10 quarterbacks to watch from the recruiting class of 2016

[Elf]

Zone Read is basically over at Nebraska for the forseeable future, welcome to the pro style football era. Like all systems, it's a lot of fun when it works.

Cracks me up that people still think we are going to run the quarterback in our pro style offense.

 

[zoogs]

We never did that much of it. Lee and Burkhead ran it, but not very well. Martinez was electrifying, but he wasn't doing read options most of the time and neither I think did Armstrong. For whatever reason there was much talk about trying to move towards an Oregon-style offense, but it never really materialized. Armstrong ran the traditional option pretty well I thought, but that didn't get featured either while Beck was here.

I don't have a problem with the zone read, I think it's a cool idea. It just never got featured, at least if it's correct that there was a lot of the "look" but with predetermined reads.

 

[NUance]

We never did that much of it. Lee and Burkhead ran it, but not very well. Martinez was electrifying, but he wasn't doing read options most of the time and neither I think did Armstrong. For whatever reason there was much talk about trying to move towards an Oregon-style offense, but it never really materialized. Armstrong ran the traditional option pretty well I thought, but that didn't get featured either while Beck was here.

I don't have a problem with the zone read, I think it's a cool idea. It just never got featured, at least if it's correct that there was a lot of the "look" but with predetermined reads.

I thought that was what Martinez was doing when he peeled off all those long runs his r-frosh year. He'd read the DE, and either take off himself or else tuck the ball in the RB's gut.

 

[zoogs]

Yeah, I thought it came out that those were largely predetermined though. Which I think explains why they didn't go in the direction of building the entire offense around it.

 

[Minnesota_husker]

The zone read was barely even here.

but it was MAGICal when it was here.

 

[kchusker_chris]

Yeah, I thought it came out that those were largely predetermined though. Which I think explains why they didn't go in the direction of building the entire offense around it.

i dn't think martinez ever really figured out the "read" part of the zone-read. there were times where the read was 100% obvious and he'd make the wrong decision. i'm pretty confident he had his mind made up pre-snap.

 

[BigRedBuster]

Yeah, I thought it came out that those were largely predetermined though. Which I think explains why they didn't go in the direction of building the entire offense around it.

i dn't think martinez ever really figured out the "read" part of the zone-read. there were times where the read was 100% obvious and he'd make the wrong decision. i'm pretty confident he had his mind made up pre-snap.

If it were predetermined, he wouldn't be making the read. If he isn't making the read, what you are seeing was the wrong guess by the coaching staff calling the play.

 

[Redux]

Zone Read is basically over at Nebraska for the forseeable future, welcome to the pro style football era. Like all systems, it's a lot of fun when it works.

Cracks me up that people still think we are going to run the quarterback in our pro style offense.

It will only be seen while TA is at the helm.

 

[84HuskerLaw]

The read option is nothing very close to the 90s option game nor anywhere in the same ballpark as the wishbone or other typical true option offenses. The lone running back 'option' of handoff or keep it is fine but to work effectively, you must have a good short and medium range passing QB who can find the open receiver and get him the ball. Of course, if the QB is a superior runner (arguably Tommy A is atleast an excellent runner), then the QB keeping the ball needs to happen atleast 35% to even 45% of the time. We didn't run Tommy nearly enough. To maximize its effectiveness, Tommy A needs to average atleast 90 yards rushing per game and 6 yards per carry or more. He is certainly capable. We need him to carry the ball about 10 or 12 times in true running play situations (excluding scrambles out of pass fail plays).

I don't thiink we can expect anywhere near that many runs from POB but hopefully he can rush for 40 yards per game on 6 to 8 carries and not have more than 2 sacks per game where we suffer 8 or more yards lost.

 

[Mavric]

Yeah, I thought it came out that those were largely predetermined though. Which I think explains why they didn't go in the direction of building the entire offense around it.

People keep speculating on this (for whatever reason) but it's simply not true.

If you go back and watch the film, it was definitely a read option.

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

I think we ran a really nice read option with Martinez, especially when teamed with Burkhead.

It lost its effectiveness when Martinez lost a step. And when defenses knew it was coming.

Armstrong looks better equipped for the designed QB draw.

Most quarterbacks are also told to stay committed to the pocket on pass plays, and don't take off running at the first sign of open field. I'd give the opposite advice to Tommy Armstrong. He left tons of sure yards on the field last year, looking for a high-risk highlight play. Tommy has a style that could look a lot like Deshaun Watson if he could bump his accuracy up a tick, and take off running every time the defense let down its guard.

It lost its effectiveness when Watson was fired and Tim Beck came in and tried to make the offense 50/50 on the run pass play calling.

