him responsible for his actions. I don't think I've seen anyone tearing him apart over this, but it's the kind of behavior that needs to have attention called to it so that he CAN grow from it - if all everyone does is give him a free pass because he's young and blow smoke up his quantum singularity then itjustifies the behavior rather than deterring from it.

Nobody's saying we should give him a free pass. But if you're going to critique him, critique is on-field performance. The missed throws, or the missed reads, that's all fair game. But don't write about his body language, don't speculate on his psyche, and I don't care whether or not he talks to the press the rest of the time he's at UNL. That's his choice.

And why shouldn't we? As has been pointed out many a time, being a quarterback is much more mental than physical in most cases - where a quarterback is at mentally is going to affect the team as whole much more than any other position. No-one is questioning his choice in girlfriends or which Xbox game he plays or what he wears, etc, etc. He's being questioned with regard to his actions and behavior as Taylor Martinez, Husker quarterback, not as Taylor Martinez, person.

Any other person in the quarterback position is going to be questioned physically as well as mentally (especially if they act the same way he did on Saturday.) As evidence see the threads on Zac Lee after being named 3rd string or Cody Green after getting and losing the starting position last year and being second string this year.

 

[huskernumerouno]

I cant imagine the bull SH1T that would be spewing out of peoples mouths if Zac Lee would have done this. Some people need to get off thinking that TM is all world one minute then when he has some adversity say he is just a freshman give him a pass. NO he acted like he was not interested in the game anymore after he was pulled and the coaches should have demanded that he put on the headset and stay involved. Respect is earned and you earn it faster in tough situations then when things are all going good.

 

[BigWillie]

Yeah. I especially liked how he implied Taylor's relationship with his family gets in the way of Taylor's more important relationship with his team.

I also like how he feels that Taylor's shortcoming is that he isn't enough of a cheerleader on the sideline. Because we all know that "leaders" like Tommie Frazier weren't really leaders because they didn't get excited enough on the sideline when their backup was in making plays.

Is Taylor Martinez a leader like Grant Wistrom or Jason Peter? No. But guess what - neither is anybody else. How about someone write an article on the lack of leadership from the SENIORS such as Rickey Thenarse or Niles Paul.

This article was cheap. This is the kind of article that sends coaches like Mike Gundy and Urban Meyer into a rage.

:lol:

It's always easier to shoot the messenger, eh?

There are a ton of stories out there about Taylor, his ego, and his parents. I've said for 2 years, dating back to when Taylor and his folks ticked off our coaches during Taylor's OV.

Digging up more would likely cause a hornets nest, and I'll leave Dirk to stirring that one up.

But just realize that not everything is sunshiney that comes out of our program. It just so happens that a writer finally took the time to point out what quite a few others have said for a while about Taylor.

 

[Ratt Mhule]

Yeah. I especially liked how he implied Taylor's relationship with his family gets in the way of Taylor's more important relationship with his team.

I also like how he feels that Taylor's shortcoming is that he isn't enough of a cheerleader on the sideline. Because we all know that "leaders" like Tommie Frazier weren't really leaders because they didn't get excited enough on the sideline when their backup was in making plays.

Is Taylor Martinez a leader like Grant Wistrom or Jason Peter? No. But guess what - neither is anybody else. How about someone write an article on the lack of leadership from the SENIORS such as Rickey Thenarse or Niles Paul.

This article was cheap. This is the kind of article that sends coaches like Mike Gundy and Urban Meyer into a rage.

:lol:

It's always easier to shoot the messenger, eh?

There are a ton of stories out there about Taylor, his ego, and his parents. I've said for 2 years, dating back to when Taylor and his folks ticked off our coaches during Taylor's OV.

Digging up more would likely cause a hornets nest, and I'll leave Dirk to stirring that one up.

But just realize that not everything is sunshiney that comes out of our program. It just so happens that a writer finally took the time to point out what quite a few others have said for a while about Taylor.

What did they do?

 

[BIGREDFAN_in_OMAHA]

Martinez has often been compared to Eric Crouch. How much of a leader was Crouch at this stage of his career? Did he improve on that by his senior year?

So because he is being compared to him means he has to act like him in every way? If Eric Crouch was not a leader, why does that mean Taylor Martinez can't be a leader at this stage of his career?

