Carnes Starter?

[Enhance]

There are several variables that lead me to believe Carnes will not start and may not even be the backup behind Martinez this year.

For starters, Martinez has an entire year of experience under his belt and an extra year of running the offense. I understand that the offense is new and so is the coordinator, but I doubt that Beck implemented plays that Martinez is unfamiliar with.

Second, this is the first time we've seen Carnes in action. He looked good but this is only one game. And his two biggest runs of the day came off of broken passing plays. I'm not denying his athletic ability but I'm not taking anything from his performance other than he looked good for a day.

Second, I think the overall experience of Martinez and Green ousts Carnes right now. You have to have great poise and grasp of the offense in order to overcome both of those guys, and I doubt Carnes has it in him right now. He could supplant Green in my opinion, but unless Martinez lays a giant egg I just don't see Carnes getting past him.

 

[knapplc]

I will be shocked if Carnes isn't the #2 heading into the Fall. If he's got this much of the offense down already, he'll take over the #2 spot by Fall, easy. And he'll make sure Martinez doesn't slack off, as well. Carnes looked like "the future" today. Caveats galore, I know, but the guy showed something.

 

[knapplc]

I don't think there's any way Taylor doesn't start this year, and he'd have to do pretty badly to lose his job. But I think Carnes (just a RFr) is growing and there's a decent chance TM may not be a 4-year starter at QB. At some point this year or next, it's possible that Carnes will get his opportunity, and not let go of it. But that's a lot of ifs.

It's telling though, that of the two celebrated QBs from this class - a class that needed QBs - both probably won't make it. Starling I doubt is coming, and Turner probably stands as much a chance of moving back to QB as Prince did of moving back to RB back in '07. Right now, on this roster, Carnes is the future. It's too bad there isn't more class separation between the Future and the Present.

I actually predict an effective opening day depth chart of TM, Green, and Carnes. Brion showed his stuff today, but we can afford to be very patient with him, and not press him into service.

For all the times you and I have disagreed on QBs, I agree with nearly everything in this post, except where you have Green. I don't see Green as part of the conversation in the future at QB. Very unimpressed today, and it makes me sad. But that's offset by how happy I was with Carnes, and Turner.

 

[Enhance]

I know there isn't a lot of weight for stats of a single scrimmage, but I just think that this is funny:

Presumptive starter, Martinez, Taylor 4-13-1, 52 yards passing (-1 net rushing yard)

Presumptive #2, Green, Cody 4-11-0, 63 yards passing (-6 net rushing yards)

Presumptive #3 (or 4), Kellogg III, Ron 11-19-0, 124 yards passing (-12 net rushing yards)

Presumptive #4 (or 3), Carnes, Brion 11-15-0, 173 yards passing (40 net rushing yards)

All stats can be found here.

If I'm not mistaken, they had a lot of the "back-up" players in during the second and fourth quarters, when Carnes predominantly played. Most of the better defenders for both squads played in the first and third quarters.

 

[Danny Bateman]

There are several variables that lead me to believe Carnes will not start and may not even be the backup behind Martinez this year.

For starters, Martinez has an entire year of experience under his belt and an extra year of running the offense. I understand that the offense is new and so is the coordinator, but I doubt that Beck implemented plays that Martinez is unfamiliar with.

Second, this is the first time we've seen Carnes in action. He looked good but this is only one game. And his two biggest runs of the day came off of broken passing plays. I'm not denying his athletic ability but I'm not taking anything from his performance other than he looked good for a day.

Second, I think the overall experience of Martinez and Green ousts Carnes right now. You have to have great poise and grasp of the offense in order to overcome both of those guys, and I doubt Carnes has it in him right now. He could supplant Green in my opinion, but unless Martinez lays a giant egg I just don't see Carnes getting past him.

Keep in mind two things, though, when you consider whether Carnes can challenge this fall:

1) We scrapped the old offense, and though the new one is very similar, all 3 guys are learning a new system. So, Carnes theoretically could pick it up faster than the other two, even though they've been here longer.

