POB
- Thread starter huskerbr12
- Start date
Love his mechanics and his pocket presence. Obviously they're not gonna put sacks or bad plays on his hudl film, so it's hard to say how consistent he is with that, but plenty of plays in there where he extends the play or takes off for a nice gain.
Really steps through his throws. I don't see him throwing off his back foot in any of these clips really. Not a ton of velocity on the ball, but good accuracy. Gotta figure more strength and time on the weights will raise his ball speed some. If I have to choose between a guy who throws hard or a guy who is accurate, give me accurate every time. There may be something in his motion that can give him more pop on the longer throws.
Does a nice job getting his hips around when he's rolling left.
Not a true dual threat per se where you're gonna feature him in the run game, but has the straight line speed to make you pay if you turn your back and play man, or to turn a broken pocket into a first down, a la Cutler or Rogers. Little bit of wiggle to him. Strikes me as somebody who will get described as "deceptive" when people talk about his running ability.
Hangs the ball out there like the proverbial loaf of bread when he runs. Needs to tuck that away. He's so much bigger than HS kids that he gets away with it, but college players will rip at that ball.
Very upright runner. Needs to drop that down so he doesn't get those ribs cracked.
Kid is cool as the other side of the pillow. Lots of plays where he makes it into something by not getting rattled. There's just this general vibe about him like he's just not concerned out there, like he knows he's gonna dominate.
Really steps through his throws. I don't see him throwing off his back foot in any of these clips really. Not a ton of velocity on the ball, but good accuracy. Gotta figure more strength and time on the weights will raise his ball speed some. If I have to choose between a guy who throws hard or a guy who is accurate, give me accurate every time. There may be something in his motion that can give him more pop on the longer throws.
Does a nice job getting his hips around when he's rolling left.
Not a true dual threat per se where you're gonna feature him in the run game, but has the straight line speed to make you pay if you turn your back and play man, or to turn a broken pocket into a first down, a la Cutler or Rogers. Little bit of wiggle to him. Strikes me as somebody who will get described as "deceptive" when people talk about his running ability.
Hangs the ball out there like the proverbial loaf of bread when he runs. Needs to tuck that away. He's so much bigger than HS kids that he gets away with it, but college players will rip at that ball.
Very upright runner. Needs to drop that down so he doesn't get those ribs cracked.
Kid is cool as the other side of the pillow. Lots of plays where he makes it into something by not getting rattled. There's just this general vibe about him like he's just not concerned out there, like he knows he's gonna dominate.
Kids' probly not going to be Joe Montana right out the gate but I like his potential. Some time ago, someone posted some video of him struggling with his mechanics (back foot throws) and stuff, can't remember when though. He's certainly a good starting point for Langs to work with.
He looks fantastic on film. After watching those clips, his big hurdle to the college game may be throwing his receivers open. It seems like his receivers are wide open on a lot of that film. On the plays with tighter coverage, he still does a great job. This kid might be bigger than Ron Powlus! 
Not on film; however, you can look at his overall numbers to see he is an exceptionally talented QB - completion percentage, TD/INT ratio, etc.
His film documents that he can make a very large variety of throws. He is going to be fun to watch.
Agree. No way to fake that % and TD/INT on that volume of throws. Excited to get an accurate thrower.
You can do a lot more with an accurate passer who can run than you can with a dynamic runner who you're trying to coach up into being capable of 60-65%. Would like an offense that is going to still be run heavy with the RB and see what a kid like this can do with around 25-30 attempts per game working off a credible run threat.
Yep, I don't know if it has to be heavy run presence but just like we saw vs. Mich State and Minnesota..we are best when both are working and I'd like to see us avg more like 25-35 passes depending how game is going still typically allows for 35-40 runs.
it seems so many fans around here brainwashed against the pass mostly because we haven't had pure passing types of QBs throwing it here. I'm telling you, the whole bad weather stuff and it doesn't work in the Midwest is garbage. Look at Aaron Rodgers, Big Ben in Pitt, Brady in NE in bad weather games....you just need really good pass QBs.
There is always an argument that you actually want to throw more in bad weather than good sometimes, because it's often the DBs that slip and have to guess where WR knows he's going.
