Any chance the Tanner Lee story isn't 100 percent true?

T

tmfr15

Starter
Every year, Husker fans find reasons to be excited about the football season. And, without a doubt, at least in my mind, the Tanner Lee story is the reason for hope.

This quarterback looks like a can't miss. He looked great in the spring game, but that performance has more anecdotal evidence than any other spring game performance. A great many football minds have said this kid is going to be good. And Lee came out of the Manning Passing Academy with the Mannings, Archie if I am not mistaken, saying that Lee was a better passer than Jared Goff.

At the same time, I have feelings of trepidation.

Remember all that was said when Mike Riley got here in the first place. A lot of Husker fans were thinking negatively. But the university supported talk soothed those nerves. Riley was a guy who had been around the world in about every kind of football. He would manage the roster right, manage the game right, put our guys in position to succeed and we would be successful right away. Most of that turned out to not be true as 5-7 would attest.

We were also told that Riley would recruit great. Look at Penn State's current class. That's recruiting great. We have been backpedaling for sometime with this current class and we are out of the top 40. Coach Riley  has yet to have that knockout class.

This year, it's Lee. That's what we are hoping for.

Oh sure, the defense is supposed to be improved under Bob Diaco, but there has to be a few rough patches for them, right? We don't have the ideal players to run this system and we couldn't line up in the base defense for the spring. That's a concern.

But if Lee can manage the team, be accurate with the football and chase defenders away from the LOS with a good quick game and with savvy pocket awareness that leads to bigger throws and bigger plays ... well then we are going to be awesome.

OR.... Lee could come out,  be very average and throw the ball into trouble areas on the field where defenders can intercept. We know that Lee has thrown about as many picks as he has touchdowns... granted that was at Tulane.

Do I want to believe in Lee? Yes. But I am also wondering if this is all a set up for a bad outcome.

Anyone else feeling like this? Because, quite frankly, I hope no one, or at least very few.

GBR!

 
This is the most uncertain I have ever been at the beginning of a season. I wouldn't be surprised by a 10 win season or a 5 win season. I also think Lee has to prove it on the field. His stats at Tulane were nothing special. I wonder if he is a great passer when there is no pressure, but not so great when rushed. 

 
i imagine even Riley is skeptical of how good Lee will be.....but for some reason he settled on Lee as his man, very early on....

i hope that is a good sign....we will soon find out.

 
tmfr15 said:
Every year, Husker fans find reasons to be excited about the football season. And, without a doubt, at least in my mind, the Tanner Lee story is the reason for hope.

This quarterback looks like a can't miss. He looked great in the spring game, but that performance has more anecdotal evidence than any other spring game performance. A great many football minds have said this kid is going to be good. And Lee came out of the Manning Passing Academy with the Mannings, Archie if I am not mistaken, saying that Lee was a better passer than Jared Goff.

At the same time, I have feelings of trepidation.

Remember all that was said when Mike Riley got here in the first place. A lot of Husker fans were thinking negatively. But the university supported talk soothed those nerves. Riley was a guy who had been around the world in about every kind of football. He would manage the roster right, manage the game right, put our guys in position to succeed and we would be successful right away. Most of that turned out to not be true as 5-7 would attest.

We were also told that Riley would recruit great. Look at Penn State's current class. That's recruiting great. We have been backpedaling for sometime with this current class and we are out of the top 40. Coach Riley  has yet to have that knockout class.

This year, it's Lee. That's what we are hoping for.

Oh sure, the defense is supposed to be improved under Bob Diaco, but there has to be a few rough patches for them, right? We don't have the ideal players to run this system and we couldn't line up in the base defense for the spring. That's a concern.

But if Lee can manage the team, be accurate with the football and chase defenders away from the LOS with a good quick game and with savvy pocket awareness that leads to bigger throws and bigger plays ... well then we are going to be awesome.

OR.... Lee could come out,  be very average and throw the ball into trouble areas on the field where defenders can intercept. We know that Lee has thrown about as many picks as he has touchdowns... granted that was at Tulane.

Do I want to believe in Lee? Yes. But I am also wondering if this is all a set up for a bad outcome.

Anyone else feeling like this? Because, quite frankly, I hope no one, or at least very few.

