Taylor Martinez

[roundegotrip]

Who was the best kicker in the country last year? Who was the best overall player in college football the year before that? Awards are nice, but I put more stock in numbers.

 

[HANC]

I haven't watched it back, but how bad is his ankle is what I want to know.

One of the Iowa papers mentioned it in 4 of 5 online articles

** please help "catch me up to speed"..... what about his ankle... I have read the entire thread and didn't see any ankle issue. Is he hurt?

At half-time, I believe that he had moved ahead of Crouch into the #5 spot in total offense in Husker history, and he has two years left. Barring injury, he should leave as the most prolific offensive player (number - wise) in history.

Thats great but Crouch won the Heisman and the Davey Obrian. Martinez may have some numbers but he hasnt won anything....Sorry but Id rather have Robinson from Michigan as my dual threat qb....

I understand, and wasn't attempting to say he was "better" than Crouch, just pointing out that his numbers aren't nearly as bad as the sh!t he catches on this board. And, he has done this as a freshman and sophomore with not-so-good offensive line..... But, I would also tell you that if Crouch was asked to throw the ball as much as Taylor, he would NOT have won a Heisman either..... Crouch had the luxury of playing in a triple option offense beginning in jr. high , then HS, and falling into place at NU.....great player.....

Robinson is a fantastic athlete, but if you listened to Urban Meyer last week, he also needs work....

Just saying that some people should be a little more open minded and quit being afraid to give Taylor a little credit... Without an ankle injury last season, he was being mentioned as at least a Heisman Candidate.....as a freshman.

 

[krill]

I spent some time comparing the 2010 to 2011 stats. Fewer penalties, fewer sacks, fewer fumbles, more 1st downs per game, more 1st downs passing (with two less games). These are all positive developments and Taylor looks light years ahead of where he was in the OU game. The only thing we've been missing is the x-factor back like Helu running off tackle or catching checkdown passes, which there's every reason to believe we'll have next year.

 

[CornfedChris]

Taylor has grown on me this year. I think he could have played a million times better this year had we not been going through a conference and offensive scheme change, so I have to give him some credit. He still makes (as Bo would say.. "bonehead") plays every game that make me cringe such as his ability to cover up the ball when being tackled... but then he seems to make up for it by having a lights out game. I wouldn't have said it last year but Taylor has shown the ability to counter a defense. Before it seemed like he wasn't adjusting to ANYTHING AT ALL.

I've come to the conclusion that our team only plays "football" when we have the momentum. When we are cornered it seems that every player on the team seems to get too distracted by the crowd, scoreboard/score, trash talk etc..

Bottom Line: Our team is still very young and I only see them getting better from here on out including Taylor.

 

[roundegotrip]

Bottom Line: Our team is still very young and I only see them getting better from here on out including Taylor.

I think this is the biggest thing to take away from this season. From our sophomore quarterback to freshmen RBs and receivers, young linemen, first year OC... the way it's all coming together, we have the potential be an offensive juggernaut the next couple of years.

 

[Mavric]

Crouch won some great individual awards as a Senior. Martinez is not a Senior.

When you say Martinez hasn't "won anything" are you talking individual or team. Individually, not many Sophomores win national awards. Martinez probably won't win those anyway but it's pretty unfair to compare at this point. Team wise, Crouch won one conference championship game, lost another and won two bowl games (one BCS bowl). Martinez has already appeared in one conference championship game. That gives him two years plus this year's bowl game to win a conference championship, a non-BCS bowl and a BCS bowl. I'd say that's not out of the question.

Not trying to take anything away from Crouch but Martinez has a ways to go yet before you can really make a comparison. And Crouch took over a team that was 60-3 the previous five years. Martinez ... did not.

 

[Jason Sitoke]

I echoed a lot of these sentiments a couple weeks ago, but I've got to say, I think the ceiling for Martinez is a bit lower than I previously thought. Asking him to become a marginal passer would be sufficient IF he was a superb runner. He is merely fast IMO. He doesn't have great instincts or vision as a runner, and is certainly does not seem particularly great at making people miss or escaping the pocket when he needs to.

I think he's gotten better, both as a leader and decision maker, and I am definitely not in the Taylor-hate parade, but I feel like he may be in a position to be the worst 4 year starter at quarterback this program has ever seen. I hope I'm wrong here and he either improves markedly, or we go in a different direction.

 

[74Hunter]

I agree that he's a better game mgr, however, I also think its made him a worse overall QB. Now he seems scared to take off when a good running lane exists because the coaches want him to be more of a pocket passer (so he doesnt get hurt). He's not a great passer, nor do I believe he ever will be. They've taken a great, ridiculously fast runner who was a poor thrower, and turned him into an average thrower and an average runner.

