5 Bold Predictions for Taylor Martinez

[NUpolo8]

Directions for Making a Huskerboard Thread

1. Use the following for a Title, "Will/Can/Does (pick one) Taylor Martinez (insert verb) this Year?"

2. Link an article that vaguely gauges Taylor's growth, but doesn't actually have any claim-link evidence of said judgement

3. Depending on your mood, agree or disagree with article

4. Cite your personal belief of how Nebraska's offense should run. Be sure to include the following elements, hard nosed, Burkhead, dominant, patty cake, drive and 1995.

5. Pick three if the above elements. Lament that we do not have them to your satisfaction. (IMPORTANT: be sure to adress the team as "we")

6. Blame one of the following for the reason we're (see?) missing said elements. Bill Callahan, Pelini's yes men, Old people at the games, Frank Solich's secretary.

7. Write in all caps, " WE ARE NEBRASKA".

8. Passively insult all other teams, this way prolific posters who don't like Nebraska will join in.

9. Add .gifs at your own discretion.

 

[ladyhawke]

Directions for Making a Huskerboard Thread

1. Use the following for a Title, "Will/Can/Does (pick one) Taylor Martinez (insert verb) this Year?"

2. Link an article that vaguely gauges Taylor's growth, but doesn't actually have any claim-link evidence of said judgement

3. Depending on your mood, agree or disagree with article

4. Cite your personal belief of how Nebraska's offense should run. Be sure to include the following elements, hard nosed, Burkhead, dominant, patty cake, drive and 1995.

5. Pick three if the above elements. Lament that we do not have them to your satisfaction. (IMPORTANT: be sure to adress the team as "we")

6. Blame one of the following for the reason we're (see?) missing said elements. Bill Callahan, Pelini's yes men, Old people at the games, Frank Solich's secretary.

7. Write in all caps, " WE ARE NEBRASKA".

8. Passively insult all other teams, this way prolific posters who don't like Nebraska will join in.

9. Add .gifs at your own discretion.

Spoil Sport

 

[zeWilbur]

Football is a chess game unless one team can physically dominate the other.

Otherwise, the chess game isn't going away from something that is working but creating things that will work later in the game. I am all for running between the tackles because they can't stop it but we are not as physically dominant as we used to be. Parity in college football has taken a lot of that away. However, the routes receivers run and the order they run them is a big deal too. Just like you hope to catch the defense cheating one way so you run the other you hope the corners start jumping the short routes and the safeties bite on play action. Go back and watch a single position for an entire game and you will see this play out. I'm sure that OC's will outsmart themselves on occasion but what they are trying to accomplish is something that not only opens things in the future but keeps what is working now actually working so it doesn't get stonewalled.

Ignoring this is just not giving Beck credit for how hard his job really is. We all armchair coach but that is ridiculous.

 

[Hercules]

Yeah what Fuzzy said. Crouch was not only a tough SOB, he had great moves. Taylor so far has been more of a, as you say, gap speed guy. Give him a crease and if the defenders are caught just a little out of position, he can be gone. Crouch could steamroll people as well as weave his way through traffic. They're different runners. So I hope we our running attack on the ZR, which is designed to give Taylor those holes, and ditch the option, where he has to run laterally, have good vision, and make good decisions about ball security.

It's not a question of how many rushing yards he gets. It's of how effectively he is used. I'm sure he can be given 20 carries a game and come out with 4-5 yards a carry, but we're looking for something 'extra' from the QB, and not just what the workhorse back is supposed to do. The homerun threat, the misdirection, etc.

I think it's fair to say that Crouch and Martinez are different types of runners. I don't think that means that one guy can be used on the option and the other guy can't. Is Taylor going to be as good as Crouch and Frazier were running the option? No. And he doesn't need to be, he just needs to be good enough to worry the defense, which he is. The lateral option is one more thing a defense has to prepare for, we don't want to abandon it.

Furthermore, I think it's unfair to blame his running style for Martinez's inability to run the option as well as Crouch or Frazier. It has more to do with the fact that those guys were running the option at QB in high school, and then they ran it for 4 years under one of the greatest OC's who ever lived, or at the very least they were coached by perhaps the greatest option QB who ever lived. Last year was Taylor's first year ever running the option, and Tim Beck is no Tom Osborne, and he's no Turner Gill. Both Beck and Taylor will keep getting better at it the more they run it.

And since you brought up ypc, I thought I would throw these into the conversation:

Crouch ypc:

1998: 4.8

1999: 4.9

2000: 5.7

2001: 5.5

Martinez ypc:

2010: 6.0

2011: 4.6

I'd say Martinez holds his own there. He also blows Crouch away in terms of throwing the ball:

Crouch:

1998: 48.5%, 6.0 avg, 4 TDs, 4 int's

1999: 51.9%, 7.9 avg, 7 TDs, 4 int's

2000: 48.1%, 7.1 avg, 11 TDs, 7 int's

2001: 55.6%, 8.0 avg, 7 TDs, 10 int's

Martinez:

2010: 59.2%, 8.3 avg, 10 TDs, 7 int's

2011: 56.3%, 7.3 avg, 13 TDs, 8 int's

To put Taylor's freshman year in perspective: despite playing hurt the second half of the season, he was still more efficient statistically - as a runner and as a passer - than Eric Crouch was during his senior season when he won the Heisman and played for the national championship in the Rose Bowl.