The Crouch = Martinez equation isn't a given because they aren't the same person. I was also more interested in knowing if Crouch actually developed into a leader. Actually most of the points raised in the article shouldn't be too surprising due to previous statements that Coach Pelini has given about Martinez being "unfazed" by many things. Does the team still have a team psychologist?

 

[JTrain]

There are different kinds of leaders too. Some are vocal, some are cheerleaders, and some are quiet people who lead by example. Nobody questioned Suh's leadership, even though he was never a vocal guy - he always led by example. No one knows Taylor Martinez very well, but he certainly seems to be one of those players who prefers to just lead by example. This article tries to comment on a person's "attitude" without knowing that player or even interviewing that player, which is crappy journalism. If Chatelain had broken down Martinez's mistakes in the zone read, that's an article worth reading. But instead, he broke down a 20 year old's body language as if the kid was a politician in a debate. He implied that the kid doesn't care enough about his team because Martinez didn't get too excited after a first down (never mind that Martinez doesn't get too excited after rushing for 4 tds and 241 yards).

It's not hard to tell if someone cares about the team winning or not. It doesn't matter if one is animated about it, jumping up and down or simply standing up near the sideline watching intently. Sitting ten yards back on the bench with arms crossed pretty much tells the story.

If you or Chatelain feel so sure about that, feel free to go ask Martinez to his face whether he cares about the team winning or losing. But I won't feel sorry for you if he punches you in the face.

edit: And if you're not sure - then don't write the article implying such.

Thanks for that valuable contribution. :thumbs

 

[onlyHskrfaninIL]

This article is BS. Write about Roy Helu who basically spotted them a TD with his fumble or write about the 3 or 4 dropped TD passes that directly cost them the game. They took away the zone read, no surprise there. Martinez made more than enough throws to win the game and win it easily. Yeah, he made some mistake but he had every right to be angry when he got yanked. He handled it fine.

 

[HuskerBob4]

Let's not get too carried away here....

***BIG ASSUMPTION WARNING***

This article was written by a man who has never walked in T-Magic's shoes...

The responses on this board have been written by men who have never walked in those shoes either...

My response is being written by a man who has not walked in those same shoes....BUT

As a former D-I athlete and multi-sport athlete in high school, I can personally say I feel this is one of the biggest knee jerk, over reactions I have ever seen. People are pretending they have psychology degrees and they had Taylor on their couch yesterday discussing his internal feelings and fears....

As a team leader, in whatever form, vocal, leader by example, etc, etc, the worst thing that can happen to you is losing control of the outcome. As a junior, I was pulled in a conference showdown because I had been coming off an injury and the coach wasn't sure what my limitations were, even though he had seen me for weeks and months at practice. Up until that moment, I was always a team first guy that never disrespected my teammates or coaches. But in that moment, as I approached the bench, I did not know how to handle the loss of control in the outcome of the game. I sent a 30 gallon trash can crashing into the team bench! I knew it was wrong the second the thought entered my mind, but I had never actually been removed from a game....EVER!!! Especially in a tough spot with the game on the line!!!

With that said, I am not going to try and enter T-Magic's mind, but I thought I would add a little perspective and say that I know, on a smaller scale, what he went through on Saturday. As the most dominant athlete on the field, you always feel like you can lead your team to victory and carry them back. When that opportunity is taken away, I do not judge how a young man reacts, because I myself, did not react the way I should have, or even the way I would have 99.99% of the time.

Here's to hoping we all learn something from this experience...

DAY BY DAY,

WE GET BETTER AND BETTER,

TIL WE CAN'T BE BEAT...

WON'T BE BEAT!!!

GO BIG RED!!!

 

[hskrfan4life]

We all know he's a redshirt freshman right? What do you get with a redshirt freshman or even true freshman? Mistakes, he will take these mistakes and learn from them to make him better.

 

[junior4949]

I don't know. I think we learned a lot more about our coaching staff Saturday than we did about Martinez. If Martinez was the spark this team needed when he was annointed the starter, we should have rode his back through the entire game. It appeared to me that the coaching staff gave up on him. I was appalled when Martinez was replaced with a QB that hasn't seen game time in six weeks. The thought that ran through my mind when Lee came in the game was well we've punished him long enough for having a surgery that the staff didn't deem necessary. Now, we're going to ask him to come in the game and win this thing for us. Whether there's anything to this or not, I keep thinking about our three QB's. One gets rewarded for threatening to quit the team, one gets punished for having a surgery that the staff didn't think he needed, and one just hasn't panned out. I'm sure I'm totally wrong in thinking this, but this was my exact thought process when Lee marched onto the field.

