Tim Beck switched offenses during the offseason, giving more control and responsibility to a quarterback — Taylor Martinez — who didn’t necessarily display the best in-game decision-making skills during his redshirt freshman year.
Remember Martinez’s in-the-pocket disasters during passing situations late last year? (Taking off too early or oddly panicking and staying way too long) … Or what about Martinez’s awkward attempts to avoid sacks by flipping passes underhanded or sidearmed or whatever? (Two plays, one against Oklahoma State and another in the Holiday Bowl come to mind) … Was Martinez actually reading defenses last year? Some opposing coaches thought he did all his analysis before the snap.
Beck, now the offensive coordinator, was on the NU coaching staff last season. He saw all that.
Which is why I asked Beck after the Iowa game if he ever worried during the offseason about Martinez. Would Martinez be able to handle the QB position in an up-tempo, no-huddle offense that often relies on pre-snap reads and audibles to be effective?
Beck shook his head. No.
“Sometimes, when they have more, they don’t take more,” Beck said. “He knew he had the reins, but he knew the bottom-line was leading the offense and winning. He’s a very, very fierce competitor. Hates to lose.”
There’s more about Martinez in Tuesday’s edition of The World-Herald — the article focused on his still-ongoing evolution as a passer, sort of recapping an up-and-down sophomore season and highlighting some of the possible reasons for it.
What do you think about Martinez’s progress? Is it enough to extinguish concerns about Nebraska’s championship potential with him at QB?
Ask any of the Nebraska coaches and players, they’ll tell you Martinez has improved. Why? Most point to his increased experience. The more snaps you receive, the better you get.
True. But from an outsider’s perspective, it appears that the offense’s schematic switch, orchestrated by Beck, has helped get Martinez more comfortable in the ever-complicated QB role. Lots of hiccups still, yes.
But Martinez has more to worry about now. Thus he’s been carrying himself more like a quarterback, willing to sacrifice a chance at the big play (using check-downs, throw-aways, slides, etc) with the assumption that the game-changing moments will come. No need to force it.
Martinez played last year as if his only intention was to make ESPN’s latest highlight reel. He would, at times, seemingly discard common sense with his eyes fixated on the end zone.
Again, that’s why I talked to Beck about Martinez’s growing pains within the offense last spring. Why give a potential erratic gunslinger more ammo?
“He’s smarter than people think, when it comes to that stuff,” Beck said.
A few more tidbits on Martinez are below…
>> Martinez ended the season completing 71.4 percent of throws shorter than 10 yards. He connected on 48.4 percent of his intermediate passes (10 to 25 yards). He had a 25.8 percent completion rate on throws longer than 25 yards, completing just one (54-yard TD to Brandon Kinnie against Michigan) in the final six games. … (Ten total incompletions — whether they were throw-aways, batted passes, or a hail mary — were not included in the statistical breakdown)
>> Who was Martinez throwing to this season? A top 10 list: Kenny Bell 55 targets (29 receptions); Kinnie 41 (22); Quincy Enunwa 38 (21); Kyler Reed 24 (15); Jamal Turner 23 (13); Ben Cotton 22 (13); Rex Burkhead 21 (16); Tim Marlowe 20 (12); Khiry Cooper 8 (4); Tyler Legate 4 (3).
>> I asked several of Martinez’s teammates if he cares about the critical (and sometimes hurtful) dialogue regarding his mechanics. Martinez’s throwing style has been mocked by fans and media members all season long — but apparently that doesn’t bother him, according to the few Huskers I spoke with after the Iowa game. In the locker room, at least, Martinez never shows it. “He has his own mind-set and he doesn’t care what anybody else will say about him,” Enunwa said. “He just shrugs it off.”
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Aside from the passing mechanics, Taylor is an outstanding athlete, i would love to see his speed in the open field catching passes from the slot.
I watched Taylor give when he should have kept, WR’s, TE’s running wide open all season, while Taylor watched them.
Taylor has ZERO confidence in his arm when it comes to threading a ball, or leading a receiver.
Taylor Martinez playing QB is the same as Sean Fisher playing DT.
Bo Pelini will never admit playing Taylor all last season and this, has not developed Taylor like he had hoped, now we have WR recruits bailing on NU because they dont want to spend a career blocking all game long, its been the Husker curse since T.O. implemented the option .
