Lack of QB Depth: A Husker Tradition
Since TO was coach, I have a difficult time remembering even 1 season where we had more than 1 D-1 QB on the roster (I’m not really counting Taylor Martinez and Tommie Armstrong as D-1 QB’s when they were freshmen). If you don’t have a decent QB on the field in this day and age, your offense is screwed. Quick – name 1 team that had an explosive offense with subpar QB play. That’s not a thing. Every single Nebraska coach with the possible exception of Callaghan seems to be content with zero depth at the most critical position on the team
Solich: Apparently had a policy to never have more than 2 scholarship QB’s on the roster at any time. I remember 2001 when we only had Senior Eric Crouch and freshman Jamaal Lord on the team as scholarship QB’s. Then Lord injured his knee in the spring game and was questionable for the Fall. When Bill Callaghan took over for Solich, he inherited a roster with exactly 1 QB on the entire roster: true sophomore Joe Daily who was not even a D-1 caliber QB. The poor guy had 3 weeks to round up a few bodies just to be able to have a practice squad. That why we had to sign Beau Davis and another QB, Jordan Adams, who was a backup on his JC team. He also got Joe Ganz.
Callaghan: In 3 full recruiting cycles he brought in Zac Taylor and Zack Lee from the junior college ranks and got Sam Kellar to transfer in. Also signed a high school prospects Harrison Beck who was a top 100 type prospect, Patrick Witt, and Joe Ganz. So he seems to have made an earnest attempt to build up depth here.
Pelini: Inherited Joe Ganz. In 7 years he signed 2 D-1 QB’s: Tommie Armstrong and Taylor Martinez. Otherwise his QB recruiting was horrible. We flipped Brion Carnes away from Western Kentucky. I think we were AJ Bush’s and Zac Darlington’s only d-1 offers. Cody Green was recruited by most as a tight end.
Frost: Signed AM in 2018. The next year we signed Dylan McCaffrey when no other team was willing to offer him as a QB. In 2019 we signed our second weak consecutive armed running QB Logan Smothers. After Harberg was signed in 2020, we went completely changed gears and went after a pro-style pocket passer in Richard Torres. Exactly what system are we trying to recruit?
In the last 20 years I’m not sure we have ever had even 1 year with any real competition at the QB spot: And our starter most of those years wasn’t that great anyway. That’s why I want to see us recruiting 1-2 QB’s every single fricking year. I want to see us with at least 5 QB’s on the roster for spring practice. If a couple QB’s decide to transfer out every year, I fine with that. Sort through the players you got, keep the good ones and encourage to others to transfer out. Why do our coaches fail to understand this simple concept? All other successful teams do. Frankly I don’t ever want to see us being forced to trot out Andrew Bunch, Ryker Fyfe, or Ron Kellogg or forced to play a beat up a one legged QB because we have nobody else.
Look at this list and tell which years we actually had any depth at all.
2001: Eric Crouch, Jamaal Lord
2002: Jamaal Lord, Mike Stuntz
2003: Jamaal Lord, Joe Dailey
2004: Joe Dailey, Beau Davis, Jordan Adams, Joe Ganz
2005: Zac Taylor, Harrison Beck, Beau Davis, Jordan Adams, Joe Ganz
2006: Zach Taylor, Joe Ganz. Beau Davis, Harrison Beck
2007: Sam Kellar, Joe Ganz, Beau Davis, Zack Lee, Patrick Witt
2008: Joe Ganz, Beau Davis, Zac Lee, Patrick Witt, Kody Spano
2009: Zac Lee, Cody Green, Taylor Martinez, Kody Spano, Latravis Washington
2010: Taylor Martinez, Zac Lee, Cody Spano, Cody Green, Brion Carnes
2011: Taylor Martinez, Brion Carnes, Cody Green
2012: Taylor Martinez, Brion Carnes, Bronson Marsh, Tommie Armstrong
2013: Taylor Martinez, Ron Kellogg, Bronson Marsh, Tommie Armstrong
2014: Tommie Armstrong, AJ Bush, Zack Darlington, Johnny Stanton
2015: Tommie Armstrong, AJ Bush, Zack Darlington,
2016: Tommie Armstrong, Ryker Fyfe, Patrick O’Brien
2017: Tanner Lee, Andrew Bunch, Patrick O’Brien, Tristan Gebbia, Noah Vedral
2018: Adrian Martinez, Andrew Bunch, Noah Vedral
2019: Adrian Martinez, Noah Vedral, Dylan McCaffrey
2020: Adrian Martinez, Logan Smothers
2021: Adrian Martinez, Logan Smothers, Heinrich Haarberg
Since TO was coach, I have a difficult time remembering even 1 season where we had more than 1 D-1 QB on the roster (I’m not really counting Taylor Martinez and Tommie Armstrong as D-1 QB’s when they were freshmen). If you don’t have a decent QB on the field in this day and age, your offense is screwed. Quick – name 1 team that had an explosive offense with subpar QB play. That’s not a thing. Every single Nebraska coach with the possible exception of Callaghan seems to be content with zero depth at the most critical position on the team
Solich: Apparently had a policy to never have more than 2 scholarship QB’s on the roster at any time. I remember 2001 when we only had Senior Eric Crouch and freshman Jamaal Lord on the team as scholarship QB’s. Then Lord injured his knee in the spring game and was questionable for the Fall. When Bill Callaghan took over for Solich, he inherited a roster with exactly 1 QB on the entire roster: true sophomore Joe Daily who was not even a D-1 caliber QB. The poor guy had 3 weeks to round up a few bodies just to be able to have a practice squad. That why we had to sign Beau Davis and another QB, Jordan Adams, who was a backup on his JC team. He also got Joe Ganz.
