With All these Qb's who'll switch positions?

[zoogs]

I hope the next time anyone starts to complain about a guy that can't lead his receiver properly or see where the blitz is coming from, they remember that it's what they wanted, after all.

 

I said that we would have a shortage of true QBs. All those guys you named, sure they are true quarterbacks. But when you have a project that doesn't pan out, you aren't even left with a serviceable quarterback. You're left with a receiver taking the snaps. And while there are going to be guys that do pan out, you're going to be left with a bunch of guys who are scary thoughts as backups. In that: they might be able to run fast, but can they really be counted to go in there and run the show if QB1 goes down? I suppose the argument is that in our new offense, that will be fine. I guess I'm not convinced of that yet, at all.

[junior4949]

Scott Frost was a safety taking snaps. Tommie Frazier while being heavily recruited was really only recruited to play QB by Nebraska and Notre Dame. Harrison Beck was supposed the next best thing, yet he didn't turn out. The point is we can try to recruit with the big boys and get the big names, but there's plenty of them that don't pan out either. Take Gilbert down there at Texas. I'm not saying he won't eventually pan out, but he didn't exactly perform like a true QB slam dunk like he was thought to be when recruited. As far as I'm concerned it matters very little whether an incoming QB has two stars or five, they are all projects. TO brought in Frankie London. As far as I can remember, he never took a snap. Recruiting a QB for your program is about like an NFL team drafting a QB. They're all projects, and some work out and some don't.

 

In terms of what happens when the #1 goes down, I'd like to go back to an offense like we had where #3 who is a walk-on can step in and still help us win the game. Unfortunately, this doesn't appear to be the direction we're headed. I get what you're saying about projects, and it wouldn't surprise me if half of the QB's or more don't pan out. I guess this is why we have so many on scholly.

[knapplc]

I hope the next time anyone starts to complain about a guy that can't lead his receiver properly or see where the blitz is coming from, they remember that it's what they wanted, after all.

 

I said that we would have a shortage of true QBs. All those guys you named, sure they are true quarterbacks. But when you have a project that doesn't pan out, you aren't even left with a serviceable quarterback. You're left with a receiver taking the snaps. And while there are going to be guys that do pan out, you're going to be left with a bunch of guys who are scary thoughts as backups. In that: they might be able to run fast, but can they really be counted to go in there and run the show if QB1 goes down? I suppose the argument is that in our new offense, that will be fine. I guess I'm not convinced of that yet, at all.

 

It's like you never watched Husker football in the 90s. Weird.

[zoogs]

I know that this is a rather difficult argument to win with fellow Husker fans, just because we have a whole history of championship-winning teams that have quarterbacks like that. But it's not the 90s anymore, and we don't run the same system anymore.

 

I agree to an extent that they are all projects. But it seems like the kinds of QBs we are recruiting: a lot of them just have a really long way to go before they have a clue taking the field against a well-schemed D1 defense. We seem to be exclusively focusing on the guys who got by with their athletic ability in high school, when the position is an exceptionally demanding one mentally. I'm as stoked about a commit like Bubba as anyone...but even his high school coach talks about how they have to limit the offense for him. We might be running a spread option scheme, but that doesn't mean it's dumbed down and simple.

 

I think you always have to have a lot of QBs on scholly because of the pan-out rate. It just seems to me that the kind of QB of this style that does really pan out - those Vince Youngs and so on - are rare, but out-of-the-park hits. And everyone else is just going to be a headache. Maybe it's not that much of a difference. I think mostly I am just cautioning against anyone saying that we are stocked at QB depth at this point, because IMO we really aren't.

[kchusker_chris]

what really suprises me zoogies is that we've had so few really pan out when Watson is one of the best QB coaches in the nation...

[knapplc]

I know that this is a rather difficult argument to win with fellow Husker fans, just because we have a whole history of championship-winning teams that have quarterbacks like that. But it's not the 90s anymore, and we don't run the same system anymore.

 

I agree to an extent that they are all projects. But it seems like the kinds of QBs we are recruiting: a lot of them just have a really long way to go before they have a clue taking the field against a well-schemed D1 defense. We seem to be exclusively focusing on the guys who got by with their athletic ability in high school, when the position is an exceptionally demanding one mentally. I'm as stoked about a commit like Bubba as anyone...but even his high school coach talks about how they have to limit the offense for him. We might be running a spread option scheme, but that doesn't mean it's dumbed down and simple.

 

I think you always have to have a lot of QBs on scholly because of the pan-out rate. It just seems to me that the kind of QB of this style that does really pan out - those Vince Youngs and so on - are rare, but out-of-the-park hits. And everyone else is just going to be a headache. Maybe it's not that much of a difference. I think mostly I am just cautioning against anyone saying that we are stocked at QB depth at this point, because IMO we really aren't.

 

How could you possibly know that? You seem to be basing your assessment on whether the guy is a passing QB, and that's simply not the case. You're also not terribly accurate - Martinez, whom you dog consistently, was the 37th in the nation in Pass Efficiency in his first year. Unless you believe he's going to regress, that's a pretty good place for a guy just getting his feet wet.

[zoogs]

 

Goes back to the recruiting. We've lost so many high profile QBs over the recent years, it isn't even funny. Including a couple guys that were/are going to be first rounders in the draft, despite up-and-down college careers. I still believe we could've done better for Freeman and Gabbert (in terms of college production) than their unfortunate choices of schools did for them. Oh well, they'll both be millionaires out of it so I doubt they are complaining.

