Freshmen QBs Bush and Darlington relishing chance to compete

[Hedley Lamarr]

Why do Nebraska fans still wonder why we don't compete for National Titles anymore? The last time we competed for one, we had the Heisman Trophy winner at QB.

Crouch's completion percentage would not have been a fit for Mike Riley's system.

The most passing attempts Crouch ever had was 189 attempts in 2001. He completed 55%. Sean Mannion had 453 passing attempts in 2014, completing 62%.

So obviously, this is a reasonable comparison and a conversation TOTALLY worth having...............derp.

Not sure what the "derp" vocabulary is all about........but anyway.....
The Mannion/Crouch "comparison" illustrates my point exactly. I don't believe Mike Riley's offensive philosophy is an effective blueprint in the college game.

What is this blueprint? How will this blueprint be applied at Nebraska?
If the spring game showed me anything, it was that I don't know exactly what to expect as an offensive philosophy. Seemed like a little bit of everything.

So please, answer the above questions and enlighten me a bit on what exactly this offensive blueprint is that I should be expecting to watch fail in the upcoming seasons.

He doesn't know, has to keep it vague so he can say told ya so

 

[TheSker]

Why do Nebraska fans still wonder why we don't compete for National Titles anymore? The last time we competed for one, we had the Heisman Trophy winner at QB.

Crouch's completion percentage would not have been a fit for Mike Riley's system.

The most passing attempts Crouch ever had was 189 attempts in 2001. He completed 55%. Sean Mannion had 453 passing attempts in 2014, completing 62%.

So obviously, this is a reasonable comparison and a conversation TOTALLY worth having...............derp.

Not sure what the "derp" vocabulary is all about........but anyway.....
The Mannion/Crouch "comparison" illustrates my point exactly. I don't believe Mike Riley's offensive philosophy is an effective blueprint in the college game.

What is this blueprint? How will this blueprint be applied at Nebraska?

If the spring game showed me anything, it was that I don't know exactly what to expect as an offensive philosophy. Seemed like a little bit of everything.

So please, answer the above questions and enlighten me a bit on what exactly this offensive blueprint is that I should be expecting to watch fail in the upcoming seasons.

The blueprint at Nebraska is closer to 189 pass attempts than 453. Tom Osborne gave Mike Riley the direct advice that it's important to run the football. Mike Riley has more of an NFL blueprint. Riley has put a few quarterbacks in the NFL and Nebraska has not......yet Riley's college football trophy case is empty.

 

[BellyOption]

Darlington could make anybody's offense go. I watched the HS video of him and he always makes the read, is instinctive and gets the ball out quickly. Riley won the Fiesta bowl in 2001 with a short, heady quarterback (jonathan smith, now the OC at Washington) who just seemed to make plays and wa a winner. That's Darlington.

But man, that hit that took him out- wasn't even much of a pop. Makes me wonder if he is going to last long. Hate to see talented players get head injuries.

Agree with you. Am a fan of Darlington.

Point of clarification: Riley wasn't the coach at Oregon State in '01. That was Dennis Erickson.

 

[Hedley Lamarr]

Why do Nebraska fans still wonder why we don't compete for National Titles anymore? The last time we competed for one, we had the Heisman Trophy winner at QB.

Crouch's completion percentage would not have been a fit for Mike Riley's system.

The most passing attempts Crouch ever had was 189 attempts in 2001. He completed 55%. Sean Mannion had 453 passing attempts in 2014, completing 62%.

So obviously, this is a reasonable comparison and a conversation TOTALLY worth having...............derp.

Not sure what the "derp" vocabulary is all about........but anyway.....
The Mannion/Crouch "comparison" illustrates my point exactly. I don't believe Mike Riley's offensive philosophy is an effective blueprint in the college game.

What is this blueprint? How will this blueprint be applied at Nebraska?
If the spring game showed me anything, it was that I don't know exactly what to expect as an offensive philosophy. Seemed like a little bit of everything.

So please, answer the above questions and enlighten me a bit on what exactly this offensive blueprint is that I should be expecting to watch fail in the upcoming seasons.

The blueprint at Nebraska is closer to 189 pass attempts than 453. Tom Osborne gave Mike Riley the direct advice that it's important to run the football. Mike Riley has more of an NFL blueprint. Riley has put a few quarterbacks in the NFL and Nebraska has not......yet Riley's college football trophy case is empty.

You think we are going to throw the ball over 400 times a year?!?! Bahahahaha

 

[TheSker]

Why do Nebraska fans still wonder why we don't compete for National Titles anymore? The last time we competed for one, we had the Heisman Trophy winner at QB.

