Nebraska officially has its starting quarterback for the 2018 season. Scott Frost anounced true freshman Adrian Martinez as the starter on Sunday, taking the job over redshirt freshman Tristan Gebbia. The announcement came with little fanfare as Nebraska simply released its Week 1 depth chart.
The depth chart for Week 1 against Akron.#GBR pic.twitter.com/6D1Sw6x919
— Nebraska Huskers (@Huskers) August 26, 2018
Quarterbacks coach Mario Verduzco previously narrowed the competition down to just Gebbia and Martinez. He then expected Frost to make the decision after receiving input and feedback from Verduzco and the staff. As of Friday, Frost said he knew who the starting quarterback would be. He just wasn't ready to share that decision publicly yet.
With preparation for Akron looming, that decision has finally been made.
Martinez didn’t play his senior year at Clovis West High School in Fresno, California. The last tape of Martinez occurred during a junior season that saw him pass at a 60 percent clip with a 25-4 touchdown-to-interception ratio and a per-attempt average of exactly 7 yards. Frost saw enough to fly cross-country the night he took the Nebraska job to flip the kid from Tennessee to the Huskers.
For all intents and purposes, Martinez was Frost’s No. 1 draft pick. That was without a senior year. That’s not new information, but it tells an awful lot. It also likely explains a part of why Martinez won the starting job.
Martinez previously topped our 10 most intriguing Huskers in 2018 list.
