Should Martinez be on a short leash?

When it comes to the Nebraska football fan base, there is no in between how they feel about quarterback Taylor Martinez. There are those that believe he should unequivocally be the starter, no questions asked. Then, there are those clamoring for him to be replaced by Brion Carnes or even Tommy Armstrong.

Martinez enters his junior year as a third-year starter but has been a lightning rod for criticism among the fans and media, more so the former. In an effort to improve his unorthodox mechanics, Martinez spent time this past offseason with quarterback guru Steve Calhoun. Even with Martinez taking the time to address his mechanical flaws, there’s a segment of the Husker fan base that believe Martinez should be on a short leash if not already replaced. The truth of the matter is that Nebraska’s hopes of winning the conference title, something that has eluded the Huskers since 1999, are hinged on Martinez’s maturity and growth as a passer.

However, I do not buy the notion that head coach Bo Pelini coddles Martinez. Those who believe that conveniently forget that Pelini’s public comments had the tone of “let’s not build this kid up too quickly” when Martinez was a big play waiting to happen as a freshman. Later on that same season, Pelini had a sideline tirade at Martinez that was seen on camera during Nebraska’s 9-6 loss to Texas A&M. That’s not the sign of coach that coddles. I do think players end up in Pelini’s dog house for inordinately long stays, but coddling doesn’t seem to be his Modus Operendi.

Of course, some would argue to get the backups enough snaps in order to properly develop them. That idea sounds all well and good but when the game is in the balance you need to play your best players in order to win. Carnes got into games last season when Nebraska defeated UT-Chatanooga (40-7), Wyoming (38-14) and Minnesota (41-14). The other six Husker wins were close enough that Martinez needed to play the entire game. My only criticism was that Carnes saw no playing time at all in the Huskers’ blowout losses to Wisconsin (48-17) and Michigan 945-17).

So should Martinez be on a short leash? No. Does he need to improve to keep his job? Yes. The head coach makes the decision who does and who should play and if he wants to keep someone on a short leash, so be it. However, I do not see Pelini operating that way, nor do I agree that he keeps guys in his doghouse too long. If you are in the doghouse, you must have done something to get there and I believe that those that stay in it for a long time are there because they haven’t rectified the problem.

Pelini, in my opinion, is a fair coach and a respected coach by the players. Martinez will be the quarterback this year and next year until someone is more capable, in the coach’s opinion and not the opinion of people on message boards, than Martinez is to be the playing quarterback.

A lot of people want to point the finger at Martinez, and I feel unjustly due to some animosity from his freshman year. Those are the same fans that hyped him into being the next Eric Crouch and calling him T-Magic. Then when injuries reduce his effectiveness and teams figure out how to depend him, the complaints come.

I really think Martinez grew up a lot last year, and showed much more maturity. The only game he really played that bad in was Wisconsin. Hopefully he won’t have a leash, and that will allow him to relax and play his best.

Martinez continuing to address mechanics is a good thing

Nebraska quarterback Taylor Martinez continues to make headlines this offseason for his effort to continue improving his throwing mechanics.

Los Angeles-area quarterback coach Steve Calhoun spent a week with Martinez in the spring and then three more got three more weeks with the junior in May according to a recent Omaha World Herald report. Calhoun helped get Martinez an invite to the mid-July Manning Passing Academy, where Calhoun will work as a camp assistant.

“People are going to be quite surprised in how far he's come in such a short time,” Calhoun told the OWH.

In an effort to get Martinez to become a more complete player, the focus has included but not been limited to improving footwork and accuracy. Hopefully, all of this outside work will help Martinez develop into a solid college quarterback. Better mechanics would add velocity and accuracy to his passes. Going into his third year as a starter, the game must be slowing down for him, too, which will help. He won't be quite as antsy back in the pocket.

As a sophomore, his decision-making as a passer was greatly improved. He took fewer bad sacks, did not throw an abundance of picks, especially when considering most of them were thrown in the Wisconsin game. His receivers last year gave him NO help whatsoever, as they dropped many easy ones, and rarely caught a difficult ball. I am no Martinez apologist (if there is someone on the roster that can unseat him, I would be ecstatic), but he wasn't as bad as many make him out to be, and was definitely better than he was as a freshman as far as consistency. With all this offseason work, I am sure he will be even better as a junior, which is all you can ask from a player.

Honestly one thing I'd like to hear Martinez working on is his elusiveness when he runs. Martinez is so fast and if he had half of Eric Crouch’s elusiveness he would fun to watch. As it is now he has to get that straight line to the end zone to have much chance of busting it. If he could learn to shake a few cornerbacks out of their shoes that would also make me very happy. Maybe this goes back to his ankle injury and so it may be better this year.

All we can do as fans is wait and see what it's like. At this juncture, I’m just happy to see the matter get addressed.

Can Martinez get off on the right foot?

Much of the talk coming out of Nebraska spring football practice has focused on Husker quarterback Taylor Martinez working on his mechanics, specifically his footwork.

In fact, Gerry DiNardo of the Big Ten Network did a one-on-one interview with Nebraska offensive coordinator Tim Beck. Within that interview, Beck was showing footage of Martinez last season versus spring practice this season.

Martinez spent an extended period of time with quarterback instructor Steve Calhoun. Will it make a difference in October and November? Who knows one of Calhoun’s former proteges is Cam Newton, who was the 2010 Heisman trophy winner and led Auburn to a national championship. Newton had a Pro-Bowl season as an NFL rookie this past year with the Carolina Panthers. Newton was a 50% passer in limited duty at Florida before completing 66% of his passes at Auburn (after spending time with Calhoun). If the transformation for Martinez is anything close to that, then that could mean big things for Nebraska the next two seasons.

Martinez is already a threat as a runner. Rex Burkhead helps sell play action and several of Martinez’s best moments as a passer come when the defense bites on the run and Martinez gets to comfortably deliver the ball to an open receiver. However, better mechanics will help him make better throws under pressure when the windows are tighter and the margin for error smaller. His feet will be something to watch both in the Spring game and then as the season begins in September. If the days of back foot throws are over for Martinez, then maybe also we’ll see the end of four-loss seasons at Nebraska.

How much it helps remains to be seen but I’m glad to see Martinez and Beck are at least trying to address the problem. If Martinez stops shifting most of his weight to his back foot, we
should see fewer of the awkward lobs that we’ve seen the past couple of seasons. Translation, we could see his weight transfer so much more smoothly, correct front foot placement was such an eyesore before. Even though the ball will more than likely still come out like a shot put, he
will still be extremely more accurate just by being able to plant that front foot towards his target.

What I like most was the fact that he spent his entire Spring Break with Calhoun. The youngster
obviously wants to do well and seems to be working his tail off to become a better quarterback.

Improved footwork coupled with another year in Beck’s system will too. Martinez had a lot going against him. Keep in mind, injuries beset him for the second half of the 2010 season followed by having to learn a new offense last year.

We’ll have to see how Martinez’s mechanics have improved during the Spring Game.  

If Martinez gets a deeper drop in the pocket, it will decrease the chances for happy feet and poor decisions, with that little extra cushion away from the pass rush. If that's the idea here, good idea.