Keep recruiting option QB’s, say goodbye to quality receivers, @ least Calliham made an attempt to recruit Pro style QB’s and develop them. Bo and Beck may be friends, But Beck has a completely different offensive philosophy than Bo and his option QB theory, Beck would be happy throwing the ball 70-80 times a game, not gonna happen with duel threat QB’s, there is definite conflict between Barney, Beck and Bo, when it comes to offense, and it shows.
As I started reading this. I said I wonder how long it will take CD to respond the answer 49 minutes. What did this poor kid do to you ? beat your grand child up in elementary school, refused to give u an autograph ??? what is it about Martinez that you have a hard time with ? Again let me go through your comments, YOU seen plays were -TM gave, instead of kept… Did u see any plays were he made the right call ? sitting in your lazy boy with your dvr is great….TE running wide open when TM seen them… first off how do you know he seen them, I’m real interested in that, but did u see him hit any open TE this year ? TM has zero confidence in his arm…. I need to stop questioning your knowledge maybe your not an armchair QB, does TM call you on Sundays and go over the game with you ? otherwise I wonder how u know this ( ARMCHAIR, CLicker, DVR ? ) In the next sentence yo blame Bo for not admitting an error and developing TM, But then u say it’s been this way since T.O. so is this Bo/ TM problem, or is T.O. now the problem ? Yeah Callahan was a great recruiter, and had some great QB… what was his record, and why isn’t he around any more ? Finally again does Beck call CD up after games and complain about BO and tell u he would like to throw the ball 70 times a game… how else could you know this. ARMCHAIR BLOGGER OF THE YEAR CD.
It’s so good to know that somebody that goes by the name corndevil is such an insider to the program. It is wonderful having such an insider spend 24/7 trolling the BRT in order to provide us with his inside knowledge. I sure hope all the coaches don’t mind you giving up all their dirty laundry.
I like turtles
I agree with part of what you say, but disagree with the necessity of the pass-pro offense. Alabama won their recent NC without a dominant QB. Nebraska, Colorado, Oklahoma, all won NC’s with only serviceable passing games. The defenses are all set up to stop pass-pro. Full-house backfields and option running games can be particularly effective. Another advantage is that while everyone is recruiting the big arms, it leaves the field open for those recruiting the big legs. Martinez is a particularly mediocre passer, but that dosen’t mean that the answer is to try and go west-coast offense again. Hall of Fame Coach, Congressman, Tom Osborne (PHD). was a particularly smart coach and he choose to move away from the pass-pro to the option. His success in recruiting these QB types also allowed him take such players as Turner Gill away from Barry Switzer.
You really think T-Magic can lead NU to a National Championship??? If the coaches don’t have open and I really mean OPEN competition at EVERY position, especially on offense, WE are going to lose some talented ballplayers that NEVER really had a chance. That would be so sad for those kids.
We don’t have the ponies on defense to play championship-caliber football, so it doesn’t really matter – Martinez could turn into Joe Montana and we still couldn’t stop anyone.
Until we raise the bar and start putting some talent on the field, we won’t be stopping many teams, except for someone inept like Iowa.
First off, thank you for your service. Martinez is what he is, an old single wing tailback. Nothing wrong with that, as long as you design the offense around it. Check out Tim Tebow. If you think that pre-1940′s footbal can’t win, think again. Football is offense, defense, kicking game, coaching, injuries & depth, fan support, weather, etc. For instance, Nebraska lost to Michigan, not because of play by Martinez or Dennard Robinson, but because of breakdowns in the kicking game. If those talented ball players don’t get it up and compete, it is sad but its their own fault. OFFC (Old Fart Football Coach) Retired.
Yes, I really think Martinez can lead NU to a National Championship. Do I think he can be the sole reason they win a national championship? Of course not. But we’ve seen some terrible passers come through this University and do just fine. I remember people banging constantly on Frost his junior year for his inability to lead the team. That worked out okay.
I personally think Martinez is developing just fine. I think he’ll be one of the best quarterbacks in the Big 10 next year, right behind Dennard Robinson. What he needs is a better defense. (Geeze, did I just say that?). It seems like we can’t get our great defensive years to line up with our decent offensive years. If we had this years offense with the defense of the last two years, I don’t think there is any way we don’t play in the Big 10 championship game (and probably win it). If Pelini can piece the defense back together for next year, I think Nebraska will have a great shot at having a 1-2 loss season.
