Playing redshirt roulette

Omaha World Herald columnist Tom Shatel had a great sense of timing this week.

Earlier this week, Shatel reasoned that Nebraska might not have the luxury of redshirting true freshman quarterback Cody Green http://omaha.com/article/20090810/SPORTS/708109892. If there is one thing we know about second year Husker head coach Bo Pelini is that it will be a rare set of circumstances that he does not redshirt a true freshman.

The Huskers enter the 2009 campaign with junior Zac Lee as the clear cut favorite to be the starting signal-caller with redshirt freshman Kody Spano, Green, junior LaTravis Washington (a converted linebacker) and true freshman Taylor Martinez battling for the No. 2 spot. The best case scenario would be Lee proving that he is more than ready to play at a high level with Spano being the No. 2 man while redshirting Green.

Spano, however, will miss the season with a torn ACL. The injury, which took place Tuesday, came in the same left leg that Spano suffered an ACL tear in during spring ball. Pelini expects to have him back in the fold by winter conditioning. Spano might pursue a medical redshirt but that’s a discussion for another day.

It was a non-contact injury suffered while running, Pelini said, which occurred during Tuesday's practice. The injury leaves Washington and Green as the likely candidates to backup Lee since they were in Lincoln for spring ball.

Some media members that cover the team daily as well as message board posters have wondered if perhaps Spano rushed back to soon. Hard to say really because for all we know the structure of his knee might make him more prone to injury.

So does this mean Green redshirting is pretty much off the table, or does become the de facto No. 2 guy and you hope that you can redshirt Green by not having to play him?

The answer is pretty simple. Whomever wins the No. 2 job doesn't redshirt. I don't think the coaches can worry about anything else now; you have to get that No. 2 guy some reps in a game early in the season, just in case. You can't try to save Green or Washington for a redshirt, I don't think, like Bill Callahan tried to do with Harrison Beck in 2005. To be fair, Nebraska was seldom in a blowout situation in 2005.

Potentially, if the threesome of Green, Washington and Martinez are dead even for that No. 2 slot, you could play one of them as No. 2 this season, then redshirt him next season and play the other two behind Lee, thereby preserving everyone's redshirt. Had Spano remained healthy, and the No. 2 job was pretty even between him, Green, Washington and perhaps Martinez, then you could've tried to save the redshirts for Green, Washington and Martinez, using Spano in the mop-up role, since he already had redshirted. This re-injury makes that impossible.

I know some will look at this as Spano rushing his return, and he may have, but look at it this way. Spano had already used his redshirt. He knew this fall gave him a great shot at winning the No. 2 job. The doctors probably told him he might re-injure it and was pushing his return date, but he had a reasonable shot of staying healthy too. With his redshirt already burned, he probably figured the reward of being No. 2 was worth the risk of re-injuring it. If he had sat out another couple of months, he would've had little to no chance of being No. 2 this season, so he probably felt like pushing the return was worth a shot. I can understand why he did it - if he sat out another couple of months of rehab, 2009 would be pretty much a lost season for him anyway.

As for Green, I’d say he only burns a redshirt if he is so much better than Washington that the coaches have no choice or if Lee gets injured. If the guy is Terrelle Pryor, Vince Young or Tommie Frazier, then that is one thing but only the coaches will really know if he's that good this soon. If, in their estimation he's not going to be any less mistake prone than Washington then let Washington finish it out.

Let’s also not forget that Ron Kellogg Jr. might be an option too. Kellogg joins the Huskers as a walk-on from Omaha Westside High School, where he starred at quarterback. He also held scholarship offers from Northwest Missouri State and North Dakota and a walk-on offer from Iowa. Kellogg is the son of former Kansas basketball great and NBA player Ron Kellogg.Then again, we also have to truly understand the true meaning of the term “redshirt.”

There is no such thing as a redshirt in terms of being defined as one before the season starts. As long as a player does not play in a game (or gets a waiver for a medical redshirt because he was injured in an early game) and has not used his redshirt year, that player is considered to have used it when the season is over. So, theoretically, Green could be Nebraska's No. 2 QB and still use his redshirt year if he does not play during 2009.

