The Bell’s Already Rung on Tommy Armstrong Versus Patrick O’Brien

[74Hunter]

I don't understand why people don't want a QB here that can THROW the ball.

Quite the straw man here.
Most of us understand that having a mobile QB is the now and the future of football. We don't want to be dragged back into the old days of statute footed QBs.

Alabama has won with all 'statue footed QBs'

FSU won with Winston who was a PASSER - only ran for 284 yards in 2 seasons - 65 TD passes

I'm okay with a dual QB, but call me when we get a guy like Newton, Mariota, Tebow etc. Not gonna happen

And some amazing RB's and defenses that had like 9 guys drafted...

And some outstanding OL and WRs.

POB won't turn us into a Bama clone, not with this staff and their recruiting.

 

[cfullm1]

Let's remember, we are going to have one of the best WR cores in the nation probably next season. Riley's head will be on the chopping block if he doesn't have a QB to utilize that talent, whether it's TA or POB. So the best pure qb, that can make the throws and reads will get the nod. And even though TA has the experience, if dude doesn't improve his decision making, experience or not, he will be sitting pine.

 

[knapplc]

"His legs have saved drives."

This is the ultimatest of understatements. Three, four, five times a game Tommy does that ridiculous spin move to escape pressure and extend plays.

That's three, four, five times a game that the QB is going to get sacked if he doesn't have Tommy's wheels. And Patrick O'Brien, whatever other skills he does or does not have, has nothing like Tommy's mobility. No Nebraska Quarterback since Eric Crouch has that mobility.

Say we start POB game one next year. I give him MAYBE midway through the season before he's knocked out of a game.

Tommy starts in 2016. Fight's over.

And how many times did he get sacked for a loss off 15. Just as many as he got away.

He's been sacked 11 times this season, five total sacks in the last eight games.

So, not just as many.

 

[RedDenver]

I heard from a very good source with very close connections to POB, that TA is getting Dailey-ed (knocked down to #3 or #4 on the depth chart) and the job has already been handed to POB.

Barring injury, POB will be your starter next season. TA will likely transfer after spring.

Just like when a "very good source" claimed Riley was getting fired mid-season?

The wailing and gnashing of teeth when the true frosh QB isn't some miracle worker will be deafening.

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

I heard from a very good source with very close connections to POB, that TA is getting Dailey-ed (knocked down to #3 or #4 on the depth chart) and the job has already been handed to POB.

Barring injury, POB will be your starter next season. TA will likely transfer after spring.

Just like when a "very good source" claimed Riley was getting fired mid-season?

The wailing and gnashing of teeth when the true frosh QB isn't some miracle worker will be deafening.

10 months ago I -- and a lot of other folks -- were positive the fire underneath Tommy Armstrong was Johnny Stanton.

 

[GBRedneck]

I heard from a very good source with very close connections to POB, that TA is getting Dailey-ed (knocked down to #3 or #4 on the depth chart) and the job has already been handed to POB.

Barring injury, POB will be your starter next season. TA will likely transfer after spring.

Just like when a "very good source" claimed Riley was getting fired mid-season?

The wailing and gnashing of teeth when the true frosh QB isn't some miracle worker will be deafening.

I don't know anything about the source claiming Riley would be fired mid-season, except he was wrong!

I think this is the first time I've posted anything from any source. I know it's the first time I've posted from this source, but there's no one I would believe more unless I heard it directly from Langsdorf or Riley.

 

[RedDenver]

I heard from a very good source with very close connections to POB, that TA is getting Dailey-ed (knocked down to #3 or #4 on the depth chart) and the job has already been handed to POB.

Barring injury, POB will be your starter next season. TA will likely transfer after spring.

Just like when a "very good source" claimed Riley was getting fired mid-season?

The wailing and gnashing of teeth when the true frosh QB isn't some miracle worker will be deafening.

10 months ago I -- and a lot of other folks -- were positive the fire underneath Tommy Armstrong was Johnny Stanton.

The "backup QB is better" phenomenon is pervasive. Sucked all of us in at one time or another. Remember all the guys that were going to unseat Martinez? Seems like an annual rite of passage for the starter.

 

[RedDenver]

I heard from a very good source with very close connections to POB, that TA is getting Dailey-ed (knocked down to #3 or #4 on the depth chart) and the job has already been handed to POB.

Barring injury, POB will be your starter next season. TA will likely transfer after spring.

Just like when a "very good source" claimed Riley was getting fired mid-season?

