I have one thing to say to the Husker coaching staff regarding former University of Miami quarterback Robert Marve considering coming to Nebraska – run!
Better yet – run fast!
The former Miami quarterback departed following his redshirt freshman season and according to various reports Michigan, Purdue, UCLA and Nebraska are among six schools still in the running for his services. Based on NCAA regulations, Marve will be eligible for two seasons, starting in 2010, meaning he has to sit out the 2009 campaign.
Marve started 11 games in 2008, throwing for 1,293 yards with nine touchdowns and 13 interceptions while splitting time with true freshman Jacory Harris. Marve was suspended for Miami's season opener and for the Hurricanes' Emerald Bowl loss to Cal for violations of team rules.
Sports Illustrated also reported that after Marve decided to transfer, Miami coach Randy Shannon refused to release him to any ACC or SEC school or to any school in Florida. An appeals panel amended Marve's release, allowing him to transfer on scholarship to any school except an ACC member, Florida, Tennessee or LSU.
The Huskers could use another quarterback after Patrick Witt decided to leave the program just three weeks ago. With the graduation of Joe Ganz, Nebraska has three inexperienced quarterbacks in Zac Lee, Kody Spano and Cody Green. Spano is a redshirt freshman while Green is a true freshman while fellow true freshman Taylor Martinez also wants a shot. Green, however, is already enrolled at Nebraska while Martinez is not – thus making him a longshot for this season.
Granted, those four players have a grand total of 15 snaps under their belts at the Division I-A level. However, Marve would be an odd fit because he is deemed a “pro style” quarterback but Nebraska seems to be leaning in the direction of the dual-threat QBs with the implementation of various concepts of the Spread. Keep in mind, Witt was considered a “pro style” quarterback but that likely would have made him the odd man out in 2009 and beyond.
Most of all, however, there is the baggage that Marve comes with in terms of twice getting suspended for violating team rules. For starters, we do not have information on what those rules are but getting suspended twice in your freshman season? Twice. One time you can consider an aberration but twice is a definite red flag. Plus, Shannon actually seems like a decent guy of character. Keep in mind; these are not the loose-ship Hurricanes of the Jimmy Johnson or Dennis Erickson eras.
Keep in mind, Nebraska already tried going the free agent route (well, the college version) with Sam Keller in 2006 and that didn’t work too well.
Keller brought some baggage with him too. Reportedly, Keller (who would have been a senior) had beaten out redshirt freshman Rudy Carpenter for the starting job in 2006. Keller was named the starter just before the start of the 2006 campaign. Then Arizona State head coach Dirk Koetter, however, rescinded his decision and named Carpenter the starter after his parents had threatened to transfer schools as a result of the decision.
Keller then opted to leave and subsequently transferred to Nebraska. He redshirted the 2006 season and “beat out” Ganz for the starting job but I use that term rather loosely. Then Husker head coach Bill Callahan publicly emphasized that both were “competing” for the starting job but let’s face it, the “competition” part was lip service.
Not that Keller performed poorly in 2007 but he hardly lived up to the hype. Plus, the Huskers abomination of a 5-7 season in 2007 was more attributable to the defense being a sieve.
That said when Keller suffered a season ending injury in Game 9, Ganz shined and never looked back.
Marve throws the ball with some zip but the guy strikes me as one that had a hard time with the concept of competing for his job. That reason reportedly played a role in Witt’s decision to leave.
You see, if a player is going to have a problem having to earn his stripes (i.e. starting job), do not go anywhere near him because if he can’t handle competing for his job then how is he going to survive the pressure cooker of trying to lead a team 80 yards in two minutes.
Go back to Harrison Beck in 2006. Beck, who was a highly touted recruit in the Huskers 2005 class, transferred before the start of the ’06 campaign. Zac Taylor was Nebraska’s starter at the time and deservedly so. Yet, Beck’s mother makes statements to the effect of but “it’s not like he (Taylor) is as good as Matt Leinert or Brady Quinn.”
True, Taylor might not have had the careers of those two players but he had a pretty solid career at Nebraska and there is a reason why his teammates respected him.
Beck, meanwhile, transferred to North Carolina State. Did he do anything I missed out on there? Well, Beck is now on his way to Northern Alabama (a Division II school). Good luck, Harrison, it just confirms that your mom was wrong to moan.
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