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Agreed. The other teams in Memorial Stadium don't seem to have a problem passing the ball. That tells me it's not the weather, it's the players, specifically the QB.
I don't actually like his film that well. However, his accuracy and completion percentage is so good, that it implies he makes good decisions as well. Those two things he does well, are also big gaping holes in TA's game. I wouldn't hesitate to start POB next year if he can make the adjustment to the college game quickly. I really don't want to sit through another TA season personally.
Nikki, just curious what you don't like? I've got a little bit of agreement, but feel the same way as the completion percentage is awesome so lets hope it pans out. I don't see a monster arm on this kid by any means. I think he has a good arm, but nothing really blew me away by it. He's young still and will learn, but I didn't find his footwork all that impressive yet, and as stated he is throwing to a lot of wide open guys. Hopefully we can develop him and turn him in to a big time QB.
Joe Montana wasn't Joe Montana until his junior year of college
Great points. You are right about the db's, its generally much harder to be reactive on that type of surface as you transition into your coverage. It can also be hard for o-linemen to get the drive needed to push the D off the ball. And also with your theme of living real time; defenses will often stack against the run in weather, so you can do better against what they are giving you - its tough not too give up some separation on a good receivers first move in a poor footing environment. GBR
In regards to POB, we are so lucky. He decided to narrow his efforts too one sport and immediately blew the competition away in camps on the West coast ( Hello!! ). We hired a coach who was already in on him; he simply is a top ten qb and is doing special things beyond that.
We have a pretty bare qb room; at least by the superman standards most expect. It is so great he has arranged to get here at semester; next year may be mainly all TA and others - but redshirt or not, POB is going to have a great career. Most H S qb's couldn't come close to his stats against an injured group of dt's playing in a secondary.
We have a pretty bare qb room; at least by the superman standards most expect. It is so great he has arranged to get here at semester; next year may be mainly all TA and others - but redshirt or not, POB is going to have a great career. Most H S qb's couldn't come close to his stats against an injured group of dt's playing in a secondary.
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After Harrison Beck, Sam Keller, Brion Carnes, Johnny Stanton, Cody Green, Kody Spano. Curt Dukes, etc. I'm not going to hype up any Nebraska QB recruit before he sets foot on campus. Most of our saviors haven't panned out.
I hear ya… What gives me hope is the improvement I've seen in Tommy under these new coaches. It seems as if these new coaches can develop quarterback play better than any of the coaches who coached the players you just mentioned. I know some of them were under Callahan, but I'm just not convinced that Jay Norvell or Shawn Watson were the guys to develop our quarterbacks. This is my hope at least...
At the risk of sounding negative, my main concern is that he just doesn't look like an athlete on film. It's difficult to put a finger on it. I thought he looked slow, but then realized he's just a big guy. Then I wondered if he was just a 'man among boys' type of thing, which to me, is also a big worry. It's easy to look good when you are playing against your younger brothers friends type thing.. Arm strength as you mention and wide open guys etc.
Still, to me the high completion percentage is indicative of good decision making & accuracy. He likely also throws a nice catchable ball. Surely at the next level, he will be required to thread the needle more, put more zip on the ball when required and everything will move much faster, as well as more complex defensive schemes to read, but given accuracy and decision making, those are very high up on the list of things you would want in a pro style QB and for coach Riley's system.
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His team was steamrolled in a couple recent games. I wonder if anyone saw either of those games and could comment on how he looked when the competition was better and receivers weren't running free.
Some of these posts are honestly silly. POB is the most developed QB that throws the football to EVER come to Nebraska. He will continue to grow as a player but he is at a very high level right now for a HS quarterback. Alignments, progressions, using the whole field, variety of throws in his arsenal, etc. the list goes on. People shouldn't be concerned. They should be ecstatic.
Agree, Archie. We're not evaluating him for the NFL draft, he's partway through his senior year of HIGH SCHOOL. Slow your roll, kids. Of course he has some developing to do and he's not Tom Brady already at age 17 (18?).
In terms of how far along he is as a thrower, I don't know that NU has had anyone better actually make it to campus. Gabbert and Freeman both made it to the NFL, but not to Lincoln.
Make no mistake, O'Brien is coming here to THROW the ball. You can't evaluate his running skills against the type of QB Nebraska used to get, or against Wilson. This kid is coming to be a passer who can run if absolutely needed, not the other way around.
