Wednesday notebook: QB situation remains unclear

The wait continues on the status of true freshman quarterback Adrian Martinez for Nebraska’s home game vs. Troy on Saturday.

Martinez, who suffered a right knee injury in the fourth quarter of last week's loss to Colorado, was held out of practice for the third straight day on Wednesday morning.

Offensive coordinator Troy Walters and quarterbacks coach Mario Verduzco said Martinez was still learning this week’s game plan and taking as many mental reps in practice as possible, but at this point he remains a game-time decision.

“He’s progressing every day,” Walters said. “He’s out of the field progressing, he’s meeting with Coach V (Verduzco) making sure he learns the game plan. All the reps he’s gotten in fall camp have been good, so he knows what’s going on. We’ll just see how he goes. Tomorrow we’ll see and then the next day, and he’ll be a gameday decision as to whether he’s good to go or not.”

Verduzco said despite the frustrating setback Martinez has maintained a positive attitude during his recovery this week, which was one of the coach’s top concerns coming off the injury.

“He’s seems to be obviously in great spirits, which is probably first and foremost in my mind,” Verduzco said. “Secondarily, it seems like he’s functioning pretty well.”

Verduzco added that Martinez even came to the coaching staff on Monday and told them he felt well enough to return to action.

“He said, ‘Well, I’m playing Saturday.’ I was like, ‘Ok. I don’t think you’re the one that’s going to make that decision,’” Verduzco said. “He wants to play. He’s a competitor and he wants to be out there for teammates and all that sort of good stuff, which is really honest with how he is.”

With the Huskers now three full days into their preparation for Troy, the question becomes how much practice work could Martinez potentially miss and still be ready to run the offense effectively in a game?

“We’re going to do what gives us the best chance to be successful,” Walters said. “It’s hard for a quarterback not to do anything the whole week, and so we’ll see what he can do tomorrow. We’ve got a walk-thru and then Friday we’ve got a short practice, so we’ll see what he can do there and make a decision come gameday.”

- Robin Washut

As Nebraska evaluates Martinez’s progress this week, Andrew Bunch is preparing himself as if he will be the starting quarterback on Saturday.

That, of course, is no different from how the sophomore walk-on has always approached every practice.

Bunch replaced Martinez late in the fourth quarter vs. Colorado and completed 4-of-9 passes for 49 yards before he and the Huskers came up short on their final drive to win the game.

With his first taste of FBS game action now under his belt, Bunch said he was as locked in as ever should he be called upon once again vs. Troy.

“I’m ready,” Bunch said. “You know I’ve prepared all week, and I’m confident. The coaches have done everything to put me in a good position to go win the game or to do my part, so I’m ready.”

Walters said he had no doubt Bunch would be capable of running Nebraska’s offense at a high level, as the staff got a great evaluation of what Bunch could bring to the table during his extensive practice work during spring ball and fall camp.

“The way we practice, he’s gotten a lot of reps,” Walters said. “This fall he was working with the ones at times, and so he knows what to do. He knows this offense; he knows what’s expected of him.

“He’s a sharp guy. He can beat you with his legs, and he’s got a good enough arm as well. So we’re excited. He’s one of those guys who’s going to work his butt off, and his number’s called he’s going to be ready to go.”

Bunch said he has always known he was capable of playing top-level college football, and he was now chomping at the bit to prove himself in what could be his most extensive playing time yet.

While his path up to this point has been somewhat unusual, Bunch knows a window of opportunity may have just opened wide for him.

“I probably couldn’t have mapped out the way it ended up going,” Bunch said. “But I always just planned on coming in and giving my best effort and trusting that good things were going to happen if that happened. “

- Robin Washut

Nebraska had some big plays on the ground last week, as it racked up 329 rushing yards against Colorado.

One of the bright spots in that rushing attack was junior running back Greg Bell’s 104 yards on only 13 carries. However, those numbers could have been much higher, as Bell was close to breaking away for touchdowns on two separate runs where he eventually was caught from behind.

While it may be natural to question Bell’s top-end speed, head coach Scott Frost and running backs coach Ryan Held chalked it up to the JUCO transfer running too tight.

“Greg Bell is a fast kid, he broke a couple times,” Frost said. “I honestly think our guys were so amped up that maybe adrenaline got them a little tight and Greg looked like he was tight when he broke through instead of just loose and running. We need those plays to turn into touchdowns when we get guys through that cleanly. He [Bell] knows it, he’ll do a better job in the future.”

Held echoed Frost’s thoughts and said he’s been giving Bell a hard time about getting caught this week.

“Really, he looked like a 95-year old man out there running toward the end zone, and he knows that,” Held said. “I was giving him heck about that. He’s just got to loosen up. When you see the open hole we’ve got to be able to get that deal done. We can’t get hawked down like that.”

Held went on to say that he’s not worried about Bell’s breakaway speed, but at the same time, Bell and the rest of the running backs need to put it on film.

