LINCOLN — Taylor Martinez's continued maturation as a passer was evident on one particular third-quarter play against Iowa two weeks ago, when an ailing ankle kept the Nebraska sophomore captive in the pocket and his eyes were forced to desperately scan for an opening downfield.

He first locked on to receiver Tim Marlowe, who got jammed at the line of scrimmage and eliminated from the play. Rex Burkhead bounced out of the backfield into the flat, but wasn't open initially. Quincy Enunwa went deep, though his route was covered and eventually cut off.

Yet there was Martinez standing in the pocket, while the offensive line's protection efforts quickly weakened, examining the Hawkeyes' zone defense and waiting for a soft spot to emerge. Four full seconds went by.

The end result was a 20-yard completion over the middle to Kenny Bell, who made a diving catch on a football that had to be thrown between a linebacker and a safety to cleanly sail past defenders.

That's the kind of play offensive coordinator Tim Beck saw more often from his second-year starting quarterback as the season progressed.

"He's growing up. He's learning the whole game," Beck said after the 20-7 win over Iowa on Nov. 25. "He has a better understanding of the offense."

It's clear that Beck's confidence in Martinez has grown. The offense's weekly game plans have seemed to reflect Martinez's evolving ability to manage the responsibilities of the QB position, especially those within the passing game.

The short, easy, high-percentage throws — like checkdowns, quick outs, screens — made up a large portion of Nebraska's passing attack directly after the Huskers' 48-17 loss to Wisconsin (Martinez threw three interceptions against the Badgers that night).

Sixty-five percent, actually. That's how often Martinez threw a pass shorter than 10 yards in games against Ohio State, Minnesota and Michigan State. He completed 84 percent of those.

Beck's approach eventually shifted as teams — specifically Northwestern — tried to eliminate that aspect of Nebraska's throwing game. But tweaks had to be made, he said.

"You don't just run plays. You want to make sure you're running plays to attack the defense where they're weakest," Beck said. "(Martinez) has been able to adapt and adjust to whatever it is we have in for the plan that week."

There were issues, though.

In the final four games, the only pass Martinez completed when he tossed the ball farther than 25 yards on the fly was the 54-yard touchdown play to Brandon Kinnie against Michigan. The other five failed.

The intermediate passing game (10 to 25 yards) wasn't incredibly reliable. Martinez connected on 51 percent of his throws within that range during November.

Nebraska's pass-catchers dropped 18 balls against Big Ten teams, and 10 of those came against Northwestern, Penn State and Michigan. Their yards after the catch numbers plummeted — from 6.1 yards per completion in their first eight games to 3.3 in the last four.

Martinez added to the struggles at times, too, displaying poor accuracy or a bit of an undisciplined desire to make a big play. Martinez said he has increased his understanding of route combinations and coverage schemes, but he often needed to get into a rhythm early in games to have success this year.

Mechanics are always a coaching point, according to Beck — but not the only way to evaluate Martinez's play.

Take that 20-yard completion to Bell against Iowa. Martinez's throwing motion resembled that of a left-handed pitcher trying to catch a napping base-stealer with a sudden snap toss to first base — side-armed and flat-footed. In that case, Beck would argue, it worked for Martinez.

Martinez's teammates aren't picky either. Asked after one regular-season practice about Martinez's passing style, Kinnie said this: "He throws a ball we need to catch."

Then Kinnie, just like rest of the Huskers, is quick to point out that his quarterback's been playing with poise lately, a certain level of comfort.

There's plenty of room for Martinez to grow, Beck said, but the first-year offensive coordinator was smiling for a reason after the Huskers' win over Iowa.

"He's running our offense," Beck said. "And I've been really pleased with him."

Contact the writer:

402-473-9585, jon.nyatawa@owh.com

twitter.com/JonNyatawa

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