In Athlon’s recently released College Football quarterback rankings, Nebraska football QB Adrian Martinez was named the starter, but wasn’t ranked high.
Athlon just released it’s comprehensive list of where every starting quarterback for all 130 teams ranks heading into the 2018 season. While it might be a little early, it’s never too early to wonder where Nebraska football‘s entry might fall.
It’s also never too early to wonder who Athlon believes will be the Cornhuskers’ starter. It turns out the well-regarded publication has picked Adrian Martinez as the winner of the quarterback derby.
That’s the good news, for those actively rooting for the true freshman after a stellar spring game. The bad news is that Athlon is not particularly sold on what he’s going to do as a true freshman.
Ranked just 68th in the country, Martinez falls behind such prolific passers as Kenny Pickett at Pitt. To be fair, the ranking isn’t terrible when talking about a quarterback who has never played a college football game.
He ranks just behind USC’s JT Daniels. He’s not among the worst of the worst either, considering he’s just outside the top half of the rankings.
Where the list could be seen as problematic for Husker fans is that there are almost no Big Ten quarterbacks behind him. At the moment, it appears Athlon believes Martinez is no better than the 10th best quarterback in the conference.
Again, it’s hard to get mad at that ranking with so many unknowns at Nebraska. Will he even be the starter? What will the offense really look like? How much will it lean on the quarterback position?
All fair questions. Ranking number 68 also means that Martinez has something he can work for.
When looking at some of the names, especially in the Big Ten that have been ranked ahead of the potential starting signal caller for the Nebraska football team, you’ve got to think several of them have a bullseye on their backs.
Remember when Penn State was basically the whipping boy of the rest of the Big Ten? The Nebraska football team likely looks back at those days with longing.
These days, the Nittany Lions’ quarterback, Trace McSorley is considered one of the best quarterbacks in the country. In fact, Athlon has him ranked as the third best QB on their list.
McSorley is ranked behind only West Virginia’s Will Grier and Tua Tagovailoa. You can certainly make a case that the publication is giving Tagovailoa a bit too much credit for his championship game performance too.
McSorley has been steady, deadly and largely overlooked in his last two years as a starting quarterback. Last season he threw for 3,570 yards and 28 touchdowns while completing 66.5 percent of his passes. If that wasn’t enough, he also ran for over 400 yards.
Last season McSorley threw for 325 yards and three touchdowns while running for 46 yards and another score against the Huskers. Thankfully he’s not on the nearly impossible schedule for this season.
Michigan State quarterback Brian Lewerke did for the Spartans last year what Husker fans hope Adrian Martinez (or Tristan Gebbia) can do for Nebraska this year.
Lewerke managed to lead a turnaround that has Michigan State as a contender for the Big Ten title again. He did it by throwing for nearly 3,000 yards, 20 touchdowns and just seven interceptions.
Like McSorley, he was a dual-threat. In addition to hurting teams through the air, he also ran for 559 yards and five TDs. The Cornhuskers will get to see him up close and personal on November 17.
Shea Patterson is the first one on this list to officially make me scratch my head a bit. Yes, he had a decent season at OIe Miss, (2,259 yards and 17 TDs) but it was far from eye-popping.
It appears the fact that he had an injury-shortened season and still put up decent if not spectacular numbers is why Athlon has him ranked so high. The thing is, even the publication notes that Patterson threw nine picks in just seven games.
Those numbers are Tanner Lee-esque. I don’t think many Nebraska football fans, let alone Athlon would think Lee deserved a ranking inside the Top 15 quarterbacks in the country if he was returning to the job this season.
This feels like a “Jim Harbaugh will make him a great quarterback” pick. Which is an odd one considering that Harbaugh has yet to have a great quarterback at Michigan.
Even Wisconsin Badgers fans might be a bit surprised to see Hornibrook ranked as the 25th best quarterback in the entire college football world. On their face, his stats are pretty darn good.
The problem with Hornibrook is that along with his 25 touchdown passes, he also had 15 interceptions. Those picks tended to be at the most inopportune times.
The argument can certainly be made that if he can cut out the interceptions, he’s going to have a very good season. The Cornhuskers will have a chance to prove that wrong in Madison on October 6.
Nate Stanley had a sneaky good season last year and the argument could be made that he’s going to only do better this year. At the same time, Iowa’s offense is never quite as good as you think it might be.
The Nebraska football team will be able to see whether or not Stanley is the real deal when they take on Iowa in the final game of the regular season.
Haskins appears to have won the starting job at Ohio State after battling Joe Burrow for the position this spring. There isn’t a ton to go on as far as whether he can do the job full time, but he certainly did quite well in limited action last year.
In eight games, Haskins completed 70 percent of his passes, threw four interceptions and had just one pick. He also ran for 86 yards. All of that was as a true freshman.
Coming into his sophomore year, the Nebraska football team will get to see up close and personal whether he is really good when they square off against the Buckeyes on November 3rd.
While the Big Ten has six quarterbacks inside Athlon’s Top 30, there’s a bit of a dropoff when you talk about the conference’s next tier of QBs. Nebraska football’s Adrian Martinez rightfully belongs in this tier because you’re seeing a lot of unproven or hardly eye popping QB1s in this group.
Clayton Thorson is one of those QBs that everyone expects to make the next step. That’s despite the fact that he made a pretty big step backwards last season.
After throwing for 22 touchdowns and nine interceptions in 2016, he threw for just 15 touchdowns and 12 interceptions a season ago. Perhaps the oddest stat is the complete disappearance of his running game.
Thorson ran for almost 400 yards in his first season. Last year, his third, he amassed just 23 yards. He did like the goal line sneak though, as he had eight rushing touchdowns. The Huskers will face him for a third time on October 13.
Purdue’s likely starting quarterback David Blough has had one heck of an up and down career. Coming off a 2016 season where he threw 21 interceptions, he had nine touchdowns and just four picks a year ago.
He also continued to go back and forth as the starter for the Boilermakers and it doesn’t appear that quarterback battle is over yet. That is one of the reasons being ranked this high is sort of odd.
Yes Adrian Martinez hasn’t been named the starter either but there is a legit chance Blough won’t be playing more than mop up this season.
Hill is the last quarterback in the Big Ten that has been ranked ahead of the Nebraska football team’s signal caller. When looking at the stats he put up, you can certainly see why Hill would get the nod though there isn’t a massive body of work to look at.
Injuries shortened his season to three games, but in those three games he completed an eye-popping 18-21 for 230 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for 60 yards and another score.
The Nebraska football team doesn’t get to take on Maryland this year. If Hill can stay healthy, that may not be a bad thing.
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.