Nebraska Football: Oliver Martin is making impressive strides

When it comes to Nebraska football wide receivers, there’s one in particular that has really got my attention over the past couple of months. Oliver Martin would be that receiver. I got some flack earlier this year for saying that he could be a key part of the offense. I still stand by that. It is also evident that Scott Frost sees something special in him as well.

He recorded catches for 63 yards last year . He was a good secondary receiver, and provided Nebraska with some veteran leadership on what was a disheveled wide receiver unit. I personally will be interested to see what he can do with a year of the Nebraska football offensive system under his belt. Last year, it was about getting the feel of things. Now, it’s about trying to make the most of things.

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Speaking to the media earlier this week, Frost indicated that Martin seems to be growing a little bit more. He feels more comfortable in what he is trying to do, and that is certainly great news as well as expected. I do not think he is going to be the type of receiver that is going to be focal point of the offense. I do think he will be a very good secondary player. You could definitely see him thrive once he got playing at a high level. Now, he will look to build off of that. It appears he is already doing so.

As Frost indicated earlier in the week, Martin is getting the hang of things. Spring practices are for development, and it sounds like that’s exactly what Martin is doing. I believe he can translate that into games. Even with not a ton of knowledge of the Nebraska playbook last year, he seemed to catch on pretty quickly last year.

"“We threw him in the line of fire and he did a good job and started the last couple of games for us, but it was hard for him because he never really understood the base of the offense and the language,” Nebraska offensive coordinator Matt Lubick said. “It wasn’t his fault, it was just the situation he was in. He’s always had great athletic ability, we knew that. I actually recruited him out of high school when I was at Oregon. But now he’s taken it a step further because he understands the offense. He knows what route to run, knows who to block. …“Now that he’s playing with some confidence and knows what he’s doing, you can actually see his athletic ability coming through and it’s been impressive.”"

I love hearing that he is progressing at a high level. Now that he has a full set of spring practices ahead of him, maybe he can make a little bit of a push to be a key part of the offense.

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Development is something that Nebraska football has struggled with when it comes to their players. Maybe, just maybe, Martin can be an exception to that line of thinking.

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