No changes to the coaching staff

[N2FL]

I realize you don’t like coach V, Jeremy. And you may be right about him. But you’re smart enough to know exactly what I’m talking about. Luke was a QB for one year of high school. Everyone knew he was the project QB while Martinez was the guy who was supposed to be a Heisman hopeful and 4 year starter. Nobody expected Luke to be ready to roll by now. Thus, I can’t judge coach V on Luke’s ability at this stage. If you can, knock yourself out.

I can and will. Maybe he shouldn't be recruiting guys that can't be expected to look like D1 QBs after two years? He's responsible for one guy a year. Maybe he should be targeting guys with more of a QB background and natural QB instincts, throwing mechanics, arm talent, etc. There are tons of examples of QBs throughout the country who are farther along than what McCaffrey showed after two years. Does he even look like he's made significant strides after two years where you're confident he'll be the sort of guy that is All-Conference caliber? Cause it's pretty well known Frost's offense needs an elite, or at least upper echelon QB talent for it to hum.

He's a tremendous athlete and offensive weapon, no doubt, but he has a noodle for an arm and his lack of experience at the position is very evident. There's a reason everyone else wanted him as a receiver and not QB. Turns out (IMPO) everyone else was right. He should have been recruited as an athlete, not the class QB. That way you still have another guy developing and hopefully further along that you can rely on when projects like this take longer than expected (if they even get there). Those decisions are on Verduzco and Frost. I fault them both.

 

[cthusker]

Can we agree he wasn’t Frost’s first choice? Was the talent pool at that point a little shallow, and we took a shot with a kid who’d shown some results at other programs? It’s not a reach to conclude Frost wasn’t all that impressed with whatever he was providing. He apparently has someone else he’s looking at, and feels that person might be an upgrade.

I was actually surprised our ST was as bad as it was this season. Not making excuses but perhaps no spring ball then a very condensed season didn't help flesh out decent ST play? IF we can't find someone that can put the ball into the EZ on kickoffs that part is not going to improve much. I cringed everytime we kicked off and the field position we gave really put pressure on the D. Teams were quickly looking for that pooch kick which was a disaster. Not sure I would put all the blame on that ST advisor as he wasn't working with many positives. Frost needs to use starters if necessary because ST greatly needs to improve for any success next year imo.

 

[we're back]

analysts are pretty limited in what they can do beyond scheming. It would seem unlikely that coaches would have major differences of opinion when it comes to ST play and yet that must have been the case. Replace Rutledge with a full time coach and that would make sense. But replace an analyst with an analyst?

 

[HuskerWeatherman]

I realize you don’t like coach V, Jeremy. And you may be right about him. But you’re smart enough to know exactly what I’m talking about. Luke was a QB for one year of high school. Everyone knew he was the project QB while Martinez was the guy who was supposed to be a Heisman hopeful and 4 year starter. Nobody expected Luke to be ready to roll by now. Thus, I can’t judge coach V on Luke’s ability at this stage. If you can, knock yourself out.

But we can judge Verduzco on Martinez.

Yes, he improved late-season -- his two best games were against Purdue and Rutgers. He did throw for a higher percentage -- and while I can't discount that, it was mostly high percentage, short passes. Martinez was 99th in FBS this season in yards per completion. Only 9 qualifying quarterbacks in all of FBS were ranked lower -- and all were on teams with losing records. In his six starts, he threw 3 touchdowns and 3 INTs. I'd still argue that his freshman season was his best (all of his passing stats except completion percentage were better than this season -- and he was throwing deep more often in 2018 -- yards per completion were 2 yards greater than this season, which is significant). But he was probably better this season than his sophomore season. Regardless, I don't believe his trajectory is anywhere near where we thought it would be after his freshman year. Has he been developed to his potential?

And then what's next after Martinez leaves? Luke, who hasn't looked ready to take the reigns? Smothers, who hasn't seen a snap yet? The quarterback position is quite thin with tremendous unknowns. I had imagined this being the position of strength for a Frost coached team. I don't believe it's near the level now anyone had envisioned a couple years ago.

 

[cthusker]

But we can judge Verduzco on Martinez.

Yes, he improved late-season -- his two best games were against Purdue and Rutgers. He did throw for a higher percentage -- and while I can't discount that, it was mostly high percentage, short passes. Martinez was 99th in FBS this season in yards per completion. Only 9 qualifying quarterbacks in all of FBS were ranked lower -- and all were on teams with losing records. In his six starts, he threw 3 touchdowns and 3 INTs. I'd still argue that his freshman season was his best (all of his passing stats except completion percentage were better than this season -- and he was throwing deep more often in 2018 -- yards per completion were 2 yards greater than this season, which is significant). But he was probably better this season than his sophomore season. Regardless, I don't believe his trajectory is anywhere near where we thought it would be after his freshman year. Has he been developed to his potential?

