The Forgotten Man

GSG5545 said:
^^ That's definitely possible. From what we saw this year, it's anybody's spot to claim.
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The only thing is, he's not remotely close to the "driver's seat," which is the contention. Zac Lee has eight D1 wins under his belt. LTW has 17 D1 snaps under his belt. There is no way LTW is in the driver's seat.

We would have to change our offensive philosophy to suit Washington's skills (running with a little bit of pass mixed in). We would have to hope that Washington's grasp of the playbook explodes over the off season. We would have to hope that neither Lee nor Green progresses at all from this point. Finally, we would have to hope that Kody Spano and/or Taylor Martinez do nothing in the Spring/Summer to catch the attention of the coaches. Toss in Scout Team MVP Kellogg there, too.

The deck is most certainly stacked against LaTravis. Nobody is denying that he's an athlete. But so is Martinez, Green, and Spano, and to a lesser extent Lee.

Let's not forget that Washington was a transfer (Witt) and an injury (Spano) away from remaining buried in the LB depth chart this season. He's not the QB they're looking for, he's the desperation QB they found at the back of the shelf.

If LTW starts and can move the ball, I'm all for him. I'll be his biggest fan. But I'm not holding my breath.

 
not remotely close?

I guess we differ there.

You throw out ZLee stats, with his 8 wins, and all compared to LTW 17 snaps.

sigh, you remind me of someone just as blinded as some of the coaching staff on that one.

I don't mean to bag on you personally, as you are quite smart in your analysis, but you seem to forget the issues this year on offense.

You state, "Let's not forget.. ", but I counter, let's not forget LTW was recruited by Ohio State as a dual threat QB.

Knappic, I will fight you tooth an nail on this kid, and you are welcome to fight me back on this too, but we may never know what could have been.. Watson screwed this kid and has a history of playing the wrong guy a couple of times now.

maybe we can resume the discussion after the spring game.

 
It won't be much of a "fight" because all we have is conjecture. And that's all I'm really saying. LTW may be a great QB, but we'll probably never know. At this stage of his career he's not going to get the opportunity to show anyone much of anything unless he has a miracle spring.

That's why I keep saying "We'll see."

 
Huck, do you know LTW personally, are you family, etc? You seem to be a particularly devoted fan which is why I ask.

 
I'm with Huck. LTW has the best arm on the team. The comment about him being inaccurate doesn't make much sense. Maybe you haven't seen Cody and Zac but their balls have looked pretty bad! LTW does have a strong arm but most people would see that as a positive. We came close to never seeing Ganz because of Keller and Beck. Turns out Ganz was a pretty good qb. LTW needs a shot!

 
Ganz was a devoted understudy who really, really bought into the offense to make up for his physical shortcomings. He was able to step in during his third, fourth years in the program and he really took off in the fifth.

LTW has worlds of athletic potential, but couldn't get his head into the game after several season of linebacker, and is in his first season at QB.

Yeah, both are backups, but that is a REALLY untenable connection trying to be made.

 
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zoogies said:
Ganz was a devoted understudy who really, really bought into the offense to make up for his physical shortcomings. He was able to step in during his third, fourth years in the program and he really took off in the fifth.

LTW has worlds of athletic potential, but couldn't get his head into the game after several season of linebacker, and is in his first season at QB.

Yeah, both are backups, but that is a REALLY untenable connection trying to be made.
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Latravis isn't a linebacker. He played both ways in high school but he never played backer. Dual threats get moved all the time in college. LTW could have been like Martinez and fought for a spot a qb from day 1 but he's not that kinda guy. Paul Thompson from Oklahoma went through something similar. Never got his shot until his 5th year and led OU to a Fiesta Bowl birth. I hope this guy gets his shot

 
Latravis WAS a linebacker at NU. Sure he played QB in high school, so did Adam Carriker. It matters little what he was before, and it doesn't matter at all that he didn't insist on being QB from day 1 - because none of that changes the fact that he didn't develop for several years at LB at Nebraska before moving to QB.

Green BADLY needed a redshirt, so much that Spano was rushed back from his ACL and tore it again. But LTW became QB and coaches didn't even think about letting Green redshirt. Or even letting LTW redshirt and save a season. Doesn't that say something?

