Triaging the QB room

Just my opinion.  I personally don't trust the portal to get a "great-good" QB.  Maybe a grad transfer could fit the bill......  This isn't going to happen, but I really like the kid from South Dakota State.  Mark Gronowski..... All he has done is win at a high level.  He has played 2 seasons and led them to a NC game, in which he tore his acl in the first half, or they win that game.  He took a year recovery, then comes back and leads them to a NC.  This year, he has them undefeated and ranked number 1, and very possibly can lead them to another NC.  That would be 3 years as a starter and 3 National Championship appearances.  I have watched many SDSU games and I believe he is better than anyone we have on the roster.  At 6'3, 225, he is fast, powerful and throws the ball extremely well. 

 
BigRedBuster said:
He seems to me like he's trying to protect himself more now than his first game or two.  It reminds me of Taylor Martinez right before he would get hit.  It's possible the coaches have told him to not sacrifice his body the way he was.  But, it's caused him to not really have any vision while running.  He knows where he's supposed to run.  If it's not open, he just runs into the defenders.
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Exactly what it looks like to me as well.

 
Enhance said:
I'm guessing Sims was already planning to transfer. He's lost his job and I'm fairly confident next year's starting QB is either going to be Haarberg or someone not yet on the roster.

I do feel bad for him, though. Was really hoping he'd play well the next time he was given an opportunity, for his own sake. That was a dud.
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Has to be someone not yet on the roster.   We need an upgrade in the worse way.  Nothing against HH, but he is a turnover waiting to happen just like Sims and Purdy....

Sims was/is a portal bust.  I hope Satt and Matt get it right this time around and find a diamond who doesn't have a history of turnovers like Sims.  Perhaps Sims was the best they could find at the time. Retaining CT might have been the better option but that boat has sailed.  

On the thread 2024 Portal In and Out - I posted an article with some possibilities.  I hope we can land one or 2.  

 
Madcows said:
To relate to a different sport, Reggie Miller had about the ugliest jumper, no one wanted to change it because his shot went in more than not, and the shot gurus were worried correcting his form would ruin his shot.  While there's not a lot to 'ruin' for Haarberg, . This is stuff that should have been corrected in HS/Middle School, but I do wonder how much they threw the ball and had a coach who cared. As long as they won more than they lost, they didn't care about his mechanics.
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There are some rumors out there about potential transfers for next year, but I think we all need to be prepared for another year of HH while Kaelin gets acclimatized to college. Hopefully HH puts in the work necessary to improve his footwork and mechanics so he can become a more complete QB. 

 
Mavric said:
Exactly what it looks like to me as well.
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I understand HH is trying to get every yard he can, and it’s a tough balance to knowing when to plow/dive through defenders and when to just slide/go down. It was a great run when HH dove towards the end zone on NU’s first TD drive against Purdue, and he absorbed a big hit while setting up first and goal. But, later in the game I was just saying out loud for HH to “get down” when he’s hesitating against defenders and he ends up getting stripped by a big d-lineman.  I guess we will just have to live with the good and bad this year, and hope the team can survive and still get wins. 

 
Cdog923 said:
There are some rumors out there about potential transfers for next year, but I think we all need to be prepared for another year of HH while Kaelin gets acclimatized to college. Hopefully HH puts in the work necessary to improve his footwork and mechanics so he can become a more complete QB. 
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Rhule wouldn’t be doing his job if he was going to accept Haarberg as the only option at starting QB next year. Rhule knows the team will need more offense next year. This is because the schedule isn’t filled with weak Big Ten West offenses, but it’s also not realistic for the defense to be as strong as it is this year. 

 
Mavric said:
Really this whole thing only shows that people will try to accuse others of this despite there being plenty of other reasons for their choice.

Sims turned the ball over six times in the first two games.  Since then he's played five plays and screwed up on four of them.

There is absolutely no reason anyone should be questioning why he isn't playing anymore.
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I'm not talking about Sims at all.

There's a whole very wide lane of criticism and frustration that could/would be significantly more amplified toward HH's play that would be only based on him and have nothing to do with Sims. But, we saw Sims first, HH has the feel good local story and has the grace of being the backup, so we take it pretty easy on him. He's a pretty objectively bad quarterback and I can't help but root for him a bit more and not mind when he does boneheaded stuff. 

Two games in a row we've seen awful turnovers from HH, and while we've all closed the book on Sims for good I haven't seen a single person claiming that Chubba should get a shot to see what he can do, for example.

 
ColoradoHusk said:
Rhule wouldn’t be doing his job if he was going to accept Haarberg as the only option at starting QB next year. Rhule knows the team will need more offense next year. This is because the schedule isn’t filled with weak Big Ten West offenses, but it’s also not realistic for the defense to be as strong as it is this year. 
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Well, of course; no one is saying he is. It's all but confirmed that they're in the hunt for another transfer QB (and if rumors are to be believed, they're willing to pay a pretty penny for one). But, there's no guarantee that they get one to come here, or find one that can beat out HH. So, as I said, don't be surprised if the scenario where HH takes the first snap next year comes to fruition. 

