QB Cody Kessler *

[Nexus]

Player: Cody Kessler

Hometown: Bakersfield, CA

School: Centennial HS

Position: QB (Pro-Style)

Height: 6'2"

Weight: 208

40 time: 4.94

Scholarships: Alabama, Arizona, Arizona St., Boise St., Fresno St., Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico St., Oregon St., Pittsburgh, San Diego St., San Jose St., Washington, Washington St.

 

Committed to USC

Rivals: :star :star (#4)

Scout: :star :star (#15)

ESPN: :star (#31)

[huskers1]

What the hell is going on? It still appears we have no idea where we want our offense to go in the future. We have perhaps the top dual threat qb committed to NU this year and one of the top in last years class and the class before that, yet we are still going after pro style qb's.

[RockyMountainOySker]

Chill out. It's good to have a mix of talent.

[zoogs]

What the hell is going on? It still appears we have no idea where we want our offense to go in the future. We have perhaps the top dual threat qb committed to NU this year and one of the top in last years class and the class before that, yet we are still going after pro style qb's.

 

Sigh.

 

We're not only taking players that fit through certain shaped cookie cutters. That's a bit crazy.

 

We need our QBs to be able to execute the offense. The dual threat guys bring that extra dimension, and IF the passing part clicks, then it will work out well with them. Nonetheless, their speed is a secondary quality. We're looking for quarterbacks who have the potential in their arm. Some are fast, but some are not.

 

People just have no faith at all in Watson...which is fair, but this particular argument IMO is ridiculous, and it's been repeated far too many times. Look at Texas with McCoy and Gilbert. Or OSU going from Boeckman to Pryor. Are they having an offensive identity crisis? Are they transitioning to a fast-QBs only system? No - it's just they got this kid that happens to be big and strong and fast, and they're going to make him a QB for them.

[dylan]

What the hell is going on? It still appears we have no idea where we want our offense to go in the future. We have perhaps the top dual threat qb committed to NU this year and one of the top in last years class and the class before that, yet we are still going after pro style qb's.

 

Sigh.

 

We're not only taking players that fit through certain shaped cookie cutters. That's a bit crazy.

 

We need our QBs to be able to execute the offense. The dual threat guys bring that extra dimension, and IF the passing part clicks, then it will work out well with them. Nonetheless, their speed is a secondary quality. We're looking for quarterbacks who have the potential in their arm. Some are fast, but some are not.

 

People just have no faith at all in Watson...which is fair, but this particular argument IMO is ridiculous, and it's been repeated far too many times. Look at Texas with McCoy and Gilbert. Or OSU going from Boeckman to Pryor. Are they having an offensive identity crisis? Are they transitioning to a fast-QBs only system? No - it's just they got this kid that happens to be big and strong and fast, and they're going to make him a QB for them.

 

ding ding ding. i'd be more concerned if we weren't offering the top passing QB's.

[Husker N KC]

What the hell is going on? It still appears we have no idea where we want our offense to go in the future. We have perhaps the top dual threat qb committed to NU this year and one of the top in last years class and the class before that, yet we are still going after pro style qb's.

 

Sigh.

 

We're not only taking players that fit through certain shaped cookie cutters. That's a bit crazy.

 

We need our QBs to be able to execute the offense. The dual threat guys bring that extra dimension, and IF the passing part clicks, then it will work out well with them. Nonetheless, their speed is a secondary quality. We're looking for quarterbacks who have the potential in their arm. Some are fast, but some are not.

 

People just have no faith at all in Watson...which is fair, but this particular argument IMO is ridiculous, and it's been repeated far too many times. Look at Texas with McCoy and Gilbert. Or OSU going from Boeckman to Pryor. Are they having an offensive identity crisis? Are they transitioning to a fast-QBs only system? No - it's just they got this kid that happens to be big and strong and fast, and they're going to make him a QB for them.

 

ding ding ding. i'd be more concerned if we weren't offering the top passing QB's.

 

We don't need top passers... Go back to the I running the Option with full back trap!

 

I better add

[kchusker_chris]

What the hell is going on? It still appears we have no idea where we want our offense to go in the future. We have perhaps the top dual threat qb committed to NU this year and one of the top in last years class and the class before that, yet we are still going after pro style qb's.

 

Sigh.

 

We're not only taking players that fit through certain shaped cookie cutters. That's a bit crazy.

