Tommy Armstrong Film BreakDown

[EZ-E]

Today is the most that I have broken down a High School prospects film since last recruiting cycle. Just got way too busy. We all love to critque a QB because I think we can all agree we have not had ELITE QB play here since probably Eric Crouch. We have had some good QBs here like Zac Taylor and Joe Ganz. But to claim that they were elite would be a falacy in my opinion. Here is Tommy Armstrong's film

 

 

Physical Tools

 

Frame: I said from day one that this is the frame that I like in a QB especially in our system. 6ft2 215ish. Long arms very strong.

 

Arm Strength: Supurb. Very strong arm. He is capable of making any throw that he wants to make on the football field based on his arm strength. Now that doesn't mean he should go trying that, but there are 4-5 throws a game that QBs make that are just pure arm strength. He will not be physically limited.

 

Speed: Good, but not blazing like TMart from 2010. He will be able to run the football for us.

 

Mechanics:

1) Throwing Motion - I don't see any flaws in his arm motion. It reminds me of how catchers are taught to throw down to second. Nice, compact and quick.

2) Delievery - It isn't slow by any means, but it isn't fast. I would give it an average at this point.

3) Footwork - It is good, but not great. In his tape, it appears like he is thinking about it too hard and it does not come completely natural to him. Which is fine for a HS QB.

 

Intangibles

 

Kid's team played in the Texas State Championship game in the biggest class in Texas. That means he is a winner and he knows how to win football games.

 

There is this stigma around HuskerNation about our QB having an "It" factor. I will never ever put that label on a player until he flat out wills us to a victory in a very very tough atmosphere and big time game. Rex Burkhead, Kenny Bell, Lavonte David, and Fonzie Dennard were the only ones on our football team that I put that label on this season.

 

 

Overall from a throwing mechanics standpoint I would give him a very favorable rating. We did not go recruit a project QB here, we recruited a QB. My only qualm with his mechanics are if you watch the tape, every once in awhile you can see him start to lean back from the waist up on the long ball. About the three minute mark of the tape you can see a good example of that. When you lean, you have just negated any strength you can use really from your pec muscles down. Which I guess makes his long ball all the more impressive. That is an easy fix though.

 

In his film, I would have liked to see a few more intermediate throws. It appears all that we were able to see was him throw a bomb or a quick curl route.

 

This guy is my favorite QB recruit in a long time. Speed and I have been saying that he reminds us of a tough running Geno Smith from West Virgina. I am all about player comparisons as well. I

would love to hear more of them. I am seeing a tad bit of EJ Manuel in him as well.

 

If we redshirt him, which I think we should, then in my opinion he starts as a RS Sophomore and has three years to start at QB.

[Stumpy1]

I think he is in the mold of Russel Wilson. He can make things happen with his feet and with his arm also.

[gratefullred]

These highlight films never show enough intermediate throws in my opinion. I don't need to see a prospect throw the deep ball 12 times.

[EZ-E]

These highlight films never show enough intermediate throws in my opinion. I don't need to see a prospect throw the deep ball 12 times.

 

Exactly. I'd like to see him from about 15-25 yards. It's either 8 yards or 50 yards.

 

If his footwork looks anything like Cody Green's on the intermediate throws I will be very happy. What people don't realize is that Cody Green turned himself into a very fundamentally sound QB. Minus him fumbling.......

[junior4949]

On his longer throws, he seems to have a similar motion to Martinez where he brings the ball down to his hip. He's a more polished passer than Martinez, but I question his arm strength from having to bring the ball all the way back like he does on longer throws.

[da skers]

These highlight films never show enough intermediate throws in my opinion. I don't need to see a prospect throw the deep ball 12 times.

 

Exactly. I'd like to see him from about 15-25 yards. It's either 8 yards or 50 yards.

 

If his footwork looks anything like Cody Green's on the intermediate throws I will be very happy. What people don't realize is that Cody Green turned himself into a very fundamentally sound QB. Minus him fumbling.......

I remember him sayin he'll play on Sundays.

[HuskerShark]

I would love to see both Armstrong and Fuller on campus next fall and see which one turns out as the better QB. One of those guys would have to be good, if not both of them.

[RockyMountainOySker]

Welcome back to the recruiting forum, EZ-E.

 

Solid breakdown on TA. He's the first true QB to make it to campus during the Pelini era and I'm pretty excited about his abilities as well.

[Mavric]

On his longer throws, he seems to have a similar motion to Martinez where he brings the ball down to his hip. He's a more polished passer than Martinez, but I question his arm strength from having to bring the ball all the way back like he does on longer throws.

