What's Your Midseason Grade for Tommy?

[Landlord]

 

I came in here thinking I'm going to give him a C/C+ and get run out. But it seems that where I am at when it comes to Tommy is pretty much the same as most.

 

Leadership: A-

One thing we consistently hear is about how good of a leader he is. I'd like to see him being the one firing up the OLine instead of Ameer.

 

Long Passing: B+

He throws a pretty long ball. No denying it. If he and the receivers were on the same page, more of those would turn into completions.

 

Short Passing: D-

That easy screen pass to AA for what would have been a guaranteed TD. Balls thrown behind receivers.

 

Running: B+

Read option still needs some work. It seems the reads are mostly made before the ball is even snapped. Pitching in the option is another story. Tommy excels in the area.

 

Decision making : C

TA needs go through the routes, and on occasion throw to AA when he gets to the flat.

I wish someone on the staff would emphasize the check down to AA more. So many times Tommy could dump it off to AA for a big game but it's almost like he never even sees him

 

 

 

He's been "kind of" doing better at it the last few games, except that even when he goes to the checkdown it's almost like he decided before the play that he was going to go to the checkdown and he usually only throws it to Ameer when he's completely covered.

[beanman]

B -

 

He's got the skills to be really good. Whether he'll get there or not... We'll see.

[sd'sker]

i think he can be indecisive. and i think it is because he has had a few bad games and that causes him to second guess himself and become self-conscious. when he plays loose and confident, he is pretty great. i think he might worry about making a mistake enough that it leads to mistakes.

 

who knows, but i think he has a lot of upside still.

[roadrat]

Solid B. Most of his mistakes will be cleaned up with experience.

[blackshirt98]

Overall a c. He average, dats bout right. He get sacked mo den any other mobile qb I seen. Slow decision maker, lock down on reciever, fast d be shuttin dat down quickeren u say fries wit dat

[Guy Chamberlin]

So in the course of two posts:

 

Tommy only checks down to Ameer.

 

Tommy never checks down to Ameer.

 

 

 

I think Tommy does get a bit enamoured of the deep ball, but in fairness it's often worked for him. I've seen him look off receivers and go through his progressions, so I know he can do it. But if you have the time, and can see your primary (deep) receiver getting separation, you can keep your eye on him all you want. Your secondary receiver will likely have defenders in front of and behind him, so that's a quicker thinking and riskier option. And the late dump off to your running back can be a great option -- or there can be a lineman or linebacker standing there waiting for it. Especially if AA has been assigned a spy. Any given checkdown isn't necessarily the better choice.

 

So far I think Tommy's instincts are pretty good, his mechanics open to improvement and his competitive fire an advantage.

[presidentjlh]

I'll give him a B-. He holds onto the ball generally well. The short passing game needs a lot of work, but, other than that, I've been generally pleased.

[chamrocck]

I came in here thinking I'm going to give him a C/C+ and get run out. But it seems that where I am at when it comes to Tommy is pretty much the same as most.

 

Leadership: A-

One thing we consistently hear is about how good of a leader he is. I'd like to see him being the one firing up the OLine instead of Ameer.

 

Long Passing: B+

He throws a pretty long ball. No denying it. If he and the receivers were on the same page, more of those would turn into completions.

 

Short Passing: D-

That easy screen pass to AA for what would have been a guaranteed TD. Balls thrown behind receivers.

 

Running: B+

Read option still needs some work. It seems the reads are mostly made before the ball is even snapped. Pitching in the option is another story. Tommy excels in the area.

 

Decision making : C

TA needs go through the routes, and on occasion throw to AA when he gets to the flat.

This is pretty accurate. Needs to improve by 2 grades in short passing and decision making and improve another grade in running...then we'd really have something. Short passing to me is the most needed immediate fix, as in fix it this week. That would help a lot. Get AA open short, even those screens to Bell vs. Sparty before he got hurt, also would like some quick hits to Pierson-El on the run, throw it to Westy for first down conversions.

[Moiraine]

C+

[Guy Chamberlin]

If the criterion is working through progressions, Tommy is already ahead of Eric Crouch, Scott Frost and Tommie Frazier. For years our run-first offense created great play action fakes, and our offensive line allowed the quarterback to throw flat-footed to a wide open primary receiver. They almost never looked off that receiver, except to set up the jailbreak screen. And even in that low-risk, no improvisation passing game, Nebraska quarterbacks were 50% passers.

 

Winning cures everything.

[Danny Bateman]

^^^^ I WISH we could run as well as those offenses... If we could it wouldn't matter as much. But we'rd not THAT far off.

[Guy Chamberlin]

^^^^ I WISH we could run as well as those offenses... If we could it wouldn't matter as much. But we'rd not THAT far off.

 

I think Tom Osborne would have taken Roy Helu Jr. Rex Burkhead and Ameer Abdullah any day of the week.

 

Our offenses have been glitchy of late, but like you say, not that far off.

 

Those vintage Husker defenses also took a lot of the pressure off.