• You do not need to register if you are not going to pay the yearly fee to post. If you register please click here or log in go to "settings" then "my account" then "User Upgrades" and you can renew.

HuskerMax readers can save 50% on  Omaha Steaks .

What is the fascination with QBs who can't throw?

HuskerRedDread

Blackshirt
10 Year Member
How is it NU fans and coaches fall deeply for the QB who has a hard time hitting any target beyond 15 yards consistently?

I remember going to the spring game to see Taylor Martinez play qb for the first time in a Husker uniform. I heard all the rave and hype about his speed and athleticism during his red shirt year as Cody Green tried to solidify himself as the "future" of the program as a true freshman behind Zac Lee. TM quickly showcased the speed that we heard about so much, but I wanted to see if he can distribute the ball to the guys recruited to catch the ball while running routes.. All the snaps he got that day he never attempted to toss the ball further than 5 or 10 yards from the line of scrimmage. Biggest play was a slant route I believe to Brandon Kinnie who drug defenders about 10 or 15 yards into the endzone.

I commented in depth about it and it was met with rebuttal after rebuttal. No problem.... But to me his limitations were obvious regardless of the athleticism. We hitched our wagon to that man for the next 3 seasons that had us ending without a single post season win in 5 attempts.

Fast forward to today....Luke I'm sure is a great kid. Excellent athlete...... But the priority of his position, he obviously doesn't show much comfort in doing. Throwing the ball.... Given we don't have a true down field threat and the WR position is working through some rough patches.....but his throws even to wide open targets rarely look sharp. Too low, too high....slightly behind. He literally never looks comfortable unless he running the football up the field... I believe it was said that he had the most carries this weekend which is crazy to me because #1 is in the backfield with him. I really don't know what's going on in practice and I can see that A.Martinez is having is own struggles on Saturday so I'm not going to question the coaching staff in making a decision of who to play.

But the quote that keeps being thrown out is "we are going to play the one who gives us the best chance to win"......... If a man that uncomfortable of performing his primary duties is the guy that gives you the best chance to win......Your team is going to struggle accomplishing much on the field.

How is it that Nebraska keeps falling for these QBs who can't deliver the ball? We aren't running the option like they did in the 80s and 90s. Play action still exist but QBs in Lincoln are dropping back or taking the shotgun snap these days. I'm going to cheer whoever is standing on our sideline, but why is we can't look at our recruits and see a great QB who is also an athlete, rather than finding a great athlete promising him an opportunity to play QB?
 
How is it NU fans and coaches fall deeply for the QB who has a hard time hitting any target beyond 15 yards consistently?

I remember going to the spring game to see Taylor Martinez play qb for the first time in a Husker uniform. I heard all the rave and hype about his speed and athleticism during his red shirt year as Cody Green tried to solidify himself as the "future" of the program as a true freshman behind Zac Lee. TM quickly showcased the speed that we heard about so much, but I wanted to see if he can distribute the ball to the guys recruited to catch the ball while running routes.. All the snaps he got that day he never attempted to toss the ball further than 5 or 10 yards from the line of scrimmage. Biggest play was a slant route I believe to Brandon Kinnie who drug defenders about 10 or 15 yards into the endzone.

I commented in depth about it and it was met with rebuttal after rebuttal. No problem.... But to me his limitations were obvious regardless of the athleticism. We hitched our wagon to that man for the next 3 seasons that had us ending without a single post season win in 5 attempts.

Fast forward to today....Luke I'm sure is a great kid. Excellent athlete...... But the priority of his position, he obviously doesn't show much comfort in doing. Throwing the ball.... Given we don't have a true down field threat and the WR position is working through some rough patches.....but his throws even to wide open targets rarely look sharp. Too low, too high....slightly behind. He literally never looks comfortable unless he running the football up the field... I believe it was said that he had the most carries this weekend which is crazy to me because #1 is in the backfield with him. I really don't know what's going on in practice and I can see that A.Martinez is having is own struggles on Saturday so I'm not going to question the coaching staff in making a decision of who to play.

