This year, I (and many others) thought it would be all about the Texas and Oklahoma QBs again. Sooners’ QB Landry Jones was impressive as a back-up last year and got national attention in the preseason talk prior to this season. Texas QB Garrett Gilbert was also expected to step right in and win. Well, things haven’t gone smoothly for Gilbert, whose Longhorns are just 3-2, and Jones hasn’t played at the level many expected yet. And these are the two quarterbacks who continually get mentioned in the national and Big 12 media.
Well, there are two other Big 12 quarterbacks that need to get some national attention, and they don’t play in Texas or Oklahoma. The two best QBs in the Big 12 right now are Nebraska’s Taylor Martinez and Oklahoma State’s Brandon Weeden.
Martinez started getting some ‘love’ this week, after an impressive 5 TD performance in a win against K-State on national television, but he still isn’t getting the respect he deserves. In that game, Martinez threw for 128 and a TD and ran for 241 yards and 4 TDs. On the season, he has thrown for 660 yards and 3 TDs and has rushed for 737 yards and a nation-leading 12 TDs. He has been simply spectacular. And he’s only a redshirt freshman. Oklahoma State QB Brandon Weeden has received almost no national attention, but he has played as well as anyone in the country. Weeden has completed 69% of his passes for 1,610 yards and 18 TDs and has led his team to a 5-0 start.
Both of these quarterbacks deserve some national recognition, and this weekend they will have the chance to earn it, as Nebraska battles Texas and Oklahoma State takes on Texas Tech in two nationally televised games. Keep an eye on these two this weekend, and then get ready to see them battle it out on October 23rd when Nebraska travels to Oklahoma State.
Nick's Quick Hitter
The New Big 12 Quarterbacks
The Big 12 has had some impressive quarterbacks over the last several years. The most notable are clearly Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford and Texas’s all-time winningest QB Colt McCoy. Others such as Chase Daniel, Todd Reesing and Graham Harrell also come to mind.
Posted by Nick Locker on Oct 14, 2010 08:59:06 am
