Tuesday notebook: Huskers looking for separation at QB

Tuesday was quarterback day for Nebraska, as four of the Huskers five quarterbacks spoke with reporters for the first time this spring.

While all of the players kept things fairly close to the vest regarding the competition for the starting job this coming season, head coach Scott Frost gave his thoughts on where things stood with arguably the most important position on the roster.

“Every single one of them just has to get more familiar with the offense,” Frost said. “It’s funny watching that position more than any other. It takes a while, and once it clicks, it really clicks. But there’s a lot of little details, a lot of little things happening really fast, and quarterbacks have to be able to manage all that.

“I see all of the guys making some good plays and then a play that’s not so good, and most of the time it’s because they’re just a little behind mentally, they don’t quite understand the concept, or they can’t quite get there in the time it takes us to snap the ball.”

As even tight as the competition has been over the first eight spring practices, Frost said he was starting to look for some separation at quarterback and every other position.

However, he said he had no set timetable for when he wanted to establish any sort of pecking order within the QB room.

“With as many reps as we get, the depth chart will sort itself out,” Frost said. “The one thing that we’re going to have to do, and we started a little bit today, is making sure we’re getting the guys that have separated themselves more reps so we can get our team ready to play. But we have until September to figure out who’s going to be the first guy out on the field.”

It was no surprise that Frost had zero intention of giving any hints as to which of the quarterbacks, if any, had started to separate thus far.

“You guys keep asking those questions, but we’ve got a long way to go,” Frost said. “There’s definitely some guys who have performed well, and those guys are going to continue to get more reps. We’ve just got to keep letting it sort itself out.”

- Robin Washut

As the grind of spring practice starts to set in, Frost said the excitement of a new opportunity has started to give way to just plain old hard work.

Along with that, players are beginning to get an idea of where they might fit in at their respective positions. When that happens, some players sometimes start to reevaluate their current situations.

Frost said there were no players he expected to transfer from Nebraska at this point, and he planned to meet with each Husker individually following spring practices to assess where they stood in the grand scheme of things.

That said, Frost is well aware that some attrition might be unavoidable.

“I don’t know if there will be any transfers,” Frost said. “I know after spring I’m going to sit down with every player individually and kind of tell them where I think they are and get their ideas about what’s going on and where they are…

“Hopefully nobody leaves the program, but there’s only so many guys that can play. So sometimes those things work themselves out.”

- Robin Washut

After missing his entire high school senior season with a shoulder injury, early enrollee quarterback Adrian Martinez is just getting back to his old self.

Martinez talked to reporters for the first time this spring following Tuesday’s practice. Frost said he feels like Martinez is at about “90 percent” with his arm, and he’s still missing a little “steam” on his throws.

It’s been a process for Martinez, but he’s nearly back to where he wants to be.

“It’s been a smooth transition for me,” Martinez said. “I really feel like in Orlando during the Under Armour All-American game, that was really my moment to have a transition. Then the time in the offseason came around to get some of the rust out. I feel really good right now.”

Martinez added he feels like he’s much further ahead physically than where he was his junior year of high school, and that it’s more mental now.

“Feeling it though in my self that I’m 100 percent, I think it’s coming soon," Martinez said. "I feel like I had a really good day today, and just with time – just continuing to throw and put in that time, I think it will come.”

- Sean Callahan

You won’t find very many competitors bigger than Central Florida quarterback transfer Noah Vedral.

The former all-state quarterback, all-state point guard and state champion hurdler from Wahoo (Neb.) Bishop Neumann was Frost’s No. 2 quarterback at UCF last fall, but because of NCAA transfer rules, he must sit out the 2018 season.

This year will be one of the only times in Vedral’s life where he won’t be on the field playing, but he fully prepared for it.

“Patience is big,” Vedral said. “I understand, and I know what I signed up for. I know what the transferring entailed, and I knew what I was getting into. I’ll benefit personally from a year of being able to lift and prepare as I advance myself physically and mentally.

“Patience is a big part of it, but also being here to help these guys is big. I still have a role on this team. I have a role to play, and I’m here to do that to the best of my abilities.”

Vedral also made it clear he would’ve probably followed Frost about anywhere, but he’s glad to have him back home in Nebraska.

“He’s one of the most unique and special people I’ve ever met,” Vedral said of Frost. “You learn to love him like a father, and as a brother. I think that really makes him special. A lot of coaches, they have a father figure role, and you look up to them. Coach Frost is able to do that to really, really high standards, but at the same time, he’s able to relate to all of us as a player and as a college kid basically as a brother.