Crouch's completion percentage would not have been a fit for Mike Riley's system.

The most passing attempts Crouch ever had was 189 attempts in 2001. He completed 55%. Sean Mannion had 453 passing attempts in 2014, completing 62%.

So obviously, this is a reasonable comparison and a conversation TOTALLY worth having...............derp.

Not sure what the "derp" vocabulary is all about........but anyway.....
The Mannion/Crouch "comparison" illustrates my point exactly. I don't believe Mike Riley's offensive philosophy is an effective blueprint in the college game.

What is this blueprint? How will this blueprint be applied at Nebraska?
If the spring game showed me anything, it was that I don't know exactly what to expect as an offensive philosophy. Seemed like a little bit of everything.

So please, answer the above questions and enlighten me a bit on what exactly this offensive blueprint is that I should be expecting to watch fail in the upcoming seasons.

The blueprint at Nebraska is closer to 189 pass attempts than 453. Tom Osborne gave Mike Riley the direct advice that it's important to run the football. Mike Riley has more of an NFL blueprint. Riley has put a few quarterbacks in the NFL and Nebraska has not......yet Riley's college football trophy case is empty.

You think we are going to throw the ball over 400 times a year?!?! Bahahahaha

Well, that's not what I wrote.....but you can feel free to continue answering questions on my behalf. It saves me time.

 

[BigRedBuster]

The list of highly-recruited quarterbacks who lost their job to an incredibly confident freshman who came out of nowhere is actually pretty long and storied.

Really? Or is this sarcasm. Tommy wasn't highly recruited....at QB. I believe it was us and Southern Miss

(this is all sarcasm)Yea, but the mighty Zac Lee from the City College of San Francisco was unseated by highly recruited safety/WR prospect Taylor Martinez.........

Why do Nebraska fans still wonder why we don't compete for National Titles anymore? The last time we competed for one, we had the Heisman Trophy winner at QB.

You know, many football analysts think the quarterback position is a very important one on a football team, but really, WTH do they know?

Pretty sure no coaching staff here actually tried not to get Heisman calibre QBs here, but what do I know? Now, I did hear that Broderick Thomas was upset that Solich didn't pursue Thomas's hometown QB Vince Young, but I doubt we had any shot at all at him.

If you got the impression I was saying that coaching staffs were trying not to get Heisman caliber QB's I would love to know what the hell I said that made you draw that conclusion. I didn't say anything of the sort and I can't figure out why you even said that. I mean, it's pretty much beyond stupidity.

You're right, no staff here didn't want top talent at QB.

I'm interested though, that last Heisman trophy winning QB we had that played for an NC, what position was other schools wanting him to play?

You act like there were people in the program and fan base that don't think the QB position is the most important position on offense.

 

[Mavric]

Why do Nebraska fans still wonder why we don't compete for National Titles anymore? The last time we competed for one, we had the Heisman Trophy winner at QB.

Crouch's completion percentage would not have been a fit for Mike Riley's system.

The most passing attempts Crouch ever had was 189 attempts in 2001. He completed 55%. Sean Mannion had 453 passing attempts in 2014, completing 62%.

So obviously, this is a reasonable comparison and a conversation TOTALLY worth having...............derp.

Not sure what the "derp" vocabulary is all about........but anyway.....
The Mannion/Crouch "comparison" illustrates my point exactly. I don't believe Mike Riley's offensive philosophy is an effective blueprint in the college game.

What is this blueprint? How will this blueprint be applied at Nebraska?
If the spring game showed me anything, it was that I don't know exactly what to expect as an offensive philosophy. Seemed like a little bit of everything.

So please, answer the above questions and enlighten me a bit on what exactly this offensive blueprint is that I should be expecting to watch fail in the upcoming seasons.

The blueprint at Nebraska is closer to 189 pass attempts than 453. Tom Osborne gave Mike Riley the direct advice that it's important to run the football. Mike Riley has more of an NFL blueprint. Riley has put a few quarterbacks in the NFL and Nebraska has not......yet Riley's college football trophy case is empty.

You think we are going to throw the ball over 400 times a year?!?! Bahahahaha

Well, we threw it 359 times this year and I don't think three more attempts per game is at all out of the question so, yes, I think we'll throw it 400 times this year. It won't even shock me if we push 500.

 

[suh_fan93]

Why do Nebraska fans still wonder why we don't compete for National Titles anymore? The last time we competed for one, we had the Heisman Trophy winner at QB.

Crouch's completion percentage would not have been a fit for Mike Riley's system.

The most passing attempts Crouch ever had was 189 attempts in 2001. He completed 55%. Sean Mannion had 453 passing attempts in 2014, completing 62%.