2) Taylor was not 100% today, and it could be quite a while until he actually is. What if this turns into one of those nagging injuries that follows a guy around his entire career? God forbid, but it could happen. Is a gimpy Martinez really the best choice to run our offense? We saw what it looked like at the tail end of the year, and it was not pretty for our offense.

 

[knapplc]

Keep in mind two things, though, when you consider whether Carnes can challenge this fall:

1) We scrapped the old offense, and though the new one is very similar, all 3 guys are learning a new system. So, Carnes theoretically could pick it up faster than the other two, even though they've been here longer.

2) Taylor was not 100% today, and it could be quite a while until he actually is. What if this turns into one of those nagging injuries that follows a guy around his entire career? God forbid, but it could happen. Is a gimpy Martinez really the best choice to run our offense? We saw what it looked like at the tail end of the year, and it was not pretty for our offense.

Regarding #1 - this offense is basically being tailor-made for Taylor. If he doesn't have the best grasp of this offense of all our QBs, he'll never start another game.

#2 - This is a good point. I would hope that Carnes progresses well enough to be able to functionally lead this team if Martinez goes through another injury spell. If not... I'm not sure we can succeed with Cody.

 

[Enhance]

There are several variables that lead me to believe Carnes will not start and may not even be the backup behind Martinez this year.

For starters, Martinez has an entire year of experience under his belt and an extra year of running the offense. I understand that the offense is new and so is the coordinator, but I doubt that Beck implemented plays that Martinez is unfamiliar with.

Second, this is the first time we've seen Carnes in action. He looked good but this is only one game. And his two biggest runs of the day came off of broken passing plays. I'm not denying his athletic ability but I'm not taking anything from his performance other than he looked good for a day.

Second, I think the overall experience of Martinez and Green ousts Carnes right now. You have to have great poise and grasp of the offense in order to overcome both of those guys, and I doubt Carnes has it in him right now. He could supplant Green in my opinion, but unless Martinez lays a giant egg I just don't see Carnes getting past him.

Keep in mind two things, though, when you consider whether Carnes can challenge this fall:

1) We scrapped the old offense, and though the new one is very similar, all 3 guys are learning a new system. So, Carnes theoretically could pick it up faster than the other two, even though they've been here longer.

2) Taylor was not 100% today, and it could be quite a while until he actually is. What if this turns into one of those nagging injuries that follows a guy around his entire career? God forbid, but it could happen. Is a gimpy Martinez really the best choice to run our offense? We saw what it looked like at the tail end of the year, and it was not pretty for our offense.

Well, I'm highly doubtful that the old system was entirely scrapped. Beck worked under Watson and I'm sure took several ideas. I would be very surprised if some of the offensive plays weren't retained. Also consider that Martinez still has valuable game experience that Carnes does not. Obviously an inexperienced guy can supplant an incumbent given the opportunity, but everything is hypothetical right now.

Even if Carnes had thrown for 300 yards, run for 150 and scored two touchdowns, I'd still be sitting here saying we don't know much of anything about him.

 

[Roark]

I know there isn't a lot of weight for stats of a single scrimmage, but I just think that this is funny:

Presumptive starter, Martinez, Taylor 4-13-1, 52 yards passing (-1 net rushing yard)

Presumptive #2, Green, Cody 4-11-0, 63 yards passing (-6 net rushing yards)

Presumptive #3 (or 4), Kellogg III, Ron 11-19-0, 124 yards passing (-12 net rushing yards)

Presumptive #4 (or 3), Carnes, Brion 11-15-0, 173 yards passing (40 net rushing yards)

All stats can be found here.

If I'm not mistaken, they had a lot of the "back-up" players in during the second and fourth quarters, when Carnes predominantly played. Most of the better defenders for both squads played in the first and third quarters.

That's possible. I didn't get to watch the game, I had to listen to it online like all the Big Ten foes trying to get an edge on Nebraska. I thought I heard a few familiar names called on the defensive side of the ball when Carnes was in, though... I guess I wasn't under the impression that they were cycling starters out all at once.