When Watson was fired, Tim Beck came in and ran a very similar offense with the same quarterback. Tim Beck never tried to make the offense 50/50, and far more often ran 60/40 or even 65/35 run/pass splits. Zone reads were a big part of Beck's gameplan, and Martinez's rushing numbers confirm it. The Nebraska offense was actually pretty effective under Tim Beck, and just a little less so when Martinez lost a bit of speed and confidence. Tim Beck's offensive playcalling is very similar to all the teams Nebraska aspires to be.

 

[BigRedBuster]

I think we ran a really nice read option with Martinez, especially when teamed with Burkhead.

It lost its effectiveness when Martinez lost a step. And when defenses knew it was coming.

Armstrong looks better equipped for the designed QB draw.

Most quarterbacks are also told to stay committed to the pocket on pass plays, and don't take off running at the first sign of open field. I'd give the opposite advice to Tommy Armstrong. He left tons of sure yards on the field last year, looking for a high-risk highlight play. Tommy has a style that could look a lot like Deshaun Watson if he could bump his accuracy up a tick, and take off running every time the defense let down its guard.

It lost its effectiveness when Watson was fired and Tim Beck came in and tried to make the offense 50/50 on the run pass play calling.

When Watson was fired, Tim Beck came in and ran a very similar offense with the same quarterback. Tim Beck never tried to make the offense 50/50, and far more often ran 60/40 or even 65/35 run/pass splits. Zone reads were a big part of Beck's gameplan, and Martinez's rushing numbers confirm it. The Nebraska offense was actually pretty effective under Tim Beck, and just a little less so when Martinez lost a bit of speed and confidence. Tim Beck's offensive playcalling is very similar to all the teams Nebraska aspires to be.

true.

 

[Enhance]

I think we ran a really nice read option with Martinez, especially when teamed with Burkhead.

It lost its effectiveness when Martinez lost a step. And when defenses knew it was coming.

Armstrong looks better equipped for the designed QB draw.

Most quarterbacks are also told to stay committed to the pocket on pass plays, and don't take off running at the first sign of open field. I'd give the opposite advice to Tommy Armstrong. He left tons of sure yards on the field last year, looking for a high-risk highlight play. Tommy has a style that could look a lot like Deshaun Watson if he could bump his accuracy up a tick, and take off running every time the defense let down its guard.

It lost its effectiveness when Watson was fired and Tim Beck came in and tried to make the offense 50/50 on the run pass play calling.

When Watson was fired, Tim Beck came in and ran a very similar offense with the same quarterback. Tim Beck never tried to make the offense 50/50, and far more often ran 60/40 or even 65/35 run/pass splits. Zone reads were a big part of Beck's gameplan, and Martinez's rushing numbers confirm it. The Nebraska offense was actually pretty effective under Tim Beck, and just a little less so when Martinez lost a bit of speed and confidence. Tim Beck's offensive playcalling is very similar to all the teams Nebraska aspires to be.

My only real complaint against Beck was his situational awareness - I never really felt he was consistent at recognizing the immediate concerns in the game and calling a play to put the players in the best position to succeed. I did, however, enjoy our run/pass splits (for the most part).

 

[kchusker_chris]

Yeah, I thought it came out that those were largely predetermined though. Which I think explains why they didn't go in the direction of building the entire offense around it.

i dn't think martinez ever really figured out the "read" part of the zone-read. there were times where the read was 100% obvious and he'd make the wrong decision. i'm pretty confident he had his mind made up pre-snap.

If it were predetermined, he wouldn't be making the read. If he isn't making the read, what you are seeing was the wrong guess by the coaching staff calling the play.

The coaching staff gave him the option, I just think he made the read pre-snap, after the D was lined up - not as the play progressed.

 

[Landlord]

Cracks me up that people still think we are going to run the quarterback in our pro style offense.

If we have quarterbacks that can run, we will run them. For all the moaning on here throughout the season, Langsdorf actually did a really nice job with Armstrong and the QB run game last year. Used a lot of effective misdirection and counters, getting him in open space for some big gains or just letting Tommy plow behind blockers for first downs.

2014 to 2015 rushing numbers for Tommy:

145 attempts - 98 attempts

705 yards - 400 yards

4.9ypc - 4.1ypc

6 TD - 7 TD

It lost its effectiveness when Watson was fired and Tim Beck came in and tried to make the offense 50/50 on the run pass play calling.

Numbers and reality prove you hilariously wrong on this account. Look at the number of pass attempts by Taylor in Beck's first year - 22, 21, 21, 21, 22, 22, 22, 13, 37, 26, 23, 22, 16.