Nebraska Football: If Bubba Starling Stays, Cornhuskers Still Face Challenges

He’s the Big Red Savior. He’s the wunderkind from Kansas who can lead the Sea of Red into the Promised Land. He’s so important that ESPN’s Mitch Sherman basically lived with him throughout this spring.

His name is Bubba Starling, phenom quarterback recruit for Nebraska and fifth overall selection in the Major League Baseball draft by the Kansas City Royals. He has until mid-August to sign a contract worth millions of dollars to play baseball for the Royals, or turn the money down and play football and baseball for the Cornhuskers.

And in the eyes of many Nebraska fans, he’s the answer to every question. If Starling turns down the money and stays in Lincoln, Nebraska’s future will be filled with rainbows, unicorns, and Shiny Crystal Football Trophies.

Right?

Well, as the great Lee Corso would say, not so fast, my friend. Sure, Starling is a phenomenal talent, maybe the best combination athlete to consider a college career at Nebraska since Carl Crawford. But if Starling shocks the world and stays in Lincoln, head coach Bo Pelini would have a number of problems land on his desk.

QUARTERBACK CONTROVERSY

Nebraska’s coaching staff has been very clear that Taylor Martinez is going to be the starting quarterback for the Cornhuskers in 2011.

Coaches and players have been falling over themselves talking about Martinez’s growth in maturity and leadership in the offseason, with Pelini going so far as to describe Martinez as having to “keep his head above water” during his struggles in 2010.

Fair enough. The explosive playmaking skills Martinez demonstrated at the start of the 2010 campaign would be enough to make any coach want him on the field and performing.

And given the uncertainty surrounding Starling, it makes perfect sense to be building Martinez up as the matured and reformed player ready to claim his role as team leader.

But what if Starling stays in Lincoln? His decision to forego baseball’s millions in favor of pulling on the scarlet-and-cream jersey would make him an instant star with the fans. The Legend of Starling would begin to grow with each practice report coming out of Lincoln.

And it’s not like Martinez has endeared himself to the Children of the Corn. Even if it was entirely driven by Internet rumors, reports of Martinez flirting with leaving the team after the Texas A&M game soured many fans on his ability to lead the Huskers.

Combine that with Martinez’s struggles in 2010, and the inevitable “backup quarterback is the most popular guy on campus” phenomenon, and an ugly quarterback controversy could bubble up to the surface.

Think about it. On one hand, Nebraska fans would have a well-scrubbed kid from a small town in Kansas, with all the talent in the world, who turned down millions of dollars for the chance to Play For Nebraska. On the other hand, you have a struggling quarterback with a history of being surly (or at least non-responsive) to the media and disliked by a portion of the fan base.

Given those choices, if Martinez struggles in 2011, how long do you think it would be before you heard the “Bubba, Bubba” chants from the Children of the Corn? A bad game for Martinez? A bad half? A bad series?

And if that happens, how would Martinez react? Last year, Nebraska’s only options at quarterback other than Martinez were an injured Zac Lee and a likeable-but-inconsistent Cody Green. In 2010, Martinez never had a credible threat to his starting position. In 2011, between Starling and redshirt freshman Brion Carnes, Martinez will have two.

Throughout this offseason, Martinez’s coaches and teammates have gone out of their way to praise how much he has matured this offseason. And maybe that maturation, combined with his competitive drive, would mean a quarterback controversy would bring the best out of Martinez. But it’s certain that the competition would be a distraction if Nebraska faced any adversity, and it always carries the possibility of dividing the locker room and splitting the team.

TWO-SPORT DISTRACTIONS

If Starling does stay in Lincoln, there’s no question that he will play baseball as well as football. Coaches for both teams are confident that he will be able to do both well, without having to sacrifice one for the other.

But the same was said of wide receiver and outfielder Khiry Cooper when he arrived in Lincoln to play two sports. It hasn’t worked out, and Cooper has struggled to make a mark in either sport.

And Cooper is a wide receiver. No disrespect to the wideout position, but quarterbacks have more responsibilities than wide receivers in terms of understanding the playbook, developing chemistry with the receivers and running backs, and growing into a leader of the offense.

Being an effective college quarterback requires the investment of time that only spring practice can provide.

Regardless of any grand plans, there’s no getting around the fact that baseball is a spring sport, played at the same time that spring football practice occurs.

If Starling is going to play baseball, he’s going to miss out on at least part of spring practice for football, meaning it’s going to be that much harder for him to be the team leader that a quarterback has to be.

Think about how awkward a locker room could get if Starling unseats Martinez at starting quarterback in 2011, then comes into spring practice the next season missing a significant portion of spring practice while Martinez is there every day.

Maybe Pelini can make it all work, and maybe Starling is a transcendent enough talent to overcome all of those problems. But to think those problems won’t be there is simply being blind to the obvious.

A GOOD PROBLEM TO HAVE

Look, let’s not take the problems discussed above as an argument that Pelini is crossing his fingers and hoping that Starling signs with the Royals. Nothing could be further from the truth. By all accounts, Starling is a transcendent athletic talent and a solid character guy who would make the Cornhuskers better both on and off the field.

But the Legend of Starling is already growing to epic proportions amongst some of the Children of the Corn. Should he decide to forgo Kansas City’s millions and stay in Lincoln, that Legend—and the expectations of him and his team—would balloon to cartoonish proportions.

In other words, while Starling staying with the Cornhuskers would be a wonderful and unexpected treat for the Children of the Corn, it should only be served with a large side order of reality.

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