I'm not sure how you can question his arm strength. Look at the very first clip. He throws it on a dime 60 yards downfield even though he can't really step into it because he's about to be hit. That's more than enough arm strength for me.

[Mavric]

Since EZ-E replied to my quote in Tommy's thread saying he would start this thread, I'll resond here as well.

 

The discussion I started was in response to a post about his mechanics. I said i thought he had overall good mechanics but I thought his delivery was a little on the slow side. I think you can see some of that in the three throws starting at 0:55 - longer stride and brings the ball down. Those three are all fairly long throws so it's a little unfair but my original post was based on watching his state championship game this year where I saw the same thing on 15-20 yd throws.

 

However, as I said many times in the other thread, I think he has the makings of a very good QB. Of any "flaw" a QB could have, a slower delivery is the least of my worries, especially in our offense where we don't throw a lot of quick timing routes. Also, I think footwork is easier to correct than arm motion which could gain him a lot just by shortening his stride a little bit - quicker, better weight transfer, etc.

 

I would generally agree with EZ-E that he could use some work on footwork and delivery but he's no where near "project" status. There are probably only a couple QBs coming out of HS that don't need some work so getting a guy who's this close is a very nice get for us.

[zoogs]

Brion Carnes 2.0.

 

Better or worse, I'm not sure. But Brion arrived as a quarterback, 2nd best passer on the team from day one. This kid should be in that mold. I think, in comparison to Brion, he may have better arm strength. A bigger frame, definitely.

 

My unqualified opinion is that he is more on the 'passer' side of the spectrum than the runner than Brion. He does not seem as quick or have the wiggle that Brion does. If he's a runner for us, it will be a different style than Brion. Slightly bigger frame, harder to bring down. If he's hard-nosed and physical as a runner, that's a plus.

 

Another thing about Brion, he showed a lot more making-something-out-nothing. Half his film was when plays were breaking down. Tommy, half his film is rearin' back and bombing it. Brion seems to thrive on when the play breaks down, and I think that's thanks in no small part to the shake he has in his run.

 

And while Tommy has speed, he also seems to take a lot longer to get going, the way Cody did. When Brion takes off, he's a dart and he's off.

 

However, he seems to have some good stature to him and is a very solid quarterback playing quarterback. Big fan of this recruit. Most proto guy we have had in a while. Love the way he plays and how he throws on the run (an area where they are very similar). Just wish he showed more juke ability when he did run.

 

By the way - I'd agree that at times his delivery seems a bit on the slow side. I noticed this mostly in the deep throws though. Seemed like at times he really took his time there.

[zoogs]

Overall, I think this is a great example of how we can recruit dual-threat QBs for a run-heavy offense with zone-read mixed in, who isn't a total project, a la Taylor or Cody Green.

[jsneb83]

On his longer throws, he seems to have a similar motion to Martinez where he brings the ball down to his hip. He's a more polished passer than Martinez, but I question his arm strength from having to bring the ball all the way back like he does on longer throws.

I'm not sure how you can question his arm strength. Look at the very first clip. He throws it on a dime 60 yards downfield even though he can't really step into it because he's about to be hit. That's more than enough arm strength for me.

His name is Armstrong for crying out loud.

[HuskerShark]

Overall, I think this is a great example of how we can recruit dual-threat QBs for a run-heavy offense with zone-read mixed in, who isn't a total project, a la Taylor or Cody Green.

 

I don't think Cody Green was much of a project. He looked pretty polished from day one, but he just didn't fulfill all of the hype. I could never figure out if it was his mentality or what exactly the reason was that he couldn't perform real well. One thing that he couldn't seem to be able to do was take some mustard off of his passes and put some touch on the ball. That was probably the biggest downfall to his game. The fumbles IMO were all mental.

[EZ-E]

Overall, I think this is a great example of how we can recruit dual-threat QBs for a run-heavy offense with zone-read mixed in, who isn't a total project, a la Taylor or Cody Green.

 

I don't think Cody Green was much of a project. He looked pretty polished from day one, but he just didn't fulfill all of the hype. I could never figure out if it was his mentality or what exactly the reason was that he couldn't perform real well. One thing that he couldn't seem to be able to do was take some mustard off of his passes and put some touch on the ball. That was probably the biggest downfall to his game. The fumbles IMO were all mental.

 

Patrick Witt, HURT our program in more ways than one in my personal opinion. If he stays, Cody is allowed to redshirt his first year on campus and compete full bore the next season. Depriving CG of a redshirt year hurt pretty good.