Nebraska quarterback Adrian Martinez looks to the sideline, forehead sweaty, legs heavy from an intense Big Ten football game but no matter how tired he feels, he knows he can trust the man on the sideline.
All the play calls go through one man, walk-on quarterback Matt Masker, a teammate that Martinez can trust on and off the field and a friend he has shared his entire Nebraska football experience with.
The former Kearney Catholic quarterback, Masker, arrived the summer after Martinez, an early enrollee, did in the spring of 2018. In their four years, both men have grown together as athletes, students, teammates and leaders.
The crowd screams Martinez’s name, people clammer for his autograph and he is the face of not only Nebraska’s offense, but the entire team along with head coach Scott Frost. Martinez spends his time in the limelight.
Masker spends his time supporting Martinez and his teammates in every way possible. He signals the plays from the sideline of games and practices and knows the offense as well as anyone.
The fourth-year sophomore anchors the quarterback room, and consequently the team, with his reliability, knowledge, calm presence and leadership skills.
“We need leaders on and off the field in every aspect of life just to hold everybody to a higher standard, hold everybody accountable,” Masker said. “It’s not just on the field where you need accountability. It’s off the field as well.
“What are you doing in your academics, your athletics, your faith life, everything? You need leaders to hold each other accountable for everything. And I really take that upon myself, to lead more on and off the field, and to truly speak on that and to hold others accountable in every area of life.”
Growing Together
Masker and Martinez are the same age, from the class of 2018 and learned how to navigate college life and Big Ten football together. They also learned how to run Nebraska’s offense, one on the field and one off.
“Every single year, I see Adrian’s confidence grow,” Masker said. “And this is his fourth year running the offense. He knows it better than anybody, him and I know it like the back of our hand now.”
Nebraska football’s journey has been anything but smooth since Frost arrived but the duo stuck it out together. The quarterback room has changed a lot in that time. Fourth quarterbacks have transferred and one walk-on left the program.
Masker and Martinez are the only two constants.
“We’ve really truly been through everything together,” Masker said. “I’ve been with Adrian through all the ups and downs. We’ve celebrated things together, we’ve mourned things together.”
Masker was able to watch Martinez bloom from a young quarterback trying to understand Nebraska’s complicated offense to the commander of that offense.
“Every year Adrian continues to improve, he really takes it upon himself in the offseason to improve on something,” Masker said. “Every year, he’s truly made big jumps and understands the offense, being comfortable, being confident.
“I see a very confident, comfortable, Adrian, right now,” he continued. “I don’t ever see him panic, or worry about anything. And that’s what you need and want in a quarterback who’s commanding your offense. He’s always been cool, calm and collected and in command of the offense.”
Both men grew as leaders on and off the field. Masker said Martinez has become someone who holds people accountable in every aspect of life and football: between the hash marks, in the weight room, in the locker room and in the classroom.
Just as Masker does.
Blossoming Others
The newest quarterback added to Nebraska’s room, Heinrich Haarberg, is very familiar with Masker’s leadership capabilities.
Haarberg is also a former Kearney Catholic quarterback. Meaning, half of the Huskers quarterbacks are from a school of 380 students from sixth through 12th grade.
Masker said he wouldn’t be surprised if Nebraska is the only university with two quarterbacks from the same high school on all of Division I rosters.
As a senior at Kearney Catholic, Masker completed 70 touchdown passes and broke a 25-year-old Class-C1 state record set by his current head coach Scott Frost at Wood River.
Talk about coming full circle.
During that electric season, he was also mentoring a freshman quarterback by the name of Heinrich Haarberg.
Again, the circle is complete.
“I didn’t get to spend a whole lot of time with Matt in high school, he was only there for a year when I was a freshman,” Haarberg said. “He’s been such a big help to me here, just the little things. Mentally, physically, he’s helped me a lot.”
Haarberg is now being mentored again by Masker and has been taking advantage of his vast knowledge of the Huskers’ offense.
“The signals took me a while, Matt helped me through that a lot,” Haarberg said. “There’s so many of them, there are some obscure ones that are hard to remember and so he helped me a lot with that.”
Quarterback coach Mario Verduzco said Masker, just like the other quarterbacks, has been helping get Haarberg up to speed on the playbook, drills and technique.
“I think because of their connection, the fact they’re both from Kearney probably adds something to it,” Verduzco said.
Naturally, there is a lot of information to learn as a college quarterback. However, freshmen student-athletes are also adjusting to being away from home, being on their own and the demands of higher education.
All the quarterbacks have helped Haarberg transition in life as a Husker and Masker brings a little bit of home on hard days.
“My experience since being here with all quarterback rooms is if you have a good culture those older guys will help the younger guys regardless and that’s been happening since Haarberg got here,” Verduzco said.
Coaches can preach until their voiceless about culture on a football team but the athletes themselves are truly the creators of that culture. For a team like Nebraska who has struggled in recent history, it is crucial to have strong leaders.
Those leaders come in all shapes and forms. And the Huskers have one leader that doesn’t get the glory on game day or his jersey number represented often. But, Masker has given everything he has to be a good teammate, mentor, role model and one heck of a play signaler.
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