So... How about we stop talking about how Taylor Martinez matches up against Eric Crouch and start talking about how Cole Pensick compares to Dominic Raiola or how Andrew Rodriguez compares to Toniu Fonoti?

 

[caveman99]

I boldly predict that his receivers will catch the dadgummed ball. No Paul; no Kinnie. All systems go.

Last year we were saying "no paul". Who's going to be the guy to fill the "underachieving senior" role this year?

Marlowe?

Marlowe was the most clutch receiver last year. Kid just makes the catch, tough or not.

 

[krc1995]

I actually thought he improved a lot on the option as the year went on, but it was definitely frightening to watch at times.

:yeah . If the receivers can catch a few more and the line can block a little more, TM will improve a little more. He's not the savior but he's not the achilles either.

 

[Hunter94]

Football is a chess game unless one team can physically dominate the other.

Otherwise, the chess game isn't going away from something that is working but creating things that will work later in the game. I am all for running between the tackles because they can't stop it but we are not as physically dominant as we used to be. Parity in college football has taken a lot of that away. However, the routes receivers run and the order they run them is a big deal too. Just like you hope to catch the defense cheating one way so you run the other you hope the corners start jumping the short routes and the safeties bite on play action. Go back and watch a single position for an entire game and you will see this play out. I'm sure that OC's will outsmart themselves on occasion but what they are trying to accomplish is something that not only opens things in the future but keeps what is working now actually working so it doesn't get stonewalled.

Ignoring this is just not giving Beck credit for how hard his job really is. We all armchair coach but that is ridiculous.

really good analogy, reminds me how Belchick coaches....he runs plays early to set up what he wants to do later......lulls the D to sleep.

 

[Hunter94]

I boldly predict that his receivers will catch the dadgummed ball. No Paul; no Kinnie. All systems go.

Last year we were saying "no paul". Who's going to be the guy to fill the "underachieving senior" role this year?

Marlowe?

Marlowe was the most clutch receiver last year. Kid just makes the catch, tough or not.

i like Marlowe, but come on now........the kid had 12 catches for 113 yards, 4 catches in the NW game alone......he might have had a couple clutch catches, but (excluding the NW game) the kid was averaging less than a catch per game.......he may know his routes, but an explosive threat?......that should be Turner's MO this season,

 

[caveman99]

I boldly predict that his receivers will catch the dadgummed ball. No Paul; no Kinnie. All systems go.

Last year we were saying "no paul". Who's going to be the guy to fill the "underachieving senior" role this year?

Marlowe?

Marlowe was the most clutch receiver last year. Kid just makes the catch, tough or not.

i like Marlowe, but come on now........the kid had 12 catches for 113 yards, 4 catches in the NW game alone......he might have had a couple clutch catches, but (excluding the NW game) the kid was averaging less than a catch per game.......he may know his routes, but an explosive threat?......that should be Turner's MO this season,

I didn't say explosive, I said clutch. Go back and watch his catches, several were tough like Minnesota. Kid has good hands. As far as explosive, Marlowe has been called the fastest on the ream by his teammates so take that for what it is worth.

 

[lo country]

Nate Swift......... Todd Peterson........ Not that fast (saying that even makes them faster than they were), but ran precise routes, caught what was thrown their way and then some. Not saying Marlowe is THAT clutch, but he is close. Seems to run good routes and catch the limited balls his way. Maybe Jordan can come in and be "that guy".

Bottom line for me, speed is great..........if you can catch the ball. Pan hands Frantz anyone? Paul, Kinnie? Great speed and size, but too many drops. I would rather have a guy who averages 5-6 ypc and 0 YAC who catches everything that should be caught and even makes a circus catch or two along the way AND knows where the chains are and can get them to move. This alone would help Martinez as good as better line play and better mechanics. You think we were frustrated last year. Imagine him watching drop after drop after drop the past two years.

For the old timers, check out Jay Novacek with the Cowboys, slow, precise route runner with hands like glue. He was Troy's go to guy when a completion absolutely was needed. We haven't had that since Swift left. Martinez needs that now. (even a safety valve dump to the RB ala Marlon Lucky would help)

 

[NUance]

Nate Swift......... Todd Peterson........ Not that fast (saying that even makes them faster than they were), but ran precise routes, caught what was thrown their way and then some. Not saying Marlowe is THAT clutch, but he is close. Seems to run good routes and catch the limited balls his way. Maybe Jordan can come in and be "that guy".

