add the harberg to this and we may have finally got us some qb depth to choose from.
which is vital for a pass happy team.
2 Portal QB's
- Thread starter HuskerOH_rivals315145
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which is vital for a pass happy team.
I live in OP. Have a kiddo at BV Middle. Blue Valley has put out some solid talent in recent years. Graham Mertz went to Blue Valley North and is having a solid career at Wisconsin. So you certainly can’t count Pauley out. That said Kansas high school football isn’t the best. Sadly the Missouri side has much better overall talent and statewide football. So while I wouldn’t count him out, I think he’s more of a diamond in the rough/work in progress than a come in and start as a true freshman kid.
While watching Clemson play ISU this evening, it really highlighted how critical the QB position is. Here’s a team that has played for National titles the past few years. Obviously Lawrence isn’t the only loss for that team, but his absence is certainly felt. It’s no secret Frost is in a do or die situation. The schedule for 2022 is about as easy as we’ve had since joining the BIG. So it’s bowl, better or bust for 2022. If I’m Frost I’m looking for the best possible portal option. Smothers has heart and like AM can move when the pocket collapses. But he’s not going to get us where we need to be to save Frost. He’s AM with a lesser arm. And Frost isn’t going out with a true freshman from Kansas not named Mertz. That leaves Haarberg. A RS Frosh with zero experience. I’m not putting my career on the line with a kid that could be, but we don’t know. Maybe one of those guys wins the starting job. But I’m bringing in the best transfer I can get to challenge for that spot.
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Sipple and Sean Callahan both said this morning they’ve “heard” Nebraska is setting it’s sights on a veteran QB that hasn’t announced they’re entering the portal yet. Along with wanting a younger QB that has several years of eligibility (like Purdy).
I thought it was a violation to go after someone that hasn’t announced that they were entering the portal yet..
What good veteran QB is out there, that hasn't already announced they are transferring or staying or going pro? I can't think of any.
I think they might have set their sights on Grayson McCall and Brennan Armstrong, but both have announced they are staying at their current schools.
I think there's a lot of behind the scenes, third party type of communication between soon to be portal players and possible destination coaches. Some guys only last a few days in the portal before they find their new home. Some drag the search for a new home a little longer, so it doesn't look so obvious they already knew where they are goning to end up (Ewers to Texas).
Maybe. I would think he would stay for the Spring and try to compete, but you never know. If he goes, we really needs two portal QB’s.
BTW, I could totally see Smothers being Held’s starting QB at North Alabama next year.
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I find it difficult to see a QB currently on a team who is obviously winning enough to go to a bowl game, having back channel talks with coaches/teams they may be interested in. How would the player know the team was interested? How do you keep something like that quiet? That would be all we need, to get headlines for tampering with everything else that is going on.
Interesting. Jayden de Laura at Wash St had a coaching change this year and they haven't played in their bowl game yet. Frost has had good luck with QBs from Hawaii in the past.
Assistant coaches that may have recruited that player coming out of high school who didn't burn any bridges when said player committed elsewhere. Former high school teammates who might play at the other school. Nebraska wouldn't be the only one having these talks with potential transfers. Like I mentioned, Ewers back to Texas had been a rumor for over a month, before it actually happened. Too many guys in the portal end up finding their next school too quickly not to have had communication with somebody from the destination school.
Has Verduzco landed anywhere yet? Maybe Smothers would go there if he were to transfer.
He is not a good fit for what Whipple has been successful doing offensively. But on the other hand, it would be "so Nebraska" (as the national critics say) to bring in a successful coordinator who developed a 1st round QB last year and ask him to adjust what he does.
LOL you think Whipple has had no input on this and Frost just said " naw man, you can adjust to what I say"??
Thompson would be a great fit. For being such a scrambler, the tape I've seen of him he seems to resist taking off in favor of hanging in there for the down field pass. Whipple could work with am for crying out loud (under different circumstances of course) and having a QB who can run is our identity after all. Whipple will have no problem working with Thompson and perhaps elevate him from good to great, and us in the process. We'll see.
I understand all those "possibilities" and generalities. The comment was about players still playing in a bowl and back channel talks. Ewers wasn't playing and was from Texas so that is different.
It is difficult for me to see players talking to other players talking an assistant who may be at the same school talking through all those people to get the offer to a kid all while he is preparing for a game.