"Obviously, the proof will be out there," Held said. "He’ll get another chance and if it shows that it’s a consistent deal then it is what it is. But I do have faith in him and that all of my guys have the ability to make big plays. Whether we’ve got a guy that can go 80 in this league, I don’t know we’ll see. With the guys we have, we’ll continue to show them that and obviously recruiting we need to find guys that can definitely do that as well.”

- Nate Clouse

One of the more encouraging developments from Nebraska’s loss to Colorado was the overall play and physicality of the offensive line.

A big part of that performance had to do with the continued rise of sophomore left tackle Brenden Jaimes.

While he did commit a costly false start penalty on the final drive of the game that forced NU to burn its third timeout to prevent a 10-second runoff, Jaimes put together one of the top grades of any Husker offensive lineman.

The Austin, Texas, native played all 85 offensive snaps on the day and did not allow a single sack, hurry, or pressure. Pro Football Focus awarded Jaimes with far and away the team’s top pass blocking grade (87.1) and the No. 1 overall grade at 66.4.

“He was great,” senior left guard Jerald Foster said of Jaimes. “He called out things that I didn’t see, which helped me out. He listened, did his part in the game. I felt like he kept the quarterback not even in a pressure situation, which exactly what you need from your left tackle.

“He’s going to grow; he’s going to get better. There’s great things with the young guys that we have. Jaimes is going to be one of the guys who’s going to be a leader when (Tanner) Farmer, Cole (Conrad), and I leave. I’m excited for him.”

- Robin Washut

When Verduzco breaks down Bunch’s game at quarterback, there are a lot of things that jump out to him.

“He does a real nice job of where he puts his eyeballs and his feet,” Verduzco said. “He’s very similar to Adrian in that way. His decision making has been really crisp. Now the challenge for Andrew is to apply it to the game, and hopefully it comes to the forefront in regard to that experience, which was impressive for Adrian. Every snap that he took was a new experience.”

As for carrying the label of being a “walk-on,” Verduzco doesn’t look at Bunch in that light.

He said Bunch has been a great example of if you do things right and work hard what can happen.

“I don’t look at Andrew as a walk-on, and Andrew doesn’t look at himself as a walk-on,” Verduzco said. “He certainly doesn’t behave like one or prepare like one. Which is a great example for Matt Masker now, because Matt is a walk-on and he’s following down those same footsteps.”

- Sean Callahan

On Saturday we saw Nebraska play three different running backs. According to Pro Football Focus, Bell took 34 snaps, Devine Ozigbo had 33, and Maurice Washington took 20.

When Held breaks down that group, he’d like to play things similar again this week against Troy.

“I thought our guys ran hard,” Held said. “We did a lot of good things. When you go back and watch, even then we left some plays on the table. We turned the ball over on the first drive, which is unacceptable. We can’t do that. We stress it a lot. We don’t overemphasize it, it’s just a matter of technique or fundamentals.

“Basically, when (Bell) ran through the smoke there were two defenders coming and you have to bring that second arm with you. It was a good run, he was trying to run through them and be physical, but he didn’t bring the second arm to the party, which then caused the fumble. You can’t turn the ball over, bottom line.”

Most importantly, Held said the workload Saturday kept everybody fresh and healthy.

“Basically, it was about 30 plays apiece,” Held said. “I talked to Zach (Duval) after the game, and he looked at how our bodies looked, and everybody was good. That’s going to be the formula. There’s sometimes guys will get more, but we want to be fresh and ready to go.”

- Sean Callahan

***Verduzco said nothing would change with the offensive game plan if Bunch were to play on Saturday. He said Bunch was a much better runner than most gave him credit for and was perfectly capable of executing the same play calls as Martinez.

***Walters said Matt Masker has been getting plenty of reps this week, and if he has to play at any point this season NU will tailor its game plan around his skill set. As for a No. 4 emergency QB, Walters said they would have a plan ready but didn’t want to say who it would be.

***Walters said Nebraska has always worked in ball security drills during practices but admitted at times some players took the drills lightly. After three turnovers (two fumbles) vs. Colorado, Walters said the staff is making sure everyone was dialed in on the drills this week and going forward.

“You shouldn’t see any fumbles on Saturday,” Walters said.

***Offensive line coach Greg Austin said one of the main points of emphasis for his unit this week was to step up its level of play to make life easy on whichever quarterback was under center on Saturday. Their motto is that their job is to make everyone else’s job easier, and they can do that for the quarterbacks by protecting the pocket and establishing a strong run game.

***Austin said he was very pleased with how Boe Wilson played vs. Colorado. He said Wilson had already started working into the rotation during the game even before Cole Conrad got hurt and Tanner Farmer moved to center, so he was very much part of the rotation going in.

*** Held said it was still too early to tell on the redshirt possibilities for Miles Jones and Jaylin Bradley, but both could be candidates depending on how the season goes.