Managing the QB Room

[Nebraska55fan]

On 8/2/2021 at 6:36 AM, Hilltop said:

I'm not sure why so many people accept this concept..   We have the #4 dual threat QB in the nation from 2019 on our roster.  He wasn't ready last year understandably but after a full year of fairly normal football activities, he should be ready to go.  My guess is he is completely capable of being a great QB if he is needed for whatever reason.    

 QB star rankings haven't mattered a whole lot here of late. That's why we are skeptical- also for those of us who went to the SPring game. Looking at real life on the field production- not stars- it doesn't look like we have much in the way of QB depth. 

Edited August 4, 2021 by Mavric
Split out of the Adrian Martinez thread

[Hilltop]

10 minutes ago, Nebraska55fan said:

 QB star rankings haven't mattered a whole lot here of late. That's why we are skeptical- also for those of us who went to the SPring game. Looking at real life on the field production- not stars- it doesn't look like we have much in the way of QB depth. 

Smothers was 8-13 with no interceptions?  Pretty rough judgement for a kid who has only been in one scripted scrimmage at the college level.  Haarberg looked like a green kid who didn't know much - to be expected for someone who just joined the team.  However, he seemed to be settling in pretty well and tossed the touchdown that won the game in the end.  

 

Potential is there, even if the negative individuals in our fan base don't want to acknowledge it.     

[Nebraska55fan]

4 minutes ago, Hilltop said:

Smothers was 8-13 with no interceptions?  Pretty rough judgement for a kid who has only been in one scripted scrimmage at the college level.  Haarberg looked like a green kid who didn't know much - to be expected for someone who just joined the team.  However, he seemed to be settling in pretty well and tossed the touchdown that won the game in the end.  

 

Potential is there, even if the negative individuals in our fan base don't want to acknowledge it.     

 

Smothers was 8-14 for 76  yards or about 6 yards per attempt

Those are the kind of numbers we dont want to live with

He didnt look good throwing the ball IMO-\

 

Im a fan and a Frost supporter- but Im no coolaid drinking 14 year old.  Objective- realist

[Hilltop]

12 minutes ago, Nebraska55fan said:

 

Smothers was 8-14 for 76  yards or about 6 yards per attempt

Those are the kind of numbers we dont want to live with

He didnt look good throwing the ball IMO-\

 

Im a fan and a Frost supporter- but Im no coolaid drinking 14 year old.  Objective- realist

8-13 with the 1s.  He did have 1 incompletion with the 2s.  He didn't look like a world beater but anyone expecting that would be crazy.  He got very little work leading up to this spring since he was 3rd on the depth chart during the Covid year.  Pretty tough to make a complete judgement of the kid under those circumstances imo.  The only other body of work we can compare to is his high school career- which was pretty damn good.  

 

Have you watched the kids highlight video?  Looks pretty capable imo.  

 

 

 

I am hoping we don't need him until next year or the year after but I believe he will be solid when his number is called.  

[Hilltop]

22 minutes ago, Nebraska55fan said:

 

Smothers was 8-14 for 76  yards or about 6 yards per attempt

Those are the kind of numbers we dont want to live with

He didnt look good throwing the ball IMO-\

 

Im a fan and a Frost supporter- but Im no coolaid drinking 14 year old.  Objective- realist

He is something else to consider - many great QBs have a rough first spring game.  https://247sports.com/college/ohio-state/LongFormArticle/Ohio-State-Buckeyes-football-quarterback-Justin-Fields-play-in-spring-game-analyzed-131309460/

 

I think he turned out OK for Ohio State.

[J-MAGIC]

48 minutes ago, Nebraska55fan said:

 QB star rankings haven't mattered a whole lot here of late. That's why we are skeptical- also for those of us who went to the SPring game. Looking at real life on the field production- not stars- it doesn't look like we have much in the way of QB depth. 

 

Our coach who sees them play every day did, so I'm going to trust him.

[Canadian Fan]

I would probably argue that QB depth means “multiple guys able to successfully execute the normal offence.”

 

In this case the backups are extremely young and should AM2 go down for whatever reason (which we should all pray he doesn’t) I don’t think we’re anywhere close to that.  
 

That is not to say that if the OL executes to its potential that the backups can’t move the ball, just that the playbook needs to be drastically cut-down for both back up options (with Smothers likely requiring a higher run:pass ratio).

 

Bottom line is if the OL was projected to be weak, this would be a bigger concert, but calling our QB Depth “good” requires a very optimistic world view.