“You can go to him, you can talk to him, and just like anyone else, he expects high things from you, but he’s also realistic, and he understands the needs to be a student-athlete and what it takes to be a college football player.”

- Sean Callahan

Nebraska quarterbacks coach Mario Verduzco is a pretty energetic and intense character. The tests he subjects his quarterbacks to seem to be fairly similar.

The coach has several tests he gives his players to not only gauge their knowledge of the system, but also to hold them accountable for learning all of the nuances of Frost’s offense. So far, Trsitan Gebbia and Andrew Bunch say those tests have gone well.

“They are good,” Gebbia said. “We have like four or five tests that we can take and it’s been really cool learning about all of the little things in the offense. Protections, assignments, run keys, dive keys, pitch keys; so it’s all been really fun.”

Bunch says the tests are comprehensive enough that it’s almost like a separate class, except a little bit more enjoyable than your typical curriculum.

“It’s a big test, but it’s good,” Bunch said. “I think I’ve studied enough, I hope I have. It’s like part of your homework. You get home, you do your homework, study for your football test. It’s hard, but I enjoy it so it’s a little easier than your schoolwork.”

- Nate Clouse

One characteristic Nebraska’s coaching staff is looking from its players as much as anything is a relentless desire to compete and succeed.

Frost said the Huskers as a whole have shown those qualities for the most part over the first eight practices, but added that they weren’t nearly as consistent or prevalent as they needed to be by the time the season rolls around.

“What I was to see more of is guys with the grit and grind that get a look in their eye and say, ‘I’m not going to lose no matter what,’” Frost said. “They’ve got to understand it’s on the line every time we go out there. I saw a little more of it today. I see some guys that are competitors that are embracing that and really attacking, but I want the whole team to do that.

“It can’t be a part-time thing. Nebraska football is built on guys that won’t quit, won’t give up; who are going to be tough and refuse to lose. We’ve got some of it, but we’ve got to build more of it.”

While numerous players have shown flashes of those characteristics early on, only a few have shown it each day the Huskers take the field.

“Jack Stoll is a guy I can pick out,” Frost said. “He brings is every day and he’s been physical for us. He’s making mistakes but he’s making them full speed. Jerald Foster did a nice job today competing and trying to lead. Will Honas is coming to work every day and doing some awesome things.

“That’s just to mention a few, that there’s some guys doing it. But I want a whole team of guys that when they take the field, they’re not going to allow themselves or their team to lose.”

- Robin Washut

***Frost said Tuesday was the best day the offensive line has had this spring, which was especially encouraging given that it was one of the hardest practices NU has had yet.

***Frost said they’re still working out the details for the spring game, but he wants to make sure to “put on a show” for all of the fans who sold out the game and “give them what they paid for.”

***Frost said Tuesday’s eighth practice of the spring was definitely better than Day 1, but they ultimately needed to be better on Day 15 than they were on Day 8.

"This is kind of the hard part of spring ball, where the enthusiasm of new opportunities and everything wears off and then it’s just hard work," Frost said. "Most of the guys are embracing that, but we’ve got to make sure we knuckle down and get the most out of these last five or six practices.”

***Martinez said one of his best assets is his work ethic. He said he got that from his dad, who didn’t go to college and worked as a truck driver for 30 years. Now his dad is a manager of the trucking company. He said those values have been instilled in him since he first started playing tackle football when he was six years old.

***Gebbia said even though he was recruited by Mike Riley and Danny Langsdorf, he never considered transferring when the previous staff was let go. “Nebraska is my home now,” Gebbia said, and he immediately embraced the opportunity to play in Frost’s offense.

***Gebbia said the biggest difference for quarterbacks in this new offense compared to the old system was the speed and having to make decisions on the fly before and after the snap.

***Gebbia wouldn’t give any specifics as to how much weight he’s gained this offseason, but said he knows he needs to bulk up to hold up physically in the Big Ten.

***Gebbia called Vedral basically a GA within the quarterback room because of his experience in the offense. Vedral said he’s currently at 198 pounds, up from the 175 he weighed in high school.

***Bunch said he likes that this offense emphasizes athleticism for quarterbacks. He also said it’s been his dream to play at Nebraska, as his dad was a walk-on wide receiver at NU from 1986-87.