Athlon ranks the Big Ten Quarterbacks

dudeguyy said:
knapplc said:
I agree the potential is there. Kenny Bell, Quincy Enunwa, Jamal Turner, Jordan Westerkamp, Taariq Allen, Kyler Reed - these are guys who can give a defense fits. We need to figure out how to utilize their talents, and of course we need to get them the ball in a manner that allows them to rack up YAC.
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Funny thing is, you didn't even list the guy with the best hands on the team.

IMHO, Ben Cotton is the guy I'd most want being tossed the rock with the game on the line. He's got the surest hands out of any of those guys, though Westerkamp's sound pretty amazing coming in. He hasn't proven it at the college level, however. Ben is just flat-out reliable. He's the definition of a safety valve.

Heck, Rex out of the backfield doesn't have bad hands at all either. I wish with the young'uns vying for playing time back there, Beck would find a way to get Aaron or Ameer the ball in the screen game. To borrow a page from my favorite pro team's book, the Eagles showed just how much of a terror that can be during the Brian Westbrook years. He was an absolute monster with blockers out in front... such good vision.

Whether or not Beck eventually works that into the offense remains to be seen.
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I think Knapp was talking just more of an overall threat/playmakers, but if you're talking "game-on-the-line" I'd throw Marlowe in there as well. He'd make the catch for 15 when you needed it.

 
Chris is right, plus add in some of the conversation from another thread (I forget which) where I said Cotton should primarily be a blocker, not a receiver. I'm all about using the correct pieces in the correct places. Cotton's a much better blocker than receiver. Reed is a terrible blocker, fine receiver. Ergo, Cotton blocks, Reed catches. On the rare occasion you switch that up, but not often.

 
I think Taylor should be in the 5 slot, although this is far from a top-heavy class of Big Ten QBs. I think the author here is a bit too infatuated with the running and speed of Denard and Taylor both. I just remember Urban Meyer questioning whether Denard should even be in the game during the first half vs us. He's athletic, no doubt, but it seems like the dizzying highs come at the cost of a lot of mistakes, and a lack of proficiency in operating an offense. He's not extraordinary, but I dunno. I think they very possibly have a better overall guy waiting in the wings in Devin Gardner.

I think Braxton is poised to take the league and the NCAA by storm. Colter also, is very impressive. And I know it's our duty to hate Iowa, but Vandenberg seems to have a pretty solid resume behind him, with his 25/7 TD/INT ratio. Of this list, he is the leading passer by 850 yards. Those three guys plus Denard, should be make top 4, with Denard at 2 or 3. Taylor 5, O'Brien 6 because he is such an unknown.

I'm not hating on Taylor, but he is a work in progress who is taking time this spring to try and correct years of some really bad habits in his footwork and throwing mechanics. He is also making up for a lot of lost time in learning how to quarterback (the lost time is no fault of his own). He may be a junior now, but he's still a work in progress. And as much promise as our offense is, that is also a work in progress.

Caveat, I don't think this list should be made on the basis of the surrounding talent. It's a ranking of the individual quarterbacks, not a ranking of the best teams (surely NU would be Top three there). Given a team of a certain level, who's the guy you pick to quarterback it? For me Braxton and Colter would top the list. They have the all-around skills that, combined witth their athleticism, makes them potentially extraordinary, potentially right now.

 
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I am surprised at how high Taylor is ranked. As stated earlier by others, the B1G is not talent rich in terms of QB's by any means. Still, I would place Taylor closer to # 6,7 or even #8. I hope the perspective of the author re; taylor is more accurate than my assessment.

As for the WR comments... those too are seemingly more favorable towards NU than I would think they should be.

Maybe the Huskers will be better than I think they will be... time will tell.

 
zoogies said:
I think Taylor should be in the 5 slot, although this is far from a top-heavy class of Big Ten QBs. I think the author here is a bit too infatuated with the running and speed of Denard and Taylor both. I just remember Urban Meyer questioning whether Denard should even be in the game during the first half vs us. He's athletic, no doubt, but it seems like the dizzying highs come at the cost of a lot of mistakes, and a lack of proficiency in operating an offense. He's not extraordinary, but I dunno. I think they very possibly have a better overall guy waiting in the wings in Devin Gardner.

I think Braxton is poised to take the league and the NCAA by storm. Colter also, is very impressive. And I know it's our duty to hate Iowa, but Vandenberg seems to have a pretty solid resume behind him, with his 25/7 TD/INT ratio. Of this list, he is the leading passer by 850 yards. Those three guys plus Denard, should be make top 4, with Denard at 2 or 3. Taylor 5, O'Brien 6 because he is such an unknown.