So obviously, this is a reasonable comparison and a conversation TOTALLY worth having...............derp.

Not sure what the "derp" vocabulary is all about........but anyway.....
The Mannion/Crouch "comparison" illustrates my point exactly. I don't believe Mike Riley's offensive philosophy is an effective blueprint in the college game.

What is this blueprint? How will this blueprint be applied at Nebraska?
If the spring game showed me anything, it was that I don't know exactly what to expect as an offensive philosophy. Seemed like a little bit of everything.

So please, answer the above questions and enlighten me a bit on what exactly this offensive blueprint is that I should be expecting to watch fail in the upcoming seasons.

The blueprint at Nebraska is closer to 189 pass attempts than 453. Tom Osborne gave Mike Riley the direct advice that it's important to run the football. Mike Riley has more of an NFL blueprint. Riley has put a few quarterbacks in the NFL and Nebraska has not......yet Riley's college football trophy case is empty.

You think we are going to throw the ball over 400 times a year?!?! Bahahahaha

Well, we threw it 359 times this year and I don't think three more attempts per game is at all out of the question so, yes, I think we'll throw it 400 times this year. It won't even shock me if we push 500.

I think how many times we throw it is going to be based on how successful we are throwing it to begin with. Especially if guys like Armstrong (or whomever's under center at the time) are throwing it to the other team.

 

[Hedley Lamarr]

I'm sorry but if we throw the ball more with our crop of QBs compared to Mannion and we have the stable of backs we have it will be a cluster f#*k

 

[Elf]

Why do Nebraska fans still wonder why we don't compete for National Titles anymore? The last time we competed for one, we had the Heisman Trophy winner at QB.

Crouch's completion percentage would not have been a fit for Mike Riley's system.

The most passing attempts Crouch ever had was 189 attempts in 2001. He completed 55%. Sean Mannion had 453 passing attempts in 2014, completing 62%.

So obviously, this is a reasonable comparison and a conversation TOTALLY worth having...............derp.

Not sure what the "derp" vocabulary is all about........but anyway.....
The Mannion/Crouch "comparison" illustrates my point exactly. I don't believe Mike Riley's offensive philosophy is an effective blueprint in the college game.

What is this blueprint? How will this blueprint be applied at Nebraska?

If the spring game showed me anything, it was that I don't know exactly what to expect as an offensive philosophy. Seemed like a little bit of everything.

So please, answer the above questions and enlighten me a bit on what exactly this offensive blueprint is that I should be expecting to watch fail in the upcoming seasons.

The blueprint at Nebraska is closer to 189 pass attempts than 453. Tom Osborne gave Mike Riley the direct advice that it's important to run the football. Mike Riley has more of an NFL blueprint. Riley has put a few quarterbacks in the NFL and Nebraska has not......yet Riley's college football trophy case is empty.

I don't get why Osborne says we have to run. He won two national titles as the OC under Devaney running a pro style attack. And as a HC he won a pair of conference championships before switching to the option.

 

[True2tRA]

The list of highly-recruited quarterbacks who lost their job to an incredibly confident freshman who came out of nowhere is actually pretty long and storied.

Really? Or is this sarcasm. Tommy wasn't highly recruited....at QB. I believe it was us and Southern Miss

(this is all sarcasm)Yea, but the mighty Zac Lee from the City College of San Francisco was unseated by highly recruited safety/WR prospect Taylor Martinez.........

Why do Nebraska fans still wonder why we don't compete for National Titles anymore? The last time we competed for one, we had the Heisman Trophy winner at QB.

You know, many football analysts think the quarterback position is a very important one on a football team, but really, WTH do they know?

Pretty sure no coaching staff here actually tried not to get Heisman calibre QBs here, but what do I know? Now, I did hear that Broderick Thomas was upset that Solich didn't pursue Thomas's hometown QB Vince Young, but I doubt we had any shot at all at him.

If you got the impression I was saying that coaching staffs were trying not to get Heisman caliber QB's I would love to know what the hell I said that made you draw that conclusion. I didn't say anything of the sort and I can't figure out why you even said that. I mean, it's pretty much beyond stupidity.

You're right, no staff here didn't want top talent at QB.

I'm interested though, that last Heisman trophy winning QB we had that played for an NC, what position was other schools wanting him to play?

You act like there were people in the program and fan base that don't think the QB position is the most important position on offense.

Not necessarily. What I am saying is that there is a large portion of this fan base that expects and has expected us to play for national championships in the past 15 years, yet I find those expectations somewhat unrealistic when you consider none of our QB`s in the span of time have been masters of their offensive system.