 

What our staff managed to mold out of Joe Ganz is pretty dang impressive. Lee's been alright. Very technically good practice warrior to the point where people have look at him and said, high round NFL pick. But not a gamer, and his only year starting, he had to deal with a really hampering throwing elbow injury nearly the entire year. Spano - destroyed by injuries. Witt - left. Green - project, still young. Taylor - project. Keller was good of course, but kind of had that 'poison to the entire team' thing going against him.

[knapplc]

Goes back to the recruiting. We've lost so many high profile QBs over the recent years, it isn't even funny. Including a couple guys that were/are going to be first rounders in the draft, despite up-and-down college careers. I still believe we could've done better for Freeman and Gabbert (in terms of college production) than their unfortunate choices of schools did for them. Oh well, they'll both be millionaires out of it so I doubt they are complaining.

 

What our staff managed to mold out of Joe Ganz is pretty dang impressive. Lee's been alright. Very technically good practice warrior to the point where people have look at him and said, high round NFL pick. But not a gamer, and his only year starting, he had to deal with a really hampering throwing elbow injury nearly the entire year. Spano - destroyed by injuries. Witt - left. Green - project, still young. Taylor - project. Keller was good of course, but kind of had that 'poison to the entire team' thing going against him.

 

Zac Lee? He's not going to get drafted. Let's be realistic. He's rated somewhere between 26-50 by most draft experts.

[kchusker_chris]

 

Goes back to the recruiting. We've lost so many high profile QBs over the recent years, it isn't even funny. Including a couple guys that were/are going to be first rounders in the draft, despite up-and-down college careers. I still believe we could've done better for Freeman and Gabbert (in terms of college production) than their unfortunate choices of schools did for them. Oh well, they'll both be millionaires out of it so I doubt they are complaining.

 

What our staff managed to mold out of Joe Ganz is pretty dang impressive. Lee's been alright. Very technically good practice warrior to the point where people have look at him and said, high round NFL pick. But not a gamer, and his only year starting, he had to deal with a really hampering throwing elbow injury nearly the entire year. Spano - destroyed by injuries. Witt - left. Green - project, still young. Taylor - project. Keller was good of course, but kind of had that 'poison to the entire team' thing going against him.

I'm 100% with you there. Freeman without a doubt...he did nothing at KSU. Gabbert would have been a solid QB under Watson - but not if Bo didn't allow Watson to mold things around Gabbert's strengths. Gabbert, IMO - is exactly what Watson was looking for and was missing the last couple of years. Bubba/Turner/Green is exactly what Bo is looking for. We'll see how Bo's guy can do with Bo's recruits now. Don't judge them quite yet...they haven't really had a chance under Watson. Might end up being like Suh under Cosgrove/Pelini. Completely different player.

[zoogs]

Knapp, I don't know what the passing efficiency is based on. I would just go by what we saw on the field. Early in the year, we did get some good production out of Taylor in the passing game, thanks in no small part to his running ability. His yards/attempt was probably through the roof. But all along so has been his tendency to get icy cold at times. Does that stat take % sacks into account?

 

On the projects thing, I could be wrong, I just think that these 'QB/ath' types have a longer way to go in the mental aspect of the game compared to their less athletic, passing peers. Because if they didn't, they would blow up the recruiting scene. Other things equal, of course you take the faster and more athletic guy. It is a bit alarming when you bring in guys with really simple HS offenses (such as what Cody Green ran - or what Bubba's coach implied about simplifying for him). There's more transition to make there.

 

On Lee: yeah, I know he won't get drafted. I was commenting on the disconnect between his practice progression and how he fared in-game. He's athletic, smart, and can make all the throws. But we haven't seen much 'gamer' out of him, and obviously his career path has not taken him to be in the NFL draft discussion.

 

KC: To be fair, I think Green (and perhaps Bubba too) is exactly what Watson was looking for knowing what we would run. I'd hope if we did have Gabbert, we wouldn't try to mold him into something he's not. My opinion: good QBs of any kind are rare. Bring in all the best kids we can find, and whoever rises to the top, mold the offense around him. Run a scheme that is flexible enough to not completely hinge on whether a QB can run past a linebacker or not.

[knapplc]

Sure Martinez got ice cold - he was a Freshman. That doesn't mean he wasn't a good QB, it just means there was bad with the good. Post-injury he was mostly a disaster, but who isn't when they're injured? Gabbert is supposed to be a high draft pick this year, but post Suh-ankle-roll he was a bag of crap last year.

[kchusker_chris]

...knowing what Bo wanted him to run you mean. If Watson had his way we wouldn't have been recruiting guys like Bubba because we would have been in some variation of a WC offense (something Gabbert could have thrived in). That's why I'm not going to judge Martinez too much at this point. I don't think he was given the scheme/coaching to make him into the best QB he could be. Hopefully they will make more of a committment to moving that way now.

[zoogs]

Ah, that's the thing. My opinion about Taylor isn't so much that he's a freshman, it's more that he has so little experience being a quarterback period. I could be wrong here. To me, it's less about Taylor being a freshman and more about Taylor being raw. So when Taylor is a sophomore this year...I'm not sure it will be too different. (Consistency is hard to say, but I mean more in terms of mechanics and reads and such).

 

I hope I'm wrong.

[knapplc]

For being so unsure of yourself, you sure seem to put these opinions forth on a regular basis.

[kchusker_chris]

he might only need to throw the ball 10-15 times, and they'll be quick scripted passes. he did well on those pre-injury. i wish someone would break down play-calling pre-injury vs. post-injury. He went what 4,5,6 games without an interception?