 

[zoogs]

Yeah. I especially liked how he implied Taylor's relationship with his family gets in the way of Taylor's more important relationship with his team.

I also like how he feels that Taylor's shortcoming is that he isn't enough of a cheerleader on the sideline. Because we all know that "leaders" like Tommie Frazier weren't really leaders because they didn't get excited enough on the sideline when their backup was in making plays.

Is Taylor Martinez a leader like Grant Wistrom or Jason Peter? No. But guess what - neither is anybody else. How about someone write an article on the lack of leadership from the SENIORS such as Rickey Thenarse or Niles Paul.

This article was cheap. This is the kind of article that sends coaches like Mike Gundy and Urban Meyer into a rage.

:lol:

It's always easier to shoot the messenger, eh?

There are a ton of stories out there about Taylor, his ego, and his parents. I've said for 2 years, dating back to when Taylor and his folks ticked off our coaches during Taylor's OV.

Digging up more would likely cause a hornets nest, and I'll leave Dirk to stirring that one up.

But just realize that not everything is sunshiney that comes out of our program. It just so happens that a writer finally took the time to point out what quite a few others have said for a while about Taylor.

What did they do?

It's probably not worth dredging up, but I believe it was a case of Taylor and his family wanting to push Taylor as a quarterback regardless of what coaches said or felt. But then again, Bo/Watson said he was always recruited as a QB, so read what you want into that. Agree with junior, that's about how I felt when I saw that Lee was in. This is a bit of a confusing situation right now.

 

[HuskerNMO]

Yeah. I especially liked how he implied Taylor's relationship with his family gets in the way of Taylor's more important relationship with his team.

I also like how he feels that Taylor's shortcoming is that he isn't enough of a cheerleader on the sideline. Because we all know that "leaders" like Tommie Frazier weren't really leaders because they didn't get excited enough on the sideline when their backup was in making plays.

Is Taylor Martinez a leader like Grant Wistrom or Jason Peter? No. But guess what - neither is anybody else. How about someone write an article on the lack of leadership from the SENIORS such as Rickey Thenarse or Niles Paul.

This article was cheap. This is the kind of article that sends coaches like Mike Gundy and Urban Meyer into a rage.

:lol:

It's always easier to shoot the messenger, eh?

There are a ton of stories out there about Taylor, his ego, and his parents. I've said for 2 years, dating back to when Taylor and his folks ticked off our coaches during Taylor's OV.

Digging up more would likely cause a hornets nest, and I'll leave Dirk to stirring that one up.

But just realize that not everything is sunshiney that comes out of our program. It just so happens that a writer finally took the time to point out what quite a few others have said for a while about Taylor.

What did they do?

It's probably not worth dredging up, but I believe it was a case of Taylor and his family wanting to push Taylor as a quarterback regardless of what coaches said or felt. But then again, Bo/Watson said he was always recruited as a QB, so read what you want into that. Agree with junior, that's about how I felt when I saw that Lee was in. This is a bit of a confusing situation right now.

Where's rumorville when you need it?

The story goes that they asked Taylor to sit in a defensive meeting just ot get a feel for it, he was having no part of it and did not respond well. That and the whole rumor of leaving the team, then 3 days later being labeled the #1. I really think Bo sees a lot of himself in Taylor, but there's a lot of room for him to be coached up if he will let it happen.

I will say this, Taylor and family have had a rough time of it the past 6-7 years, I really don't think he's a bad kid, but I think that he needs to grow up a bit and be his own man. I can literally see this turning into a Bobby Reid/ Mike Gundy i'm a man, i'm 40 type rant in the future.

 

[BigWillie]

The story goes that they asked Taylor to sit in a defensive meeting just ot get a feel for it, he was having no part of it and did not respond well.

Pretty much sums it up.

 

[irieboy8]

im wondering how t-magic will stack up against the big-10 and the defenses they seem to run.......