Bottom line for me, speed is great..........if you can catch the ball. Pan hands Frantz anyone? Paul, Kinnie? Great speed and size, but too many drops. I would rather have a guy who averages 5-6 ypc and 0 YAC who catches everything that should be caught and even makes a circus catch or two along the way AND knows where the chains are and can get them to move. This alone would help Martinez as good as better line play and better mechanics. You think we were frustrated last year. Imagine him watching drop after drop after drop the past two years.

For the old timers, check out Jay Novacek with the Cowboys, slow, precise route runner with hands like glue. He was Troy's go to guy when a completion absolutely was needed. We haven't had that since Swift left. Martinez needs that now. (even a safety valve dump to the RB ala Marlon Lucky would help)

Yeah, Swift and Peterson both had great hands alright. Another guy worth mentioning is Matt Davison. He wasn't big, and certainly wasn't fast. But the guy had GREAT hands. Caught everything thrown his way. I think Davison had the best hands of any NU receiver that I've seen.

 

[The Dude]

For the old timers, check out Jay Novacek with the Cowboys, slow, precise route runner with hands like glue. He was Troy's go to guy when a completion absolutely was needed.

Wish I knew where to see some of his old highlights. There used to be a clip of Novacek on YouTube faking out a Chiefs LB so bad that the dude fell on his a$$, then he caught a pass and hurdled another defender on the way to the end zone. I don't think that's even on YouTube anymore. Yeah, he was to quintessential "go to guy". I don't think he was all that slow for a tight end though, he was a champion decathlete in college and also played some wide receiver.

 

[True2tRA]

Ben Cotton is to Martinez, as Novacek was to Aikman. Cotton is ready to have a helluva season.

 

[bshirt]

Nate Swift......... Todd Peterson........ Not that fast (saying that even makes them faster than they were), but ran precise routes, caught what was thrown their way and then some. Not saying Marlowe is THAT clutch, but he is close. Seems to run good routes and catch the limited balls his way. Maybe Jordan can come in and be "that guy".

Bottom line for me, speed is great..........if you can catch the ball. Pan hands Frantz anyone? Paul, Kinnie? Great speed and size, but too many drops. I would rather have a guy who averages 5-6 ypc and 0 YAC who catches everything that should be caught and even makes a circus catch or two along the way AND knows where the chains are and can get them to move. This alone would help Martinez as good as better line play and better mechanics. You think we were frustrated last year. Imagine him watching drop after drop after drop the past two years.

For the old timers, check out Jay Novacek with the Cowboys, slow, precise route runner with hands like glue. He was Troy's go to guy when a completion absolutely was needed. We haven't had that since Swift left. Martinez needs that now. (even a safety valve dump to the RB ala Marlon Lucky would help)

Yeah, Swift and Peterson both had great hands alright. Another guy worth mentioning is Matt Davison. He wasn't big, and certainly wasn't fast. But the guy had GREAT hands. Caught everything thrown his way. I think Davison had the best hands of any NU receiver that I've seen.

I fully agree. That guy was simply sensational at catching the ball. Oh yeah, easily the best NU WR hands I've ever seen.

 

[bshirt]

Nate Swift......... Todd Peterson........ Not that fast (saying that even makes them faster than they were), but ran precise routes, caught what was thrown their way and then some. Not saying Marlowe is THAT clutch, but he is close. Seems to run good routes and catch the limited balls his way. Maybe Jordan can come in and be "that guy".

Bottom line for me, speed is great..........if you can catch the ball. Pan hands Frantz anyone? Paul, Kinnie? Great speed and size, but too many drops. I would rather have a guy who averages 5-6 ypc and 0 YAC who catches everything that should be caught and even makes a circus catch or two along the way AND knows where the chains are and can get them to move. This alone would help Martinez as good as better line play and better mechanics. You think we were frustrated last year. Imagine him watching drop after drop after drop the past two years.

For the old timers, check out Jay Novacek with the Cowboys, slow, precise route runner with hands like glue. He was Troy's go to guy when a completion absolutely was needed. We haven't had that since Swift left. Martinez needs that now. (even a safety valve dump to the RB ala Marlon Lucky would help)

Z. Lee had a zillion or so of his passes dropped too. As horrid as our offense was in 2009, if we could have caught more of his passes it would have helped a lot. You bet, even a marginal RB like Lucky who could and would "catch the ball" is a fine asset.

I just couldn't agree with this post more. I too would most gladly take an average speed WR who catches the damn ball any day (& twice on Sunday) "and" remembers what route he's supposed to run over a flashy, electric WR who may or may not catch passes or run the right routes.

Bo/Beck got tons of grief from internet fans for playing guys like Marlowe over JT last year but to me it was easily the right call. I'd love to see JT excel too as his ceiling is through the roof but until he starts catching passes and running the right routes he'll stay watching others play.