Johnny Manziel finished 8-4 this year - but his defense has a lot to do with the struggling Texas A&M record (as compared to last season's 11-2 mark). Johnny Stanton seems to be more of your prototypical standard passing quarterback [maybe a Matthew Stafford (Detroit Lions' QB)]. Stanton will work the vertical passing game - which will make him a valuable asset next year, but he's not a runner like the elusive Johnny Manziel. So I really don't understand all of this "Johnny Football" love and hype as it's expressed for Johnny Stanton at this point in time. The actual Johnny Manziel would compare to the likes of past football greats such as Steve Young (SF 49ers) and especially Fran Tarkenton (Minnesota Vikings). For the record, the actual Johnny Football is lightning quick. He is a rare commodity for Texas A&M. Johnny Stanton is coming off ACL surgery too ... so you have to take that into account IMHO. He may still be very good ... but I doubt very seriously that he is a copy of Johnny Manziel. Again, I will say it here, that Stanton will provide the vertical passing game much like Craig Sundberg did for Nebraska from way back in the early to mid '80s.
Again, everybody wants to write off Tommy Armstrong - which baffles me. He runs Nebraska's old school option offense. I love to watch Armstrong run the option. He breaks ankles. The time traveler from the mid '90s can flat out run the option. He had an impressive effort against Michigan in The Big House on Nov. 9 in Nebraska's 17-13 win by rushing 12 times for 13 yards and completing 11 of 19 passes for 139 yards without any fumbles or interceptions that evening. Of course, Armstrong won the game off a 5 yard shovel pass to Ameer Abdullah late in the 4th quarter.
I agree with a post that explained it earlier on this thread that we'll be paper thin in QB depth next year. Let's allow both of these guys to take care of the program instead of giving one of them the cold shoulder. Both QBs...it will take them both to get Nebraska through a tough 12-game regular season. And, maybe Johnny Stanton will be "Johnny Football - Part 2," and also ... maybe Tommy Armstrong will continue to improve and become Nebraska's "Touchdown Tommie - Part 2" as well! Let's just get behind them both!
It will take them both as Armstrong involves more contact with his game than did Taylor Martinez - who was instructed to slide to avoid injury in many situations during his career. The probability of injury will exist that much more with the athletically talented Armstrong. Therefore, coach Bo Pelini will need to rely on both Nebraska signal callers to get the Cornhuskers through a long 12-, 13-game regular season. This is how I see it.
Johnny Stanton was nicknamed Johnny Football in high school. That is before Johnny "Football" Manziel ever played a college down. So that is no reference or comparison to Stanton and Manziel.
Also, Matthew Stafford probably throws a football better than any human on this planet in terms of straight arm talent. He is indeed in the top 3. The comparison is completely absurd and I don't think anyone who has actually watched Stanton play would call him a "prototypical passing QB."
Finally, where is this idea that Stanton is going to stretch the field vertically? There is an article out there that I will search for that says he team in high school runs the ball 68% of the time. But when his team passed, 78% of passes were within 10 yards of the LOS. That equal, what, roughly 7% of plays of passes beyond 10 yards. Many of those were probably in the mid range. So we are looking at about 2% of his plays as throwing the ball down field.
