Thursday notebook: Martinez remains game-time decision

The good news following Thursday’s practice was that head coach Scott Frost said quarterback Adrian Martinez continued to make strides in his recovery from a knee injury he suffered last week vs. Colorado.

The bad news was, given it was just a light walk-thru session, there still wasn’t any real way of knowing whether the true freshman would be ready to return to action against Troy on Saturday.

Frost said Martinez remained listed as day-to-day and would still be a game-time decision on Saturday. In fact, that decision could go all the way up until just before the 11 a.m. opening kickoff against the Trojans if necessary.

“It might be two minutes before kickoff,” Frost said. “He’s going to be out there warming up (before the game). He’s looked really good; getting better. I don’t know if it’ll be this week. I don’t know if it’ll be next week. He might look great tomorrow and be ready to go. He might not look great a week from Friday.

“I feel really good about where he is now considering how bad the play looked, but it’s just day-to-day.”

Frost said the main factors in deciding Martinez’s availability would be “strictly physical,” meaning Nebraska wouldn’t factor in whether to hold him out this week for strategic reasons with the first road game and Big Ten Conference opener at Michigan looming next weekend.

“We’ve got to make sure that he can run all the things we want to run, that he’s healthy enough to be able to avoid (hits) and protect himself,” Frost said. “The biggest thing is we have to make sure he’s healthy enough that there’s no added risk for further injury.”

If Martinez cannot play on Saturday, Frost said he had no reservations about sophomore walk-on Andrew Bunch effectively running the Huskers’ full offense.

Frost said Bunch has continued to get better with every rep he takes, and it was a shame that he couldn’t get more work during fall camp.

“He’s looked great,” Frost said. “He looked really good when he came in (vs. Colorado). That was a tough situation he came into the other day, and he operated well. He threw a pass that probably should have won us the game and then got us down in striking distance to win the game the second time.

“If it’s him, we’re going to run our offense. When he’s had his opportunities he’s looked really good.”

- Robin Washut

While Nebraska’s focus is solely on getting ready for Troy right now, the issue of rescheduling a 12th regular-season game remains a hot topic of discussion.

Frost said there wasn’t anything concrete to report on that front as of yet, but he did essentially rule out the possibility of NU making up its canceled opener against Akron by adding a game at the end of the year on Dec. 1 – the same weekend as the Big Ten Championship in Indianapolis.

“I don’t want to schedule a game for December because I think we have a chance to be in the championship game,” Frost said. “Scheduling a game in December, I don’t want our kids thinking we’re not going to be in the championship. We need to be in the championship game.

“So that leaves us (the bye weekend of Oct. 27). It’s not ideal. They don’t even really do that in the NFL, but if that’s the hand we’re dealt, so be it. These kids have practiced hard enough and worked hard enough they deserve a full slate of games. Administration is dealing with that, and we’ll play whoever they line up for us.”

It just so happens that Frost’s former school, Central Florida, shares the same Oct. 27 bye week as Nebraska. It also coincidentally works out that the Knights have already had their game this weekend canceled due to an incoming hurricane, leaving them possibly in need of adding another game.

Frost didn’t completely rule out the idea of taking on his previous team so soon, but he made it fairly clear that it wouldn’t be an enjoyable experience for him personally.

“We’ll play whoever they get us to play,” Frost said. “I know UCF doesn’t have a true bye week – it’s a short week the next week. The hardest part for me is if anybody on either team got hurt or anything bad happened to any kid on either team I’d be broken hearted. I still love those kids down there that are playing at UCF so much, rooting for them.

“It’d be a great game. I think it’d be an equally matched game of two really good teams, but personally, I’d cringe a little when our defensive end hit their quarterback. That’s not how you want to go into a game.”

- Robin Washut

The more we learned about the attacking and aggressive nature of Erik Chinander’s defensive scheme over the course of this past offseason, the more it seemed like a natural fit for Mohamed Barry.

A gifted athlete who came to Nebraska in 2015 with lofty potential, Barry never quite found his footing in either of the systems used by the previous coaching staffs.

That all changed in a big way this winter, as the Atlanta, Ga., native got a fresh start with the arrival of Chinander and inside linebackers coach Barrett Ruud. After an impressive spring and fall camp, Barry finally got to put his progress on display for the first time on Saturday.

The junior was everywhere against Colorado, racking up a team-high 12 total tackles, a six-yard tackle for loss, and a quarterback hurry.