TM one of the best quarterbacks in the Big 10 next year? You’re kidding right? Why should we have to settle for a terrible passer and decision maker to play QB at Nebraska?
For the same reason that Denver is.
So now we are comparing TM to Tim Tebow? The Heisman trophy winning, first round NFL draft pick Tim Tebow? Pllleeeaaassseeee!
Frost is 3 times bigger than Taylor, Frost was almost as big as Wistrom.
Frost also led NU to it’s 3rd National Title for Osbourne. Martinez and Jamal Lords was the WORST, get it straight.
Agree. Our offense played well enough to win every game this year. But our defense fell off the cliff. Imagine this years offense with 2009′s defense. Man, that defense was good. If we had had any offense at all we would have won all those games.
Yep. 25 points against Northwestern?… you would think a Bo Pelini defense should be able to hold Northwestern below 25. There was a time not to long ago when our offense got to around the 20 point mark and that was good enough to win…. Opponents score when we lost in 2010 – 20, 9, 23, 19… Opponents score in losses in 2011 – 48, 28, 45…..
I guess I should say I don’t totally agree with your statement about our offense playing well enough to win every game. I just think our defense isn’t up to the standard everyone expected (if NU wants to be great they should become more balanced) … That being said, our offensive production, IMO, is improved and would have matched well with our more dominant defenses from the past couple years
The Frost point is of interest in a totally different way than you intended. My son and I refer to the jr. version as “Scott Frost’s evil twin”. I don’t recall a QB making so much progress between 2 seasons. To me,Taylor was almost EXACTLY the same this year as last, which tempers my optimism for the future (maybe as a senior, when we get the “easy” Leader’s rotation?).
Scott Frost didn’t play at Nebraska till his junior year, and that year not so well. His senior year was excellent. Martinez has a bowl game, a spring practice, and summer workouts before he gets to the point of Scott’s JUNIOR year. If he then plays like Scott did against Arizona State, then start griping.
I agree with you Mark, that we need to get our offense and our defense to have good years at the same time. As far as Taylor I think he has the potential to lead us to the Rose Bowl. But we won’t know until we can get all three parts of the team consistently playing well. It takes a lot of good players and the right coaching to put it all together.
I have always liked the “I” formation with a down-hill running philosophy and 2 stud wide-outs that can go up and get the ball, a good run-blocking TE that can still stretch the middle and a pass-first QB that is still mobile enough to scramble when the field is wide open to one side. Is this style obsolete now?
Are you negative people serious? Did you watch the same team I did this year? Not one time did I ever feel that Taylor was the reason Nebraska could not win games… He managed the game, he made some great throws and he made our offense go! The only knock on him would be consistency. He throw some great balls and follow it up with a duck… Our defensive is where the focus needs to be. We scored points when we needed to… we didn’t stop teams when we needed to. We need better athletes on the defensive side of the ball, some more speed if you will. Wouldn’t it be nice to not have to dread facing a qb that could run?
I’m not sure why some people have such a dislike of Martinez. I think it must be his demeanor in the pressers. Because you are exactly right: our defense was very mediocre this year. You can always recognize someone with an anti-Martinez agenda because they will talk exclusively about his play after our losses even when the losses were due to defense (Wisconsin), special teams (Michigan), or playcalling (Wisconsin and Northwestern). And receiver drops.
I am by no means a Martinez hater but to say that the loss to Wisconsin was solely on the defense is laughable. Martinez DID throw three interception in three straight possessions in that game so he was PART of the problem. The coaching was a problem in that game too.
yeah, I said coaching also… you had to keep reading. I attribute Martinez’s interceptions to coaching. He’s not Joe Montana, don’t ask him to make those throws.
He should care! If he cared, maybe he would take the time to fix his mechanics and he wouldn’t look like a 3rd grader trying to heave a ball 60 yards. What I don’t get is that it seems like there is no effort made to fix it.
You don’t get a lot of things- too many really to even explain.
