QB Position Switches

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84HuskerLaw said:
Osborne I recall stated he believed Bobby Newcombe might be the best athlete he ever recruited.   Crouch was a tough player and one of NU's best as well but Newcombe was better.  I recall a letter to editor by Tom Osborne in support of Newcombe being a QB.  At the time that Crouch quit the team because he was not going to win the starting QB job over Bobby and the fans were split.  Frank went to Omaha and talked Crouch into returning to the team and Crouch was awarded the job and Newcombe was moved to receiver.   Newcombe blew out a knew of course and never quite recovered despite going to Alabama as I recall to the 'best' knew Doc for his surgery.   These are my best recollection of the facts of the two players from about 20 years ago so I could be off a tad but this is the gist of the story.   I should also add that Newcombe has always been one of my favorite Huskers while Crouch was not but there is no  question both were great Huskers.  
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Everybody was excited about Bobby Newcombe becoming the Husker QB. Most exciting player since Johnny Rodgers and probably faster. You wanted the ball in his hands as much as possible. But somehow he never passed the eye test as the starting QB. A pretty good passer in a high percentage system, but given the most run-friendly offense in football, Newcombe never broke out. Averaged 2.8 yards per carry and went down easy. Not very electric at all.

Relegated to a return man, Newcombe was fast, shifty and successful, suggesting the injury didn't hamper him much at all. It's the position. There's a lot more you have to do as quarterback than be a great athlete. Newcombe wasn't the first or last time we had the athlete-as-quarterback issue. 

 
84HuskerLaw said:
Newcombe was a GREAT QB (better than Crouch in my view) but he was a fanstatic athlete (one of the top ten ever at NU).   None of the QBs of the past decade are in the category of athlete that Newcombe was - not even in the same ballpark.  Darlington and POB and Gebbia are more comparable, although it is hard to know as we've seen almost nothing of Darlington but I will assume he is a tad better runner than either Gebbia or POB.  Gebbia and POB are better QBs, based on what little we've heard/seen, than Darlington.   
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Better than a Heisman trophy winner?  Is there any chance that you are Newcombe himself?

 
BlitzFirst said:
Andrew Bunch... Underrated and forgotten most of the time, yet he is the only TRUE dual threat QB with experience in the roster as he walked in from Scottsdale CC last year.

Or POB if Bunch wins the starting job.

I just don't see Gebbia thriving in an offense he's never had to run in his entire life.  He's a pocket passer QB.
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All I have to go on is the Spring Game, where Gebbia made quick decisions, including tucking the ball and running when he saw the defense giving him the corner. 

He just carried himself a little better than the other QBs, even as a true freshman. Had a Johnny Manziel look to his play, which I'm pretty sure Frost would be happy to work with. 

Every dual threat quarterback will be asked to do some pocket passing, too. Either way, it's about instincts and leadership. 

 
84HuskerLaw said:
Newcombe was much better passer than Crouch (I believe he was one of our most accurate ever) and threw a very catchable pass.  He was faster than Crouch (Crouch was very fast as well).   Crouch was a tougher runner although he was only 6' -190 and Newcombe was a similar size I believe.  Newcombe was one of those 'glide' runners, like a deer, he took the most amazing long strides and was going much faster than most players on the field realized and many took bad angles.  He was a track star as well.  

I think Crouch would have made a WR spot in the NFL had he played WR in college and learned the position to a high level.   Nobody is claiming Crouch wasnt an excellent Husker QB but I still believe he was NOT NU's best QB the year he won the Heisman.  But before Bobby blew the knee in the spring game, he had a chance to NU's best ever QB in my not so humble opinion.  He may well have been a lightning fast version of Turner Gill.  
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Seriously, I'm guessing you are actually Newcombe (or at least a relative of Bobby).

 
Guy Chamberlin said:
Everybody was excited about Bobby Newcombe becoming the Husker QB. Most exciting player since Johnny Rodgers and probably faster. You wanted the ball in his hands as much as possible. But somehow he never passed the eye test as the starting QB. A pretty good passer in a high percentage system, but given the most run-friendly offense in football, Newcombe never broke out. Averaged 2.8 yards per carry and went down easy. Not very electric at all.

Relegated to a return man, Newcombe was fast, shifty and successful, suggesting the injury didn't hamper him much at all. It's the position. There's a lot more you have to do as quarterback than be a great athlete. Newcombe wasn't the first or last time we had the athlete-as-quarterback issue. 
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This is exactly how I remember it as well.

 
BlitzFirst said:
Spring game darlings are just that...it's why Johnny Stanton hype didn't die for quite some time as well. 
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Stanton was godawful in the 2015 spring game. 3 of 11, 1 int.

 
BlitzFirst said:
I'll give you the spring game...but there is a heckuva lot we don't see as well...Truth is, we have no idea.  Spring game darlings are just that...it's why Johnny Stanton hype didn't die for quite some time as well.  I'll just trust Frost and Coach V to make the best choice for the team and will support what they choose.
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Toe said:
Stanton was godawful in the 2015 spring game. 3 of 11, 1 int.
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Internet forum posters, rewriting history and passing it off as fact ever since Al Gore invented the internet.   :lol:

 
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The Dude said:
Oh, he merely took credit for creating the internet.
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Good part of the article, or whatever you call it.

If, for example, President Eisenhower had said in the mid-1960s that he, while president, “took the initiative in creating the Interstate Highway System,” he would not have been the subject of dozens and dozens of editorials lampooning him for claiming he “invented” the concept of highways or implying that he personally went out and dug ditches across the country to help build the roadway. Everyone would have understood that Eisenhower meant he was a driving force behind the legislation that created the highway system, and this was the very same concept Al Gore was expressing about himself with interview remarks about the Internet.
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