 

We need our QBs to be able to execute the offense. The dual threat guys bring that extra dimension, and IF the passing part clicks, then it will work out well with them. Nonetheless, their speed is a secondary quality. We're looking for quarterbacks who have the potential in their arm. Some are fast, but some are not.

 

People just have no faith at all in Watson...which is fair, but this particular argument IMO is ridiculous, and it's been repeated far too many times. Look at Texas with McCoy and Gilbert. Or OSU going from Boeckman to Pryor. Are they having an offensive identity crisis? Are they transitioning to a fast-QBs only system? No - it's just they got this kid that happens to be big and strong and fast, and they're going to make him a QB for them.

If speed is a secondary quality, and we are pass-first offense...why aren't we concentrating more heavily on pro-style QB's? We don't have a good track record of improving questionable passers. If that's how it's going to be we need to start out with a more polished product than what we've recruited the last 3 years. I look for us to get to a point where we have 20-25 pass attempts a game max. Not exactly the type of environment a pro-style QB is going to thrive in. Even the AZ game, Lee was all over the field.

 

I'd argue OSU is having an offensive identity crisis when it comes to the QB position. Pryor comes out throwing the first part of the season, then has a bad game against Purdue and doesn't throw over 17 passes in a game until the bowl game where he has a breakout performance with 37 pass attempts. They aren't sure what they want to do w/ him.

 

And Texas is Texas. There is so much tallent around Gilbert that it doesn't matter what he does.

[Husker N KC]

What the hell is going on? It still appears we have no idea where we want our offense to go in the future. We have perhaps the top dual threat qb committed to NU this year and one of the top in last years class and the class before that, yet we are still going after pro style qb's.

 

Sigh.

 

We're not only taking players that fit through certain shaped cookie cutters. That's a bit crazy.

 

We need our QBs to be able to execute the offense. The dual threat guys bring that extra dimension, and IF the passing part clicks, then it will work out well with them. Nonetheless, their speed is a secondary quality. We're looking for quarterbacks who have the potential in their arm. Some are fast, but some are not.

 

People just have no faith at all in Watson...which is fair, but this particular argument IMO is ridiculous, and it's been repeated far too many times. Look at Texas with McCoy and Gilbert. Or OSU going from Boeckman to Pryor. Are they having an offensive identity crisis? Are they transitioning to a fast-QBs only system? No - it's just they got this kid that happens to be big and strong and fast, and they're going to make him a QB for them.

If speed is a secondary quality, and we are pass-first offense...why aren't we concentrating more heavily on pro-style QB's? We don't have a good track record of improving questionable passers. If that's how it's going to be we need to start out with a more polished product than what we've recruited the last 3 years. I look for us to get to a point where we have 20-25 pass attempts a game max. Not exactly the type of environment a pro-style QB is going to thrive in. Even the AZ game, Lee was all over the field.

 

I'd argue OSU is having an offensive identity crisis when it comes to the QB position. Pryor comes out throwing the first part of the season, then has a bad game against Purdue and doesn't throw over 17 passes in a game until the bowl game where he has a breakout performance with 37 pass attempts. They aren't sure what they want to do w/ him.

 

And Texas is Texas. There is so much tallent around Gilbert that it doesn't matter what he does.

 

I think we take the players we think are best at any given position. We don't say we only want dual-threat QBS, speedy running backs, and big physical recievers. Instead we offer the best of the best who we think we can use and then tweak our play calling to fit the personnel. That is what most programs do. We can't afford to put ourselves in a box and say we are not going to vary from it. Even Osborne worked with what he had and altered his play calling according to his players. Obviously you stay in your philosophy and scheme, but you can always make changes.

[zoogs]

If speed is a secondary quality, and we are pass-first offense...why aren't we concentrating more heavily on pro-style QB's?

 

Yes, that's something I'm wondering/concerned about as well. We do go after a number of pro-style guys, though. Spano is more Lee than Green in that spectrum, and he was a late snag after Gabbert fell through. Green was our guy that year, and Tyler was our guy the next - only when he fell through did we get Carnes, who is also far along in his passing compared to guys we have like Taymart and Green. As we've seen this year and last, we do offer a healthy mix of QBs, it's just that Gabbert fell through and we snagged Jamal Turner. But we may yet have a pro style QB in this class - and if we pull in another, it doesn't make sense for him to be a dual threat as well.

 

But I'm getting concerned about this. Our QB situation is basically that we enter next year with almost no pure passers. We should be ok though in that we have a couple guys who aren't pure projects either.

