2020 Quarterback Competition

[Xmas32]

I guess where I come down is yes, there should be an open competition in 2020 for QB because I believe there should always be open competition for everything.  Competition keeps you sharp and complacency is a killer.  Do I wish 2AM played better this year?  Absolutely.  Do I think we should cast him aside and turn the reigns over to McCaffery?  Nope.  

I'd love to see a pie chart or statistical breakdown to see how much the following factors affected 2AM this year:

-Sophomore slump--It's real and it happens.  When you're looking at data points, there are going to be stretches of data where you experience regression, it's a fact.  Does that mean 2AM is now terrible?  Not at all, he could just be going through a rough patch.  Teams now have another year of tape on Martinez and have thrown some curveballs at him and forced him to adjust.  It's on him and the coaching staff to adjust accordingly.

-Lack of playmakers--Since the Iowa game is fresh in our minds do you know who did the majority of the damage against Iowa?  If you guessed Mo Washington give yourself a gold star.  Mo went for 7/102/1 last year.  He torched Iowa.  Obviously Robinson being out hurt as he was taking over the Washington role.  Still, Washington has a top end that is really, really rare.  Also, there is no more Stanley.

-Injury/Weight--I think Martinez was pretty banged up this year, moreso than last year.  He was noticeably bulkier this year but shoot, that's also just him becoming a man and growing.  He definitely seemed to lack a little bit of explosiveness but again, could just be some injury stuff.

-Shakier O-Line--Now, I do think the O-Line made some really nice strides at the end of the year but they were also just brutal for large parts of the season.  

 

[suh_fan93]

There were many many times in fact when 2AM had plenty of time back there yet still managed to hold on to the ball too long or just not make the correct decision as to where to go with the football consequently missing wide open receivers or just throwing right into coverage also.   I mean you can list all the excuses you want but even the announcers during several games including the last one against Iowa in fact commented on his decision making or lack thereof.

He was a head case this year imo which was definitely a surprise to me in year 2 of running our offense.  You could see it in his eyes to me at least.

Really really hoping that is not the case in year 3...

 

[Husker in WI]

The play McCaffrey threw the TD on has been in our playbook, we ran it a few times against Indiana I believe and probably a couple other games. It's an RPO, just a hard sprint to the edge - if the defense comes up you throw it over top, if they stay back it's tuck and run for 5-10 yards. It was a good throw and a good sell on the run, but one good throw doesn't mean he's definitely a better passer.

I'm all for an open competition, we're just going to hear a ton of whining about how it wasn't a fair competition when Martinez likely wins it again. But in any case I like where we are - either Martinez overcomes the injuries/whatever he was dealing with and is the QB we expected, or he's not and McCaffrey or Vedral take over. I expect it to be the former option, but we'll see.

Vedral runs the progression.  Vedral's 50% passing is much better for the team than the 67% of simple throws made by Martinez.  Vedral focuses on the defense and taking chunks.  Martinez has about a quarter per game where it looks like he has focus then it unravels.  Martinez focuses too much on the dink in the dink and dunk offense when it is the dunks that open up the run game.

Lol no

There were many many times in fact when 2AM had plenty of time back there yet still managed to hold on to the ball too long or just not make the correct decision as to where to go with the football and consequently missing wide open receivers or just throwing right into coverage.   I mean you can list all the excuses you want but even the announcers during several games including the last one against Iowa in fact commented on his decision making or lack thereof.

The announcers are morons who get talking points and hammer them home whether they're accurate or not. I was laughing one of the times where Martinez just made it to the first down marker because he hesitated, and they go "he was very decisive there!" because they had to fit something in. I agree he had problems this year, but using the announcers' comments doesn't work to back it up IMO.

 

[Undone]

Watch Martinez when he runs an option, and watch McCaffery when he runs an option.  There's a definite killer instinct gap there in the way that very simple play is run.

Sure, he runs the option far better than Adrian. But can he actually stand in the pocket and execute Frost's full playbook? We don't know. We just don't.

Maybe by next season he can.

 

[84HuskerLaw]

Do we know Adrian can run Frost’s full offense ?   No.  
Do we know what Frost’s full offense even is?   If what we’ve seen is all of it, then more needs to be added - no matter which QB is in the game.  Clearly we are struggling mightily to score and or move the ball consistently.  Evidence the high number of

punts and 3&outs vs nearly all our opponents over two seasons.  
We’ve gained lots of yards but scored about 2 or 3 TDs a game less than yardage would tend to indicate.  Just my general observation.  I’m fairly sure the stats would tend to prove our offense has been very inefficient when comparing points per yards of total offense.  
I haven’t looked but I suspect our punter has been way too busy this year in almost every game.

I agree we have not seen much of our back up QBs in two seasons so we don’t know how well he may do but we do know we are not winning many games as it has been.   

