Could Stanley Morgan's greatness hampered Martinez's view of the offense?

[Mike Mcdee]

This is in no way a knock on Stanley. He is a great receiver with great hands. His ability to get open and then run after the catch was a tremendous asset to this team. The thing I was wondering is if AM's reliance on him as a trusty go to might have limited his ability in this offense. There are a couple of factors in this. 1. AM was a true freshman who hadn't played a meaningful down in over a year and was in a brand new college system. 2. Stanley was almost a safety blanket for Martinez. With his knowledge of the offense, he may have mainly been concerned with Morgan's route and not as much the concepts of who might be getting a better mismatch. 

 

With these things being said and Frost's statement of AM having the full gambit of the offense at his disposal now, I'm cautiously optimistic about the offense this season. Even with the loss of Morgan and Ozibigo, if Martinez knows the where to distribute the ball, they might be pretty tough to beat. 

[Atbone95]

Will JD's greatness hamper Martinez's view of the offense? 

 

I don't see why JD won't break Stanley's record this year. 

[Husker in WI]

I don't really buy it. I'm sure Martinez didn't have complete knowledge of the offense last year, but saying he ignored things he did know to focus on Stanley is pretty extreme. Especially considering early in the year Stanley wasn't targeted that heavily, the coaches started moving him around to give him more opportunities partway through the season. I don't recall a lot of guys wide open while Martinez forced it to Morgan, and honestly I kinda wish he'd forced it to him more often.

 

I am un-cautiously (recklessly?) optimistic about the offense this year with it being year 2 in the offense for Martinez and year 2 in a legitimate weight room for out O-line. But it would have been worse last year without Stanley, and I don't think having him/not having him last year makes a difference this year.

[Nebfanatic]

9 minutes ago, Mike Mcdee said:

This is in no way a knock on Stanley. He is a great receiver with great hands. His ability to get open and then run after the catch was a tremendous asset to this team. The thing I was wondering is if AM's reliance on him as a trusty go to might have limited his ability in this offense. There are a couple of factors in this. 1. AM was a true freshman who hadn't played a meaningful down in over a year and was in a brand new college system. 2. Stanley was almost a safety blanket for Martinez. With his knowledge of the offense, he may have mainly been concerned with Morgan's route and not as much the concepts of who might be getting a better mismatch. 

 

With these things being said and Frost's statement of AM having the full gambit of the offense at his disposal now, I'm cautiously optimistic about the offense this season. Even with the loss of Morgan and Ozibigo, if Martinez knows the where to distribute the ball, they might be pretty tough to beat. 

I tried with this view a few weeks back and got beat up over it but I see exactly where you are coming from. You never want to lose a Stanley Morgan, but this will force Martinez to evolve into the offenses main threat, which is when this offense is at its best.

[Undone]

It's a valid question that the OP asks and it's a fun off-season topic.

 

One of the things Morgan did last year was to draw double teams which sprung Spielman quite a bit. This season, Spielman will probably be the one drawing those same double teams and it will just open it up for other guys to get open. 

 

I don't think Morgan's greatness played up our offense's potential in Martinez's mind, no. The guy had a 64% completion percentage as a true freshman - that is a mind-blowing stat. The kid can drop the ball right where it needs to go, pretty much anywhere on the field. You'd assume that ability will just improve each season (hopefully). He's the kind of quarterback that is so accurate and such a play maker that he'll get the ball to a guy if he's even remotely open.

[Mike Mcdee]

18 minutes ago, Atbone95 said:

Will JD's greatness hamper Martinez's view of the offense? 

 

I don't see why JD won't break Stanley's record this year. 

I wasn't trying to say any one player going forward is going to hamper Martinez's development. I was just saying that knowing Morgan was available may have caused him to look more his way and not as much where the route concept design should take his eyes. This offense is based on creating mismatches and getting the ball to players in space. With more comfort in the system, he may know where to look rather than rely on "ole' reliable".

[Head Coach Scott Frost]

24 minutes ago, Mike Mcdee said:

Stanley was almost a safety blanket for Martinez. With his knowledge of the offense, he may have mainly been concerned with Morgan's route and not as much the concepts of who might be getting a better mismatch. 

 

 

I think Stanley's departure hurts the WRs more than Martinez.  He made other defenses have to focus on him which opened up everyone else.  Hopefully new play makers like Wan'Dale, Noa, Rahmir will step up to ease our offense into life without Morgan. Also, Stanley had a bit more drops than we all want to remember.

[BIG ERN]

Adrian Martinez is the best QB in Nebraska history....

[WyoHusker56]

I think if anything it would have an impact when he has to scramble. I'd imagine he did a good job working through is progression and I don't remember an excessive amount of forced balls. However, I think having a player like Stanley might be your go to once a play breaks down. 

[STL Husker]

There were times last year when I thought AM should have thrown in Stanley's direction even more.  Just about every QB has a favorite WR they favor.  This is also because coaches use their best WRs as the primary reads of passing plays.  I would be more concerned if Martinez didn't utilize one of the best WRs in school history as much as he did.

[Ulty]

When a think of a true freshman QB, playing under a new coach in a new system, with only 2 legitimate receiving targets, and he still had a 64% completion percentage and 3500 yards of total offense, it is hard for me to think of him as being hampered in any way. 

 

I just hope that more WR options emerge this year, but Martinez is the least of my worries on this team.

[Nebfanatic]

6 minutes ago, Ulty said:

 

I just hope that more WR options emerge this year, but Martinez is the least of my worries on this team.

I don't think anyone is worried about Martinez, quite the opposite.

[jsneb83]

I think it was more telling about the depth at receiver than it did Martinez's knowledge of the offense.

[cheekygeek]

51 minutes ago, Undone said:

One of the things Morgan did last year was to draw double teams which sprung Spielman quite a bit. This season, Spielman will probably be the one drawing those same double teams and it will just open it up for other guys to get open. 

 

Frost's offense is designed around getting inside the heads of opposing safeties and driving them out of their minds in frustration.

 

 "the entire offense is designed to put the safeties in the wrong place at all times." - source

[Vince R.]

I have an unpopular opinion on this topic.