You probably hated watching Eric Dickerson run back in the day and Adrian Peterson now because of their upright style that isn’t textbook. Maybe you and Marv Marinovich can adopt an infant and raise them to make sure they have perfect mechanics. You do realize Martinez completes his passes at a greater clip than Tommie Frazier did right?
The problem with your arguement is Dickerson, Peterson, and Tommie Frazier were all GREAT players. TM is not a great player…he’s, at best, an average player. He also completes more passes to OUR OPPONENTS at a MUCH higher rate than Touchdown Tommie! TM has thrown more interceptions in 2 years than Tommie did in 4 years. When talking about Nebraska qb’s, TM and Tommie Frazier shouldn’t be mentioned in the same sentence.
I coached football for forty years, had over 60 players go on to play college football, 15 at the division one level, two at the NFL level including a QB, a son who was a Nebraska scholarship football player, was awarded three national coaching awards, and I can’t ever remember being able to significantly change a player’s throwing motion. What you have to do is design your offense around their abilities. Muscle memory starts way before they go to college.
exactly… if you want to blame someone blame his dad for teaching him to throw that way
NU will never beat a good team with Taylorina at QB
I would say Michigan State, Penn State and Ohio State could be considered “good teams” and we beat them with Taylor at QB… Now, could you please follow a new team.. maybe Colorado or Iowa State? I’m sick of reading your negative posts day in and day out. Just wondering “Rat” did you attend the University of Nebraska?
Hey HP, are you serious???…lol… Their HAS BEENS!!!!! MICH, and WISC. THOSE WERE GOOD TEAMS!!!!!! NU proved they had NO QB to pass CONSISTANTLY past 15 yards. WHY do you think even NORTHWESTERN didn’t have ANY DEEP COVERAGE?????? Next season, the WHOLE BIG knows T-Tragic can’t throw deep passes. Try a possible 6-6 record. With the fact we have NO DEFENSE!!!
Martinez improved a great deal this year as a quarterback, as we might have suspected him being only a sophomore. He seems to be doing what is asked of him by the coaches. Sure, he has thrown a few bad balls, and made some bad reads, but not any more than the average quarterback around the country– most of whom are upperclassmen. It’s been clear to me from day one that he is very smart and very competitive, and I like his intense focus.
I think the game will continue to slow down for him. Having the same OC and same offense will help. Going against many of the same teams next year will help. I expect him to continue to get better.
Not sure if it was the playcalling this year, or the reads, but I would like to see Martinez have a few more opportunities to take off. That is his single biggest weapon, and while it cannot be the only weapon, it’s important component for loosening up defenses for the rest of our offense. When that’s incorporated more seamlessly with our regular running and passing we’ll be impossible to stop. I’m sure this is why Bo is running this offense, but I understand that putting all the pieces together on the field is a process more than a simple decision.
“He threw a few bad balls, and made some bad reads”? Are you joking? Taylor is making most of the same mistakes now, that he made last year. His throwing mechanics are horrible, (painful to watch really), so he often misses badly even when he does pick the open man. On top of that, the defensive problems made his shortcomings all that much more glaring. I think the most revealing comment , from other coaches BTW who have to figure a way to beat NU, was that Martinez was making his mind up regarding what he was going to do before the snap. When he guesses right, he looks fantastic. When he doesn’t, we’re scratching our heads. You state that he makes the no more mistakes than the average QB around the country. Is that what you want, the average QB around the country? Seriously? And of this chirping “he’s only a sophomore”. He is a 3rd year sophomore. Big difference. The O-line should be better next year, but the defense is losing it’s 3 best players. Martinez seems to be more of a team leader this year, and might be a great kid, but he needs to step it up dramatically for this team to contend for anything next season.
Your overall tone is idiotic- there’s no other way to put it. Idiotic!
Nice reply. My tone? What a joke. You are a joke.
It all revolves around our O-line and Rex…. when they get going is when Taylor plays good. When they don’t, there’s too much pressure on him (this scenario is true for nearly every team on every level, unless you have an elite quarterback).. We all know Taylor isn’t the superstar who is going to put the team on his back and carry us in a big time game that is close, so lets focus on improving his helpers (run game and defense) so we don’t have to rely on him every down. He could be a potentially sufficient role player who makes the throws when the opportunity presents itself. lets get some better talent out there that is consistent