Callaghan: In 3 full recruiting cycles he brought in Zac Taylor and Zack Lee from the junior college ranks and got Sam Kellar to transfer in. Also signed a high school prospects Harrison Beck who was a top 100 type prospect, Patrick Witt, and Joe Ganz. So he seems to have made an earnest attempt to build up depth here.
Pelini: Inherited Joe Ganz. In 7 years he signed 2 D-1 QB’s: Tommie Armstrong and Taylor Martinez. Otherwise his QB recruiting was horrible. We flipped Brion Carnes away from Western Kentucky. I think we were AJ Bush’s and Zac Darlington’s only d-1 offers. Cody Green was recruited by most as a tight end.
Frost: Signed AM in 2018. The next year we signed Dylan McCaffrey when no other team was willing to offer him as a QB. In 2019 we signed our second weak consecutive armed running QB Logan Smothers. After Harberg was signed in 2020, we went completely changed gears and went after a pro-style pocket passer in Richard Torres. Exactly what system are we trying to recruit?
In the last 20 years I’m not sure we have ever had even 1 year with any real competition at the QB spot: And our starter most of those years wasn’t that great anyway. That’s why I want to see us recruiting 1-2 QB’s every single fricking year. I want to see us with at least 5 QB’s on the roster for spring practice. If a couple QB’s decide to transfer out every year, I fine with that. Sort through the players you got, keep the good ones and encourage to others to transfer out. Why do our coaches fail to understand this simple concept? All other successful teams do. Frankly I don’t ever want to see us being forced to trot out Andrew Bunch, Ryker Fyfe, or Ron Kellogg or forced to play a beat up a one legged QB because we have nobody else.
Look at this list and tell which years we actually had any depth at all.
2001: Eric Crouch, Jamaal Lord
2002: Jamaal Lord, Mike Stuntz
2003: Jamaal Lord, Joe Dailey
2004: Joe Dailey, Beau Davis, Jordan Adams, Joe Ganz
2005: Zac Taylor, Harrison Beck, Beau Davis, Jordan Adams, Joe Ganz
2006: Zach Taylor, Joe Ganz. Beau Davis, Harrison Beck
2007: Sam Kellar, Joe Ganz, Beau Davis, Zack Lee, Patrick Witt
2008: Joe Ganz, Beau Davis, Zac Lee, Patrick Witt, Kody Spano
2009: Zac Lee, Cody Green, Taylor Martinez, Kody Spano, Latravis Washington
2010: Taylor Martinez, Zac Lee, Cody Spano, Cody Green, Brion Carnes
2011: Taylor Martinez, Brion Carnes, Cody Green
2012: Taylor Martinez, Brion Carnes, Bronson Marsh, Tommie Armstrong
2013: Taylor Martinez, Ron Kellogg, Bronson Marsh, Tommie Armstrong
2014: Tommie Armstrong, AJ Bush, Zack Darlington, Johnny Stanton
2015: Tommie Armstrong, AJ Bush, Zack Darlington,
2016: Tommie Armstrong, Ryker Fyfe, Patrick O’Brien
2017: Tanner Lee, Andrew Bunch, Patrick O’Brien, Tristan Gebbia, Noah Vedral
2018: Adrian Martinez, Andrew Bunch, Noah Vedral
2019: Adrian Martinez, Noah Vedral, Dylan McCaffrey
2020: Adrian Martinez, Logan Smothers
2021: Adrian Martinez, Logan Smothers, Heinrich Haarberg
