Two-QB system with Martinez, McCaffrey has solid debut
After an offseason full of competition and speculation, Nebraska finally painted the picture of what its quarterback situation would like in 2020 on Saturday.
While junior Adrian Martinez got the start at Ohio State as expected, redshirt freshman Luke McCaffrey was on the field early and often, and at multiple positions besides quarterback.
Martinez played 43 snaps on Saturday, while McCaffrey had 21 per PFF. Martinez completed 12-of-15 passes on 18 dropbacks while rushing 13 times for 85 yards and a touchdown.
McCaffrey was 4-for-5 passing for 55 yards on seven dropbacks, nine carries for 80 yards, and one catch for five yards.
The 52-17 final score might not show it, but the Huskers felt their two-QB system got off to about as good of a start as they could have hoped. A big reason for that was because of how Martinez and McCaffrey have embraced their shared roles.
“It definitely felt natural, and I’d probably attribute that to multiple things,” Martinez said. “One being our coaching staff and the way we practiced up to that game. We felt comfortable with that and those scenarios.
“In addition, Luke and I, I think we really make a great team, and we’re going to continue to build on that for the rest of the year. We’re comfortable with that, and we just want to win at the end of the day.”
Head coach Scott Frost agreed that Martinez and McCaffrey's relationship off the field was an important aspect of making their situation work.
Not only does that make it easier for the coaching staff to utilize both players in games, but Frost said it also creates a much healthier dynamic in the quarterback room.
“Probably just having two good players that are good people, too, and friends,” Frost said. “I think they’re both rooting for each other, pulling for each other. There’s a lot of situations where having both of them on the field gives us some of our best players out there. But it’s probably just because of the character of those two kids.”
Of McCaffrey’s nine rushes, eight were designed runs. There were several plays where he and Martinez were on the field together, with McCaffrey lined up as a running back, out wide as a receiver, or motioning into the backfield.
Frost said to expect the nation’s former No. 37-ranked athlete in the 2019 class to continue to have a big workload in various ways this season, including under center at quarterback.
“I’ll tell you, anything we ask Luke McCaffrey to do, he’s going to be good at,” Frost said.
“Both of them deserve to play,” Frost added. “You could see that in that game. They both ran hard; they both threw the ball well; they both did things well. They both deserve to play, and if we can find ways to get them both out there, we will.”