Armstrong Leading the QB Race

Dan Hoppen@danhoppen · Kenny Bell says Neb had more than 500 hand signals to signal in plays last year before cutting down the playbook in the spring.

Talk about overkill damn, that couldn't of helped Tommy either being thrown into the fire.
See now this is just stupid. No reason for 500 hand signals. I don't like that at all.
The concerning thing is it took year 4 to realize a change was needed...... I am hoping this is true and not more pre-season "coach speak". Coming from KB, I am hoping it is a true change that will pay dividends in the season. I would ditch the "up tempo", only seems to confuse us.
I couldn't even come up with 500 unique hand motions for signals. Surely with that many a couple mistakes were made here and there.

 
I know it's only one practice but I can't help piece together several reports that don't paint a great picture to me. As I've said before, I'm not anti-TA. I think he has a ton of ability. If he's the guy, I'll be cheering like crazy for him. But I just think QB is our weak spot right now.

Good news: There were reports that Tommy has dropped a little weight (probably traded "bad" weight for "good") and was moving better yesterday. Hopefully he knee is healed and he can really turn loose.

Bad news: I just don't get a good feeling from reading all the reports. Yes, it's only one practice. Yes, Pelini said it was tough to be a QB right now because they don't have a lot of offense installed. But I'm going back from what I saw last year, heard this spring and now am hearing from the start of camp.

The best report I heard about TA from yesterday was that he threw 3-4 really nice deep balls. That's his strength. But it's the reading between the lines on everything else that makes me think he really didn't look that good. Nothing really about him by name and we obviously have more than one QB but it sounds like TA got most of the first team reps so in reports about other players if they were first-teamers I'm assuming that there's a pretty good chance that they were playing with or against TA.

The media guys watching practice are looking for almost anything good to write about right now. If most of what we hear are excuses about why it's too early to judge, that tells me there wasn't much good to write about. We know at least one INT TA threw was right to Banderas. I think this is Tommy's biggest problem - he doesn't see the field very well. Happened a lot last year and this spring. If you're hitting the MIKE between the numbers, you're not seeing the defense. There were several other INTs thrown but it's not know who threw them. CJax dropped at least two INTs which I'm assuming came from TA. Also, there were reports of a highlight-reel grab by Reilly on an underthrown ball in double-coverage. That's great for Brandon but that also tells me that was a poorly-thrown ball and a poor choice to throw it there.

Pelini did say he like seeing TA throw the ball away or pull it down and run several times yesterday but the media guys also said they saw him forcing bad throws. If he can learn to pick and choose his spots, that will be a good improvement. But we were hearing about that in the spring and it sounds like he still has quite a ways to go.

That's how I see it. Rip away.

 
That's how I see it. Rip away.
1. It will be very hard for anyone not named Tommy Armstrong to open Aug. 30 under center. There just aren’t enough opportunities for the other quarterbacks to make a move. The majority of the repetitions with the first-team offense need to go with the guy who’s going to be “the guy.” Armstrong would have to struggle, become a turnover machine in practices, to not win it. I anticipate him doing the opposite. If Johnny Stanton and Ryker Fyfe push Armstrong, that’s a good thing. There are plenty of home games this season when they should get some work. NU hasn’t had great depth at QB in a long time. It will make the team better.
http://m.omaha.com/sports/shatel-a-handful-of-husker-football-insights-for-hot-august/article_cf1768cd-06f2-5363-af8a-1cc027ed967e.html?mode=jqm

 
I know it's only one practice but I can't help piece together several reports that don't paint a great picture to me. As I've said before, I'm not anti-TA. I think he has a ton of ability. If he's the guy, I'll be cheering like crazy for him. But I just think QB is our weak spot right now.

Good news: There were reports that Tommy has dropped a little weight (probably traded "bad" weight for "good") and was moving better yesterday. Hopefully he knee is healed and he can really turn loose.

Bad news: I just don't get a good feeling from reading all the reports. Yes, it's only one practice. Yes, Pelini said it was tough to be a QB right now because they don't have a lot of offense installed. But I'm going back from what I saw last year, heard this spring and now am hearing from the start of camp.

The best report I heard about TA from yesterday was that he threw 3-4 really nice deep balls. That's his strength. But it's the reading between the lines on everything else that makes me think he really didn't look that good. Nothing really about him by name and we obviously have more than one QB but it sounds like TA got most of the first team reps so in reports about other players if they were first-teamers I'm assuming that there's a pretty good chance that they were playing with or against TA.

The media guys watching practice are looking for almost anything good to write about right now. If most of what we hear are excuses about why it's too early to judge, that tells me there wasn't much good to write about. We know at least one INT TA threw was right to Banderas. I think this is Tommy's biggest problem - he doesn't see the field very well. Happened a lot last year and this spring. If you're hitting the MIKE between the numbers, you're not seeing the defense. There were several other INTs thrown but it's not know who threw them. CJax dropped at least two INTs which I'm assuming came from TA. Also, there were reports of a highlight-reel grab by Reilly on an underthrown ball in double-coverage. That's great for Brandon but that also tells me that was a poorly-thrown ball and a poor choice to throw it there.

Pelini did say he like seeing TA throw the ball away or pull it down and run several times yesterday but the media guys also said they saw him forcing bad throws. If he can learn to pick and choose his spots, that will be a good improvement. But we were hearing about that in the spring and it sounds like he still has quite a ways to go.

That's how I see it. Rip away.
it's one practice, dude......

 
I just go back to the last game I saw him play which is the spring game. Tommy's pick was thrown right at the defender and he nearly had another int later on. I don't know. As I've said before I've got a funny feeling we may be seeing Stanton and Fyfe sooner than later.

 
I recall reading that Martinez threw three interceptions in a practice at fall camp last year. I'm not really giving a crap at this point.

 
My question Mav is this. Are these passing drills where the QB more or less has to let it go. Is it a 7 on 7 drill or a where the coaches are looking at other things than the end result? I'm not suggesting anything or making any excuses but I'd just like to know what kind of drill it is that he's trying to fit throws in or throwing right to the defense. If it's just simple route combos that the defense basically has the play and the receivers are more working on releasing from the LOS, then I'm more apt to give a pass to TA so to speak. Just wondering if you are aware of the situation he's playing in.

 
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