Tanner Lee getting some early press
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HuskermanMike
Starter
Tanner Lee will have a great season if he can stay healthy. Eyes are going to be watching the O line to make sure they protect him. If he does well this year expect him to have the kind of impact Connor Cook had at MSU. That does not automatically equal wins or make him as good as Connor Cook but he can have that type of impact on the offense and the team as a whole.
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gobiggergoredder
All-American
I may be out in left field, but I believe Tanner's ability to hit the short/quick routes is going to determine the type of year the O-Line has. If he can do that, everyone will think Cav is amazing. Reality is, there hasn't been a threat taking snaps for a while now....open season on an average beat up line.
Caliborn72
Starter
Iagree and think both these statements can be true:
TA bailed out a questionable OLine with his escapability.
Lee can bail out a questionable OLine with his quick reads and accuracy.
That said, this all comes back to the public criticisms of the OLine from the staff and some people around the program in the spring. What was the point of that if not that the OLine was struggling and hindering the offense? Maybe just to let Cav know the pressure is on? I believe Lee can absolutely save the OLine to an extent but to what extent is the question.
BigRedBuster
International Man of Mystery
There is a big difference in how those two "bail out the OLine".
TA bails out the OLine by scrambling. This still has the O line looking bad because D linemen are chasing the QB around. TA wasn't able to make those short passes so the D was able to overload the OLine with numbers.
Lee bails out the Oline by making short passes and forces the D to commit linebackers to cover WRs or TEs. This reduces the number of defenders needed blocked.....which....makes it easier and makes the OLine look better.
The thing is, most really good OLine you see around the country are playing in front of a QB like Lee that is (hopefully) a threat in the passing game. Very few really good OLines around the country are playing in front of a QB that wasn't a threat in the passing game.
Treand3
All-Conference
Also presnap reads play a huge role in OL protection. TA, God bless him, was awful at identifying those reads. David Knevel admitted that because of Tommy's ability to scramble, they knew if they got beat or missed a block, that Tommy would minimize disaster. Tanner, by default will make the OL more accountable imo.
This is a great post, problem is for several years NU had exactly what doesn't happen very often (strong running QB and really really strong oline) leading some fans to believe that this is an easy recipe to duplicate.
Caliborn72
Starter
I'm not disagreeing with any of that, Lee can make the OLine look much better. That's my question though, why were there OLine concerns coming out of camp then? Wouldn't Lee minimize any type of criticism the coaches could have had?
UCLA couldn't keep Rosen upright and it didn't matter that he's a next level talent. He got beat up and knocked out for the season. Lee can only do so much. It's certainly possible that the OLine issues are being overstated and that none of these questions matter when the season gets here and the offense takes off - that's my hope!
UCLA couldn't keep Rosen upright and it didn't matter that he's a next level talent. He got beat up and knocked out for the season. Lee can only do so much. It's certainly possible that the OLine issues are being overstated and that none of these questions matter when the season gets here and the offense takes off - that's my hope!
Caliborn72
Starter
Yeah, UCLA had a poor OLine, that doesn't make me feel any better about the issues we heard about our OLine during spring camp.
Does anyone have insight into that? Was it just a motivational tool for Cav and/or members of the OLine? Or were there real issues? If there were real issues then that is directly related to the subject at hand, which is how much of an impact does Lee have on helping an OLine we've all wondered about. I think we all agree that hypothetically a QB like Lee should be able to help them more than a QB like TA, but it's just a hypothetical and the only evidence we have so far is a spring game and camp reports. The spring game was fun and our QBs looked very good but that doesn't really count in the grand scheme of things. The camp reports are what have me worried. Hopefully this summer and fall, things get ironed out.
Does anyone have insight into that? Was it just a motivational tool for Cav and/or members of the OLine? Or were there real issues? If there were real issues then that is directly related to the subject at hand, which is how much of an impact does Lee have on helping an OLine we've all wondered about. I think we all agree that hypothetically a QB like Lee should be able to help them more than a QB like TA, but it's just a hypothetical and the only evidence we have so far is a spring game and camp reports. The spring game was fun and our QBs looked very good but that doesn't really count in the grand scheme of things. The camp reports are what have me worried. Hopefully this summer and fall, things get ironed out.
