Spring Preview: Quarterback

With spring practice beginning next week, HuskerOnline.com begins our in-depth look at each position with our 2019 spring position previews.

Today we start things off by analyzing and breaking down the quarterbacks heading into spring practice.

Unlike a year ago, there is no question about the quarterback position going into the start of spring practices. Adrian Martinez is the starter, and this is his team. Martinez broke onto the scene last fall by winning the top job for the season opener as a true freshman and only got better and better with every game he played.

The Fresno, Calif., native completed 224-of-347 passes (64.6 percent) for 2,617 yards and 17 touchdowns with just eight interceptions while rushing for 629 more yards and eight scores.

Martinez's rapid development was so impressive that many are already mentioning his name in early Heisman Trophy talk entering the 2019 season. That's a lot of pressure to put on a young player, but Martinez seems ready for the task with his play on the field and confident leadership and maturity off of it.

Helping further stabilize the quarterback room are the return of backups Andrew Bunch and Noah Vedral along with the addition of 2019 early enrollee Luke McCaffrey.

Bunch started vs. Troy while Martinez was injured and appeared in four other games, completing 66 percent of his passes for 320 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions.

Vedral only saw action in one game after being ruled eligible six weeks into the season following his transfer from Central Florida, but he too provides strong knowledge of Nebraska's offense with two full seasons playing in head coach Scott Frost's system.

There's not a player on Nebraska's roster - or another quarterback in the Big Ten Conference - who is getting the level of national attention and praise as Martinez has the past couple months.

Martinez was stellar in his first collegiate season, earning Freshman All-American honors and being named an honorable mention all-conference selection after breaking 11 school records.

But with that now come some seriously lofty expectations going into his true sophomore season in 2019. Not only will there be pressure to live up to the hype set for him individually, but also to lead Nebraska to the major bounce-back year many are expecting.

The Huskers will go as far as Martinez will take them, and how ready he is to put the team on his shoulders will ultimately determine if all of the preseason excitement is justified.

Barring some sort of catastrophic event, no one will be pushing Martinez for the starting job this offseason, and the only way one of the other quarterbacks might see the field in a game would be if Nebraska is up big in mop-up duty.

That being said, this spring will be the start of grooming Martinez's potential successor in McCaffrey.

The former three-star prospect from Highlands Ranch (Colo.) Valor Christian is getting a jump on his Husker career by enrolling early to participate in spring ball, and he's already caught his coaches' and teammates' attention even before his first practice.

Frost mentioned McCaffrey by name a couple times when talking about some of the incoming freshmen who had impressed with their maturity and work ethic during winter conditioning. A talented athlete with great bloodlines, McCaffery has what it takes with his skill and between the ears to be the next man up after Martinez moves on.

1. Adrian Martinez, So.

2. Andrew Bunch, Jr.

-OR-

Noah Vedral, So.

3. Luke McCaffrey, Fr.

-OR-

Matt Masker, RFr.