IMO it looks like opposing defenses don't account for him as a runner like they used to and have no problem rushing straight at him instead of worrying that he might get out of the pocket.

Since he's no longer as effective as a runner, the whole running game is less effective too, and IMO its resulted in less wide open receivers (where passes dont have to be as accurate) compared to last year and earlier in the season, thus, forcing him to be more of a pin-point passer for which he's not equiped.

I still have visions of Washington, K-State, and Okie State from last year. Unfortunately, I dont think that QB exists anymore. Not so much because he couldn't be, the coaches have just tried to coach it out him.

Excellent points. I hope that you are correct that it was by design. Hopefully, with off-season development, one of the backups will pick up enough of the offense to gain the trust of the coaches, and they, in turn will turn Martinez loose again.

I agree that alot of his "limited" running was by design. It was also brought up on one of the local call in shows, that he may still not be 100% from the high ankle sprain. A guy called in and said that it took him almost 2 years to fully recover from a similar injury, and he didn't play QB at this level.

On a side note, does anyone know if the ankle injury he got today is at all related to last years?

Edit: Just read a previous post.

I echoed a lot of these sentiments a couple weeks ago, but I've got to say, I think the ceiling for Martinez is a bit lower than I previously thought. Asking him to become a marginal passer would be sufficient IF he was a superb runner. He is merely fast IMO. He doesn't have great instincts or vision as a runner, and is certainly does not seem particularly great at making people miss or escaping the pocket when he needs to.

I think he's gotten better, both as a leader and decision maker, and I am definitely not in the Taylor-hate parade, but I feel like he may be in a position to be the worst 4 year starter at quarterback this program has ever seen. I hope I'm wrong here and he either improves markedly, or we go in a different direction.

I agree with much of what you said but the bolded. How many 4 yr starters have we had, 1, which was Tommie Frazier? Yeah, if he is the worst of the 2, I think he will still be a damn good QB. Until he wins either a MNC or a Heisman, he won't be in the tier of QB's like Frost, Frazier, Tagge, and Crouch, but he will be in the tier of the Gdowski's, Steve Taylor's, Keithen McCant's and Turner Gill's, which is good company.

 

[Danimal]

TM has definitely shown development. Kid was lost without his wheels last season, had no business being in there. Kid was hampered much of the game today and couldn't run but was able to stay poised and manage the O.

 

[tschu]

Agreed, he made HUGE strides in his game management and decision-making. Very impressed with that.

The one area he needs to improve: getting the ball up a little bit on short routes and screen passes. He often has those passes batted down by the opposing D-line.

 

[Danimal]

Agreed, he made HUGE strides in his game management and decision-making. Very impressed with that.

The one area he needs to improve: getting the ball up a little bit on short routes and screen passes. He often has those passes batted down by the opposing D-line.

That is the thing with his sidearm delivery, he's definitely gotten more accurate with it but it's still more readily batted-down, especially on the short ones.

 

[mel4red]

His motion is "weird" at best ... But he is at his best as a rollout QB. That was evident again yesterday. There his motion doesn't matter. Our offense has to evolve to facilitate this, or Bo needs to decide if TM is really better suited elsewhere in the offense. Wisc, NW and Mich did a good job of making him be a "pocket passer", and that .... He is not.

 

[N Sker]

He isn't transfering this year? What a relief...

 

[Hunter94]

His motion is "weird" at best ... But he is at his best as a rollout QB. That was evident again yesterday. There his motion doesn't matter. Our offense has to evolve to facilitate this, or Bo needs to decide if TM is really better suited elsewhere in the offense. Wisc, NW and Mich did a good job of making him be a "pocket passer", and that .... He is not.

Bo won't let anybody play qb except TM.....that much we know already.

 

[AFhusker]

Agreed, he made HUGE strides in his game management and decision-making. Very impressed with that.

The one area he needs to improve: getting the ball up a little bit on short routes and screen passes. He often has those passes batted down by the opposing D-line.

I agree with you but the one aspect everyone seems to be forgetting to mention is that his weakest area is his pocket presence. I don't think I have ever seen anyone run into the pressure like TMart has when he has had wide open running lanes when pass plays break down. You throw that in with a total lack of elusiveness, and we have the biggest problem that TMart needs to work on. I can handle the mechanics if he could learn to avoid the rush and pick up yards when the play breaks down instead of running into a sack.

As you said the management/turnovers have greatly improved.