When offensive coordinator Shawn Watson and Pelini think about this, I think this is the most likely scenario. If Nebraska is up big and it's garbage time, Washington and/or Kellogg will likely come in to finish the game. If, heaven forbid, Lee is injured and cannot go when a game is still close, I think you'll see Green. If a game's out of reach with NU ahead and Lee gets injured, I think Washington and Kellogg finish with Green taking over as the starter the next week if Lee isn't healthy. I don't think this automatically means Green does not use his redshirt year at all. There's nothing that says he won't use it next year even if he does have to play this year. This was the plan that was supposed to have been done at Virginia Tech with Tyrod Taylor. He wasn't supposed to play last year, it's just that Sean Glennon was so bad behind a young/poor offensive line that Taylor had to play because VaTech could use more rollouts/QB keeper plays and not have a drop-back passer get sacked routinely because their O-line wasn't very good early in the season.

Marve to Nebraska -- would not be marvelous

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.

Redshirt does not mean red flag

Husker fans have heard the word “culture” used quite a bit. There was Bill Callahan “flipping” the culture in his tenure as head coach from 2004-2007. Since Bo Pelini came aboard as Nebraska’s head coach, the word “culture” takes on a far different meaning.

Such as valuing the walk-on program. Such as mixing with the masses of the fan base. Such as scraping the “NFL mentality” that while I enjoy on one level, just does not work at college level. Especially at Nebraska. Such as fielding teams that outwork the opposition. Most of all, such as redshirting and developing incoming athletes.

Defense is Pelini’s forte and while Nebraska rising from 112th overall in 2007 to 55th a year ago was a welcome site, it’s no where near where Pelini aspires. Pelini said as much about Nebraska’s 9-4 finish in 2008. Again, it’s a good start under the new regime but not where the program ultimately needs to be. With the Huskers being talent deficient in some areas (i.e., linebacker), some fans wondered why Pelini did not burn redshirts and put talented freshmen on the field.

The reason? It’s about the process of developing them the right way. If you start a talent-limited but experienced senior over a potentially talented but inexperienced freshman, that suggests that the coach is here for the long haul. Pelini redshirted virtually his entire 2008 recruiting class and is likely to follow that trend for the 2009 class and as long as he is in charge of the Husker program.

Most people have wondered if true-freshman-to-be quarterback Cody Green suddenly has a shot at becoming the starting signal-caller since Patrick Witt left the program. The feeling here is that the job belongs to Zac Lee, with whom Witt was supposed to compete for the starting job. The feeling is also that the only way Green’s redshirt gets lifted is if Lee or redshirt freshman Kody Spano gets hurt.

Anyhow, back to this whole “culture” thing and how it pertains to redshirting freshmen. 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. Pelini might not redshirt 100 percent of his recruits as freshmen but it’s going to be rare when he does not.

Pelini redshirted 50 scholarship players (including walkons) last season. As mentioned earlier, the Huskers were already thin at linebacker entering 2008. So thin they converted running back Cody Glenn to linebacker. Glenn, who earned the starting weakside linebacker job, was suspended late in the season and starting linebacker Phillip Dillard was limited the last half of the season with an ankle injury. Pelini still resisted the temptation of burning redshirts on talented players like Sean Fisher, Will Compton and Alonzo Whaley.

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.

Pelini understands that 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.

You sense the roster is being better managed under Pelini than Callahan and one of the biggest indications was beating a Clemson team that was obviously faster, more athletic than our team.

I am of the opinion that the star system only matters in high school and freshman year. I will take a three star senior with four years of good coaching over a five-star freshman that demands early playing time with huge expectations and not much else any day.

How much will the playbook be altered?

Since Patrick Witt has left the program, the starting job for the quarterback position is there for the taking for Zac Lee.

Now the question is who might be No. 2? In 2007, Bill Callahan constantly said how Sam Keller and Joe Ganz were competing for the starting quarterback job but let’s face it that was lip service. No reason to rehash that. Last season, the job belonged to Ganz. There was not even remotely an illusion of a quarterback competition. With Witt in the equation, we were bracing ourselves for him and Lee to duke it out with a starter being named sometime during the week of the first game.

The Huskers made a lot of strides in head coach Bo Pelini’s first season in going from 5-7 in 2007 to 9-4 in 2008, winning six of their last seven games. There’s every reason to believe that Nebraska will develop the right way under Pelini but inexperience at the quarterback position has made most of our fans hesitant about “the big turn around” coming in 2009.

Nebraska will definitely have to rely on its defense a little more while the offense finds its groove. The Husker defense improved from 112th in 2007 to 55th last season. While the defense has improved, will it be so well upgraded that we can rely on it to win lower scoring games?

