All time top NU QBs

[TGHusker]

I'm pretty damn old. Seen plenty of football.

 

And I think Johnny Manzeil is something special.

 

I have no love for Texas A&M, but if you're a football fan it's pretty juvenile to root against him.

 

 

All of the OU fans and the Tulsa newspaper became believers after OU's big loss to A&M

[B.B. Hemingway]

Bo and Paps have got to fix the defense. I dont mean make it a little better. It better be night and day better. God damn it, Taylor and the offense we have returning deserve a top 20 defense to back them up.

 

If Nebraska has a top 20 defense next year, this team will be scary good, and could win the whole thing, imo.... This offense is suitable of a National Champion, now can the defense get close too that level?

 

Let's not forget - besides our D we need the O line to perform much better. TM spent too much time scrabbling or picking himself off his back last year. We had too many red zone trips that ended wt a field goal or no points. Skill players can only do so much with out a consistent low penalty line.

 

I would call our Oline undisciplined for sure, but I wouldn't criticize their overall play too much. Remember, we were one of the best rushing offenses in the country, and that doesn't happen behind a poor line. Most fans seem too have it out for the Oline year after year, but that was our best offensive line in awhile, and it is only going too getter.... We had an All-American people!

[suh_fan93]

I'm pretty damn old. Seen plenty of football.

 

And I think Johnny Manzeil is something special.

 

I have no love for Texas A&M, but if you're a football fan it's pretty juvenile to root against him.

 

I can't wait to see some A&M games next season. He is so much fun to watch.

[zoogs]

These folks have preconceived opinions of Taylor Martinez and no amount yards, TD's, trophies, or rings will change that plain and simple. People thought Carnes was gonna come in and take his job just because he made a few nifty throws in a scrimmage? Give me a break. Tommy Armstrong is not taking his job this year either, unless of course Taylor get injured or for some reason unknown to God himself, his play completely goes in the tanker.

 

Well, I'd say Taylor has earned a lot of respect over the years, but some rings would go a long way in changing those perceptions. There's a good reason - like him or not - he's not universally hailed as one of the greatest QBs in Husker history because, fair or not, our history is littered with QBs who have won, and won a lot, and Taylor doesn't have that yet. He has 4-loss seasons and no CCG titles under his belt. I hope he gets one next year.

 

Carnes brought a lot to the table: athleticism, shake-and-bake running, improvisational skills, big boy throws (including on the run). Obvious there's a great deal more to being a QB than just being athletic and having passer fundamentals, and obviously his career as a QB here has derailed, but I don't think you could say people got nuts over him for one scrimmage. Incidentally, that's a pretty fairy way to describe how Taylor won his job: a few nifty plays in a scrimmage, and all of a sudden the depth chart is turned on its head, and the offense is getting a just-pre-season-start makeover.

[Count 'Bility]

These folks have preconceived opinions of Taylor Martinez and no amount yards, TD's, trophies, or rings will change that plain and simple. People thought Carnes was gonna come in and take his job just because he made a few nifty throws in a scrimmage? Give me a break. Tommy Armstrong is not taking his job this year either, unless of course Taylor get injured or for some reason unknown to God himself, his play completely goes in the tanker.

 

Well, I'd say Taylor has earned a lot of respect over the years, but some rings would go a long way in changing those perceptions. There's a good reason - like him or not - he's not universally hailed as one of the greatest QBs in Husker history because, fair or not, our history is littered with QBs who have won, and won a lot, and Taylor doesn't have that yet. He has 4-loss seasons and no CCG titles under his belt. I hope he gets one next year.

 

Carnes brought a lot to the table: athleticism, shake-and-bake running, improvisational skills, big boy throws (including on the run). Obvious there's a great deal more to being a QB than just being athletic and having passer fundamentals, and obviously his career as a QB here has derailed, but I don't think you could say people got nuts over him for one scrimmage. Incidentally, that's a pretty fairy way to describe how Taylor won his job: a few nifty plays in a scrimmage, and all of a sudden the depth chart is turned on its head, and the offense is getting a just-pre-season-start makeover.

I dont know Zoog, reading the after spring game comments in 2011, there were quite a few tossing Taylor under the bus in exchange for Carnes, and that love fest continued all season, and was escalated during and after the Wisconsin game. I remember an overwhelming gripe as to why Carnes was not put in leading Michigan St 24-3 with 5 minutes left.

