Turner embracing new opportunity at receiver

Hercules said:
kchusker_chris said:
Hercules said:
I don't think anyone disagrees with you about anything you just said. It's just that we DID carve out a role in the offense for Jamal - that's why he was the team's leading receiver halfway through last season, even though he didn't know the playbook or the position very well. Then he started underachieving - he dropped passes, he was dogging it in practice, he struggled with blocking, and Marlowe beat him out for the job. And while he doesn't need to have a QB-like command of the offense, he does have to know how to get lined up right. The coaches didn't even trust him to do that in the latter part of the 2011 season, so he didn't see the field so much as the coaches opened the offense up more in conference play.

Anyways, it's his second year in the system, his second year at the position, and we should see clear improvement from him. I think the offense as a whole is very promising - unfortunately, the biggest question marks are again on the o-line.
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I personally can only remember 1 dropped pass at the end of a blowout. There might have been another 1 or two, but it's not like he was dropping passes left and right. Both Kinnie and Bell dropped far more than Turner, yet they were on the field the entire season.

And I find it hard to believe that he had no issues lining up the first half of the season...then with 3 months and 7 games under his belt he all of a sudden couldn't be trusted to line up in the right spot.
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Kinnie and Bell were more complete players though. They knew the whole offense, and they can block. The only reason to have Jamal on the field last year was that he was such a playmaker that he needed his touches - but if he's a liability to drop the ball when it gets thrown to him, his playmaking ability is useless. If he can't get lined up right, same thing.

If you only have one or two packages you play in, like Jamal did last year, you better damn well execute when you get your chance. If you get your chance and blow it, like he did, then expect to see guys who are more complete players, who can contribute in a variety of ways.

Furthermore, just because you remember only one dropped pass in a game doesn't mean it wasn't an issue in practice. Remember they created the "Jamal Drill," to address dropped passes, and there were multiple stories where Jamal himself admitted that he was dogging it in practice. I don't care if we have the next Randy Moss - if the kid is dogging it in practice, he sits. End of story.
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Nailed it.

 
kchusker_chris said:
Hercules said:
Furthermore, just because you remember only one dropped pass in a game doesn't mean it wasn't an issue in practice. Remember they created the "Jamal Drill," to address dropped passes...
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Very true. And having a drill named after u because you drop passes has to to sting the ego a little :P I didn't remember that.

Hercules said:
I don't care if we have the next Randy Moss - if the kid is dogging it in practice, he sits. End of story.
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Do you think this would apply to Martinez? I just don't get our receivers sometimes. It seems to always be this position...whether GIlmore is coaching them or Fish. Same story, new year.
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Z. Lee or Tmart throwing the ball the last three years........drops everywhere. Fully agree it's a problem.

 
kchusker_chris said:
Hercules said:
I don't care if we have the next Randy Moss - if the kid is dogging it in practice, he sits. End of story.
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Do you think this would apply to Martinez?
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It darn well better. If he's loafing in practice they need to bench him. If the team suffers, they can all blame him.

I don't think we've heard that Martinez isn't giving it his all in practice though, have we? That walking boot story comes to mind, but it's been a while.

 
I've always heard that Martinez has been a hard worker. He has flaws, and they have been discussed in virtually every thread on Huskerboard at this point, but I don't recall his work ethic ever coming up as an issue. And that's saying something...

The guy that is always lost in the Jamal Turner conversation is Tim Marlowe. It's not like Jamal Turner struggled with some issues so the coaches benched him as punishment. It's the combination of Turner struggling and Marlowe really stepping up that caused playing time to change significantly. You can critique the coaches' decision to play Marlowe ahead of Turner, but I thought Marlowe was pretty clearly the more effective player towards the end of the season. He was reliable. Turner had the edge on Marlowe in terms of pure athleticism, but Marlowe had the edge everywhere else by FAR. The offense was more productive with him on the field than it was with Turner on the field.

Anyways, Turner was a true freshmen, he was hyped up like crazy by the fans and the media after his spring game performance, and it was his first season in a new system, and his first season as a wide receiver. It's not surprising that he struggled a fair amount. I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do this year, though.

 
Hercules said:
Anyways, Turner was a true freshmen, he was hyped up like crazy by the fans and the media after his spring game performance, and it was his first season in a new system, and his first season as a wide receiver. It's not surprising that he struggled a fair amount. I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do this year, though.
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No way that this could have happened. Not here in Nebraska and definitely not by it's fans.