But the quote that keeps being thrown out is "we are going to play the one who gives us the best chance to win"......... If a man that uncomfortable of performing his primary duties is the guy that gives you the best chance to win......Your team is going to struggle accomplishing much on the field.

How is it that Nebraska keeps falling for these QBs who can't deliver the ball? We aren't running the option like they did in the 80s and 90s. Play action still exist but QBs in Lincoln are dropping back or taking the shotgun snap these days. I'm going to cheer whoever is standing on our sideline, but why is we can't look at our recruits and see a great QB who is also an athlete, rather than finding a great athlete promising him an opportunity to play QB?
You said it way better than I have been. I’ve been waiting 20 years for this QB. Crouch was honestly our last good QB and that was a totally different offense where passing didn’t matter as much. We always get the fast athletic kid who is tough as nails but can’t throw. I will give all our Quarterbacks props for being tough but wish they could hit a wide open receiver in stride.
 
Last edited:
How is it NU fans and coaches fall deeply for the QB who has a hard time hitting any target beyond 15 yards consistently?

I remember going to the spring game to see Taylor Martinez play qb for the first time in a Husker uniform. I heard all the rave and hype about his speed and athleticism during his red shirt year as Cody Green tried to solidify himself as the "future" of the program as a true freshman behind Zac Lee. TM quickly showcased the speed that we heard about so much, but I wanted to see if he can distribute the ball to the guys recruited to catch the ball while running routes.. All the snaps he got that day he never attempted to toss the ball further than 5 or 10 yards from the line of scrimmage. Biggest play was a slant route I believe to Brandon Kinnie who drug defenders about 10 or 15 yards into the endzone.

I commented in depth about it and it was met with rebuttal after rebuttal. No problem.... But to me his limitations were obvious regardless of the athleticism. We hitched our wagon to that man for the next 3 seasons that had us ending without a single post season win in 5 attempts.

Fast forward to today....Luke I'm sure is a great kid. Excellent athlete...... But the priority of his position, he obviously doesn't show much comfort in doing. Throwing the ball.... Given we don't have a true down field threat and the WR position is working through some rough patches.....but his throws even to wide open targets rarely look sharp. Too low, too high....slightly behind. He literally never looks comfortable unless he running the football up the field... I believe it was said that he had the most carries this weekend which is crazy to me because #1 is in the backfield with him. I really don't know what's going on in practice and I can see that A.Martinez is having is own struggles on Saturday so I'm not going to question the coaching staff in making a decision of who to play.

But the quote that keeps being thrown out is "we are going to play the one who gives us the best chance to win"......... If a man that uncomfortable of performing his primary duties is the guy that gives you the best chance to win......Your team is going to struggle accomplishing much on the field.

How is it that Nebraska keeps falling for these QBs who can't deliver the ball? We aren't running the option like they did in the 80s and 90s. Play action still exist but QBs in Lincoln are dropping back or taking the shotgun snap these days. I'm going to cheer whoever is standing on our sideline, but why is we can't look at our recruits and see a great QB who is also an athlete, rather than finding a great athlete promising him an opportunity to play QB?
The QB play has been quite underwhelming this year, and the lack of a vertical passing game is very concerning, but to be fair it's pretty hard to get the ball down the field when you have 2 seconds to throw.
 



You said it way better than I have been. I’ve been waiting 20 years for this QB. Crouch was honestly our last good QB and that was a totally different offense where passing didn’t matter as much. We always get the fast athletic kid who is tough as nails but can’t throw. I will give all our Quarterbacks props for being tough but wish they could hit a wide open receiver in stride.
Frost wasn't a quarterback either. The last one we had was Joe Ganz.
 



