We kick off our spring football previews with an in-depth look at Nebraska’s quarterback position.

The Nebraska football team is scheduled to officially start spring practice on Tuesday, Mar. 30, as the Big Red will go five straight weeks before wrapping things up with the May 1 Red-White spring game.

As we get closer to the start of spring practice, it’s time to take an in-depth look at each position group.

Today we take we breakdown the quarterback position as Adrian Martinez gets ready to enter his fourth season as the Huskers starter.

Let’s not beat around the bush. This is Adrian Martinez’s offense and he has a lock on the quarterback job.

Over the last three seasons, Martinez has started 27 games and played in 28 total. He’s thrown for 5,628 yards and ran for 1,776 yards.

I think of all the numbers that jump out, the improvement of Martinez’s completion percentage and total interceptions is where I start.

Martinez completed 72 percent of his passes in 2020, compared to 59 percent a year ago. He threw just three interceptions on the year and went five straight games without one before closing the year at Rutgers with two.

The other thing that jumps out was Martinez’s long pass of 2020 was just 38 yards, compared to 75 yards in both 2019 and 2020. Was Martinez’s lack of downfield throwing do more to NU’s lack of talent at receiver or the way teams chose to defend him? Often times Martinez didn’t see a blitz in 2020, which meant he faced two deep safeties on nearly every passing situation and was forced to throw underneath more often than not.

Can this offense add the necessary production at both running back and receiver in 2021 to open things up for Martinez and this offense? Martinez has proven he can be a very good quarterback, but when he’s put in predictable positions where teams can scheme him he has not been able to produce near as many big plays.

This spring is more about Nebraska “getting right” around Martinez, as this offense has to have the production at running back and receiver to take a step forward in 2021.

When Luke McCaffrey chose to transfer to Louisville in January, it put the Huskers in a hole heading into the 2021 season.

Martinez is the only quarterback on the roster that’s taken a snap in a Division I football game, but obviously both Logan Smothers and Heinrich Haarberg have promise for the future.

With that said, will that “promise” be enough for the Husker coaching staff to bet on the quarterback room as it is today, or will they need to go out and add another arm between now and August?

The logical choice remains Kentucky transfer quarterback Terry Wilson, who entered the portal this off-season, and was once a Scott Frost signed recruit at Oregon. Wilson was a three-year starter for Oregon that still has a sixth-year of eligibility he can use in 2021.

Will Frost look to add a one-year transfer like Wilson to bolster depth in his quarterback room? Today, I think the odds are fairly good the Big Red will add a quarterback, but they appear to be in no rush to do so until after the spring.

Of all the mysteries of spring practice, we have no idea what Logan Smothers is going to look like.

What’s interesting is if the Huskers would’ve played in a bowl game in 2020, there’s a decent chance Smothers may have gotten the start with both Martinez and McCaffrey battling different injuries.

For several reasons I think it would’ve been beneficial for the Huskers to play in a bowl game, and the chance to potentially see Smothers get the start would’ve been right at the top of the list.

With that said, he’s going to get a ton of quality reps this spring. It was a blow to see McCaffrey leave, but in all reality, he was never going to beat out Martinez in 2021. McCaffrey and his camp clearly were not going to be happy sitting for a third year in a row, so it was probably best for all parties to go their own way if it meant trying to stage a quarterback competition this spring that almost everyone knew Martinez was going to win.

Now Smothers will get extra reps and the ability to learn more under Martinez. We also don’t know what Martinez’s long-term plans are on if he plans to return in 2022 for a fifth season.