Martinez enters senior season with plenty at stake

[grandpasknee]

Nebraska's Martinez enters senior season with plenty at stake

 

As a freshman in 2010, Martinez burst onto the scene as one of the nation's most exciting young quarterbacks. "T-Magic" quickly emerged as a dark horse Heisman candidate, and though he was hampered by ankle and toe issues late in the season, his future appeared bright. As a sophomore in 2011, his hype quickly began to fade. He adjusted his throwing motion to cope with lingering injuries, and his mechanics were blasted; "arm-punts", "shot-puts" and "groundballs" were some of the more common pejoratives used to describe his passing style. Martinez racked up 2,089 passing yards, 874 rushing yards and 22 touchdowns in his second-year campaign, but his completion rate dropped from 59.2 to 56.3 percent.

 

"He played with some injuries that would have sidelined most kids for the rest of the year," Casey Martinez, Taylor's father, said. "He hung in there, but when he was playing injured, he had to accommodate some of his mechanics in order to reduce the pain he had. It's hard to be perfect as a thrower when your limbs are hurting."

 

In 2012, Martinez turned in one of the most statistically significant seasons of any quarterback in the country, finishing first in the Big Ten in total offense while leading Nebraska to comeback wins over Wisconsin, Northwestern and Penn State. Yet the criticism never completely went away. Martinez still committed too many costly turnovers. His throwing motion -- while evincing considerable improvements thanks to offseason workouts with personal quarterback coach Steve Calhoun -- remained widely panned.

 

Entering 2013, Martinez is polarizing subject: His stats reveal a prolific dual-threat playmaker, but he's rarely mentioned among the top quarterbacks in the game.

Taylor Martinez will shine this year for two reasons. First, he is electric when healthy (and apparently is as healthy as he has ever been) and he has worked on improving his weak areas. Second, the defense will contribute this year, allowing him to play within a better defined game plan, so the hurries, forces and bad decisions (mostly as a result of trying to do too much) will not be a factor.

 

Taylor will lead Nebraska to a CCG win and possibly compete for a MNC if the cards fall right in other houses. (Caveat...I do have a bit of finger crossing going on regarding the defense part of this scheme).

[StPaulHusker]

Martinez has a lot of things going for him this year that could make it something special to watch.

 

4 year starting senior

3 years in the conference

2 straight years working with the QB coach in California

Tons of offensive talent surrounding him

Favorable schedule.

[MichiganDad3]

I am a big TM fan, and I hope he wins the Heisman this year, but I recently re-watched the CCG, and TM had a horrible start to the second half. The second play of the half he had a wide open receiver for a TD and under threw, then came back on the 3rd play with a wild throw on a scramble for a pick six. TM needs to learn to put some touch on passes and he needs to learn when to take the sack or throw out of bounds. Here's hoping these lessons were learned this off-season.

[Savage Husker]

Inconsistency is his nightmare. His fumbles when going down need to get fixed. CCG and PSU for sure, although, he made a conscientious effort against Goergia to protect the ball when running. Another frustration is when he scrambles and forces pass, instead of tucking and running, again however, PSU he made an awesome throw to Jamal Turner stepping up on the run and hitting JT cutting across setting up 1st and goal.

 

He throws too many "I wish had that back" picks right into defenders hands.

 

Like Bo said, if he can grow as much between JR-SR as SO-JR year, we can expect big things and my frustrations will be after thoughts.

[Foppa]

Yes, Taylor did make some bad plays that resulted in turnovers. But in fairness, the O-line completely let him down many times and allowed him to get pummeled and then fumble. So whose fault was that? No one seems to talk about that, though.

[Savage Husker]

Arkansas St, the OL was a cause of 2 blind side sack fumbles. I hear what you're saying foppa but the majority of his turnovers were result of his play.

[Hoosker]

He'll be in New York City in December.

 

:horns2

[Saunders]

Arkansas St, the OL was a cause of 2 blind side sack fumbles. I hear what you're saying foppa but the majority of his turnovers were result of his play.

And Wisconsin, and Ohio State, and Wisconsin part deaux.....