So now the eyes have seen what the ears kept hearing.
Usain Bolt isn't running into hiding, but Taylor Martinez proved all the chatter of this spring to be true: Yep, the guy's fast.
And, yep, Cody Green's potential can still ignite enthusiasm.
Now sit tight, enjoy those baseball box scores and check back come August.
Zac Lee, Green and Martinez? Three names, one football, no answer yet.
"None of them are out of it," Husker offensive coordinator Shawn Watson said.
As was probably to be expected, Saturday's annual Red-White scrimmage at Memorial Stadium did nothing but fuel local conversation about the quarterback race.
If you bet a Mountain Dew on the result, Reds win 21-16. But the outcome was of little matter to the 77,936 in attendance. Many came to see Green and Martinez.
The sophomore Green started for the Whites and completed 7 of 15 passes for 155 yards and a touchdown. He rushed for 12 yards.
The redshirt freshman Martinez started for the Reds and threw for 79 yards. He completed 5 of 9 passes. One interception. One TD pass.
But it's the feet of the 6-foot-1, 195-pound Martinez that had the stadium buzzing on multiple occasions.
He ran nine times for 60 yards. More yards than any running back. Some runs by design, others by improvisation.
"He has a skill set that, honestly, you can't coach," Watson said. "He can put his foot in the dirt and go. He's an instinctive runner. If something breaks down, he can make something big for an offense and can hurt a defense."
On the first series of the game, he led the Reds on a 10-play, 52-yard touchdown drive.
There would have been no touchdown if not for Martinez making 10 yards out of a mess on third-and-9.
Sophomore linebacker Eric Martin looked on to no surprise.
"There's a lot of trust going around in Taylor right now," Martin said. "Everyone is trusting him to get us out of the third-and-longs."
It makes one wonder if Martinez is the kind of athlete, whether at quarterback or another role, that coaches will feel inclined to get on the field someway, somehow.
"He knows what he has to do to enhance his game, and we're not stupid either," Watson said. "We're going to use talent, and he's got talent."
Flashes were shown, but don't mistake Martinez for flawless. Several throws were off-target. One ended in the arms of safety Rickey Thenarse.
Green had similar mixed results but no turnovers.
At times he put his big arm on display, hitting Niles Paul for 48 yards on one play.
Green went a step further in the second quarter when he found Will Henry in stride for a 72-yard touchdown.
“I can’t sit up here and say it was like how I was last year. I’d be lying to you,” Green said. “I went out there today and kind of just had tunnel vision. It was just me and the other 21 guys on the field that I really cared about and zoned in.”
Both quarterbacks played just a half. Still, you can bet Lee was jealous of that.
The man who started most of last season had to watch all of Saturday’s action from the sideline, still on the mend from surgery to the flexor tendon on his throwing arm.
Certainly it hasn’t been an ideal spring for Lee. But Watson also said it’s not something the senior couldn’t overcome.
“I think Zac feels like he missed a lot,” Watson said. “He’ll have to make up for it. And he knows it. He sees the young talent that we have and what they bring to the table. But Zac will bow up to it and he’ll compete. He will. That’s what his nature is, too.”
So keep waiting. This competition has barely begun.
Watson has no set schedule for naming the starting quarterback.
“When we say it’s going to be a fair competition, it’s going to be a fair competition,” he said. “We grade every step they take, every pass they throw, every decision they make in the run game.
“I have no timetable. To say we’re going to (name the starter) the first week of the season, I think that’s foolish. It may reveal itself sooner. If it does, we’ll go with sooner.”
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