Nebraska Football: Mario Verduzco has toughest task out of all assistants
The Nebraska football quarterbacks coach has a lot on his plate in 2020.
Monday night, 247Sports wrote a piece detailing which Nebraska football assistant has the toughest job heading into 2020. They list all the coaches, and give reasons why each one has a toughest job. For me, I would say that Mario Verduzco has the toughest job.
For one, he has to make sure that Adrian Martinez is in top shape this year. That means, being more decisive and getting out of his own head. How Martinez plays determines how the rest of the Nebraska football program plays.
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It’s tough to force all the responsibility onto one player, but it’s true. That’s how a football team works. The quarterback is the leader and is expected to play at a high level constantly. Thus, the position is often under a microscope.
In addition to sorting things out with Martinez, Verduzco also has a bunch of eager quarterbacks waiting in the room.
Luke McCaffrey dazzled in his limited playing time last year. with that being said, Logan Smothers hot on both of their trails. It’s going to be a difficult balancing act for the coach as he tries to show his support for the veteran while having two younger quarterbacks ready and waiting in the wings.
It’s a good problem to have. Too often, you see teams that do not have enough quarterback depth. Once the starter gets injured, they are not left with much to work with. At various times last year, an injured Martinez often led to playing time for the other quarterbacks. Hopefully, that will be a theme this year, but in football you have to be prepared for anything.
Between mentoring McCaffrey and Smothers while making sure that Martinez maintains his edge, Mario Verduzco has the toughest job. The quarterback position at Nebraska is one where you have to be sharp and on your toes every single day. Between the job he has done recruiting and the work he has done with the QBs on the roster, Verduzco has certainly handled the quarterback position nicely.
It will be interesting to see what he can do with this group of quarterbacks. There is no doubt that this room is very talented. It’s more so about just getting them to reach their full potential. When the quarterbacks are on top of their game, they are difficult to stop. Here’s to hoping that 2020 will lead to success for both Verduzco and the signal-callers.