 
Lorewarn said:
I'm not talking about Sims at all.

There's a whole very wide lane of criticism and frustration that could/would be significantly more amplified toward HH's play that would be only based on him and have nothing to do with Sims. But, we saw Sims first, HH has the feel good local story and has the grace of being the backup, so we take it pretty easy on him. He's a pretty objectively bad quarterback and I can't help but root for him a bit more and not mind when he does boneheaded stuff. 

Two games in a row we've seen awful turnovers from HH, and while we've all closed the book on Sims for good I haven't seen a single person claiming that Chubba should get a shot to see what he can do, for example.
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Eh, those are pretty broad generalizations.  Not the least of which is "everyone is giving HH a pass because he's a Nebraska boy." 

HH has gotten plenty of criticism.  But we are winning.  Winning calms everything significantly.  Taylor Martinez put up video game numbers and was a Conference Player of the Year.  But people thought we should be winning more so they constantly criticized him.  HH has been pretty pedestrian but people are tired of losing so they'll take whatever winning they can get (for now).  

We already saw one QB basically lose one game by himself and dig us in a huge hole in another.  HH has done some good things and not as many bad things.  And won.  Nothing to do with him being a Nebraska boy.

And there have been people asking why we haven't seen Chubba.  Probably not as much because he was hurt earlier and it's tough to know when he was actually healthy enough to play.  But they've asked.  And asked about the guys behind Chubba.

 
Lorewarn said:
I'm not talking about Sims at all.

There's a whole very wide lane of criticism and frustration that could/would be significantly more amplified toward HH's play that would be only based on him and have nothing to do with Sims. But, we saw Sims first, HH has the feel good local story and has the grace of being the backup, so we take it pretty easy on him. He's a pretty objectively bad quarterback and I can't help but root for him a bit more and not mind when he does boneheaded stuff. 

Two games in a row we've seen awful turnovers from HH, and while we've all closed the book on Sims for good I haven't seen a single person claiming that Chubba should get a shot to see what he can do, for example.
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I don't think anyone is claiming HH to be an objectively good quarterback; he's doing just enough to win games, though. 

And Chubba can't climb over Sims to be #2 on the depth chart; the ship has sailed on him, too. 

 
Lorewarn said:
I'm not talking about Sims at all.

There's a whole very wide lane of criticism and frustration that could/would be significantly more amplified toward HH's play that would be only based on him and have nothing to do with Sims. But, we saw Sims first, HH has the feel good local story and has the grace of being the backup, so we take it pretty easy on him. He's a pretty objectively bad quarterback and I can't help but root for him a bit more and not mind when he does boneheaded stuff. 

Two games in a row we've seen awful turnovers from HH, and while we've all closed the book on Sims for good I haven't seen a single person claiming that Chubba should get a shot to see what he can do, for example.
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No...if Husker fans actually thought we had a better option at QB, they would be begging for a change.  fact is, we believe (with all his faults) HH gives us the best chance of winning.

We've seen Chubba play and he has never shown to be a better option in most people's opinion.  And...obviously, the coaches who see these guys in practice, agree with that.

 
Cdog923 said:
I don't think anyone is claiming HH to be an objectively good quarterback; he's doing just enough to win games, though. 

And Chubba can't climb over Sims to be #2 on the depth chart; the ship has sailed on him, too. 
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I would argue HH did more for us to lose the NW game than Sims did against Minnesota. Differences are just HH's mistakes happened earlier in the game, the rest of the team stepped up against NW, and they didn't have a miraculous 4th down TD catch.

I'm not really calling for us to give Sims another shot - at least not anymore. But I don't think HH is doing any more to win games than Sims was. You could make that argument with the NIU/La Tech games where he was protecting the ball better, but at this point our winning games has very little to do with how the QB is playing.

 
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My comments aren't even criticisms either, just observations. Like I said I'm plenty guilty of the thing I'm describing. While few people are saying Heinrich is actually an actively good quarterback, plenty are also overly soft in refraining from calling him a bad quarterback. 

 
Husker in WI said:
I would argue HH did more for us to lose the NW game than Sims did against Minnesota. Differences are just HH's mistakes happened earlier in the game, the rest of the team stepped up against NW, and they didn't have a miraculous 4th down TD catch.

I'm not really calling for us to give Sims another shot - at least not anymore. But I don't think HH is doing any more to win games than Sims was. You could make that argument with the NIU/La Tech games where he was protecting the ball better, but at this point our winning games has very little to do with how the QB is playing.
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I mean, Haarberg is 5-1, and Sims is 0-2. 

 
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