 

 

 

I'd argue OSU is having an offensive identity crisis when it comes to the QB position. Pryor comes out throwing the first part of the season, then has a bad game against Purdue and doesn't throw over 17 passes in a game until the bowl game where he has a breakout performance with 37 pass attempts. They aren't sure what they want to do w/ him.

 

Not sure that's having an identity crisis. Sounds like they pulled in the reins on him because he's a young QB in the fire and wasn't ready, and they tried to unleash him in the bowl game, something they'll build on into this year if they can.

 

And Texas is Texas. There is so much tallent around Gilbert that it doesn't matter what he does.

 

For the sake of clarity, Colt was the more dual threat guy out of the two, right? Or that's what I intended. A better example might be Florida, with Leak to Tebow to Brantley. Not like Urban Meyer can't decide what he wants out of a QB. He just brings in talent, which is why we brought in Green and Turner and why we went after Gabbert/Suntrup/etc.

[huskers1]

What I mean by my first post was we need to have a system year in and year out. IMO it's not going to help anyone if we alter the system to fit what we have at qb. There have been comparisons to florida and texas..like someone mentioned before, look at the talent they have around them. Florida has ten times the offensive talent and speed we do. I think the reason TO was so good for so long was bc he stuck with a system that worked for this region and the types of recruits we have the best chance with. I know he changed up his offense a couple of times but it's not like he was recruiting a Frazier type qb then in the same year recruiting a mark sanchez type qb. He knew what offense he wanted to run and recruited guys that would fit that system. When we recruit qb's the way we are; offering one mainly running qb then one pure passing qb it makes it seem like they have nooo idea what offense they want to run. It's almost like well what do I have to work with this year..ok I'll implement a pass first offense. I think that's why it usually takes us 4-5 games to find out what type of team we are going to be offensively, bc possibly the coaches don't even know. I wish if they were going to recruit these great athletes for qb then stick with it, don't try to make them into these polished drop back west coast passers. If you are going to recruit pro style qb's then don't try to make them run the zone read or speed options. I saw wayyy to many times last year Lee, having no business whatsoever running a speed option only to dive forward for one yard. I saw too often in the texas tech game, after Lee ran zone read after zone read after speed option, come in and be made into a drop back qb. Pick your system, recruit the athletes that fit it, and commit to it.

[dylan]

What I mean by my first post was we need to have a system year in and year out. IMO it's not going to help anyone if we alter the system to fit what we have at qb. There have been comparisons to florida and texas..like someone mentioned before, look at the talent they have around them. Florida has ten times the offensive talent and speed we do. I think the reason TO was so good for so long was bc he stuck with a system that worked for this region and the types of recruits we have the best chance with. I know he changed up his offense a couple of times but it's not like he was recruiting a Frazier type qb then in the same year recruiting a mark sanchez type qb. He knew what offense he wanted to run and recruited guys that would fit that system. When we recruit qb's the way we are; offering one mainly running qb then one pure passing qb it makes it seem like they have nooo idea what offense they want to run. It's almost like well what do I have to work with this year..ok I'll implement a pass first offense. I think that's why it usually takes us 4-5 games to find out what type of team we are going to be offensively, bc possibly the coaches don't even know. I wish if they were going to recruit these great athletes for qb then stick with it, don't try to make them into these polished drop back west coast passers. If you are going to recruit pro style qb's then don't try to make them run the zone read or speed options. I saw wayyy to many times last year Lee, having no business whatsoever running a speed option only to dive forward for one yard. I saw too often in the texas tech game, after Lee ran zone read after zone read after speed option, come in and be made into a drop back qb. Pick your system, recruit the athletes that fit it, and commit to it.

 

i understand your point, but i disagree that we don't know what kind of offense we want to run. first and foremost, our QB's need to be able to pass. if they can't throw, they won't play. obviously, we have also shown a strong preference for quarterbacks that are a threat on the ground. that doesn't mean we have to pass on the next peyton manning because he doesn't fit our ideal for a dual threat. this also doesn't mean that we can't take a phenomenal athlete, give him a try at QB to see if he can make the throws and move him elsewhere if he can't (see taylor martinez and jamal turner).

