Adrian Martinez

[84HuskerLaw]

If Smothers is ultimately the #1 QB, Whipple won’t be running the Frost O without substantial changes.  But I suspect Whipple is serious when he says he will make the offense fit the players rather than try to make players do things they don’t do very well.  Use their best skills within a framework somewhat.  In the end, you can’t turn an average thrower into a pin point passer in two dozen practices imo. But, you can design an effective, efficient passing game to complement a strong run game.  If they should land a great passer in transfer or Tores / HH surprise, we might have a dual QB situation.  Most don’t like that, but beggars can’t be choosers - you make do with what you got. 

[CyHawk]

Adrian Martinez has become a bit of a scapegoat for what can be described as a horrible coaching staff. Most coaches have been replaced, but there is very little chance that they will make any difference at all. Without replacing the guy on top (Frost) I am afraid that you will end up with the same product on the field.

 

I watched many press conferences and Martinez never blamed anybody for any shortcomings. He shouldered the blame and took it in stride. Not many "kids" can go into a program at a time with such high expectations and deal with all both on and off the field. He gave Nebraska everything that he had. It is a shame that he is the one that will not be back next year, but I guess that is how it works. Hell, I wish that he would have come to Iowa!

[NoLongerN]

4 minutes ago, 84HuskerLaw said:

If Smothers is ultimately the #1 QB, Whipple won’t be running the Frost O without substantial changes.  But I suspect Whipple is serious when he says he will make the offense fit the players rather than try to make players do things they don’t do very well.  Use their best skills within a framework somewhat.  In the end, you can’t turn an average thrower into a pin point passer in two dozen practices imo. But, you can design an effective, efficient passing game to complement a strong run game.  If they should land a great passer in transfer or Tores / HH surprise, we might have a dual QB situation.  Most don’t like that, but beggars can’t be choosers - you make do with what you got. 

Ya, I agree with this.  So much so, I think it would have been most fascinating to see what and how Whipple would have used AM.  I think we all might be pleased with what he would have done with him.  As with Wandale, even AM [even with his shoulder injury issues], will probably get used in a fashion that makes us look ... well ... interesting.

Hopeful for better days and years.

[Archy1221]

21 minutes ago, BigRedN said:

I'll often think about what it might had been had he had a QB coach, a center, an OL, and some special teams.  I've been on the receiving end of the "perfect storm" and that seems to be what happened here for me.  As much as I can throw stones at various players [for me, Cam Jergens comes to mind], I also know that within his whole set of learning and faults, that there are moving parts all around and in that "perfect storm", nothing seemed to work.  

Hopefully, there will come the day again where you have a good player whose been in program who can just sort of be a "plug and play" player and the system just keeps steamrolling the next season.  For us, we can't seem to drop the "k" from kNebraska yet.  

For me, I could have gone with AM for another season sensing that their was nothing better, yet, totally get him or Scott moving on to something that is "different", if not better.  

I really don't think there is a "Really hope SF learned his lesson on what he needs out of a QB going forward."  I could point you to quite a few QB's in Nebraska history we've had that were similar to AM.  So, I don't see a "lesson to be learned" regarding him selecting a "type" of QB.  There are many pieces around this "perfect storm" [at least as I choose to see it].

We now have a new direction, which appears to be Smoothers.  Hopeful to get the "GO" back in "GO BIG RED"!

Your point about having “quite a few QB’s in Nebraska history we’ve had similar to AM” doesn’t apply because we haven’t run the same type of offense SF wants to run with those other QB’s.  Hence, SF needs a QB not just an athlete. 

[runningblind]

3 minutes ago, CyHawk said:

Adrian Martinez has become a bit of a scapegoat for what can be described as a horrible coaching staff. Most coaches have been replaced, but there is very little chance that they will make any difference at all. Without replacing the guy on top (Frost) I am afraid that you will end up with the same product on the field.

 

I watched many press conferences and Martinez never blamed anybody for any shortcomings. He shouldered the blame and took it in stride. Not many "kids" can go into a program at a time with such high expectations and deal with all both on and off the field. He gave Nebraska everything that he had. It is a shame that he is the one that will not be back next year, but I guess that is how it works. Hell, I wish that he would have come to Iowa!

I keep saying when Iowa gets a QB that is more than a serviceable game manager look out. I know you've had guys drafted but they are all lifetime backups.

 

I agree with AM being the scapegoat.  The blame falls on Scott Frost.

[NoLongerN]

1 minute ago, Archy1221 said:

Your point about having “quite a few QB’s in Nebraska history we’ve had similar to AM” doesn’t apply because we haven’t run the same type of offense SF wants to run with those other QB’s.  Hence, SF needs a QB not just an athlete. 

Ah, okay.  I thought Scott choose AM to fit and run his offense.  My bad.

[Archy1221]

1 minute ago, BigRedN said:

Ah, okay.  I thought Scott choose AM to fit and run his offense.  My bad.