Frosty was a Full back lined up under center Big strong and tough but not a very good passer. Luckily for the Huskers the one real time he needed to complete passes he got it done vs Missouri. The reason he transferred back from Stanford was he was playing Safety and doing a great job but wanted to be a QB. Remember he was a safety in the NFL so bill Walsh did have him at his best position
 
For better or worse, we've been recruiting guys that are athletes first. Frost and Coach V have had confidence in their ability to teach/train a guy to QB, as long they have some basic tools. The issue is a "project" QB needs time to develop. With proper time LM and LS (and eventually Heinrich Haarberg) may "learn" to be QBs. Developing proper throwing technique and foot work can improve accuracy and arm strength. However, injuries and poor play have forced LM onto the field too soon. Now, rather than focusing on development, he's out there trying to make plays. That PT can absolutely help development, but can also hurt if you get by using old/incorrect technique - you lose the muscle memory you are trying to build.

The LM we are seeing now is a different player than the LM we'd have been seeing if he first started as a RS Soph/Jr.
 
Its Frost's scheme. It is not designed for passing QBs and lacks totally any passing sophistication. But that is ok in his scheme - he doesn't recruit passing QBs. So we don't get them and we don't get good WRs (why would they come to this scheme).

So we are stuck with it, and with coaches that really don't know how to utilize a good QB if we got one.

It isn't very complicated. We bought off on the one year at UCF as the wave of the future, and maybe it is somewhere, but not in the BIG. All the good dual threat QBs are good passers, not just another running back. We don't even recruit them, and couldn't get them anyway since they would learn nothing about passing if they came here. There fore at the skill positions, we don't have any NFL types.

We're pretty easy to defensively scheme against.

Too bad. I think SF is a great role model for the kids, tries really hard, and has lots of great intangibles. But you need the tangibles in the players and assistant coaches and the offensive scheme too.
 



I don't know that NU fans have a "fascination" with QBs who can't throw. AM completed 65% of his passes as a Frosh. I think most of us know that we need a QB in that % range for this offense. Especially one that can be more toward 70%+ on the short stuff that is the staple of this offense.

BUT, somehow AM regressed in that department. So badly that the argument was that "if he can't hit those we have to have someone that can". Thus the call for LM. I certainly admit that I was on that train too. He actually is pretty good at the short stuff. Beyond 10 yards though...ugh. And that's why many of us...at least me...after seeing him for 2 games are of the opinion "ok...that's not going to work either."

This offense MUST have a guy that's up around 70% on the short stuff and can get the ball downfield when called for. If he runs like the wind that's a bonus. It can't be the other way around.

AM wasn't just an "athlete that plays QB". LM...he was. Smothers is not just an athlete that plays QB....Mr. Bennet seems to think otherwise but my non-professional opinion of his HS film says he can play QB. Can't say I know enough about the kid from Kearney.
 
Its Frost's scheme. It is not designed for passing QBs and lacks totally any passing sophistication. But that is ok in his scheme - he doesn't recruit passing QBs. So we don't get them and we don't get good WRs (why would they come to this scheme).

I don't think it's the case that "we don't get good WRs". At all. NU has recruited quite a few that were good gets. They just haven't developed. I fail to see how it would be possible that practically ALL of our WR recruits were simply over rated by the services and the programs that were recruiting them. SOMETHING isn't right from the development standpoint.
 

You said it way better than I have been. I’ve been waiting 20 years for this QB. Crouch was honestly our last good QB and that was a totally different offense where passing didn’t matter as much. We always get the fast athletic kid who is tough as nails but can’t throw. I will give all our Quarterbacks props for being tough but wish they could hit a wide open receiver in stride.
Frost wasn't a quarterback either. The last one we had was Joe Ganz.
Let's not forget about Zac Taylor.
Taylor completed a two-year career at Nebraska, setting nearly every Huskers passing record. He threw for 5,850 yards and 45 touchdowns in his career. In 2017, Taylor was inducted into the Nebraska Football Hall of Fame. The 2006 Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year, Taylor passed for more than 3,100 yards as a senior, leading the Cornhuskers to a 9-3 record, an appearance in the Big 12 Championship Game and a matchup against the Auburn Tigers in the Cotton Bowl.
 

GET TICKETS


Get 50% off on Omaha Steaks

Back
Top