I feel like everyone is ready to just throw Adrian to the curb but I feel like other aspects severely hinder it. Pass protection is suspect at best, there is a lack of downfield playmakers at wr, playcalling, being coached to progress short to deep. And he was pretty good when he had Morgan and JD. I am by no means saying he has excelled at this and do concede that he has missed some throws, but I as said earlier this is not all on qb.
Downfield passing game
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He is our best option to win simple as that. Had he played against Illinois we win that game and are pretty happy with 4-4 record. And probably opt into a bowl. Luke is not a quarterback. You can teach accuracy a little bit but Luke missed guys by 10 yards. Ya can’t teach it that much. Smothers who knows? Looks kinda little when he wears his green hat on the sidelines so not sure he passes the eye test.
So I expect Adrian to take a majority of the snaps next year again unless Frost caters the offense more towards Luke’s tuning ability then I see Adrian entering the portal. At which point he should go to Oregon state and steal Gebbias job. Lol
So I expect Adrian to take a majority of the snaps next year again unless Frost caters the offense more towards Luke’s tuning ability then I see Adrian entering the portal. At which point he should go to Oregon state and steal Gebbias job. Lol
the following post contains statistics, not opinions:
AM IS THE WORST DOWNFIELD PASSER IN THE B1G TWO YEARS RUNNING
AM IS THE WORST DOWNFIELD PASSER IN THE B1G TWO YEARS RUNNING
He certainly isn't helped by what he has around him and the play calling. He still can't hit open receivers down the field, seems very slow of reading the defense and knowing where the ball needs to go, he turns it over at an extremely high rate and hasn't shown any progression since his freshmen season.
I don’t disagree with protection being a factor, but our OL isn’t necessarily worse than other schools who still manage to complete more deep throws,
AND it’s harder to pass pro if we’re not staying on schedule on 1st and 2nd down or when the other team doesn’t respect our downfield throwing and can load the box.
AND it’s harder to pass pro if we’re not staying on schedule on 1st and 2nd down or when the other team doesn’t respect our downfield throwing and can load the box.
There are several levels of failure on the offensive side of the ball. Average to poor blocking. Inconsistent RB play. WRs who can't get open. Then on top of the heap is poor decision making by the QB. Even if all of those dimensions improved dramatically I have little confidence that AM would suddenly become an accurate downfield passer. I hope he proves me wrong.
Wow, there's a helluva leap. There wasn't a single unit that showed up ready to play against Illinois, and NU got dominated in every phase of that game. I don't see how even a good performance by Martinez would have changed the outcome.
Take it from a former QB - you need either absolute burners or guys with height/length. We had none of that the past 2 seasons. Betts, Manning, Toure can change this tune quickly.
not to mention the zero happy people with a 4-4 result on the season.
that post is hogwash on many levels.
My memory is not always the best but I thought he did an above average job of getting the ball downfield with Stanley Morgan and JD (i think) as a Freshmen?
I know everyone panicked when WanDale left, but really he is just a guy. Stanley,JD and a host of receivers have come and gone with far better stats. Hopefully this new guy and another year with the young guys downfield passing will improve. Also should have a hell of a set of tight ends if Frost will use them
Martinez has dominated Illinois for 2 years. Those were his best games of his career. Martinez wins that game no doubt about it.
In just about everything we do in life some people are good at what they do, most people are average (by statistical definition) and some people are marginal-poor. Then...some people just have "it" and are true stars at what they do. We have all seen it with teachers we've had, people who do work on our houses and so forth. All things considered, IMHO Adrian Martinez is an average QB. Nebraska football isn't going anywhere until we have a QB that is at least "good" and one of the skills a QB needs to be "good" is the ability to see open receivers down field and complete passes to them on a fairly routine basis.
protection is great and all, except when this is the case:
When in a clean pocket, which is one of the most stable metrics for a quarterback, Martinez produced a 55.3 passing grade, ranking 123rd of 130 FBS quarterbacks.
you can list any number of factors, and the stats will say the same thing. kid just doesn't have it. it's that simple.
if, with all things considered, AM is an avg QB, how come when literally all things are statistically considered, he grades out as horrendously poor?