The wailing and gnashing of teeth when the true frosh QB isn't some miracle worker will be deafening.

I don't know anything about the source claiming Riley would be fired mid-season, except he was wrong!

I think this is the first time I've posted anything from any source. I know it's the first time I've posted from this source, but there's no one I would believe more unless I heard it directly from Langsdorf or Riley.

Take a look at the rumorville forum and see how many sources have been even remotely close to accurate over the years. Posters with "sources" are very seldom correct, so I've learned to take them with an enormous grain of salt. Good luck with your insider's claim.

 

[GBRedneck]

I heard from a very good source with very close connections to POB, that TA is getting Dailey-ed (knocked down to #3 or #4 on the depth chart) and the job has already been handed to POB.

Barring injury, POB will be your starter next season. TA will likely transfer after spring.

Just like when a "very good source" claimed Riley was getting fired mid-season?

The wailing and gnashing of teeth when the true frosh QB isn't some miracle worker will be deafening.

I don't know anything about the source claiming Riley would be fired mid-season, except he was wrong!

I think this is the first time I've posted anything from any source. I know it's the first time I've posted from this source, but there's no one I would believe more unless I heard it directly from Langsdorf or Riley.

Take a look at the rumorville forum and see how many sources have been even remotely close to accurate over the years. Posters with "sources" are very seldom correct, so I've learned to take them with an enormous grain of salt. Good luck with your insider's claim.

I don't have anything vested in it. Personally, if it's true it just shows again how incompetent these coaches are. If they are annointing a kid as starter before he's ever even seen a practice field with college players, I have even less respect for them than I did before, if that's even possible.

 

[HuskerFanInVA]

Newcomer to this board and I am a Husker fan by marriage to a Nebraskan in 1984. Figured I would finally weigh in here after lurking for most of the season.

Tommy Armstrong is a good athlete. He is a lousy quarterback. Watching the POB video I saw a quarterback with good mechanics who steps into his throws. I watched most of the Husker games on TV this year and if I have to hear the commentators in another game talk all game about Armstrong's poor mechanics I am going to throw up. POB might not initially be a savior but I saw him make more good throws in the first minute of the video than I have seen Tommy make in 2+ years. Tommy has zero chance of playing quarterback in the NFL. If he is smart he will switch to another position to get himself in a better position to get drafted after next season.

And concerning running, when TA decides to run he still looks tentative. When TM decided to run it looked to me like he was all in to doing that.

Anyway my $.02.

 

[BIG ERN]

We are running an offense that requires a QB who can make good reads and throw the ball well. Two things that TA hasn't shown his 3 years here yet. We also have the #1 receiving core in the B10. Why waste another year on him?

This coaching staff knows the heat they are under. If we went 8-4 next year with POB for being a true fresh, it would give more hope that we can be a very good team in the near future.

 

[HuskerNation1]

I agree with what many posters are saying on here. We have great playmakers at Wide Receiver, and will likely have some more great WR's coming in the 2016 class. We need a QB that can get them the ball consistently, and we know that TA is not that guy. Whether it's POB, Darlington, or some other Juco QB that this staff is able to sign, we cannot afford another season with a QB that is not able to throw. Riley and DL cannot afford this either.

 

[GOAT]

I have zero doubt that POB will be the starter next year. None. I guarantee Riley told the boosters and AD "Just wait til POB gets here" in order to get the heat off him. POB's play and development is going to make or break Riley.

 

[hskrfan4life]

I hope that POB is like Zac Taylor. Meaning that every time he gets hit he gets right back up. Zac took a lot of hits....

 

[zoogs]

Tommy does some amazing things. The problem is a game is more than a few drives. It's every drive.

You know who else can make those highlights? A QB who makes smart decisions and good throws. Because Alonzo Moore, Jordan Westerkamp, Cethan Carter, Brandon Reilly -- these cats are not slouches. The highlights will be short of a few "Woah, what a load to bring down" or "look at that arm!" -- but the untold story would be every game being short five or six or ten mentions of "He needs to stop throwing off his back foot". For example. A true, heated competition is my hope this Spring.

All this said, I think Tommy's in the driver's seat by a wide margin for the 2016 job. That isn't about how sharp a QB he is (at present) so much as it is about the lack of competition so far. POB doesn't need to be the most amazing freshman QB ever to figure into the race. I hope he pushes for the job, I just hope Tommy is able to improve enough to win decisively. That's our best chance at a really good finish next season. Otherwise, look at UCLA's finish this year under a wunderkind true frosh QB as a barometer.