Eric Crouch was a master of the option.

Its not about what offense you run, how much you run or pass, im talking about being effective and especially being effective against the same level if competition or higher.

You could maybe say Sac Taylor offensive line and defense entirely let him down, but aside from that, my point was until we get aQB that is a gamer in the system we are trying to run, we sshouldn't even be talking about championships.

 

[huskered17]

I thought Darlington was the best looking q/b out there. Doesn't mean much until real game time happens. What worries me about him, is the other teams know about his injuries and will target him.

Tommy is going to have to be the one to step up. Championships are a ways down the road, as far as I can tell.

I have worn the scarlet glasses and drank the cool aid for a long time. Always rooted from the heart. Now listening to my head instead. Want nothing but the best for the program, just think it is a few play makers away, yet.

GBR!!!

 

[BigRedBuster]

The list of highly-recruited quarterbacks who lost their job to an incredibly confident freshman who came out of nowhere is actually pretty long and storied.

Really? Or is this sarcasm. Tommy wasn't highly recruited....at QB. I believe it was us and Southern Miss

(this is all sarcasm)Yea, but the mighty Zac Lee from the City College of San Francisco was unseated by highly recruited safety/WR prospect Taylor Martinez.........

Why do Nebraska fans still wonder why we don't compete for National Titles anymore? The last time we competed for one, we had the Heisman Trophy winner at QB.

You know, many football analysts think the quarterback position is a very important one on a football team, but really, WTH do they know?

Pretty sure no coaching staff here actually tried not to get Heisman calibre QBs here, but what do I know? Now, I did hear that Broderick Thomas was upset that Solich didn't pursue Thomas's hometown QB Vince Young, but I doubt we had any shot at all at him.

If you got the impression I was saying that coaching staffs were trying not to get Heisman caliber QB's I would love to know what the hell I said that made you draw that conclusion. I didn't say anything of the sort and I can't figure out why you even said that. I mean, it's pretty much beyond stupidity.

You're right, no staff here didn't want top talent at QB.

I'm interested though, that last Heisman trophy winning QB we had that played for an NC, what position was other schools wanting him to play?

You act like there were people in the program and fan base that don't think the QB position is the most important position on offense.

Not necessarily. What I am saying is that there is a large portion of this fan base that expects and has expected us to play for national championships in the past 15 years, yet I find those expectations somewhat unrealistic when you consider none of our QB`s in the span of time have been masters of their offensive system.

Eric Crouch was a master of the option.

Its not about what offense you run, how much you run or pass, im talking about being effective and especially being effective against the same level if competition or higher.

You could maybe say Sac Taylor offensive line and defense entirely let him down, but aside from that, my point was until we get aQB that is a gamer in the system we are trying to run, we sshouldn't even be talking about championships.

You made the comment about TMart being a highly recruited Safety/WR prospect as though that is an indictment on the recruiting during that time. Then, you used Crouch as an example of what we need at QB. I am pretty dang sure we were about the only school recruiting Crouch as a QB. Also, Frost was the same way. He even went to Stanford and played safety before coming back and playing QB.

Yes, I agree that Crouch was a master at the option. Both Armstrong and TMart were good at QB in their systems in HS leading their teams to success.

Now, it's obvious that Riley wants a different type of QB than either Armstrong and TMart. As fans, we may jump on that bandwagon. But, I fail to see how using Crouch as an example of great QB recruiting shows how recruiting Armstrong and TMart were somehow total failures.

 

[TonyStalloni]

What I remember of Scott Frost during his recruiting is him playing in a passing offense at Wood River and being heavily recruited by Stanford (Bill Walsh) and Nebraska (Tom O). He chose Stanford because he felt Walsh could make him an NFL QB. Walsh realized Frost needed to be on the field because of his ability but wasn't ready to play QB in his offense. After 2 years of playing safety he decided to transfer back to NU and we all know the result.

A head coach can overcome a few weaknesses with scheme here and there. Few head coaches can overcome a QB who doesn't have the skills for the offense he wants to run. Coaching can make him better and probably TA will get better. He has physical and leadership skills obviously. We will see next fall if he has enough between the ears to run this offense. Darlington looks like he sees the field better and can make many if not most of the throws. If the coaches can find a way to protect Darlington and keep defenses off him that would be great but he will get hit if he gets on the field. I have a feeling with either QB we'll be holding our breath, but for different reasons.

 

[ScottyIce]

The only reason we were able to pass it half as many times as we did was because Ameer averaged 6 YPC and allowed us those opportunities. I trust our new backfield, but I doubt we can average close to that with his carries distributed.