He did.  And it was obviously a mistake as the record indicates and situational QB play showed. 
And it was your bad to compare what is needed in QB’s running a power run/option game to QB’s running a spread type offense. 

[NoLongerN]

5 minutes ago, Archy1221 said:

He did.  And it was obviously a mistake as the record indicates and situational QB play showed. 
And it was your bad to compare what is needed in QB’s running a power run/option game to QB’s running a spread type offense. 

You gotta be calling for the head of Frost and can't be sleeping well then.  Doesn't it make a lot more sense to see more of a "perfect storm" then to say AM was the wrong QB for what he was wanting to do?  Doesn't it make sense to see the OL as an issue and special teams as an issue and the misuse of players like Wandale?  

But ... that's why you gotta love a forum for this type of convo.  The best part is ... I don't think you are an idiot.  I get your point and what you are saying.  I can fellowship [with you and converse. 

Enjoy your Sunday.

[ZRod]

20 minutes ago, Archy1221 said:

He did.  And it was obviously a mistake as the record indicates and situational QB play showed. 
And it was your bad to compare what is needed in QB’s running a power run/option game to QB’s running a spread type offense. 

And which one does Frost run?

[Husker03]

47 minutes ago, CyHawk said:

 Hell, I wish that he would have come to Iowa!

He would never have had any desire to go to an offense ranked in the bottom 5% of college football after leading a top 25 offense in 2021.  Better check that log in your programs eye before worrying about a small splinter in ours. 

[84HuskerLaw]

The one consistency of the offense the last 4 years is the frequency of drive stopping errors (penalties, turnovers, sacks, etc), most often in or near the red zone territory.  Couple impotent offense scoring a couple TDs short of that indicated by the total offense yardage with a slew of missed FGs, PATs, ugly punts, poor returns and kick coverage, the result is a team capable of winning 75% of its games over that period winning only a third of them. 
 

Frankly, the team, under Frost, has not been well organized at all.  That’s head coaching stuff.  Staff are responsible as well but this staff had been assembled by Frost 6 or 7 years ago primarily.  It needed revamped, not so much because the individual coaches were bad but because there was no synergy resulting from the sum of the parts.  The system never came together as a smoothing running machine.  
As an orchestra without the maestro bringing all the sections together.  
 

This is where Whipple may provide the most valuable help to Frost, if he will accept it.  His vast experience can be the source of cohesion and scheme modification to counter the coaching experience that is the Big Ten.  The Big Ten’s strength is its coaching more than anything else.  Frost is capable of getting to the elite level, provided he recognizes he has a lot to learn from the wily old pros across the field.  Now he has one to guide him. 

[Archy1221]

1 hour ago, BigRedN said:

You gotta be calling for the head of Frost and can't be sleeping well then.  Doesn't it make a lot more sense to see more of a "perfect storm" then to say AM was the wrong QB for what he was wanting to do?  Doesn't it make sense to see the OL as an issue and special teams as an issue and the misuse of players like Wandale?  

But ... that's why you gotta love a forum for this type of convo.  The best part is ... I don't think you are an idiot.  I get your point and what you are saying.  I can fellowship [with you and converse. 

Enjoy your Sunday.

I agree with you about the other issues with the offense and they could have impacted the production.  I just focused on AM here to try and not derail the subject matter.  Cheers. 

[Archy1221]

54 minutes ago, ZRod said:

And which one does Frost run?

The one you saw the last four years 

[Guy Chamberlin]

2 hours ago, San Diego Husker said:

Now Joe Ganz was a really good QB.  too bad Callahan took to long to figure that out. 

 

Good point, but that was an early version of the transfer portal. Joe Ganz was a promising but still unproven sophomore, and Sam Keller was a sure-fire future NFL quarterback with big numbers from a Pac 12 team. Keller was considered a steal for a team that didn't attract passing QBs. We're hearing the same logic now: which one of the one year wonders are we going to grab from the portal? I'm just not convinced any of them are an automatic upgrade from Martinez, or Smothers for that matter, and I don't see how it helps QB development to have our second and third year back up QBs watching a guy with so little skin in his Husker career. 

[runningblind]

21 minutes ago, Guy Chamberlin said:

 

Good point, but that was an early version of the transfer portal. Joe Ganz was a promising but still unproven sophomore, and Sam Keller was a sure-fire future NFL quarterback with big numbers from a Pac 12 team. Keller was considered a steal for a team that didn't attract passing QBs. We're hearing the same logic now: which one of the one year wonders are we going to grab from the portal? I'm just not convinced any of them are an automatic upgrade from Martinez, or Smothers for that matter, and I don't see how it helps QB development to have our second and third year back up QBs watching a guy with so little skin in his Husker career. 

It's a move designed to inject some immediate life into this thing to save the coaching staff.  They must win immediately and hope to catch lightning in a bottle. 

 

I agree with you that everyone seems to automatically assume things will improve with Martinez gone,  as if he was the only issue.