I’m glad it’s over, at least for now: the hype surrounding Jake Locker. Todd McShay has been flying his banner for a couple of years to go so far as to deem him the No.1 overall draft pick for 2011. I personally do not see it and have never seen it in Locker. As far as good quarterbacks that will be great at the next level, in the Pac-10, the honors go to Matt Barkley and Andrew Luck. Locker has the attributes: 6-3, 230 and has a live arm. Everything a coach wants in a quarterback, but he is widely inconsistent with his throws.
We all expected marked improvement, in his second year, with head coach Steve Sarkisian (who is known for grooming quarterbacks at the collegiate level). However, the hard work has not paid dividends yet. The Nebraska defense did not give him time to check down to his wide receivers and made sure the running lanes were closed.
The Cornhuskers utilized their speed to thwart the entire Washington Husky offense all day, so it was not only Locker’s inadequacies that cost them the game. His offensive line could not contain the feisty Nebraska defense that have the luxury of having two defensive coordinators in theory: Bo Pelini (head coach) was behind the successful defense of the 2008 National Champions LSU Tigers and his brother (Carl), who in actuality, is the defensive coordinator; so this team thinks defense first before anything else and it shows.
If you can believe it, Locker was outplayed by redshirt freshman Taylor Martinez, who was doing his best impression of Denard Robinson: he threw for 150 yards with 1 TD and ran for 137 yards with 3 TDs. If you haven’t seen him, he is really fast and decisive once the ball is snapped.
Who knows maybe Locker will find his stride later in the season, but all is not lost because if he pulls off improbable wins against Stanford at home (Oct. 30) and @Oregon (Nov. 6) these would be huge wins for him and the program. But that is a big “If.” Wins against USC and Oregon State does not hold the luster of winning at Stanford and Oregon. USC is in the rebuilding mold and trying to find their identity on both sides of the ball while if Oregon State gets creamed by Boise Sate this upcoming Saturday then it does not say much for a Husky win against them. It’s is fine not getting wins but your star quarterback and highly touted needs to do better than completing only 20% of his passes, how about above 50% and an average of 200 yards with no interceptions?!
As any football fan knows, some collegiate players have an awesome college career and flop in the NFL and vice versa. So Locker might go down as a disappointment at the college level but might show the potential all the media types have been trying to shove done our throats at the next level. But as it stands now, he is going to have to show me more, and he can certainly fall in line with Jacory Harris and Terrelle Pryor as quarterbacks that do not deserve the hype, nor are they Heisman candidates.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Nebraska puts an end to the hype surrounding Jake Locker, 56-21
I’m glad it’s over, at least for now: the hype surrounding Jake Locker. Todd McShay has been flying his banner for a couple of years to go so far as to deem him the No.1 overall draft pick for 2011. I personally do not see it and have never seen it in Locker. As far as good quarterbacks that will be great at the next level, in the Pac-10, the honors go to Matt Barkley and Andrew Luck. Locker has the attributes: 6-3, 230 and has a live arm. Everything a coach wants in a quarterback, but he is widely inconsistent with his throws.
We all expected marked improvement, in his second year, with head coach Steve Sarkisian (who is known for grooming quarterbacks at the collegiate level). However, the hard work has not paid dividends yet. The Nebraska defense did not give him time to check down to his wide receivers and made sure the running lanes were closed.
The Cornhuskers utilized their speed to thwart the entire Washington Husky offense all day, so it was not only Locker’s inadequacies that cost them the game. His offensive line could not contain the feisty Nebraska defense that have the luxury of having two defensive coordinators in theory: Bo Pelini (head coach) was behind the successful defense of the 2008 National Champions LSU Tigers and his brother (Carl), who in actuality, is the defensive coordinator; so this team thinks defense first before anything else and it shows.
If you can believe it, Locker was outplayed by redshirt freshman Taylor Martinez, who was doing his best impression of Denard Robinson: he threw for 150 yards with 1 TD and ran for 137 yards with 3 TDs. If you haven’t seen him, he is really fast and decisive once the ball is snapped.
Who knows maybe Locker will find his stride later in the season, but all is not lost because if he pulls off improbable wins against Stanford at home (Oct. 30) and @Oregon (Nov. 6) these would be huge wins for him and the program. But that is a big “If.” Wins against USC and Oregon State does not hold the luster of winning at Stanford and Oregon. USC is in the rebuilding mold and trying to find their identity on both sides of the ball while if Oregon State gets creamed by Boise Sate this upcoming Saturday then it does not say much for a Husky win against them. It’s is fine not getting wins but your star quarterback and highly touted needs to do better than completing only 20% of his passes, how about above 50% and an average of 200 yards with no interceptions?!
As any football fan knows, some collegiate players have an awesome college career and flop in the NFL and vice versa. So Locker might go down as a disappointment at the college level but might show the potential all the media types have been trying to shove done our throats at the next level. But as it stands now, he is going to have to show me more, and he can certainly fall in line with Jacory Harris and Terrelle Pryor as quarterbacks that do not deserve the hype, nor are they Heisman candidates.
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