GBR!
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Nope, I think Lee is the real deal, for the simple reason we have heard the positives about him from everyone. This isn't just coming from MR, DL and the players it is coming from everyone that has watched him.  First it came out of the Manning camp, then we have heard it from a couple of NFL type scouts, then we here it from all the BTN guys, then we here it from all the local media.  

Does that mean they win 10 games next year, I don't know.  There are a lot of things that go into it than just a QB.  I think he gives them a really good chance to win games though.  

Some of your other observation are just that.

 NU did go 5-7 that year, but lots of things did not go their way.  It could have easily been a 9 win season with a couple of breaks in some games.  I do put the losses against Illinois and Purdue that year on the coaches, but basically every almost every other loss could have been a win with a couple of breaks in the game. It doesn't make me feel better about losing, but it does really show you how winning and losing can come down to a couple of plays.  I heard this morning on ESPN that Clemson had 8 1 possession games last year and went 7-1 in those games.   

I am not sure why you are comparing PSU recruiting and Nebraska.  Most years Penn St will out recruit Nebraska.  There are more D-1 recruits within 200 miles of Happy Valley than their are within 500 miles of Nebraska.  It is just simple math.  Nebraska has a really nice class going right now, it is not going to be a huge class which is what a lot of recruiting rankings is based upon.  Look at the overall star rating and you will be a little happier about the class.  

 
I'd say there is a 100% chance the story is not 100% true. But It isn't athletic dept. propaganda either. There's been plenty of people outside the program saying how good he is.  Tanner Lee will do about as good as his pass protection allows. I'm expecting him to do well in this offense and better than we've seen the last few years. I'm not expecting anything approaching unbelievable. You can just tell that Riley is truly, finally excited about this offense. It should be good...it better be good.

 
I think Lee will be just as good as advertised.  If he isn't we are screwe.....WAIT, WE HAVE ACTUAL QB DEPTH!  Almost forgot what that was!

 
Not a snap, not a play, not second off the clock and some are already doubting.  Amen the greatest college football fans on earth.  No question.

 
skersfan said:
Not a snap, not a play, not second off the clock and some are already doubting.  Amen the greatest college football fans on earth.  No question.
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Odd.

I feel like being sure he's an awesome QB is the weird thing, not questioning whether he is. That's normal. If I was sure Nebraska had the 2nd coming of Peyton Manning every season, and have no doubts about it, I'd be pretty depressed by now.

 
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Also, never said he was awesome, NFL level or anything of the type.  Want to see him play before I make my mind up on him  But of course some on this site know far more about football than me.  Just seems like it would be nice not question the ability until it is either proven or disproven.

 
In 12 hours we will get our first glimpse one way or the other! Key things for me are no turnovers and big plays. If we can create 4+ big plays (30+ yards) with no turnovers we will be in good position to win most games.

 
Not only is it possible I'm incredibly worried it's more than possible.

Don't get me wrong, everything I've seen and heard from the guy since he got here says he's going to be great. He absolutely looks great at practice and my eyes tell me he's a future NFL starter calliber QB. But that strangely has me worried now after reading Tulane articles and board posts. 

What has me worried is reading The Tulane board threads on Tanner when he was still playing for them. The gist of much of the Tanner Lee talk was that he was nicknamed practice Tom Brady by coaches and all the media, analysts etc. that watched him practice would rave about him.. then he'd take the field in games and force balls into impossible wimdows and apparently all the poise and confidence he shows all week evaporates in games turning him into a pick-6 machine. 

Many of those were posts before there was a hint of him leavimg so they aren't jilted loser syndrome thoughts either.

Now, his line sucked (it was legitimately the worst line in D1 imo) and his coaching staff was terrible ( even stauch Wave supporters say it was a highschool quality offensive coaching staff when it came to QB development.)  So hopefully that is the primary reason for the disparity Lee has shown between practice and game performance at Tulane. 

God I hope so.

 
You don't have to go back very far to find top NFL talent playing on ho-hum college teams that didn't accomplish much. Lee could be very good and a solid draft prospect without delivering what Nebraska fans really want, which is an undefeated (or close to it) season. He could do all that while we go 5-7. It's a team sport, at the end of the day.

 
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