 

[knapplc]

We get to see a pretty good demonstration of the ability of Carnes in the play at 1:50, just after Legate's first TD HERE. Good rollout, good throw. He's locked in on Turner and doesn't go through a progression, but whatever. He looks the part of a D1A QB to me.

 

[Danny Bateman]

I guess my number one point is kind of a weak one. Obviously Taylor and Cody are going to have prior knowledge of Wats' system that is going to benefit them. However, Beck could have entirely different terminology for everything.

I do agree though, he could still say something like " Do ______... It's like ______ from the old system" to Taylor or Cody, whereas he doesn't have that luxury with Brion.

 

[huskerscott]

I know there isn't a lot of weight for stats of a single scrimmage, but I just think that this is funny:

Presumptive starter, Martinez, Taylor 4-13-1, 52 yards passing (-1 net rushing yard)

Presumptive #2, Green, Cody 4-11-0, 63 yards passing (-6 net rushing yards)

Presumptive #3 (or 4), Kellogg III, Ron 11-19-0, 124 yards passing (-12 net rushing yards)

Presumptive #4 (or 3), Carnes, Brion 11-15-0, 173 yards passing (40 net rushing yards)

All stats can be found here.

If I'm not mistaken, they had a lot of the "back-up" players in during the second and fourth quarters, when Carnes predominantly played. Most of the better defenders for both squads played in the first and third quarters.

That's possible. I didn't get to watch the game, I had to listen to it online like all the Big Ten foes trying to get an edge on Nebraska. I thought I heard a few familiar names called on the defensive side of the ball when Carnes was in, though... I guess I wasn't under the impression that they were cycling starters out all at once.

That was my impression also. Plus, wasnt everybody bragging on much depth we will have on defense this year. That other than guys like Crick,David and Dennard their isnt much drop off between the 1s and 2s.

 

[The Dude]

You have to put a lot of the blame on Taylor's nagging injuries on the staff. They're just not giving him a chance to heal.

 

[knapplc]

I wasn't very clear on what I was saying there - what I meant to say was that Beck's offense is almost exactly what Taylor ran in High School when he won State in California. That's why he should have the best grasp on this thing. If he doesn't, that's a huge red flag - or it means that Carnes is really that good.

 

[knapplc]

I know there isn't a lot of weight for stats of a single scrimmage, but I just think that this is funny:

Presumptive starter, Martinez, Taylor 4-13-1, 52 yards passing (-1 net rushing yard)

Presumptive #2, Green, Cody 4-11-0, 63 yards passing (-6 net rushing yards)

Presumptive #3 (or 4), Kellogg III, Ron 11-19-0, 124 yards passing (-12 net rushing yards)

Presumptive #4 (or 3), Carnes, Brion 11-15-0, 173 yards passing (40 net rushing yards)

All stats can be found here.

If I'm not mistaken, they had a lot of the "back-up" players in during the second and fourth quarters, when Carnes predominantly played. Most of the better defenders for both squads played in the first and third quarters.

That's possible. I didn't get to watch the game, I had to listen to it online like all the Big Ten foes trying to get an edge on Nebraska. I thought I heard a few familiar names called on the defensive side of the ball when Carnes was in, though... I guess I wasn't under the impression that they were cycling starters out all at once.

That was my impression also. Plus, wasnt everybody bragging on much depth we will have on defense this year. That other than guys like Crick,David and Dennard their isnt much drop off between the 1s and 2s.

I don't know that there were less starters in against Carnes. I have a bad habit of not watching the defense during the Spring Game, so I can't say for sure, but I think Carnes saw several 1's out there. He looked good, you can't deny that.

 

[zoogs]

If the stuff about Carnes and picking up the new offense are right, I am thinking no way he starts next year. Promising developmental prospect is the role he's going to take right now.

That's why I listed him as #3. We can afford to give him, basically, a second redshirt year without the live fire game week stuff, unless it's an emergency. That would be great for him.

Knowing the offense is a pretty key aspect of being a QB.