Nebraska football: Former Husker quarterback having different kind of pro career
Former Nebraska football quarterback Tommy Armstrong is playing pro football, just not in the way you likely expected him to be playing it.
Nebraska football fans can watch Tommy Armstrong play quarterback in a professional football league should they so desire. No, it’s not in the NFL. Not the CFL either.
The former Cornhuskers’ star is playing in an entirely different league altogether. Armstrong is a quarterback for the Power team, coached by Merril Hoge for a relatively new “league” set up by Your Call Football.
The premise is an interesting one. Fans can download the Your Call Football application and watch a game between the Power and Grit teams like they’re watching an NFL or college football game.
The big difference is that before each play, the two coaches (Merril Hoge and former Green Bay Packers head coach Mike Sherman) select three plays they are wanting to call. Those watching at home then pick one of the three plays they want called. The play that is picked by the majority is the one that is run.
As the action unfolds, the people at home gain points for things like calling the same play as what the coach wanted to run, going against the majority, and yards gained on the play. There’s then a leaderboard and those picking the plays can win real money.
While the premise sounds like a goofy gimmick, the games in real time are real enough football that I found it interesting to watch and take part in. Tommy was the starting quarterback for Power because last week’s starter, former South Florida Bull BJ Daniels was hurt.
On his second drive of the game, he hit former Miami Hurricanes wide receiver Tommy Streeter on a nice 41-yard jump ball Husker fans are plenty used to see Armstrong throw. The service is still obviously new.
There are glitches and hiccups for sure. For one thing, there doesn’t appear to be any kind of boxscore, or statistical record to see just how well Armstrong did on the night.
The feed also cut out in the second quarter so I wasn’t able to watch the whole game, though I could still pick plays if I wanted. Thursday night’s game was just the second of the “season” and since there are only two teams, the point of the game is clearly for fans to try and make the correct call. There isn’t going to be a “championship” in the traditional sense.
Next: New offers, Jordan Johnson gets more attention
Still, it was fun to watch former Nebraska football players on the gridiron in an entirely new way. Former Huskers linebacker Michael Rose-Ivey is a linebacker on Armstrong’s squad, though I didn’t hear his name called in the short period of time I played. According to Your Call Football, there’s one more game this spring, next Thursday and then there’s a long hiatus until September. It seems likely this is to let those in the YCF league try out for NFL teams.