Frost's Blueprint for success

[cheekygeek]

Scott Frost's success is a multi-faceted thing and it includes (by no means an exhaustive list):

• His firsthand experience leading the Cornhuskers (including a share of the National Championship)
• His evaluation of talent (not just players, but his assistant coaches)
• His philosophy (not just game/practice philosophy, but also personal integrity)
• His willingness to work hard and expect that of others
• His understanding of the need for fundamentals (tackling, conditioning)
• His understanding of the need for some things you can't coach (well you can, but...), namely SPEED.
• His ability to recruit and to grow the recruiting talents of his assistants.
• His understanding of the need to develop players, not just stockpile so-called 4 star players
• A confidence in himself, and yet a willingness to listen to others.
• His integrity and dedication to his players and assistant coaches.
• Everything he has picked up from the Who's Who of coaches he has been associated with, from Osborne to Walsh to Kelly to...

 

His "blueprint" similarly involves all of those things and more. (Frankly, I think his strengths coach is one of the most important pieces of the puzzle coming from UCF.)

 

I'd like to focus on what SF has done with QBs, however (as part of the "blueprint" discussion). In Oregon, he did not recruit Marcus Mariota, but he was the OC when Oregon set school marks for offensive yards (his first year as OC) and then took them to the National Championship game his 2nd year. When Mariota graduated...

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Oregon reloaded with Vernon Adams Jr., a graduate transfer at quarterback from Eastern Washington. When healthy, Adams' statistics compared favorably with Mariota's, recording the second-highest passer rating in the country this season and averaging 10.2 yards per attempt -- the national leader by more than half a yard.

After a 3-3 start in which UO struggled to finish drives without an injured Adams, Oregon has won six consecutive games.

- source.
 

That was Frost's last year as OC at Oregon. Now he moves to UCF where he doesn't have much time (and an incomplete staff) to recruit.  One of "his" guys was McKenzie Milton:
 

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Add to all of this the fact that Frost was able to in many instances get "his" guys. The Knights' only signee[1] at quarterback, McKenzie Milton had camped with Oregon and impressed Frost there. As Frost describes it, Milton would be one of the top two QB recruits in the country if he had been 6'4" instead of "six feet" tall (okay, okay, so he's really 5'11"). And Frost reeled in a number of Junior College transfers, which should help a team that last year had holes, uh, basically everywhere.

 

-source.

 

Frost starts the true freshman in 2016 and UCF goes 6-6. This year, as a Sophomore, he's basically the 2nd best QB in the country (after a Senior, Baker Mayfield - Heisman Trophy Winner). UCF finishes as the only undefeated Division 1 team, even beating Auburn in the Peach Bowl (Auburn being the team that handed both Georgia and Alabama losses - the two teams now playing each other in the "National Championship" game next Monday.)

 

Based on the info above, do not be surprised if Scott Frost's first Nebraska QB is 4-star true freshman Adrian Martinez. (Very excited to see how he does at tomorrow night's Under Armour All-America Game.) Frost knows that playing him as a freshman can pay great dividends down the road. Yet, after seeing Oregon struggle with a 3-3 record when Vernon Adams Jr. was injured, he also knows that he needs quality depth (and preparation) at backup QB. Especially if he plans to throw slight-of-build QBs at the Big Boys in the Big 10 conference.

Edited January 4, 2018 by cheekygeek