Armstrong's rise could make for an interesting decision

While Taylor Martinez remains Nebraska’s starting quarterback until further notice (despite what some Husker fans desire), reports out of fall camp indicate that true freshman Tommie Armstrong has thrust himself squarely in the mix for the No. 2 role.

Armstrong is competing with incumbents Brion Carnes and Ron Kellogg for the No. 2 job but Armstrong reportedly has been taking regular reps with the No. 2 offensive unit.

In an Omaha World Herald story on Monday, offensive coordinator Tom Beck and wide receiver Jamal Turner sang Armstrong’s praises.

“He's got a lot of the ‘it’ factor that you look for in a quarterback,” Beck said. “He’s picked up the offense much faster than I thought he would, he’s a student of the game and he’s a very talented young man. That combination has not only impressed myself but, I think, his teammates.”

Some of those teammates back that up, too.

“He came off kind of cocky at first, but once you get to know him it’s like, ‘No, this guy’s just a leader,’ ” Turner said. “He’s a really good guy. Really good quarterback.”

The newcomer from Cibolo, Texas, comes to Nebraska in highly touted fashion after leading his team to a 5A State Title. Quarterbacks named Tommie (as in Tommie Frazier) certainly bring a good omen for Husker fans as the last quarterback to don the scarlet and cream with such a name led Nebraska to back-to-back National Championships in 1994-1995 and came within a missed Bryon Bennett field of winning three straight in 1993. Frazier became Nebraska’s starter as a true freshman in Game Six in 1992.

So what should happen with Armstrong? You really can’t make any historical comparisons because what happened in 1992 will have no bearing on what happens in 2012 – and frankly it should not.

I have said before on this very website that unless a true freshman is going to make an immediate impact, the young man should redshirt. Think about it for just a moment, even though we live in this “now” culture.

The current NCAA rules state that an eligible athlete has five years to complete four seasons. Therefore, student-athletes may practice for a team but not play in a game for one season, not counting against his or her four seasons of eligibility. This is known as a redshirt. Fans don’t see their contributions in that they do not happen on gameday but the redshirt season is a valuable year in a system in that it provides shelter against some of the harsh realities of jumping to a new level of football.

You see, some highly-touted high school studs make their college choices in the recruiting process based on early playing time. Some coaches promise it or tell the youngster he has a fair chance to compete for playing time. Others will demand an automatic redshirt.

There are numerous reasons to redshirt freshmen. For starters, the college game moves a hell of a lot faster than high school, which means decisions have to be made faster. Therefore, the extra season working against starters in practice is a benefit.

Also, highly touted high school studs were often the stars of their team and their league. They were exponentially better than their high school peers. In college, everyone is at least as good if not better. That extra year of conditioning will give the youngster a better chance to handle the rigors of a 12-14 game college schedule.

The verbiage of a playbook (especially on offense) is also far greater in college than in high school as is the intricacy of reading the opposition. Some of that pressure can be alleviated during a redshirt season.

Then there is the whole matter of adjusting from high school to college away from the field. For some of these youngsters, it’s their first time away from home. All of the sudden cooking, cleaning, doing laundry and partying are a juggling act. Throw that in with trying to balance academics with athletics.

The temptation to put the best talent on the field is tough to overcome. The development of a successful program, however, is not about talent alone but it is about the development of an overall player and his maturity to handle the pressures and demands of being a great college football player.

So how does this tie in with what the Huskers should do with Armstrong? It’s a tricky situation with no easy solution. I think it’s very promising that Armstrong has made the strides he has already but I would much rather have three years of eligibility left when Martinez leaves. 

If he is going to get some meaningful snaps, then burn the shirt. If he is going to get 3-4 snaps in 2-3 games then no, keep the red shirt. The problem is how does one know if he can get enough snaps?

Personally, I would plan to redshirt him and burn the shirt only if Martinez goes down and Carnes is incapable.

If he’s the second best quarterback and you need him to win games, then you pull him out of a redshirt. If it’s garbage time, do not use him. He’ll have all next year to get garbage minutes.