[Nebraska55fan]

24 minutes ago, J-MAGIC said:

 

Our coach who sees them play every day did, so I'm going to trust him.

 

Lots of times- coach speak and remember "best week of practice weve ever had". Add in a QB coach who hasnt made much progress with any of our QBs and its reasonable to be skeptical about a QB averaging 6 yards per attempt and locking on receivers. 

 

I'm optimistic about several of our position groups, QB is not one of them. 

[J-MAGIC]

6 minutes ago, Nebraska55fan said:

 

Lots of times- coach speak and remember "best week of practice weve ever had". Add in a QB coach who hasnt made much progress with any of our QBs and its reasonable to be skeptical about a QB averaging 6 yards per attempt and locking on receivers. 

 

I'm optimistic about several of our position groups, QB is not one of them. 

 

You're basing your evaluation of Smothers off of seeing one out of 15 total spring practices. Our coaches would have brought in a more experienced quarterback via transfer if they though Smothers or Haarberg weren't capable of being a competent backup. 

[BigRedBuster]

26 minutes ago, Canadian Fan said:

I would probably argue that QB depth means “multiple guys able to successfully execute the normal offence.”

 

In this case the backups are extremely young and should AM2 go down for whatever reason (which we should all pray he doesn’t) I don’t think we’re anywhere close to that.  
 

That is not to say that if the OL executes to its potential that the backups can’t move the ball, just that the playbook needs to be drastically cut-down for both back up options (with Smothers likely requiring a higher run:pass ratio).

 

Bottom line is if the OL was projected to be weak, this would be a bigger concert, but calling our QB Depth “good” requires a very optimistic world view.

It is very rare that at the FBS level, you have multiple QBs on the depth chart with enough playing time to be able to say "Yep, he's awesome and we've seen it".  Fact is, you have to go off of potential and I believe we have two guys behind 2AM that have that potential.  We haven't had that in a long time.

[Nebraska55fan]

19 minutes ago, J-MAGIC said:

 

You're basing your evaluation of Smothers off of seeing one out of 15 total spring practices. Our coaches would have brought in a more experienced quarterback via transfer if they though Smothers or Haarberg weren't capable of being a competent backup. 

 

 

I think MOST of us are tired of the super spin zone and sunshine pumping. We want RESULTS. 

 

I for one am only trusting what I have seen with my own eyes- because that has told me what we really have had each of the last 6 years. Those real world on the field observations has been a very good indicator of how good our players and team are.  Not the overly optimistic cherry picking. 

[Nebraska55fan]

1 hour ago, Hilltop said:

He is something else to consider - many great QBs have a rough first spring game.  https://247sports.com/college/ohio-state/LongFormArticle/Ohio-State-Buckeyes-football-quarterback-Justin-Fields-play-in-spring-game-analyzed-131309460/

 

I think he turned out OK for Ohio State.

 10 yards per attempt 130 yards and 38 yards rushing doesnt sound awful 1 rushing TD one passing

[Hilltop]

1 minute ago, Nebraska55fan said:

 10 yards per attempt 130 yards and 38 yards rushing doesnt sound awful

What?   He went 4 of 13.  He completed 4 longer passes but missed on several throws and the skeptics were in doomsday mode after watching him.  Many of the fans were calling for Baldwin to be the starter because he went 20 of 36 passing.  The reality- fans over reacted to one scripted scrimmage and Fields turned out to be an awesome QB at Ohio State.  

[Nebraska55fan]

1 minute ago, Hilltop said:

What?   He went 4 of 13.  He completed 4 longer passes but missed on several throws and the skeptics were in doomsday mode after watching him.  Many of the fans were calling for Baldwin to be the starter because he went 20 of 36 passing.  The reality- fans over reacted to one scripted scrimmage and Fields turned out to be an awesome QB at Ohio State.  

 

Small sample size- at the end of the day yards per attempt is the metric I love and he averaged 10 yards per attempt. Our guy averaged 6. Im guessing Fields will have a better career than Smothers- being able to consistently complete the long ball matters. 

[BigRedBuster]

11 minutes ago, Nebraska55fan said:

 

Small sample size- at the end of the day yards per attempt is the metric I love and he averaged 10 yards per attempt. Our guy averaged 6. Im guessing Fields will have a better career than Smothers- being able to consistently complete the long ball matters. 

So, if Smothers would have been 1 for 3 with a swing pass that went for 90 yards, you would be feeling awesome about him.  30 yards per attempt..WOOOHOOO!!!!