 

As far as rings changing perception, it may be true for a few, but for others it probably would not change a thing. I know some that still disapprove of Scott Frost and Eric Crouch. I know some that still think Charlie McBride was an overrated joke. Hell, I know one who still doesnt understand the fuss of Tom Osborne (this guy is a total nutjob that just "happens" to support my point ) just because he won some football games. I'm just saying that for some people, once they develop a strong opinion on someone or something, it takes an awful lot to retract that opinion, if anything at all.

[TGHusker]

In our discussion about TM would it be fair to summarize:

1. He's a top 10 QB if he never wins a CC or NC - maybe between 6-8

2. He is a top 5 if he wins a CC - behind Frazier (should be self evident), Gill (3 CC & #1 in "Favorite Son" catagory), Frost (1 CC & NC), Crouch (1 CC & Heisman) - your order may be different.

3. He's a top 3 if he wins the NC (behind Frazier and Gill)

[Enhance]

Ok - I can live wt that response to a certain extent. If TM gets injured, it helps to have a QB in the wings who won't have the live game jitters. Maybe what I want is the 1995 blowouts - then everyone gets experience.

Trust me, if I had my way, it'd be 1995 every year. I think every Husker fan wants that. Problem is, as I'm sure you realize, it's not a reality for our team. We're above average and we're not very deep, especially where it counts (on the LOS).

[suh_fan93]

People thought Carnes was gonna come in and take his job just becuase he made a few nifty throws in a scrimmage? Give me a break. Tommy Armstrong is not taking his job this year either, unless of course Taylor get injured or for some reason unknown to God himself, his play completely goes in the tanker.

 

These folks have preconceived opinions of Taylor Martinez and no amount yards, TD's, trophies, or rings will change that plain and simple. People thought Carnes was gonna come in and take his job just because he made a few nifty throws in a scrimmage? Give me a break. Tommy Armstrong is not taking his job this year either, unless of course Taylor get injured or for some reason unknown to God himself, his play completely goes in the tanker.

 

Well, I'd say Taylor has earned a lot of respect over the years, but some rings would go a long way in changing those perceptions. There's a good reason - like him or not - he's not universally hailed as one of the greatest QBs in Husker history because, fair or not, our history is littered with QBs who have won, and won a lot, and Taylor doesn't have that yet. He has 4-loss seasons and no CCG titles under his belt. I hope he gets one next year.

 

Carnes brought a lot to the table: athleticism, shake-and-bake running, improvisational skills, big boy throws (including on the run). Obvious there's a great deal more to being a QB than just being athletic and having passer fundamentals, and obviously his career as a QB here has derailed, but I don't think you could say people got nuts over him for one scrimmage. Incidentally, that's a pretty fairy way to describe how Taylor won his job: a few nifty plays in a scrimmage, and all of a sudden the depth chart is turned on its head, and the offense is getting a just-pre-season-start makeover.

 

zoogies got this right.

 

Keep in mind that coaches aren't always right. They're just like anyone else. Great players and sometimes the best players don't always start off as the 'starter' or as the 1st or 2nd round draft pick, the guy who has 4 or 5 stars etc. It by far wouldn't be the first time a coach ultimately went with the wrong guy.

 

I actually wouldn't be upset if Carnes decided to transfer. I also don't buy into the whole 'oh the spring game didn't mean anything' bs which is popular here on HuskerBoard. Carnes made plays. Besides outplaying Martinez who had a couple of turnovers in that game as well....Carnes performance in my estimation was nothing more of a continuation of what he did back in high school in Florida's largest and most competitive class. Then suddenly the guy gets demoted to 3rd string. You almost never see that happening to someone especially after what he showed he could do in the spring game in front of everyone. Something's not right about this but then I remember who our head coach is.

 

Regardless there will be no true quarterback 'race' next year. It ain't happening. Unless Pelini's chosen one gets injured you're not going to see Armstrong either unless it's in the spring game which apparently doesn't matter... Bring on 2014. I can't wait to see someone else at quarterback finally and furthermore if Nebraska continues getting blown out on national television taboot, continues to lose their bowl games and fails to either win or get to a Big 10 title game or get embarassed there again then it's high time to start shopping for a new coach.

[whateveritis1224]

People thought Carnes was gonna come in and take his job just becuase he made a few nifty throws in a scrimmage? Give me a break. Tommy Armstrong is not taking his job this year either, unless of course Taylor get injured or for some reason unknown to God himself, his play completely goes in the tanker.

