Nebraska football: Athlon gives Adrian Martinez starting nod, not much love
According to Athlon, the drop from the middle tier of quarterbacks in the Big Ten conference is a steep one. After Kasim Hill at 53rd, it’s Adrian Martinez at 68th and then a long scroll down the list for most of the rest.
Of all the players on this list, Brandon Dawkins might be the most perplexing. The grad transfer from Arizona put up decent enough numbers as a back up for the Wildcats that I’m surprised he’s not ahead of people like Thorson and Hill at least.
Dawkins ran for 900 yards in his sophomore season. Over his Arizona career he threw for 15 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. Those INTs appear to have hurt his ranking here. The Cornhuskers won’t see him up close and personal, but I’d be surprised if he finished as the 11th best quarterback in the conference when all is said and done.
Like the Huskers, Athlon believes Morgan is going to win the job for the Golden Gophers despite never having played a down of college football. During Minnesota’s spring game, Morgan completed 18 of 28 passes for 272 yards and two touchdowns.
It would seem like he’s ahead of the other candidates for the starting nod. It should be pointed out that he’s currently ranked behind the starting quarterbacks for teams like Liberty (who will be playing its first FBS contests) and Old Dominion.
On the bright side, it would be hard for Morgan to do worse than current expectations for PJ Fleck’s offense.
This is where I remind you that Athlon’s list of quarterbacks is only 130 people long. Then I remind you that Rutgers’ signal caller isn’t the lowest ranked player on the list.
The fact that Sitkowski hasn’t played a snap is likely the biggest reason why he’s so low. There’s also the fact that Rugers’ offense wasn’t fantastic last season, despite the team as a whole being better than they were in 2016.
The Scarlet Knights have a new offensive coordinator. Maybe he’ll allow their new quarterback to grow and flourish. More than likely it appears it’s going to be a long season, though not as long as it will apparently be for the final QB on this list.
Cam Thomas was not … well he wasnt good last year as a true freshman. In fact, he might serve as a cautionary tale when Nebraska football fans get too excited about Adrian Martinez.
The quarterback position is kind of a mess right now for the Illini. It will likely be again this season.
Despite that, Thomas is expected to at least start the year as the starting quarterback. Last season, in limited action, he completed just 42 percent of his passes and threw five interceptions and no touchdowns.
Next: Nebraska football: Joe Burrow may be blocked from Huskers
The reason the Huskers might need to look out for him when they square off this season is because he also ran for 233 yards. Still, he earns the distinction of being the lowest rated quarterback on Athlon’s list.