The Thompson analogy is even less tenable than the Ganz one. Thompson entered as a QB, was pulled out of a redshirt due to injuries and was a No. 2 QB who saw time as a freshman, battled and lost out to Heisman winner Jason White, redshirted, won the starting job over Rhett Bomar, lost the seat to Bomar, emerged as a WR for one season, and finally came back to QB after Bomar was kicked off the team the following year.

I know backup QBs are fan favorites unless they're named Beau Davis, but just because they're a backup doesn't mean they are better than the starter and should be given that shot.

 
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bhunt7 said:
I'm with Huck. LTW has the best arm on the team. The comment about him being inaccurate doesn't make much sense. Maybe you haven't seen Cody and Zac but their balls have looked pretty bad! LTW does have a strong arm but most people would see that as a positive. We came close to never seeing Ganz because of Keller and Beck. Turns out Ganz was a pretty good qb. LTW needs a shot!
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1. Have you ever watched Washington play?

2. Because Ganz replaced Keller and Ganz had many positives does not mean that Washington will be successful.

3. LTW gets his "shot" every week in practice. It's there for him to take. The fact that he hasn't taken it to this point should tell you something about why he isn't seeing the field.

 
3. LTW gets his "shot" every week in practice. It's there for him to take. The fact that he hasn't taken it to this point should tell you something about why he isn't seeing the field.
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I'm just playing devil's advocate here but Joe Ganz didn't see the field at all until Keller got hurt and the rest is history. After dealing with Zac Lee all season long and Cody Green looking every bit of the freshman that he was I'd love to see what Washington could do in real game conditions. Certain players respond differently when it comes to practicing and actually playing.

 
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The lack of intelligence in some of these arguments is astounding at times.

Story time: Harrison Beck was a 4* recruit, and rated the 3rd best QB prospect in the country in 2005. He was recruited by Michigan (a team thatwas a game away from a spot in the National Championship Beck's sophmore year) and Florida (a team that would have won 2 National Championships during Beck's career had he gone there). Therefore, Herrison Beck should (have) led Nebraska to the promise land?

You can't create a weaker argument than one based on which other schools recruited a kid. Well, that is, only if ridiculous statements similar to "Watson messed up the kid's career" aren't made. It's hardly Watson's fault that Cody Green displayed better promise at the QB position in the same amount of time than LTW did while playing the same position. It's hardly anyone's fault that LTW hasn't shown he's good enough to actually fulfill his potential.

It's easy to come on message boards with biased opinions backed by flawed (and sometimes an absence of) logic and think you're right. It doesn't mean you're remontely close, though.

 
suh_fan93 said:
3. LTW gets his "shot" every week in practice. It's there for him to take. The fact that he hasn't taken it to this point should tell you something about why he isn't seeing the field.
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I'm just playing devil's advocate here but Joe Ganz didn't see the field at all until Keller got hurt and the rest is history. After dealing with Zac Lee all season long and Cody Green looking every bit of the freshman that he was I'd love to see what Washington could do in real game conditions. Certain players respond differently when it comes to practicing and actually playing.
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Two things. First, the Keller/Ganz situation was under a different coach. Very, very different circumstances, too. There is next to no comparison between the two.

Second, if Washington isn't earning the job in practice, why would a coach give him the ball in a game? How disastrous would that be, and why would a coach take a risk like that? Coaching is by nature a conservative occupation. Expecting Bo to hand the reins to a guy who can't even outshine Lee or Green in practice isn't realistic.

 
Ganz was a breakout gamer who didn't always light it up in practices, while Lee is a practice warrior who hasn't performed in games.

That does NOT make the argument "Start players who do less well in practice" even remotely sensible!

 
Second, if Washington isn't earning the job in practice, why would a coach give him the ball in a game? How disastrous would that be, and why would a coach take a risk like that? Coaching is by nature a conservative occupation. Expecting Bo to hand the reins to a guy who can't even outshine Lee or Green in practice isn't realistic.
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I see what your saying. My point is simply this, Zac Lee and Cody Green based on how they 'practiced' got the lions share of time this year at quarterback. There wasn't much room for anyone else. However Joe Ganz is a perfect example of how a talanted player who may not have practiced (apparently) as well as the guy before him can indeed come in and perform better than the guy above him on the depth chart when things really matter i/e when playing in an actual game. Nebraska's offense was absolutely pathetic this year. It's time to shake things up a bit and start looking at some other guys and by that I mean giving guys like Washington or whomever actual playing time to see what they can do because if anyone's offense needs a major shot in the arm right now it is ours.

 
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