 

[Undone]

Clearly we are struggling mightily to score and or move the ball consistently.  Evidence the high number of

punts and 3&outs vs nearly all our opponents over two seasons.

So much of this get fixed with better, bigger, and stronger offensive linemen. Which are on the roster or coming onto the team in this recruiting class.

In 2022 when McCaffrey is the starter and if we have a dominant offense, I highly doubt many fans will give Adrian the benefit of the doubt in terms of the poor pass blocking he had to deal with. 

We can point out the things that Adrian is doing worse in year 2 than what he did in year 1, but it's not like we're an 8-4 team with Luke or Noah at all.

 

[madrat]

i finally understand why this offense doesn't run misdirection.  Who'd thunk misdirection was considered trick plays. This offense doesn't use trick plays, it only uses decisive choices!

All these years...

 

[jamesbond]

I just don't know how there can be such a difference of opinion when watching the same games. It's sad that Martinez could not be more successful this year, but watching the games made it obvious that he just didn't have it. Both McCaffrey and Vedral look to have more energy and confidence. I just don't see what you people are watching.

McCaffrey's touchdown was not a trick play at all. It was a sprint out pass thrown perfectly for a touchdown.

 

[N is for nowledge]

I just don't know how there can be such a difference of opinion when watching the same games. It's sad that Martinez could not be more successful this year, but watching the games made it obvious that he just didn't have it. Both McCaffrey and Vedral look to have more energy and confidence. I just don't see what you people are watching.

McCaffrey's touchdown was not a trick play at all. It was a sprint out pass thrown perfectly for a touchdown.

Did they look better?  Vedral started MN and we scored 7 pts.  I’ll agree both seemed more decisive and ran harder.  What did that get both of them...injured.  Vedral sat for 1-2 and I don’t think was 100% post IU and Luke sat for 1-2 but was maybe healthier than vedral.  The lack of competent oline play, no real playmaker on the edge, and lack of run game had to make playcalling and qb play frustrating as all get out.  Does AM need to get better, absolutely but neither vedral or mccaffrey make a significant difference given the depth and talent at key positions.  I’m excited about the depth at QB in the future but want to ask ppl that are so sure there won’t be an open and transparent process (for the players) in an open competition.  What are you basing that on?

Hell at at one point in the iowa game inside our own 20 and 3rd down we had Williams, stoll, Allen, mazour, and #88?...who the hell do you have any confidence in to get open and make a play.....none.

 

[Husker in WI]

I'd sum up my backup QB feeling this way - McCaffrey was exciting to watch and has a ton of potential. I didn't see anything from him that made me more excited than I had been watching Martinez last year, which isn't a knock on McCaffrey at all. So either Martinez steps back up or McCaffrey does, and both have shown the ability to be game changing players. I expect every player to have to continue to earn their playing time, QBs included.

 

[Undone]

Both McCaffrey and Vedral look to have more energy and confidence. I just don't see what you people are watching.

Did you watch the Minnesota game? How many points did we put on the board with Vedral at the helm? That was his shot to show he was significantly better than Martinez and we put up seven points.

 

McCaffrey's touchdown was not a trick play at all. It was a sprint out pass thrown perfectly for a touchdown.

Iowa's entire defense crashed down towards him when he rolled out because the scouting report showed he's a run-first guy. That sprung Spielman wide open. So yes, it was practically a trick play in that regard. How people can't understand this is pretty confusing. Frost even explained this in the post game presser.

 

[Caliborn72]

In defense of AM, our spring roster was a wasteland. Washington was dealing with his off field issues, we didn’t have Mills or WanDale on campus yet, Spielman and Miles Jones were held out of several practices for precautionary reasons. Martinez was playing with a ton of walk-ons next to him because we just didn’t have the bodies.

I think a fully loaded roster in spring and fall will go a long way in helping him prepare for next year.

 

[ColoradoHusk]

Did you watch the Minnesota game? How many points did we put on the board with Vedral at the helm? That was his shot to show he was significantly better than Martinez and we put up seven points.

The other thing with Vedral and McCaffrey is that they were both injured when they were asked to play significant snaps.  They had trouble making through the games healthy.

Why do people think that benching Martinez earlier in the season would have resulted in more games won?

 

[madrat]

The spring was a lot of wasted practice during the spring game.  Guys that carried weight in the  spring game were ghosts during the season.

 

[BRV920]

Haven’t went through the whole thread so if it was posted earlier I apologize. All season people have said something has been off with Martinez and they are right from what little I’ve been able to gather. It sounds like he played the whole season with a bum shoulder which required surgery early this week to repair. This would explain quite a bit in both the running and passing game issues. I’m all for a open QB competition this spring but don’t be surprised if a healthy Martinez wins the job.