Nebraska Spring Game Report Card: Red 49, White 9

It’s a mostly meaningless exhibition that’s officially a practice…but that doesn’t stop fans from inferring some meaning anyway.

First, the usual disclaimer: Now that spring games are televised, it’s way too easy to read too much into the spring game. The playbook is dialed way-down while the matchups are set up to make the starters look good. The idea of the game is to entertain your fans and recruits, not challenge the team. Heck, some schools don’t even have a spring game anymore; they just have an open practice.

Because so much of the game was mix-and-match of starters and reserves, I’ve given up on grading positions in the spring game. There really isn’t much of a baseline you can work from as players rotate in and out of the game. So here’s my thoughts as to where Nebraska’s reconstruction project stands after 14 spring practices. (The team will practice on Monday, so spring football isn’t over yet.) I don’t think Scott Frost has any intention of making any firm decisions now, but he will let players know where they stand and what they need to do this summer. For some, that means working on specific skills; for others, it might mean thinking about doing something else or doing this somewhere else. I’m not going to speculate on that, but Frost appears to be overextended on scholarships going into the fall.

QB: Adrian Martinez didn’t play like a high school senior; he looks like a guy who could start against Akron. However, I think Tristan Gebbia also looked the part as well. Gebbia’s opening toss to Jaevon McQuitty was wiped out by an illegal formation penalty on left tackle Brenden Jaimes. The two players do different things well, so Frost may need to prioritize what skills he wants on the field. Martinez proved he can throw the ball well, and frankly, Gebbia looked better running the ball than his stat sheet showed thanks to three sacks. Andrew Bunch looked like he could be serviceable this fall, while Noah Vedral gave no indication that he could contribute if the NCAA grants him eligibility this fall.