2018 Nebraska Position Examination - Quarterback

We did not do position previews for the 2018 season. We did not do them because pre-spring practice, nobody really had a good idea of what the 2018 Nebraska football team might look like.

And.... we still don’t have a really good idea of what it will look like. Comparisons are made to what Scott Frost did at UCF and that’s about as far as it can go. There’s still massive speculation, but most of the guys have left the team that are going to leave before fall practice starts.

I have an ulterior motive for doing position previews. My memory is terrible. I have difficulty remembering player names, positions, my kid’s birthdays, who my wife is, and where I parked the car every damned time I go to Target. Writing the names associated with the positions helps me remember.

Quarterback is pretty easy, though, as everyone talks constantly about quarterbacks.

Everyone and everything is new this season. It’s going to be fun... well, fun if you like seeing young players grow up in front of your eyes. If you expect Aaron Rodgers right out of the gates, maybe not so much.

Quarterback

The quarterback in Scott Frost’s offense is going to have to be an excellent decision maker in order to be successful. Nebraska has had a decent number of quarterbacks in the past few years who been good decision-makers, but not great... (or am I being too kind here?).

That’s why it will take a season, before such a quarterback becomes accustomed to the speed at which Scott Frost wants to go. (Unless, of course, one of the quarterbacks is a phenom, which is what everyone is expecting because you can just find the second coming of Tommie Frazier growing in a lab.. the Nebraska Performance Lab.)

What do we expect from the 2018 Nebraska quarterback position?

Jon: Adrian Martinez, Tristan Gebbia, Everyone Else

I’m drinking the Martinez Koolaid and saying that he’s going to be the top guy come fall. The first year is a throwaway, so why not get him as much experience as possible as early as possible. (Yes, every coach says “we want to win now” but they are mostly full of shit when they say it. Most coaches at Nebraska have to win win win and win right away, but Frost will get a pass this season.)

I can see both Martinez and Gebbia splitting time early in the season. Thing is, we have a better receiving corps than running backs, so does that mean we’re going to throw a lot more than run? I hope so, if for no other reason that “Run the Ball Guy” frequently faints, gets shown on TV and it becomes a thing.

Mike: Gebbia, Martinez, Andrew Bunch.

I think Martinez will eventually pass Gebbia, but I think Gebbia has a slight advantage right now. Gebbia is a better passer, and has decent mobility, while Martinez has some rust to shake off from missing last season.

Andy: Martinez, Gebbia, Vedral, Bunch

As he proved by playing Milton, Frost isn’t locked into never playing freshmen like his mentor was until the 90’s. Gebbia has proven he can adjust but that doesn’t mean he suddenly has Martinez’ gifts and they have the same amount playing experience. I’m not sold that Vedral is terrible yet - he looked like he had the same Redskins O-line in front of him that RG III had “blocking” for him in that pre-season game where he was murdered & benched. I’ll reserve judgment there.