We have a serious quarterback depth problem

But when it comes to   :star   :star   :star   :star  QBs, Nebraska has had some real busts in recent years.

2009 Cody Green

2011 Jamal Turner

2011 Bubba Starling

2013 Johnny Stanton

2016 Patrick O'Brien

2017 Tristan Gebbia

Used 247sports.com for rankings references.
To be fair, can you really call someone a bust if they didn't play here?  

We don't know if POB and Gebbia will pan out elsewhere and be great.  And Starling chose baseball and money over football.  Those aren't busts.

And didn't Cody Green go elsewhere and do alright for himself?  Or am I thinking of someone else?  Went to Tulsa, I think?

 
To be fair, can you really call someone a bust if they didn't play here?  

We don't know if POB and Gebbia will pan out elsewhere and be great.  And Starling chose baseball and money over football.  Those aren't busts.

And didn't Cody Green go elsewhere and do alright for himself?  Or am I thinking of someone else?  Went to Tulsa, I think?




He started but I believe his completion % was around 50.

 
But when it comes to   :star   :star   :star   :star  QBs, Nebraska has had some real busts in recent years.

2009 Cody Green

2011 Jamal Turner

2011 Bubba Starling

2013 Johnny Stanton

2016 Patrick O'Brien

2017 Tristan Gebbia

Used 247sports.com for rankings references.


It started way before 2009.   Carl Crawford (granted he went to MLB), Curt Dukes, Harrison Beck to name a few.   If you really want to get depressed just go back and count the number of HS quarterbacks we recruited since 1999 that didnt last 4 years here.  

 
It started way before 2009.   Carl Crawford (granted he went to MLB), Curt Dukes, Harrison Beck to name a few.   If you really want to get depressed just go back and count the number of HS quarterbacks we recruited since 1999 that didnt last 4 years here.  


Then if you want to be not as depressed do the same for almost every other college football team.

 
Then if you want to be not as depressed do the same for almost every other college football team.




I definitely get tired of people talking about attrition and recruiting rankings as if we’re the only team it happens to and every other team’s roster remains fixed in time and they lose no one and every recruit pans out. 

 
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It's not really about the ones that have left.  It's about the ones that have stayed.  As good as Tommy was (and I'm sure plenty of people will argue that he was or wasn't), he wasn't a guy I felt like you just knew would win you the game.  We really haven't had that since what Crouch?  Taylor?  Ganz?  Where you didn't worry about which QB was going to show up that day.

And we never really had the "next man up" for quite some time.  That's what separates the best teams from where we are right now as a program.  Among other things.

 
I definitely get tired of people talking about attrition and recruiting ratings as if we’re the only team it happens to and every other team’s roster remains fixed in time and they lose no one and every recruit pans out. 
I think the issue we face is that our attrition hurts because there is no good depth.  Clemson loses a 4-5 star QB every year but has one to come in and one recruited every year.  We just haven't had that.

Depth is important.  Good depth is essential to being great.  And we are behind by a mile in the QB area right now and for the foreseeable future.

 
I think the issue we face is that our attrition hurts because there is no good depth.  Clemson loses a 4-5 star QB every year but has one to come in and one recruited every year.  We just haven't had that.

Depth is important.  Good depth is essential to being great.  And we are behind by a mile in the QB area right now and for the foreseeable future.


Yes, there are some teams who have a luxury there.  Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and the like get more guys who want to play there and can get more depth.  

Most places can't.

In 2013 Michigan got a high-four-star QB recruit.  He transferred to Central Michigan.

In 2014 they got Wilton Speight who was an upper-mid three-star.

In 2015 they got two four-stars.  One transferred to Miami-Ohio and the other is now a Tight End.

In 2016 they got a high four-star.

In 2017 they got a mid-four-star.

All that recruiting got them last year - when they starting having injury problems at QB - was starting the year with the upper-mid three-star (Speight).  When he got hurt, they turned to a guy who transferred from Houston after being a mid-three-star out of high school (O'Korn).  When he got hurt they finally got around to putting in the high four-star from the 2016 class (Peters).  He completed 52% of his passes and is now third-string.  

Michigan recruits at a significantly higher level than Nebraska.

It would be great if it was better. Hopefully if we start winning it will get better (or even if we don't start winning).  But recruiting quarterback depth in college is a very difficult task.

 
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But when it comes to   :star   :star   :star   :star  QBs, Nebraska has had some real busts in recent years.

2009 Cody Green

2011 Jamal Turner

2011 Bubba Starling

2013 Johnny Stanton

2016 Patrick O'Brien

2017 Tristan Gebbia

Used 247sports.com for rankings references.
I think the star system is messed up. I think they award stars for the state they’re in. 

That settles it though, we need to get 5 and 6 Star qb’s.

 
I think the issue we face is that our attrition hurts because there is no good depth.  Clemson loses a 4-5 star QB every year but has one to come in and one recruited every year.  We just haven't had that.

Depth is important.  Good depth is essential to being great.  And we are behind by a mile in the QB area right now and for the foreseeable future.
Depth is paramount to winning.  Injuries are going to happen.  With targeting rules, guys are going to miss playing time....We haven't had quality depth in years.  It's a killer.  Next man up is a great mantra when you have depth.  When you don't, well you often times get your teeth kicked in.  Clemson is a prime example.  Slowly, since 2009 (Dabo's first full year) recruited incredibly well, developed the depth and has now been in the title hunt for the past 4-5 years....Got his guys, got the depth and started to really do well.  

Frost will need time to develop the depth.  You hear the frustration in the pressers ie OL back ups need to step up, guys need to give give Stan and JD some rest.....Coaches know, fans know, just growing pains of poor recruitment at positions and inability to develop guys we had on the roster.  

 
To be fair, can you really call someone a bust if they didn't play here?  

We don't know if POB and Gebbia will pan out elsewhere and be great.  And Starling chose baseball and money over football.  Those aren't busts.

And didn't Cody Green go elsewhere and do alright for himself?  Or am I thinking of someone else?  Went to Tulsa, I think?


I'm defining bust as in they were recruited, and for whatever reason(s) it didn't work out for Nebraska.  Does the reason really matter?

The point is, we have signed many 4  :star  QBs in recent years and none of them won the starting job or stuck around long enough. 

Lots of hype + never starting/transferring out = Bust

And as for Starling, that fiasco was squarely on Bo Pelini.  If there is a chance a player (especially a QB) will opt for professional baseball (or any other pro sport) you stop recruiting him and move on.

 
I'm defining bust as in they were recruited, and for whatever reason(s) it didn't work out for Nebraska.  Does the reason really matter?

The point is, we have signed many 4  :star  QBs in recent years and none of them won the starting job or stuck around long enough. 

Lots of hype + never starting/transferring out = Bust

And as for Starling, that fiasco was squarely on Bo Pelini.  If there is a chance a player (especially a QB) will opt for professional baseball (or any other pro sport) you stop recruiting him and move on.
Had Carl Crawford come, I still think the story of Frank is much different.

 
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