 

These folks have preconceived opinions of Taylor Martinez and no amount yards, TD's, trophies, or rings will change that plain and simple. People thought Carnes was gonna come in and take his job just because he made a few nifty throws in a scrimmage? Give me a break. Tommy Armstrong is not taking his job this year either, unless of course Taylor get injured or for some reason unknown to God himself, his play completely goes in the tanker.

 

Well, I'd say Taylor has earned a lot of respect over the years, but some rings would go a long way in changing those perceptions. There's a good reason - like him or not - he's not universally hailed as one of the greatest QBs in Husker history because, fair or not, our history is littered with QBs who have won, and won a lot, and Taylor doesn't have that yet. He has 4-loss seasons and no CCG titles under his belt. I hope he gets one next year.

 

Carnes brought a lot to the table: athleticism, shake-and-bake running, improvisational skills, big boy throws (including on the run). Obvious there's a great deal more to being a QB than just being athletic and having passer fundamentals, and obviously his career as a QB here has derailed, but I don't think you could say people got nuts over him for one scrimmage. Incidentally, that's a pretty fairy way to describe how Taylor won his job: a few nifty plays in a scrimmage, and all of a sudden the depth chart is turned on its head, and the offense is getting a just-pre-season-start makeover.

 

zoogies got this right.

 

Keep in mind that coaches aren't always right. They're just like anyone else. Great players and sometimes the best players don't always start off as the 'starter' or as the 1st or 2nd round draft pick, the guy who has 4 or 5 stars etc. It by far wouldn't be the first time a coach ultimately went with the wrong guy.

 

I actually wouldn't be upset if Carnes decided to transfer. I also don't buy into the whole 'oh the spring game didn't mean anything' bs which is popular here on HuskerBoard. Carnes made plays. Besides outplaying Martinez who had a couple of turnovers in that game as well....Carnes performance in my estimation was nothing more of a continuation of what he did back in high school in Florida's largest and most competitive class. Then suddenly the guy gets demoted to 3rd string. You almost never see that happening to someone especially after what he showed what he could do in the spring game in front of everyone. Something's not right about this but then I remember who our head coach is.

 

Regardless there will be no true quarterback 'race' next year. It ain't happening. Unless Pelini's chosen one gets injured you're not going to see Armstrong either unless it's in the spring game which apparently doesn't matter... Bring on 2014. I can't wait to see someone else at quarterback finally and furthermore if Nebraska continues getting blown out on national television taboot, losing bowl games and fails to either win or get to a Big 10 title game or get embarassed there again then it's high time to start shopping for a new coach.

 

Or it could be that he couldn't grasp the playbook and couldn't read/adjust to college defenses that dropped him to 3rd string.

 

Sure Pelini's yolked his wagon to Martinez, but Martinez is the most productive QB in Nebraska history, so he hasn't been a bad horse.

 

Those plays that Carnes made in the spring game were also against the 3rd strings. He definitely wasn't facing off against the top guys. And yes the Spring Game doesn't matter. It's a glorified scrimmage. It's good for identifying players with big play potential and giving a look at potential contributors, but there's very little about the game that tells how players will react in real games.

 

Maybe if it was 1s vs 1s, we could look at it differently, but Pelini has the team split up with equal amounts of starters on the Red and White squads.

[Count 'Bility]

People thought Carnes was gonna come in and take his job just becuase he made a few nifty throws in a scrimmage? Give me a break. Tommy Armstrong is not taking his job this year either, unless of course Taylor get injured or for some reason unknown to God himself, his play completely goes in the tanker.

 

These folks have preconceived opinions of Taylor Martinez and no amount yards, TD's, trophies, or rings will change that plain and simple. People thought Carnes was gonna come in and take his job just because he made a few nifty throws in a scrimmage? Give me a break. Tommy Armstrong is not taking his job this year either, unless of course Taylor get injured or for some reason unknown to God himself, his play completely goes in the tanker.

 

Well, I'd say Taylor has earned a lot of respect over the years, but some rings would go a long way in changing those perceptions. There's a good reason - like him or not - he's not universally hailed as one of the greatest QBs in Husker history because, fair or not, our history is littered with QBs who have won, and won a lot, and Taylor doesn't have that yet. He has 4-loss seasons and no CCG titles under his belt. I hope he gets one next year.

 

Carnes brought a lot to the table: athleticism, shake-and-bake running, improvisational skills, big boy throws (including on the run). Obvious there's a great deal more to being a QB than just being athletic and having passer fundamentals, and obviously his career as a QB here has derailed, but I don't think you could say people got nuts over him for one scrimmage. Incidentally, that's a pretty fairy way to describe how Taylor won his job: a few nifty plays in a scrimmage, and all of a sudden the depth chart is turned on its head, and the offense is getting a just-pre-season-start makeover.