In terms of how far along he is as a thrower, I don't know that NU has had anyone better actually make it to campus. Gabbert and Freeman both made it to the NFL, but not to Lincoln.
Make no mistake, O'Brien is coming here to THROW the ball. You can't evaluate his running skills against the type of QB Nebraska used to get, or against Wilson. This kid is coming to be a passer who can run if absolutely needed, not the other way around.
I think people are fired up, but you honestly have no idea how he is going to do at the next level. There are plenty of studs even up to the 5 star rating that don't pan out. I'm ecstatic to have the kid, but it's alright not to anoint him the second coming of Jesus before he is even on campus.
I watched POB's hudl film a couple nights ago and what concerned me was how wide open the receivers were 90% of the time. So it led me question his numbers, are they good cause he's good, or are his number inflated because there were no defenders around the WR's? So I went through and watched the hudl film of each of the top two pro style QB's from the 2016, 2015 and 2014 classes. I've come to the conclusion that for the most part, they're all the same. WR's running free most of the time, very little reads and progressions by the QB's and in many instances the WR's making good plays on the ball. Only thing that seems to separate the top QB's from the rest, are mechanics, measurables and being able to get the ball within the vicinity of the WR. Of the 6 QB's film I watched, 2015 recruit Josh Rosen looked the best and that was because of his ball placement/accuracy.
POB has the measurables, a big arm and can run if need be (he even ran some read options in his film), the one problem I saw, was he threw off his back foot a few times. Whether he pans out or not is anyones guess, but he at least has the tools to do so.
POB has the measurables, a big arm and can run if need be (he even ran some read options in his film), the one problem I saw, was he threw off his back foot a few times. Whether he pans out or not is anyones guess, but he at least has the tools to do so.
high school to Div 1 QB is the most difficult transition to predict ... there are just no guarantees (I give you Harrison Beck and the Morris kid at Michigan)
a ton of kids have the measurables, arm strength etc to be a great Div 1 QB -- unfortunately being a great Div 1 QB is more about how fast can you process information, can you read coverages, can you make rapid correct decisions under mental and physical pressure -- those attributes can't be measured and typically aren't highlighted in high school as usually the talent differential is wide amongst the teams - ie you have QBs throwing to wide open WRs
QB play is about decision making - Zac Taylor excelled without a cannon
you almost need 2 QBs per class unless you have your guy on campus as an underclassmen
I am excited about the prospects of POB - but until we see him on the field taking live division 1 fire we just aren't going to know
a ton of kids have the measurables, arm strength etc to be a great Div 1 QB -- unfortunately being a great Div 1 QB is more about how fast can you process information, can you read coverages, can you make rapid correct decisions under mental and physical pressure -- those attributes can't be measured and typically aren't highlighted in high school as usually the talent differential is wide amongst the teams - ie you have QBs throwing to wide open WRs
QB play is about decision making - Zac Taylor excelled without a cannon
you almost need 2 QBs per class unless you have your guy on campus as an underclassmen
I am excited about the prospects of POB - but until we see him on the field taking live division 1 fire we just aren't going to know
Open WRs don't account for 80% with his TD-INT ratio. To quote Ike Clanton from Tombstone, "You son of a bitch, Holliday, nobody's that lucky!"
But if our opponent throws the ball 45 times against our secondary.... then this is balanced, yes? This is good?
Nobody is trying to project him at the next level. We are evaluating where he is right now. He's really freaking good and a perfect match for our offense.
I understand your fear...
Maybe this will help
Remember Mark Sanchez... He plays in the same division as him (Mission Viejo
http://www.maxpreps.com/league/N4KzYLRJNEaozcwS1ZoOAw/standings-south-coast.htm
What does the opponent's number of pass attempts have to do with NU's offensive identity?
On the season I saw a stat where we are 2 plays difference between run and pass. I'd say that's pretty balanced. You can pick and choose games where there are more passes, but on the season we are balanced.
I know you are not a fan of cherrypicking, as I've seen in other posts you've posted. So why are you doing it here?
Edit: checked the season stats and we have run 358 times, passed 373 times. Not quite 50/50, but pretty darn close. It's 51/49 pass to run ratio. That's balance...
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