 

as to the effect this flexibility has on the offense, we simply will not be changing offenses annually (aside from cases of absolute necessity as we saw this season after the rash of injuries and poor play). we will run the same offense and adjust the percentages/emphasis based upon where our talent lies each year. that's just good coaching. same thing osborne did. you got a good FB, WB, TE one year, you emphasize the position more. you got a quarterback with different skills, you change emphasis (do you think brook berringer and mickey joseph had the same run/pass ratio?).

 

again, i understand your point about focus on one style allowing players to learn it well, i just don't see QB style affecting that, as our offense should be about 95% the same year to year regardless of which kid ends up playing. the only thing that changes is the ratio of QB runs vs. pass plays. (now, whether our offense is too complex overall for most kids to master is a very valid question, one that i don't think we have an answer for yet, though this year should answer some questions in that regard.)

 

in any case, we seem to be bringing in a lot of talent at the QB position lately and i'm excited to see how it shakes out.

[huskers1]

I can understand slightly changing the play calling to fit our qb's style but we don't at all. It actually seems we do the exact opposite when it comes to their strengths. I pointed out Cody Green in the TT game. I watched Lee, someone who proved wayyy too many times for my liking that he could not run the ball effectively, run the zone read and speed option and draw plays only to gain one or two yards at a time. Then when Green came in, someone who has proven to be a much better runner than passer, we passed the ball probably 70% of the time he was in there. At that point our defense was still holding them and it was still early enough that we didn't have to force the pass. If there was another Peyton Manning and we were running the zone read, option game it seems we are shifting to, why would we recruit him? In that case we would have to completely change our offense bc there is no way that someone with the speed of Manning or most other pro style passers could gain the respect that they are actually going to keep the ball. For example, the Texas game in 07', we completely shut down their offense when McCoy was in there bc he wasn't that great of a runner at that time and we could focus all of our attention on Charles. When Chiles came in we had to pay a ton of attention to him and Charles went off. I just think if we are going to commit to this zone read offense then commit to it, if not then quit recruiting guys like Green, Carnes, and Turner. Turner may be able to play a different position but Green and Carnes I don't believe will want to switch for anything.

[iruletheskool]

this thread reeks of

[Apathy]

UCLA and USC have offered.

 

USC already has a verbal commit with Max Wittek and both Cody and Max will be at the Rising Stars Camp this summer.

 

Cody will be attending Elite 11 in the Bay area and the Stanford NIKE camp. He will also be a mid-semester graduate.

[dylan]

I can understand slightly changing the play calling to fit our qb's style but we don't at all. It actually seems we do the exact opposite when it comes to their strengths. I pointed out Cody Green in the TT game. I watched Lee, someone who proved wayyy too many times for my liking that he could not run the ball effectively, run the zone read and speed option and draw plays only to gain one or two yards at a time. Then when Green came in, someone who has proven to be a much better runner than passer, we passed the ball probably 70% of the time he was in there. At that point our defense was still holding them and it was still early enough that we didn't have to force the pass. If there was another Peyton Manning and we were running the zone read, option game it seems we are shifting to, why would we recruit him? In that case we would have to completely change our offense bc there is no way that someone with the speed of Manning or most other pro style passers could gain the respect that they are actually going to keep the ball. For example, the Texas game in 07', we completely shut down their offense when McCoy was in there bc he wasn't that great of a runner at that time and we could focus all of our attention on Charles. When Chiles came in we had to pay a ton of attention to him and Charles went off. I just think if we are going to commit to this zone read offense then commit to it, if not then quit recruiting guys like Green, Carnes, and Turner. Turner may be able to play a different position but Green and Carnes I don't believe will want to switch for anything.

 

whether or not watson is an effective playcaller is an entirely different discussion. i'm just arguing whether we need to change our offense to accommodate different styles of quarterbacks, and as i said, i don't think we do. we will run an offense with a power running game and a passing attack based upon west coast principles regardless of who's in there. our coaches also recognize the value a QB run threat brings in stressing the opponent's safeties.

 

what can vary is the AMOUNT of QB run included. i guarantee you that the coaches would be willing to take a pure passer if he was a stud and that they wouldn't have him running the ball regularly.

 

and fwiw, i think green and carnes represent more of the ideal that the coaches are looking for in a QB recruit - true dual threat with high potential as a passer. i would put martinez and turner in the category i mentioned above - great athletes that get a shot to show what they can do. that would explain why we're still looking for a QB for this class - turner isn't the ideal we're after, more of a valuable wild card. otherwise, why not just sit pat with a top running QB recruit and the three other young QB's already on campus?