 

zoogies got this right.

 

Keep in mind that coaches aren't always right. They're just like anyone else. Great players and sometimes the best players don't always start off as the 'starter' or as the 1st or 2nd round draft pick, the guy who has 4 or 5 stars etc. It by far wouldn't be the first time a coach ultimately went with the wrong guy.

 

I actually wouldn't be upset if Carnes decided to transfer. I also don't buy into the whole 'oh the spring game didn't mean anything' bs which is popular here on HuskerBoard. Carnes made plays. Besides outplaying Martinez who had a couple of turnovers in that game as well....Carnes performance in my estimation was nothing more of a continuation of what he did back in high school in Florida's largest and most competitive class. Then suddenly the guy gets demoted to 3rd string. You almost never see that happening to someone especially after what he showed what he could do in the spring game in front of everyone. Something's not right about this but then I remember who our head coach is.

 

Regardless there will be no true quarterback 'race' next year. It ain't happening. Unless Pelini's chosen one gets injured you're not going to see Armstrong either unless it's in the spring game which apparently doesn't matter... Bring on 2014. I can't wait to see someone else at quarterback finally and furthermore if Nebraska continues getting blown out on national television taboot, losing bowl games and fails to either win or get to a Big 10 title game or get embarassed there again then it's high time to start shopping for a new coach.

I smell the "doghouse" theory here. Or is it the "Tmagic love affair" theory. C'mon guys. It's big boy college football. Bo isnt playing less talented individuals for spite. Carnes may have been a hair better athletically, but from what I've heard, his mental grasp was lacking severely.

[zoogs]

Oh yeah. To be clear I wasn't trying to suggest that Carnes didn't get a fair shake, he just couldn't beat out TM. But he had a ton of potential so it's a bit sad to see it go so astray. Tommy offers a lot of the same things, although I would say, not as athletic, but perhaps a better arm.

[Count 'Bility]

Oh yeah. To be clear I wasn't trying to suggest that Carnes didn't get a fair shake, he just couldn't beat out TM. But he had a ton of potential so it's a bit sad to see it go so astray. Tommy offers a lot of the same things, although I would say, not as athletic, but perhaps a better arm.

I know you werent.

 

My point is that I think some get so caught up with the physical ability that there is so much more mentally to playing the qb position. At that spring game, yes, Carnes may have seemed so much better against Martinez's few picks, but what we dont really take into account are things like.....

What defenses were the two facing.

How complicated were the route packages.

How sophisticated were the defenses they were facing

on and on and on. There's so many little things that coaches know about and evaluated that the average fan doesnt really pay attention to. All we see is that Carnes looked fluid and smooth, and Taylor looked shaky and threw a pick.

 

And to make myself clear, i would gladly sacrifice a few tenths off the forty for a little more wiggle and a more fluid passing motion out of our next qb, and that's nothing against Taylor and his abilities or performance. It's just my preference in this offensive road we're headed down.

[Mavric]

One minute you're talking about how Martinez loses us to many games because of turnovers... then you talk about Farve being the all time great when not considering the number of games he lost because of his own turnovers. Here's one. NFC conference championship against Saints when he was with Vikings.

And the one when he was with the Packers against the Giants. Both were on SportsCenter today.

[Mavric]

I have no doubt that TM will start all games next year outside of an injury. My big wish, however, is that Armstrong and/or Straton be placed in real world situations that matter - not clean up duty against St Mary's School fo the Blind. There was zero QB developement this year - outside of Armstrong in practice.

I love how people always act like no one ever gets better in practice. You can only possibly get better during games.

 

Thus, your argument has to be that going against the Blackshirts in practice every day doesn't do anything for you. You have to get some time against the Minnesota's and Idoaho St.'s of the world to get better.

[krc1995]

I love the maturation of Tmart and how he has made himself into a pretty darn good QB. Entering into his Sophomore year, I admittedly was not a fan. but I am now. A pretty big one actually. There appears to still be a segment of Husker Nation that really dislikes or distrust Tmart. Of the QBs on this list, how many going into their senior year had a minority, but loud, group of husker fans that hope that a red-shirt freshman would earn the start at some point during the season? Gdowski obviously, but I don't think many other QBs on this list had a faction that wished that their backup would eventually earn the start.