So, do you have real examples or is this all just speculation?
Kids talk to each other ALL THE TIME. I could absolutely see a player talking to someone from another team if he thought he might want to play elsewhere.
In fact, it’s harder for me to think that a player who is unhappy would say, “I’m not gonna talk to anybody until after my season is over.” I don’t believe for a second that’s how it went down with Wandale, for example… he was talking with people long before the end of the season about returning to Kentucky.
Just my thoughts.
Maybe he means that Thompson doesn’t run enough, since he had half as many rushing attempts as Pickett last year.
I think we need a QB with some mobility behind this line. Someone that can extend the play and make throws out of the pocket, like Pickett did at Pitt.
That could be. Thompson can certainly run though and should. A complaint from many Texass fans was that he was better suited to a different system that could utilize his legs a bit more purposefully than Sark's system allows for
Sure, that's understandable, especially in this day and age of communication that kids have.
Now get the coach involved in the conversation. I can't even imagine the problems with that chain of communication.
A kid telling another kid, hey it looks like we might be looking for another QB if you are interested. I just talked to coach Frost and he said for me to tell you that if you want to come to Nebraska, they might be interested. Coach just wanted me to let you know, good luck in the bowl game BTW.
It doesn’t have to happen that way at all. Thompson says to his friend at Nebraska “I’m hitting the portal. Thinking about Nebraska. What can you tell me? If your coach is interested, tell him to reach out.” And it goes from there. It doesn’t have to be the Nebraska kid reaching out at all.
Just expand your mind a bit and you can see how this can happen in so many different ways.
I guarantee in a Herman offense Thompson would've ran WAY more than he did this year. Sark doesn't want his QB running. Thompson is plenty athletic to make plays with his feet. Unfortunately, those 2 styles didn't mesh well.
Thompson looks like a smaller, less-experienced version of Adrian Martinez to me. I don't really see how he would be an upgrade.
Thompson threw 30 TD passes in 13 games. Nebraska has thrown 32 TD passes our last 31 games.
If you don’t see it, your eyes don’t work properly.
This upgrade couldn’t be more obvious if it were backhanding your grandmother.
Virtually every college QB in the portal is smaller and less experienced than Adrian Martinez.
And 100% of them possess the one trait we should covet most:
none of them actually are AM!
Mississippi St. TE Brad Cumbest also plays outfield, he did really well in Omaha.
Look Tim, I have worked with teens for over 40 years. I have an idea how they think and operate. You make assumptions in your scenario as well, like he is thinking about Nebraska and then who else? So he gets the list of schools he is interested in out through "friends" and then to the coaches and the coaches back through the kids to the athlete until he actually huts the portal. We were talking about the contact before officially being in the portal, like preparing for a bowl game. Now if the contact some from an adult, parent, guardian then that would be much easier to manage. I am seeing in mind, some kids getting on their phones with head coaches on all this, what you think if someone you didn't know contacts you and says, hey coach, I am a buddy of Joe Blow and he going to enter the portal, are you interested? Of course you believe the kid, I mean he has to be legit right?
Thank you for working with kids for as long as you have. That is not easy.
I guess I don’t see it as a very complicated process. I imagine the player who is thinking of hitting the portal, more often than not, is making first contact. and likely, he is contacting several different universities, not just Nebraska. It can be more direct that way. But what do I know? I am not pretending to have any inside info, just sharing my opinions here.
I have a buddy who is a coach at the NAIA level and it is the wild west in that arena. Where this all gets tricky in the scenario of early contact is someone is "thinking" of entering the portal and then he relies on someone else, another teen in this case, to make the contact. I can see that happening, really do but I kind of think that is where it stops. First, the coach has to be careful they don't jump the gun and go right to the kid, that goes back to that tampering Frost was complaining about. Assuming he wants to use back channels, that is fine, lots of opportunity for miscommunication and of course, it could all be tracked if the NCAA wanted to. So Podunk U can't come back on Nebraska because someone's buddy said it was OK and this star is going to enter the portal, whether he does or not. If I were a coach I would say, we are interested and we will contact him once his name hits the portal. What would be wrong with that, I don't think that violates anything. The last thing I would want to do is have a conversation with a go between teen! Lots of room for misunderstandings and you don't want that not to mention it is not the right thing to do.