I understand you can’t know if you’ll need him in Week Eight when you are contemplating garbage time in Week One but it’s not worth blowing a year to have him hand the ball off 10 times. Obviously getting a guy ready just in case isn’t a priority otherwise Carnes would have gotten some more playing time.

Let Carnes have the reps if available. With his time in the system he’s probably going to be serviceable (we hope) should Martinez go down briefly.

2012 Position Outlook: Quarterback

One story in a Wine Country Husker series, looking at position breakdowns for the Nebraska Cornhuskers for the 2012 season. Today, we look at quarterback:




Looking back: No matter who lines up under center or at shotgun, the Nebraska starting quarterback will always be subject to (how can I put this nicely) public opinion. Current sophomore Taylor Martinez has been subject to plenty of that.

You look at the raw numbers of Martinez’s first two seasons and there appears to be very little difference. In 2010, he completed 107 of 195 (54.8 percent) for 1,631 yards, ten touchdowns and seven interceptions. As a runner, he gained 966 yards 172 carries (5.6 yards per carry) and 12 touchdowns. In 2011, Martinez completed 162 of 288 passes (56.3 percent) for 2,076 yards, 13 touchdowns and eight interceptions. As a runner, he gained 875 yards on 188 carries (4.6 yards per carry) and nine touchdowns.

The vibe, however, was much different as in 2010, when Martinez was a big play waiting to happen the first ten games. He rushed 887 yards on 112 carries and 12 touchdowns. In the passing department, he completed 63 of 119 for 1,161 yards, ten touchdowns and three interceptions. After sustaining an ankle injury, however, Martinez became pretty ordinary as he carried 50 times for 79 yards. In the passing department, he completed 44 of 76 for 470 yards, no touchdowns and four interceptions.



Nebraska, however, gave up 29 sacks last year but more specifically they gave up 12 sacks in their last 2 games (seven against Oklahoma and five against Washington). The Huskers gave up 21 sacks in 2011.

Martinez made a noticeable improvement this year on moving the chains by making good decisions in the passing game - whether to hit a check-down or scrambling.



He was more of a team leader than as a freshman but will never be confused for a martinet. His running stats are down a bit as some zealots point out the fewer jaw-dropping runs this season but much of Martinez's 2010 running stats came in the first few games against suspect defenses. Great highlights, but not very meaningful numbers. Also, turnovers were down a bit this year. He threw one more interception on 93 more passes.

Looking ahead: Though a segment of Husker fans will clamor for a change whether it’s freshman Brion Carnes, wide receiver Jamal Turner or for that matter incoming freshman Tommy Armstrong, Martinez will be the starter until further notice.

Nebraska appears to have a more-clear cut identity under current offensive coordinator Tim Beck than it did under Shawn Watson. The Huskers run a mixture of zone read, pistol and old school option. The zone read and pistol suit Martinez well but not the old school option, which gets the fans going from a nostalgia standpoint but doesn't suit Martinez's running skill which is a straight ahead burst or nothing.



To execute the option, you need to have a physical guy playing quarterback. Martinez is not that guy. The quarterback needs to step up and into traffic in order to force the edge to commit to him or the running back. Martinez runs back and out instead of into pursuit and outside. He doesn't really force the pursuit to commit as more often than not, Martinez runs towards the running back.

Yours truly defended Martinez more than most people but the fact remains that any improvement the Huskers make offensively has to begin with Martinez. He has started 25 games and it’s time now to take a quantum leap forward as a player and as a leader.

The numbers may bear out that Martinez is a decent passer but for every time he hits a receiver in stride there are two or three other times where he may throw the ball in the same area code of a receiver only he has to make a twisting, mid-air grab. Martinez has to consistently learn how to lead guys on crossing patterns so they can run after the grab as well as throw screens and swing passes better. He also needs to learn how to avoid sacks.

Examining the latest "the sky is falling" mentality of Husker fans

Suffice it to say, sifting through the wreakage of Nebraska's 48-17 loss to Wisconsin was about as fun as a root canal.