And then what's next after Martinez leaves? Luke, who hasn't looked ready to take the reigns? Smothers, who hasn't seen a snap yet? The quarterback position is quite thin with tremendous unknowns. I had imagined this being the position of strength for a Frost coached team. I don't believe it's near the level now anyone had envisioned a couple years ago.

I'm getting the uneasy feeling Frost/Verduzco got lucky and caught lightening in a bottle with Milton. He was a 3 star kid 5'11 @160 lbs when he signed with UCF. No way no how anyone could expect he would turn out to be the QB he did at UCF imo. Perhaps what's really lacking is the ability to pick the RIGHT kid for QB which is very troublesome.

 

[Red October]

I’m not changing out Austin after how we finished last year. I think our line will be a strength this fall.

USC was 5-1 and had no problem losing tneir O line coach. Dont forget Rutgers is a bottom feeder too

 

[Red Said Ted]

But we can judge Verduzco on Martinez.

Yes, he improved late-season -- his two best games were against Purdue and Rutgers. He did throw for a higher percentage -- and while I can't discount that, it was mostly high percentage, short passes. Martinez was 99th in FBS this season in yards per completion. Only 9 qualifying quarterbacks in all of FBS were ranked lower -- and all were on teams with losing records. In his six starts, he threw 3 touchdowns and 3 INTs. I'd still argue that his freshman season was his best (all of his passing stats except completion percentage were better than this season -- and he was throwing deep more often in 2018 -- yards per completion were 2 yards greater than this season, which is significant). But he was probably better this season than his sophomore season. Regardless, I don't believe his trajectory is anywhere near where we thought it would be after his freshman year. Has he been developed to his potential?

And then what's next after Martinez leaves? Luke, who hasn't looked ready to take the reigns? Smothers, who hasn't seen a snap yet? The quarterback position is quite thin with tremendous unknowns. I had imagined this being the position of strength for a Frost coached team. I don't believe it's near the level now anyone had envisioned a couple years ago.

We can if we want. Like I said, I don’t know if it’s poor coaching or if it’s more because of his injuries. I truly don’t know.

 

[dallasblackshirt]

But we can judge Verduzco on Martinez.

Yes, he improved late-season -- his two best games were against Purdue and Rutgers. He did throw for a higher percentage -- and while I can't discount that, it was mostly high percentage, short passes. Martinez was 99th in FBS this season in yards per completion. Only 9 qualifying quarterbacks in all of FBS were ranked lower -- and all were on teams with losing records. In his six starts, he threw 3 touchdowns and 3 INTs. I'd still argue that his freshman season was his best (all of his passing stats except completion percentage were better than this season -- and he was throwing deep more often in 2018 -- yards per completion were 2 yards greater than this season, which is significant). But he was probably better this season than his sophomore season. Regardless, I don't believe his trajectory is anywhere near where we thought it would be after his freshman year. Has he been developed to his potential?

And then what's next after Martinez leaves? Luke, who hasn't looked ready to take the reigns? Smothers, who hasn't seen a snap yet? The quarterback position is quite thin with tremendous unknowns. I had imagined this being the position of strength for a Frost coached team. I don't believe it's near the level now anyone had envisioned a couple years ago.

Nice post. It has way too much logic for the head in the sand crew who dream that AN is someone is isn’t

 

[Red October]

But we can judge Verduzco on Martinez.

Yes, he improved late-season -- his two best games were against Purdue and Rutgers. He did throw for a higher percentage -- and while I can't discount that, it was mostly high percentage, short passes. Martinez was 99th in FBS this season in yards per completion. Only 9 qualifying quarterbacks in all of FBS were ranked lower -- and all were on teams with losing records. In his six starts, he threw 3 touchdowns and 3 INTs. I'd still argue that his freshman season was his best (all of his passing stats except completion percentage were better than this season -- and he was throwing deep more often in 2018 -- yards per completion were 2 yards greater than this season, which is significant). But he was probably better this season than his sophomore season. Regardless, I don't believe his trajectory is anywhere near where we thought it would be after his freshman year. Has he been developed to his potential?

And then what's next after Martinez leaves? Luke, who hasn't looked ready to take the reigns? Smothers, who hasn't seen a snap yet? The quarterback position is quite thin with tremendous unknowns. I had imagined this being the position of strength for a Frost coached team. I don't believe it's near the level now anyone had envisioned a couple years ago.

My problem and I predicted this was all the kool ade sippers would pat their own backs and claim we have turned the corner. Yes if it was OSU not Rutgers. Could Martinez turn the ball over 4 times against OSU or NWU and win? I m all in with a big NO. Firing a bean counter and telling us he was the problem with special teams is like peeing on your coaches leg and telling him its raining. yeah sure. Frost is standing pat, ok, GBR while shaking my head.