Lincoln Journal Star columnist Steve Sipple indicated that Nebraska’s relationship with Witt needed to end now based on Witt’s father supposedly wanting assurance that the coaches name him the starter before the end of spring practice. If that’s the case, who does the Witt family think they are to dictate the race? More to the point, if a player shies away from competition for a starting job now, how is he going to handle hostile environments like Oklahoma or Texas A&M?

That’s the difference between Witt and Ganz, who clearly got hosed out of the starting job before the start of 2007. However, when Ganz got his chance when Keller got hurt, he shined.

Battling for the No. 2 spot are redshirt freshmen Kody Spano and true freshman Cody Green. Regardless, all three are inexperienced with only Lee getting game experience but that was in garbage time. Witt’s departure means that Green, who is a prized recruit, gores from almost certainly redshirting to now having a shot at the No. 2 position.

The question becomes, how much will offensive coordinator Shawn Watson scale down the playbook? There was a lot of talk about the Huskers simplifying their scheme after Callahan’s dismissal. However, since Ganz had been in the program for four years, the coaching staff was still afforded the luxury of keeping a lot of playbook volume.

Watson will likely have to scale down the playbook even if Lee, who enters his junior season in 2009, winds up the starter because he has only been in the program two years. Nonetheless, Watson has shown the ability to adjust according to the talent at his disposal.

While Colorado’s offensive coordinator in 2001, the Buffs were primarily a running team but two years later they were more of a passing team.

Last season, the Huskers tried to get back to being the power running team they were for so long. That approach was not working so Watson junked the heavy sets with multiple tight ends and the Huskers ran more out of the spread formation.

Witt departure shakes up QB race

Patrick Witt has left the building.

Witt, who figured to battle for Nebraska’s starting quarterback position with Zac Lee, is leaving the program after finishing with spring semester classes in May.

“Patrick has decided that it is in his best interest to continue his college career at another school,” Husker head coach Bo Pelini said in a released statement. “Patrick is a great kid from a great family and I appreciate the contributions he has made to our football program. I wish him nothing but the best in the future and know he will be a success wherever he goes.”

The first thing that comes to mind in hearing of Witt’s departure from the program is should we really be surprised? After all, Witt, who would have entered his sophomore season in 2009, played at two different high schools (Wiley High School in Texas and Parkview High in Lilburn, Ga.).

Rivals.com ranked Witt among the top 20 pro-style quarterbacks in the nation and among the top 100 prospects in Texas. Witt was also a first-team academic all-state selection as a senior. He only visited Nebraska, but also received strong recruiting interest from Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Oklahoma among others.

Not that Witt’s pre-Nebraska history is of any fault of Pelini and his staff because Bill Callahan’s staff recruited Witt, who redshirted the 2007 season before serving as Joe Ganz’s understudy in 2008. With Nebraska having gone to a more Spread-oriented look in 2008, thus slightly deviating from the West Coast Offense, that involves more quarterback running plays, the straight dropback passing Witt might not have been the odd man out for offensive coordinator Shawn Watson’s offense anyway.

So how does Witt’s departure impact the quarterback race? One would think the job belongs to Lee, who is mobile with a strong arm. Plus, he also has experience playing at the college level which includes his time at San Francisco City College.

Kody Spano redshirted last season after throwing more than 5,000 yards and rushing for about 900 his last two years at Stephenville High School in Texas. Incoming freshman Cody Green is loaded with potential and is on campus, which is a plus, but has some catching up to do. Plus, it’s likely going to be very rare that Pelini burns a redshirt on a freshman.

As for potential reasons why Witt transferred since neither he, the Husker coaches or his family are commenting on such reasons, maybe he is reading between the lines and does not think he is going to be the starter. The fact that either Witt or Lee would transfer is not unthinkable given that they were recruited by the previous coaching staff. Plus, the current staff is high on Green and to a lesser degree Spano.

If a starter is not named until fall as Watson indicated may happen a lot of time would be lost if somebody transferred at that point. I would think if Witt felt he had a strong chance of being the starter he would have stayed but it could also be that he feels even if he is the starter this coming season he may lose out to Green the following season.

One other factor could be that he knows the offense is going to evolve more requiring a mobile quarterback and of the candidates he is probably the least mobile.

I’m an alum that gives money but that’s just my two cents.