Adrian Martinez

Most of the criticism Martinez received was warranted, especially last year. He just wasn't dynamic and at times was very flat.

He's had flashes of that this year as well, which led to his benching. Can't have that in this offense.

But the Martinez we saw against Purdue looked a lot more like the Martinez we thought we'd see after his Freshman year. 

He keeps making improvement like that, it's going to be hard to take the job from him next year. And I think everyone would be happy if he led us to 8+ wins. 

 
I liked the brief flashes of Luke McCaffrey last season, and when it looked like Martinez was continuing his regression this season I was all in for starting the McCaffrey era. Freshman sensation Adrian Martinez just wasn't the same guy. 

So yeah. I was wrong. Or maybe not completely. Because Adrian appears to have dug down, fought for the job and figured out how to play better. Can''t say for sure if he would have done that without Luke threatening his entire football career. 

I also think Frost was developing a run-heavy package for Luke that was pretty easy for other teams to figure out. Frost may have come up with a better game-plan for Adrian. 

Now will we jump off the Martinez bandwagon that first crappy game he has and start getting all Smothers-happy?

Of course we will. 

 
@Guy Chamberlin said:

"I also think Frost was developing a run-heavy package for Luke that was pretty easy for other teams to figure out. Frost may have come up with a better game-plan for Adrian."
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...because that's all Luke is capable of doing - at least where he's at right now. I strongly believe people kept conflating "flashes of greatness" from Luke as him being a QB capable of running the full Frost playbook.

And then when he was given the chance to (and probably more accurately forced to) run the complete offensive playbook against Illinois, his deep passing game was a disaster. I almost feel like Frost made an overly-emotional decision to bench Martinez in that Northwestern game which then led to Luke starting against Illinois.

But as you went on to say, maybe Martinez doesn't have the good games he had against Iowa & Purdue without that fire being lit under his backside. I can probably get on board with that.

 
@Undonefans wanted Luke to get a shot at QB because he was the "unknown" and fans had become tired of Adrian's struggles last year and this year.  I (along with a few posters on here) was always skeptical of Luke's passing ability, but I was still surprised at how bad he has looked passing the ball.  Luke still has a long ways to go in that area.

 
@ColoradoHusk, I think Luke is going to have to make a ton of progress throwing in the next year, or be passed by Smothers, and make the move to a skill position. Luke is a dynamic athlete who needs to be on the field, but I'm not sure QB is the long term answer for him. I hope I'm wrong, because losing him to a skill position hurts the depth at QB.

 
Well Luke isn't THAT bad of a passer. He's at a 65% completion clip and he's made some laser accurate throws and some great improvisational throws. His interception rate is pretty awful, but one terrible game in a short sample size can do that. He's not the only Nebraska QB to miss seeing wide open receivers deep while opting for the short primary receiver.

No need to throw the freshman's career under the bus because Adrian regained some confidence and earned his spot back. 

 
@Guy Chamberlin

Sometimes you have a Beau Davis moment and you never regain your mental faculties. One game can ruin some players. After Illinois, McCaffery's limitations are a known liability and he has elements that need an offseason to build/rebuild. Trotting him out now signifies a pretty good set of ideas of play calling that the defense can key on.

 
@Guy Chamberlin Luke's completion percentage was all based on short passes.  He is horrible down the field and that severely limits what our offense can do.  Defenses have adjusted to knowing he can't throw past 10 yards and it's shut down the rest of our offense.

 
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Like I said a couple weeks ago:

I'd be curious how things are happening in practice.  This is pure speculation on my part but I wonder if we've been trying to get the new guys up to speed because they have more potential but they just aren't there yet so they don't get as many snaps during games.  But maybe that means we're trying to get 8-9 guys reps in practice instead of 5-6 so it's tougher to get everyone synced up.
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Regarding the "Adrian had a fire lit under him" narrative, Adrian has never really been the problem, so I don't buy this either. His play dipped last year as his supporting cast went off a cliff and he got injured, and not enough of our fans were smart/patient enough to realize this and got stars in their eyes after a freshman wide receiver completed one wide-open pass out of a Wildcat package. He then looked just okay against two of the ten best defenses in the country to open this year and pressure mounted for him to get yanked, and Frost obliged. AM didn't turn into Marcus Mariota or anything and has his areas where he struggles, but he has been a good quarterback this entire time and would probably be an all-conference type of guy if we had any competent Big Ten receivers playing who weren't freshmen and sophomores.

 
J-Magic, while I agree he has had serious supporting cast issues, some of his struggles over the past season and a half are 100% on him.  A lot of improvement has been documented but the one thing that really stands out the most to me is his short throw accuracy.  He flat missed a pile of throws last year on swing passes, screens, etc.  This year he is hitting the majority of those throws in stride.  What created the improvement?  My guess is it was a combination of things but having solid competition has to at least be a factor.  

 
Hilltop said:
J-Magic, while I agree he has had serious supporting cast issues, some of his struggles over the past season and a half are 100% on him.  A lot of improvement has been documented but the one thing that really stands out the most to me is his short throw accuracy.  He flat missed a pile of throws last year on swing passes, screens, etc.  This year he is hitting the majority of those throws in stride.  What created the improvement?  My guess is it was a combination of things but having solid competition has to at least be a factor.  
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Yes, Martinez was forced to focus and get better due to competition from Luke.  But, Adrian is also healthier than he was last year.  With a bum shoulder and injured legs, that is going to hurt his technique and accuracy, which is did last year.

 
Hilltop said:
J-Magic, while I agree he has had serious supporting cast issues, some of his struggles over the past season and a half are 100% on him.  A lot of improvement has been documented but the one thing that really stands out the most to me is his short throw accuracy.  He flat missed a pile of throws last year on swing passes, screens, etc.  This year he is hitting the majority of those throws in stride.  What created the improvement?  My guess is it was a combination of things but having solid competition has to at least be a factor.  
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It's hard to throw any pass, short or long, when you 1) have to focus on catching a snap you're not sure is going to be a foot over your head, 2) face immediate pressure from the interior because Hixson and Wilson couldn't pass pro and a tight end was playing center, 3) look down the field and see no receivers getting any separation, and 4) have a bum shoulder and knee.

I'm not saying he is a perfect or even great player, that he didn't make mistakes, or that facing competition didn't help him improve. But he was never the problem with our offense, and the narrative even two weeks ago was that he was. That's on Husker fans and media, not him.

 
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