Nebraska football quarterback Adrian Martinez is done for the year. The news was first announced in Scott Frost’ press conference on Monday.
As noted by Brian Christopherson of 247 Sports, Martinez had some clicking in his shoulder on Saturday after a hit in the first half. Frost did not expect him to play in the second half but Martinez wanted to. We have known that Martinez has been battling through injuries, and this just proves how badly he loves the game and wants to help Nebraska.
Martinez would actually have a pretty decent game as he battled through the injuries. He went 23-of-35 throwing for a touchdown and two interceptions. Obviously, the two interceptions are not what you want to see but given what he was going through, I can’t fault him really. He just wanted to try and help his team win, and quite frankly he almost did.
As Nebraska gets ready to take on Iowa on Friday, this will give additional reps to Logan Smothers and/or Heinrich Haarberg. As Christopherson tweeted Monday, Frost believes there is a situation where both of them can play. However, the coach made it clear that Smothers is the lead quarterback right now.
Smothers has seen some action this year, going seven-of-11 on the year and throwing for 119 yards. He did see a snap against Wisconsin at the end of the first half.
Now, we could see the future in action on Friday. Personally, I think this is a great opportunity for him to continue to work on his development. Not only that, he gets to play in the Iowa game. That is pretty cool and of itself.
Now the question remains as to whether Martinez will come back or not. I’m not gonna say what he should do because at the end of the day that’s his decision. However, this is certainly a disappointing way to end the season for Martinez, someone who has given his all for this Nebraska football program.