“Mo has been waiting for an opportunity for a long time,” senior outside linebacker Luke Gifford said. “We had Chris (Weber) last year, so I know he was waiting in the helm. He got out there and busted his butt and he played hard. He played like a Blackshirt.”

Barry was one of seven Husker defenders to be the initial recipients of the coveted Blackshirt practice jerseys on Monday, and for good reason.

Along with his impressive stat line, Barry ended up grading out as one of Nebraska’s top overall defenders in the loss and also one of the top linebackers nationally in Week 2.

According to Pro Football Focus, Barry received an overall grade of 79.5, which trailed only Deontai Williams (84.9) for the best on the team and was nearly 11 points higher than the next closest linebacker (Dedrick Young, 68.7).

Not only that, Barry tied for the ninth-best run defense grade (91.5), the 19th-best pass rushing grade (80.1), and the 36th-best tackling grade (84.3) of any linebacker in the country.

Ruud said he wasn’t surprised at all by Barry’s breakout performance based on the work he put in over the previous nine months.

“Mo has been great since I’ve been here,” Ruud said. “I think maybe the best thing I can say about Mo is that he loves football. He loves everything about it. He loves the cold tub, he loves the weight room, he loves the film room, he loves practicing, and that just carries over to Saturday.

“Saturday is easy. If you love football every day of the week, Saturday takes care of itself. He’s just one of those guys that loves everything about the game.”

- Robin Washut

It’s hard not to think of how differently Nebraska’s game against Colorado could have ended up had two of its marquis players come up with a couple of golden opportunities.

Star receivers Stanley Morgan Jr. and J.D. Spielman both had uncharacteristic drops on passes that could have potentially turned a loss into a victory.

Morgan’s came on the final play of the third quarter when Martinez lofted a deep pass over the middle that made the senior break off of his route and come back to the ball. Morgan ended up being wide open in the end zone for what should have been a 31-yard touchdown, but the ball fell through his hands and incomplete.

That drive instead ended with a missed field goal and left NU clinging to a one-point lead.

Spielman’s drop didn’t directly keep points off the scoreboard, but it was just as important of a missed opportunity. Up 28-27 and facing a third down and 16 with just over 2:30 left, Bunch hit the sophomore in the chest with a pass that would have converted a key first down and likely allowed Nebraska to grind down the rest of the clock.

Instead, the Huskers had to punt, and Colorado responded by marching for the eventual game-winning touchdown.

Offensive coordinator/wide receivers coach Troy Walters said the drops were obviously disappointing, but he added that no one was more upset about them than Morgan and Spielman.

“I’m not worried about them,” Walters said. “Those guys have been in there. The best of us, we’ve all dropped balls. It’s what you do afterward. They were upset; they were frustrated. It hurt them.

“If it didn’t hurt them, I’d probably say something and make it a big deal, but they understood the importance of those plays and they’ve been diligent to stay after it and make sure that it doesn’t happen again. I’m not worried about those guys.”

According to Pro Football Focus, Morgan still ended up catching a team-high seven of his eight targets for 75 yards in the loss. Spielman only caught three of his seven targets, but one of those went for a 57-yard touchdown.

- Robin Washut

It’s not just Nebraska and Huskers fans who have been locked in on the Martinez’s status this week.

Troy head coach Neal Brown and his staff have been equally interested in the Huskers’ quarterback situation, and as they and everyone else await official word on who NU’s starter will be on Saturday, the Trojans have been preparing for all scenarios.

“I’m not sure who is going to play so we will follow that and get ready for both,” Brown said during his weekly press conference earlier this week. “Martinez is a dynamic runner for a true freshman. I thought what he did last week was special.

The backup (Bunch), you’re not a backup quarterback at Nebraska unless you can play. I’m sure that if he has to play, he will perform at a high level.”

- Robin Washut

***Frost said Monday and Tuesday’s practices were “OK,” but Wednesday was “way better” and Thursday was even better. He likes the way the team has responded and can feel a sense of urgency within the players to get back on track this week.

***Frost said he’s coached on teams like Troy in his career, and he knows how important playing a team like Nebraska is for a program like that, saying this was “like the Super Bowl for them.” Frost said his players are well aware of the challenge that awaits regarding matching Troy’s intensity on Saturday.

***Frost was a bit critical of the NCAA’s new rule on allowing only 10 coaches’ headsets on the sideline during games. He said the old rule was fine and was changed only because a few people decided not to follow it, and he also didn’t like that there is an age limitation on non-coach/GA staff members who could wear headsets during games. He thought that was unfair and a bit of age discrimination.