Abdullah the Butcher
Banned
What exactly is Ryker? Spread, triple, drop back, anyone know what his main strength is?
Johnny Football vs Tommy Armstong
- Thread starter BLEED4BLACKSHIRTS
- Start date
Army_Allen
All-Conference
Below average at times. And I would say he showed one drive with a flash of brilliance. The Michigan final drive. There was no IT factor for me and that's why I'm disappointed that either there's a bias to not have a battle by coaches, or that Stanton isn't up to par at the moment. When I think of what a Freshman with freshman mistakes but having a good year overall is, i think Braxton Miller. Great years as freshman would obviously be the Manziel and FSU qb years. But to not expect more from RS freshman in this day and age of qbs getting playbooks catered to how they played in hs isn't too much to ask. If anything I think Tommy was the one missing something between the ears last year with all his errant throws.
But he was a freshman last year pressed into service rather unexpectedly. So... to have expected much more than we saw last year out of Tommie would have been fairly unreasonable. No one should expect an average-level QB performance (against major college QB standards) from a freshman who was not the intended starter who was thrust in after injury to the #1 guy.
Now, with a year under him, with lessons learned and with a mindset of coming in as the starter one would be inclined to think that Tommie will likely be very much improved. So... we should be fairly encouraged. of course, it would be great if Stanton was playing so well that he challenged and pushed Tommie. While, so far, that has not seemingly happened, it is still early. Perhaps over the summer and into fall Stanton will have really progresses and be pushing Tommie later. I do not see QB as being a major concern for NU next season... probably not a concern at all.
I have no
Army_Allen:
That Tommie is unlikely to be a Braxton Miller or a Manziel is probably already clear. If he that kind of skill it would have been evident even in his first few games. But... those two are very special players and few QB's are at that level.
Regarding Tommie, there is no reason to think he will be less than good. There is hope, and a reasonable hope it is, that Tommie could be pretty good. he may be that as early as conference time this year. Again, I do not think we need to be overly concerned about QB play. NU will be fine at QB.
That Tommie is unlikely to be a Braxton Miller or a Manziel is probably already clear. If he that kind of skill it would have been evident even in his first few games. But... those two are very special players and few QB's are at that level.
Regarding Tommie, there is no reason to think he will be less than good. There is hope, and a reasonable hope it is, that Tommie could be pretty good. he may be that as early as conference time this year. Again, I do not think we need to be overly concerned about QB play. NU will be fine at QB.
agreed. If the defense is good and turnovers are down, Tommie is plenty good enough (I should think) for NU to be better this season than last. The issue is not so much Tommie (except perhaps his contribution... and hopeful non-contribution to turnovers) but the defense and the turnovers. If Tommie is relatively free from turnovers, NU will be fine at QB.
Landlord
Banned
Tommy played really awful at times. Freshman or not, there were some moments where he just flat out stunk.
He went 6 of 18 for zero touchdowns and 3 interceptions against Purdue of all schools.
15 of 29 for 1 touchdown and 3 interceptions against Northwestern.
9 of 21 with 2 touchdowns and 1 interception against Michigan State, which is a lot more forgivable considering their defensive talent, but also two killer fumbles in our own redzone.
Taylor Martinez and Cody Green never had performances close to that bad their freshman years. Danny Etling at Purdue, Zach Kline at Cal, Jake Waters at Kansas State, Baker Mayfield at Texas Tech, and Trevor Knight at Oklahoma are a few examples of other new freshman quarterbacks that didn't have any performances that bad (Jake Waters was a juco sophomore*)
He did some really nice things but some really terrible things too. He's got a long ways to go.
He did have some rough stretches, agreed. My thought however is that he need only refrain from such turnover games (and with the added experience, the new context of knowing he is the starter, and the additional maturity in the system it is reasonable that he will improve). If the defense is improved and fumbles are reduced, NU will improve over last year. If the standard is simply improvement over last year, then Tommie needs basically to play solid and not hurt the team... which is reasonable to assume he can do.
If the standard is to be a legit conference championship contender and, say a top 15 team, then improvement in almost every area is required... and at QB, then Tommie would indeed have to improve a lot (beyond simply playing solid and not hurting the team). Can Tommie improve that much? Who knows? We'll see.
I have to slightly disagree. In 2010 a healthy Taylor led the Nebraska offense to 17 points against South Dakota State. His stats might not have been as bad as Tommie's were, but that game you could really tell Taylor was a freshman. Probably the worst healthy-Taylor game he ever played. Probably.
The Dude
Heisman Trophy Winner
I don't agree with the well below average part (both he and Ronny did an admirable job), and by all accounts it's already his job to lose, so I don't see any value in your assessment.
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NUpolo8
Banned
