Quarterback Development
- Thread starter BRV920
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caveman99
All-American
Good for you, that and 50 cents might get you a cup of coffee..........................
wow if this was really the case - we now have an idea why player development under past staff was not top notch. Focusing ONLY on the starters and not preparing the underclassmen seems like a good way to fail in the college game.
StPaulHusker
Banned
I don't think it was that big of a secret on here that people believed Beck was bad at developing players at the QB position.
zoogs
Assistant Coach
I just don't think Beck has much of a QB focus resume. It's revealing when you hear talk about what he wanted his QBs to do, such as "just be a RB who throws" or "just get the ball there" (paraphrasing). You could see it in the approach and in the design of the offense.
Not only can we see how different it is, we *know* Langsdorf's QB coaching credentials. That's his background, his reputation, and not for nothing was he asked to do it in the NFL.
Still, it's not as if we saw a very large sample from him, either. To a large extent QB development is about the player and his own starting point. When you get guys who have big parts of their game that are nigh unfixable in college -- surprise! So, it's also a recruiting thing, both in the types of players you get and how well you take care of depth & competition at the position overall. Some of that goes back on the HC. And sometimes it's just luck, as finding and keeping QBs can be a hit-or-miss business.
Not only can we see how different it is, we *know* Langsdorf's QB coaching credentials. That's his background, his reputation, and not for nothing was he asked to do it in the NFL.
Still, it's not as if we saw a very large sample from him, either. To a large extent QB development is about the player and his own starting point. When you get guys who have big parts of their game that are nigh unfixable in college -- surprise! So, it's also a recruiting thing, both in the types of players you get and how well you take care of depth & competition at the position overall. Some of that goes back on the HC. And sometimes it's just luck, as finding and keeping QBs can be a hit-or-miss business.
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B.B. Hemingway
All-American
Was it because of Beck, or Calhoun (the QB guru)? I seem to remember seeing the most improvement out of Martinez the year after he spent the summer with Calhoun. Admittedly, I could be remembering that wrong....
Landlord
Banned
Good question, and basically that's my entire point? There are hundreds of direct and indirect factors that play into the complex, massive equation of how good a player and a football team are, with everything being to matters of degrees.
Certainly Beck had an influence on Taylor Martinez, and so did Calhoun, and so did maturing from freshman to senior, and so did his offensive system, and so did the schedule he played against, and so did his own work ethic, and so did a plethora of other factors.
So who the hell are any of us to say with any kind of certainty something like Tim Beck is awful at developing quarterbacks? There's too many factors at play to know.
B.B. Hemingway
All-American
I can agree with that analysis, but I think some people are pointing to the difference in experience when developing QB's, between Langsdorf, and Beck. Beck was a RB coach at KU, and then at Nebraska. Langsdorf was given the reins to Eli Manning, and I assume it was for good reason. You would expect that long term Langsdorf is going to get more out of our QB's based on past experience with the position. Certainly no guarantee though....
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Guy Chamberlin
Heisman Trophy Winner
Nebraska has had good, occasionally great but too often mistake-prone offenses under both Beck and Langsdorf.
They were both handed dual threat quarterbacks with sub-average completion percentages, and fared about as well as other OCs with mercurial dual threat QBs. There are a lot of them out there, because dual threat QBs are really dangerous when they're working, but liabilities when defenses can rattle them.
You have to give Beck credit for Abdullah, in as much as no other team wanted to feature him as running back. For that matter, the maligned Beck and Watson oversaw three of the top rushing careers in Nebraska history with Helu, Burkhead and Abdullah. All three are currently in the NFL. While regularly operating a Top 20 rushing offense, Beck managed to guide Taylor Martinez to virtually ever passing and total offense record in Nebraska history. And Bell to the career receiving record. Langsdorf might well be the guy to help Tommy Armstrong break that total offense record. You can't say he had anything close to Abdullah, Burkhead or Helu to help keep the running game honest.
Know what? Our defense has kinda sucked recently.
They were both handed dual threat quarterbacks with sub-average completion percentages, and fared about as well as other OCs with mercurial dual threat QBs. There are a lot of them out there, because dual threat QBs are really dangerous when they're working, but liabilities when defenses can rattle them.
You have to give Beck credit for Abdullah, in as much as no other team wanted to feature him as running back. For that matter, the maligned Beck and Watson oversaw three of the top rushing careers in Nebraska history with Helu, Burkhead and Abdullah. All three are currently in the NFL. While regularly operating a Top 20 rushing offense, Beck managed to guide Taylor Martinez to virtually ever passing and total offense record in Nebraska history. And Bell to the career receiving record. Langsdorf might well be the guy to help Tommy Armstrong break that total offense record. You can't say he had anything close to Abdullah, Burkhead or Helu to help keep the running game honest.
Know what? Our defense has kinda sucked recently.
Landlord
Banned
I agree with that.
Overall I'd say Langsdorf has a better resume than Beck in that specific regard, at least as far as grooming a proto-typical NFL-style quarterback. But then again, Langsdorf has been doing it for well over a decade with better prototype pro-style players, while Beck has been at it for a few years with mercurial dual-threat guys.
The only thing I get tired of is the simplistic, "Beck sucks", "Watson was garbage" rhetoric. For whatever reasons, those guys oversaw the most productive players in school history at the three main skill positions, as well as notable success elsewhere (Beck at KU, Watson at Cincy). That says something at least. Our offenses have been good to great the last 8 years with the exception of 2009, which was a conscious decision by the head man.
I'm excited for Langsdorf's potential going forward with our quarterbacks, with nothing negative to say about who came before him. Overall, our offense was once again, pretty damn good this last season, especially looking at the context of who we had on the field.
NebraskaHarry
All-Conference
No matter who you want to play favorites with or how well/poorly you believe the team's recent quarterbacks have developed, the truth is that offensive coaching and player development has been lacking around Nebraska for some time. This date's back to Shawn Watson's woeful '09 offense, the dumbfounding offensive ineptitude against Texas/Texas A&M in 2010, the lack of progression Armstrong has gone through over the last two years, etc.
The largest mistake any of us can make, however, is believing that all variables are equal from year to year or that players are not culpable for their actions. I think some people tend to act like they can't put adequate blame on college players for their performances. They're culpable as well (to a degree) and when they step between the white lines, it is ultimately up to them to win the game.
The largest mistake any of us can make, however, is believing that all variables are equal from year to year or that players are not culpable for their actions. I think some people tend to act like they can't put adequate blame on college players for their performances. They're culpable as well (to a degree) and when they step between the white lines, it is ultimately up to them to win the game.
MichiganDad3
All-American
Langsdorf should bench his QB if the QB does not follow directions. If one player gets away with not being a team player, more will follow.