 

[Red Said Ted]

I can and will. Maybe he shouldn't be recruiting guys that can't be expected to look like D1 QBs after two years? He's responsible for one guy a year. Maybe he should be targeting guys with more of a QB background and natural QB instincts, throwing mechanics, arm talent, etc. There are tons of examples of QBs throughout the country who are farther along than what McCaffrey showed after two years. Does he even look like he's made significant strides after two years where you're confident he'll be the sort of guy that is All-Conference caliber? Cause it's pretty well known Frost's offense needs an elite, or at least upper echelon QB talent for it to hum.

He's a tremendous athlete and offensive weapon, no doubt, but he has a noodle for an arm and his lack of experience at the position is very evident. There's a reason everyone else wanted him as a receiver and not QB. Turns out (IMPO) everyone else was right. He should have been recruited as an athlete, not the class QB. That way you still have another guy developing and hopefully further along that you can rely on when projects like this take longer than expected (if they even get there). Those decisions are on Verduzco and Frost. I fault them both.

Yeah, we can all say that in hindsight. If Luke develops into what they hoped then he’s a great pick. You’re conveniently ignoring the fact that everyone thought Martinez was going to be a 4 year starter so taking a chance on Luke seemed like a good risk at the time, imo. If you want to be mad at V for recruiting him, feel free. If Frost let V go tomorrow, it wouldn’t bother me a bit. My only point has been and is that I can’t judge his ability to develop QBs based on Luke. Nobody can if they’re being honest and objective.

 

[Red Said Ted]

USC was 5-1 and had no problem losing tneir O line coach. Dont forget Rutgers is a bottom feeder too

Austin has brought in incredible talent on the O line. We can argue that they should have played the veterans this season instead of the young guys. But it would be really stupid to move him out now. If his guys aren’t a lot better next season then I’ll be on the new O line coach bandwagon. But we need to see one more season with his guys.

 

[dallasblackshirt]

My problem and I predicted this was all the kool ade sippers would pat their own backs and claim we have turned the corner. Yes if it was OSU not Rutgers. Could Martinez turn the ball over 4 times against OSU or NWU and win? I m all in with a big NO. Firing a bean counter and telling us he was the problem with special teams is like peeing on your coaches leg and telling him its raining. yeah sure. Frost is standing pat, ok, GBR while shaking my head.

Love you post. I share your view 100%.

the embarrassment called our special teams was laid at the feet of an analyst. When we have sucked since frost showed up.

zero accountability is frost operating style

 

[Red Said Ted]

I'm getting the uneasy feeling Frost/Verduzco got lucky and caught lightening in a bottle with Milton. He was a 3 star kid 5'11 @160 lbs when he signed with UCF. No way no how anyone could expect he would turn out to be the QB he did at UCF imo. Perhaps what's really lacking is the ability to pick the RIGHT kid for QB which is very troublesome.

Well, right there you’re making the argument that they can develop a QB, even one that wasn’t highly ranked out of high school. That’s one in their favor. I’m still undecided. I want to see how Smothers does. If he’s not on track by the end of this season I’ll have to question if coach V is the man for the job.

 

[NorthwoodHusker]

I realize you don’t like coach V, Jeremy. And you may be right about him. But you’re smart enough to know exactly what I’m talking about. Luke was a QB for one year of high school. Everyone knew he was the project QB while Martinez was the guy who was supposed to be a Heisman hopeful and 4 year starter. Nobody expected Luke to be ready to roll by now. Thus, I can’t judge coach V on Luke’s ability at this stage. If you can, knock yourself out.

Luke needs more practices than anyone on the team, good luck with that last year.
Potentials still there, but the clock is ticking

 

[Red Said Ted]

But we can judge Verduzco on Martinez.

Yes, he improved late-season -- his two best games were against Purdue and Rutgers. He did throw for a higher percentage -- and while I can't discount that, it was mostly high percentage, short passes. Martinez was 99th in FBS this season in yards per completion. Only 9 qualifying quarterbacks in all of FBS were ranked lower -- and all were on teams with losing records. In his six starts, he threw 3 touchdowns and 3 INTs. I'd still argue that his freshman season was his best (all of his passing stats except completion percentage were better than this season -- and he was throwing deep more often in 2018 -- yards per completion were 2 yards greater than this season, which is significant). But he was probably better this season than his sophomore season. Regardless, I don't believe his trajectory is anywhere near where we thought it would be after his freshman year. Has he been developed to his potential?

And then what's next after Martinez leaves? Luke, who hasn't looked ready to take the reigns? Smothers, who hasn't seen a snap yet? The quarterback position is quite thin with tremendous unknowns. I had imagined this being the position of strength for a Frost coached team. I don't believe it's near the level now anyone had envisioned a couple years ago.

I should add, I’m in favor of bringing in a transfer QB. I would like to see it this class if we have room. If not now, then certainly next season unless the QB room has done a full 180.