I'm not hating on Taylor, but he is a work in progress who is taking time this spring to try and correct years of some really bad habits in his footwork and throwing mechanics. He is also making up for a lot of lost time in learning how to quarterback (the lost time is no fault of his own). He may be a junior now, but he's still a work in progress. And as much promise as our offense is, that is also a work in progress.

Caveat, I don't think this list should be made on the basis of the surrounding talent. It's a ranking of the individual quarterbacks, not a ranking of the best teams (surely NU would be Top three there). Given a team of a certain level, who's the guy you pick to quarterback it? For me Braxton and Colter would top the list. They have the all-around skills that, combined witth their athleticism, makes them potentially extraordinary, potentially right now.
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It seems like you're saying D-Rob and T-Magic are overrated because they're passing liabilities - their talents largely lay in their feet, and their passing is suspect.

But aren't you overrating Miller then, whose skills match Robinson's? Brax is a terrible passer. Why would he be higher than either Robinson or Martinez?

 
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Brax isn't a terrible passer. Maybe I am wrong on that. Braxton seems like the total package. He's also quite poised in the pocket and adept at running the show, surprisingly so for a true freshman. He's the kind of guy I think can run everything, whereas even Denard, you'll always be limited in what you do as you try to build around his running.

Am I just being totally off base on Braxton? It seems we remember their skillsets quite differently.

 
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He was limited significantly in his passing attempts last year. He ended up with over 1,100 yards passing because of the team around him, but as a pure passer he leaves a lot to be desired.

His completion percentage was at or below 50% seven times last year. He attempted ten or fewer passes four times, and completed ten or more passes twice - against Michigan and Florida.

 
One thing that I am not convinced of is the seemingly "accepted" fact that Taylor is a significant running threat. Is he really? look in conference games where the competition is reasonable and look at his stats and, moreover, the lack of significance in those games of Taylors running in terms of the effectiveness of our offense. He is pretty fast and quick too --- and, if there is hole to run through and he need not follow blocks or juke anyone out... then he can go. But in terms of making quick, timely decisions whereby he uses his feet to make plays that are "not there"... making something out of nothing type plays... those are few and far between. Post injury and against high-level competition, TMart has not really impacted many games with his running. He has been very hesitant in taking off... unable to create yards with juking or breaking tackles and does not follow blocks well. His impact as a runner has not been that significant in conference & post injury. Maybe he will be healthier this year and less hesitant in terms of when to take off. I hope so, because the potential seems there for him to impact games with his feet... that potential just has not been overly manifest yet.

 
zoogies said:
Brax isn't a terrible passer. Maybe I am wrong on that. Braxton seems like the total package. He's also quite poised in the pocket and adept at running the show, surprisingly so for a true freshman. He's the kind of guy I think can run everything, whereas even Denard, you'll always be limited in what you do as you try to build around his running.

Am I just being totally off base on Braxton? It seems we remember their skillsets quite differently.
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zoogies said:
Brax isn't a terrible passer. Maybe I am wrong on that. Braxton seems like the total package. He's also quite poised in the pocket and adept at running the show, surprisingly so for a true freshman. He's the kind of guy I think can run everything, whereas even Denard, you'll always be limited in what you do as you try to build around his running.

Am I just being totally off base on Braxton? It seems we remember their skillsets quite differently.
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Miller does seem to me to have complete package potential. He is elusive, quick and very capable of hurting you with his feet. His passing has yet to be that impressive --- but he seems to have the potential there too. I expect him to be rather outstanding in due time.

 
robsker said:
One thing that I am not convinced of is the seemingly "accepted" fact that Taylor is a significant running threat. Is he really? look in conference games where the competition is reasonable and look at his stats and, moreover, the lack of significance in those games of Taylors running in terms of the effectiveness of our offense. He is pretty fast and quick too --- and, if there is hole to run through and he need not follow blocks or juke anyone out... then he can go. But in terms of making quick, timely decisions whereby he uses his feet to make plays that are "not there"... making something out of nothing type plays... those are few and far between. Post injury and against high-level competition, TMart has not really impacted many games with his running. He has been very hesitant in taking off... unable to create yards with juking or breaking tackles and does not follow blocks well. His impact as a runner has not been that significant in conference & post injury. Maybe he will be healthier this year and less hesitant in terms of when to take off. I hope so, because the potential seems there for him to impact games with his feet... that potential just has not been overly manifest yet.
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I think we'll know this year. He was clearly not the same runner last year that he was pre-injury in 2010. His top-line speed was just not there. Whether that was due to the physical consequences of his 2010 injury or because of latent mental issues is unknown.