 
The guy that is always lost in the Jamal Turner conversation is Tim Marlowe. It's not like Jamal Turner struggled with some issues so the coaches benched him as punishment. It's the combination of Turner struggling and Marlowe really stepping up that caused playing time to change significantly. You can critique the coaches' decision to play Marlowe ahead of Turner, but I thought Marlowe was pretty clearly the more effective player towards the end of the season. He was reliable. Turner had the edge on Marlowe in terms of pure athleticism, but Marlowe had the edge everywhere else by FAR. The offense was more productive with him on the field than it was with Turner on the field.
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It seems like this is a bit speculative. Not that there is anything better we can do, but Jamal took a backseat, big time, rather than just losing a spot on the field to Marlowe. Correct me if I'm wrong, he didn't get that many practice reps, either. I guess the starters get the majority of them, but I think if you look at Marlowe's playing time, he still had some when Turner was getting his, and then Turner completely disappeared when Marlowe stepped up.

And I guess I just don't really remember Marlowe ever doing that much. You may be right. I don't know. So I guess it isn't that clear to me that Marlowe had the edge everywhere else by far.

 
I believe the blocking aspect of Jamal's game played just as big of role in his playing time down the stretch as hiis "limited" knowledge of the offense. Look at the end of the season where NU got the lead in games they won (ie MSU, PSU, and Iowa) and how hard Bo and Beck leaned on the running game.

 
it's just frustrating, knowing he was explosive, but not seeing the field.......like having a really powerful car, but just leaving it sit in the driveway.....sigh

 
HuskerFowler said:
Hunter94 said:
it's just frustrating, knowing he was explosive, but not seeing the field.......like having a really powerful car, but just leaving it sit in the driveway.....sigh
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If your car didnt have a steering wheel would you still drive it?
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yeah, we know, he didn't progress mentally as the season wore on.....seeing him early and wtaching him play left everyone wanting more, that's all.

 
zoogies said:
The guy that is always lost in the Jamal Turner conversation is Tim Marlowe. It's not like Jamal Turner struggled with some issues so the coaches benched him as punishment. It's the combination of Turner struggling and Marlowe really stepping up that caused playing time to change significantly. You can critique the coaches' decision to play Marlowe ahead of Turner, but I thought Marlowe was pretty clearly the more effective player towards the end of the season. He was reliable. Turner had the edge on Marlowe in terms of pure athleticism, but Marlowe had the edge everywhere else by FAR. The offense was more productive with him on the field than it was with Turner on the field.
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It seems like this is a bit speculative. Not that there is anything better we can do, but Jamal took a backseat, big time, rather than just losing a spot on the field to Marlowe. Correct me if I'm wrong, he didn't get that many practice reps, either. I guess the starters get the majority of them, but I think if you look at Marlowe's playing time, he still had some when Turner was getting his, and then Turner completely disappeared when Marlowe stepped up.

And I guess I just don't really remember Marlowe ever doing that much. You may be right. I don't know. So I guess it isn't that clear to me that Marlowe had the edge everywhere else by far.
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I wouldn't know how many practice reps either guy got. If Jamal wasn't practicing hard, then the coaches probably did cut his reps down and give them to somebody who would use them. I would have...

As a receiver/runner, Marlowe went from having 2 touches in the first 6 games to having 17 touches in the last 7 games. That's a big enough jump (especially in a running offense) that somebody else is going to see a dip in their touches, and that guy was probably Jamal Turner.

The notion that Jamal Turner disappeared is flat-out wrong. The coaches still tried to get him touches after the Minnesota game. Against Michigan State, we ran a designed screen pass meant for him, but Michigan State sniffed it out (probably because they knew the only reason for us to have JT on the field was to give him the ball), so Taylor had to tuck the ball and eat the sack. Later on (I think against Iowa), we had a designed toss play for Jamal or an option where Taylor pitched to him, and Jamal fumbled the toss and we lost 5 yards. Against South Carolina, we had him open downfield, Taylor threw it to him, Jamal got held, and we got a pass interference penalty out of it.

Did Jamal's playing time and touches decrease? Yes. Did it disappear altogether? No. But the Michigan State play is a great example of why it's difficult to play someone who is as limited as Jamal was. If they did their homework, they knew that Jamal had looked good on designed screen passes early in the year, that he was a first year receiver and a true freshman who didn't know how to run routes, that he was a subpar blocker and only saw the field when we wanted to get him the ball. Any defensive coach worth their salt (and there are lots of those in the Big Ten) can see that on film and teach his players to think "screen pass" every time they see #10 line up.

 
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