The loss dropped the Huskers to No. 14 in the latest Associated Press poll and elevated the Badgers to No. 4. Like most every Nebraska fan, I was pretty embarrassed by the team's performance. Did I expect the Huskers to beat Wisconsin at Camp Randall Stadium? No, because the Badgers are a pretty damn good team and Camp Randall Stadium is one of the most hostile environments in college football for a visiting team. At worst, however, I at least felt Nebraska should have been competitive. Is Wisconsin better than the Huskers? Yes. When you lose by 31 points, there are no grey areas. However, I find it hard to fathom that Wisconsin is 31 points better than the Huskers. 10-15? Yes but that's immaterial now.

While I am a proud Nebraska fan, alum and donor to the University, it's times like this that cause a lot of consternation over being a Husker fan. I logged on to various message boards on Saturday night. Granted, I was in an altered state like many but some of the posts really chapped me to no end. Before go any further, yes I get it, this is a free country. Freedom of speech is something that people fought wars to get and protect. You are entitled to your opinion just like I am entitled to mine. OK, now that I have established that point, the posts that I was really taken aback by were:



1) Get rid of Bo Pelini: Seriously? Look, I am not Pelini's defense attorney but I could not beieve that post. In three years time, Pelini got the Huskers to the Big 12 championship game twice. Nebraska lost both times by a combined total of four points. I will agree that Pelini has not had a landmark win that makes people take notice and it remains to be seen if he will. However, he has built the program up from the Bill Callahan era, which was a dark time for all of us.

The loss to the Badgers was without a doubt the low pont of the Pelini era but to say get rid of him. Come on, who are we Notre Dame? Remember all the nimrods that said get rid of Tom Osborne just because the Huskers lost to Oklahoma 13 out of 17 years from 1972 to 1987? Those are the same Einsteins that wanted Osborne fired after the 1990 season when Nebraska closed the year with losses to Oklahoma and Georgia Tech by a combined score of 90-31. Then a strange thing happened, after leading the Huskers to a 60-3 record from 1993-1997, a run that included three National Championships in four years, all the sudden he could do no wrong. Therefore, if the powers that be listened to the advice to fire Osborne, as Husker fans we probably are not even talking about the greatness we saw in the 1990s.

Chances are those are the same nimrods that got their wish when Frank Solich got fired after a 58-19 tenure from 1998-2003. Well, you got your wish, you got Callahan, who delivered a very pedestrian 27-22 record with two bowl-less seasons.



I am not saying that Pelini is the next Osborne and yes, I acknowledge, the Pelini grace period ended after the Huskers lost 19-7 to Washington in the Holiday Bowl. However, just remember, change only guarantees that things will be different but different does not always mean better.



2) Bench Taylor Martinez: The redshirt sophomore may or may not be the answer at quarterback but to say replace him with redshirt freshman Brion Carnes is a real stretch. If the Huskers do that, they are kissing their season away after one loss.

Does Martinez need to perform better than he did Saturday? Without a doubt he does but other than late game mop-up duty, Carnes has no meaningful game experience. Even with all of his flaws, Martinez knows the offense much better than Carnes and has experience. True, Martinez is not Andrew Luck, Russel Wilson, or Landry Jones but what the hell happens if the coaches insert Carnes and he is worse than Martinez? I know the thought of Carnes being worse than Martinez is absolutely impossible to believe I know but what's next if that happens? Let's call for Ron Kellogg.



I say keep Martinez in there, until the coaches feel that Carnes is capable of running the offense, which could happen as soon as nex year.



3) Blackshirts: I agree that Nebraska's defense looked terrible last night, looking almost like the Kevin Cosgrove. This defense is very young and the secondary is hurting with the loss of Marvin but I trust that the Pelini Brothers (Bo and Carl) will right the ship throughout the season and plug the holes.



I generally think early October is too soon to call a team great but Wisconsin very well could be. Plain and simple, the Badgers kicked the Huskers from one end of the field to the other.

Many people believed Nebraska had a shot, I was one of them. I definitely believe that had the Huskers committed more to their running game, the game would have been closer at least but realistically how good were those chances with a questionable defense and an unreliable quarterback?

I am not trying to insult anybody with my opinions, but I just find it hard to believe how so many people went into "the sky is falling" mode after the loss. We lost, that's it. You think that Florida is saying that they should fire their Will Muschamp after getting routed by Alabama. I doubt it.