Bottom line is this - if he can't regain that top-line speed from 2010, and he can't get going in the passing game, then we must, must, must rush Carnes along. Martinez may progress into a serviceable passer but he will never be a pass-first QB. He must have that run threat or he's more a liability than a benefit to the offense.

 
Braxton's passing potential is waaaaaaaaaay above that of Taylor or Denard. He showed flashes of it last year, but that offense was terribly run. I know tOSU fans were outraged about 3/4 of the playcalls each week. We'll see what will happen this year, but I expect Braxton to have a huuuge year and put up some pretty decent passing numbers.

 
robsker said:
One thing that I am not convinced of is the seemingly "accepted" fact that Taylor is a significant running threat. Is he really? look in conference games where the competition is reasonable and look at his stats and, moreover, the lack of significance in those games of Taylors running in terms of the effectiveness of our offense. He is pretty fast and quick too --- and, if there is hole to run through and he need not follow blocks or juke anyone out... then he can go. But in terms of making quick, timely decisions whereby he uses his feet to make plays that are "not there"... making something out of nothing type plays... those are few and far between. Post injury and against high-level competition, TMart has not really impacted many games with his running. He has been very hesitant in taking off... unable to create yards with juking or breaking tackles and does not follow blocks well. His impact as a runner has not been that significant in conference & post injury. Maybe he will be healthier this year and less hesitant in terms of when to take off. I hope so, because the potential seems there for him to impact games with his feet... that potential just has not been overly manifest yet.
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i see what your saying here but imo the reasons that t-marts rushing drop of so much against in confernce teams is

1. the quality of the players in the BIG vs. the quality of the players of the teams in our non con schedule

2. the quality of the coaches in the BIG and their abilities to scheme vs. the quality of the coaches in our non con schedule.

while i think bo has done a great job at nebraska he and his staff still is fairly new at coaching especially in the BIG and it will take time till they can gameplan like some of the more premier coaches in the BIG and around the country, once they get there (which might be this year) and now that this team is starting to mature i think you will see t-marts play against tougher opponets improve. but his play is still directly affected by the play of the o-line which has been questionable at best lately

 
knapplc said:
Chris is right, plus add in some of the conversation from another thread (I forget which) where I said Cotton should primarily be a blocker, not a receiver. I'm all about using the correct pieces in the correct places. Cotton's a much better blocker than receiver. Reed is a terrible blocker, fine receiver. Ergo, Cotton blocks, Reed catches. On the rare occasion you switch that up, but not often.
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Obviously you're right in your assessment of the tight ends. Reed is not physical enough as a blocker but is a much bigger threat as a receiver than Cotton, due to his athleticism and flat out speed.

But when's the last time you honestly remember Taylor throwing a ball up to Ben downfield, on the rare occasions he does run a route, to have it dropper or otherwise not caught? My main point was that of anyone who is catching balls for the Huskers, Cotton is the one I cannot remember dropping a ball. Sure, he looks very awkward reeling the ball in and is in NO way a threat to rack up the YAC, but he can just flat out be trusted to catch the ball.

 
knapplc said:
Chris is right, plus add in some of the conversation from another thread (I forget which) where I said Cotton should primarily be a blocker, not a receiver. I'm all about using the correct pieces in the correct places. Cotton's a much better blocker than receiver. Reed is a terrible blocker, fine receiver. Ergo, Cotton blocks, Reed catches. On the rare occasion you switch that up, but not often.
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One problem with that is that you can become too predictable. If you run to Cotton's side every time, the defense will start loading that side of the field. So you would have to ask yourself, would running to Reed's sude so he is a lead blocker for a few plays better than becoming too predictable?

 
Cotton has been pretty solid in the passing game. It's just that Reed is obviously a mismatch whenever he is on the field, and there's nothing the defense can really do about it. They can put a LB on him, in which case he is going to dust him. Or they can put cover guys on him, which exposes their defense to our WRs, who will have one less DB to contend with.

What doesn't make sense is using Reed as a blocker. Cotton can do both so it shouldn't be too predictable there, but you have to maximize your strengths rather than spending a lot of time using players the wrong way just to hopefully make it better the few times you do try to use them the right way. Use Reed the right way, all the time, and they still can't stop him without bending over backwards and destroying themselves.

 
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