My hardest thing to understand is why after having so many fumbles the last three seasons he still doesn't go into contact with two hands on the ball.
I agree, but there is a lot to be said about MO in college football. Maybe if 2AM had played and the first drive wouldn't have been blown up things could have been different and maybe the other units might have played better.
AM's last full season as a starter, in addition to grading out as a bottom 10% player, he threw 9 picks and fumbled 9 times. in less than 10 games.
What depresses me more than AM is the fact that we now have 4 scholarship QBs and he's still our best option.
Because I was being generous by considering such intangibles like toughness, towing the party line, not throwing teammates/coaches under the bus, being a good citizen, running the ball well at times....those kinds of things.
By far it almost seems. When Luke throws in this offense I almost always worry it’s going to get intercepted
Yeah I can agree with you there. But declaring that NU would have surely won a game in which it was absolutely shit-stomped in every phase, if only AM had played, is complete nonsense. Throw in the "and then we would have gone to a bowl" sweetener and it just seems like more "man, we're soooo close" BS.
He would have needed to dominate on both sides of the ball, and in special teams as well. But sure, NU wins without question!!!
When Luke throws it makes me wonder what Frost and Co. see that convinces them he is a QB for this offense.
Wisconsin has been a top 20 program for nearly a decade with average QBs, Russell Wilson notwithstanding. If we play better defense and special teams (definitely a possibility), we can win by stressing a power-running, play-action passing game and dialing back on all the risk we often put on our QBs' backs. Can Frost restrain his offensive impulses and play the Iowa/Wisconsin/Northwestern/Minnesota game? We'll see. We should have just as much talent as those teams, and our QB will be just as good as theirs, with the possible exception of Morgan.
I remember seeing his clean pocket rating was bad. Seems a lot of his best throws come on rollouts or broken down plays.
I’ve said it before but majority of our completions are to statue targets, which is certainly “part” of the game.
Hitting some routes in stride (moving targets) would really open things up, but we seem mostly incapable of this basic football element.
Non power 5 schools with way less star talent can pass downfield. Even against power 5 teams
I don’t pay enough attention to how teams play us, but my basic football knowledge has me thinking that more zone coverage defense will encourage WRs to sit down in the open spaces, whereas man coverages have you running away from your coverage more.
So some could be related to opposing defensive scheme.
At the same time, even with zone, sometimes it’s just a matter of properly timed throws to hit your target as they pass through the open areas hopefully with enough time to make the next guy miss before they knock their head off.
Has Adrian ever successfully pulled off a pump fake and thrown a good pass?
I know he’s done it to open a running lane for himself, but...
doesn’t seem like you have to be in the NFL to pull off that move on occasion.
The dink and dunk throws we make are supposed to progress into the WR double move / pump fake, let your WR get downfield type of play.
I know he’s done it to open a running lane for himself, but...
doesn’t seem like you have to be in the NFL to pull off that move on occasion.
The dink and dunk throws we make are supposed to progress into the WR double move / pump fake, let your WR get downfield type of play.
They're all bigger receivers. Fits the Notre Dame mold which isn't really a bad thing. Should be good blockers with their size as well.
The fact remains that AM is simply average at best...and you could make an argument that’s reaching. Saying he needs better protection, receivers aren’t getting open, blah blah blah. Adrian is not an elite quarterback he’s an OK quarterback. It’s not a coincidence that when we were relevant on the national scene we also happened to have an elite blue chip QB. The recipe is not that complicated. You have to have played the game to understand that having a baller at QB changes the way the ENTIRE teams plays.
I will take Adrian, Nate Swift, Todd Peterson, Roy Helu, Niles Paul, Quentin Castille, and Marlon Lucky.
You can have Joe Ganz, Kade Warner, Wyatt Liewer, Levi Falck, Ronald Thompkins, Dedrick Mills, and Wandale.
I bet I know which team wins.
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