OWH“There hasn’t been a ton of really good stories about true freshmen playing if you look across the country,” Langsdorf said. “Mannion did do that for us — so it can be done — but that wasn’t his best year. I think it takes time. I think it’s a big transition.”
Which is why Armstrong making a big jump from Year One or Year Two in NU’s new offense would be a best-case scenario.
“Ideally, our guys who are on the team would continue to make improvements and play at a high level and give Patrick a chance to learn and grow in the system, to get some experience — but not force him into anything too early,” Langsdorf said. “That’s ideal.”
At the same time, Langsdorf won’t put limits on O’Brien’s goals.
“If he comes in, he learns very quickly and he’s the best guy, we would play him,” Langsdorf said. “We would play him. We would do that for sure. But we don’t want to force anything. We want to make sure his process isn’t rushed or overloaded. Having this extra spring will help him — it’ll show us where he’s at and have a chance, as we’re going forward, to make a decision if he’s going to be ready or not.”
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