Michael Nebrich accounted for over 4500 yards of offense and 46 TD's last year
Michael Nebrich, a 6’1″ 190 lb QB from Virginia recently committed to Connecticut giving them their first verbal of the 2011 recruiting season. Nebrich is the fourth dual threat QB to commit to the Huskies over the past three recruiting periods (Mike Box, Leon Kinnard, Scott McCummings), but Nebrich just might be the best of the bunch.
Nebrich, who reportedly runs a 4.44 forty yard dash is faster than Box and McCummings, and has similar speed to Kinnard, although Nebrich stands a good five to six inches taller than Kinnard.
There are two knocks on Nebrich, the first being his height. At 6’1″ (some say he’s closer to 6’0″) he lacks ideal height for the position, however, with his speed and mobility, I think it’s a non-issue. Nebrich understands how to move around in the pocket to find throwing lanes, and his athleticism allows him to do that with ease. Think Matt Grothe (6’0″, 205), think Zach Collaros (6’0″, 209), but if the number Rivals.com has on Nebrich is correct (4.44), he’s faster than both of those guys.
The second knock on Nebrich is his decision making. He threw 22 touchdowns last season, but also threw 21 interceptions. He brings a gunslinger attitude to the position; he’s not afraid to stick throws into tight places, which is good, but he’s got to reduce the turnovers moving forward. You don’t want to put a leash on him so to speak, because he’s at his best when he’s out there improvising, but certainly it’s an area in need of improvement.
UConn's passing game went from being ranked 105th nationally to 46th in Joe Moorhead's first season
Offensive Coordinator Joe Moorhead, who handled his recruitment as well McCummings’ last season, has made it clear he wants a QB that can pull it down and run. Last season’s offer list says it all : Terrence Broadway (Houston), Anthony Gonzalez (Pittsburgh), Stephen Morris (Miami, FL), Tyler Smith (Maryland), Ricardo Young (Virginia Tech) and McCummings are all dual threat quarterbacks.
The Moorhead effect has been amazing enough, but perhaps even more-so because he’s yet to put one of his QB’s on the field. Zach Frazer was already here, as was Cody Endres. Moorhead actually recruited Endres at Akron, but apparently he’s had a change in philosophy since joining the Connecticut staff because in his first two seasons we haven’t seen UConn offering any of the big prototypical pocket passer types. At any rate we’re still likely a year or two away from seeing Moorhead’s offense at full-bore, with his guys, but based on what we’ve seen already the future of the Connecticut offense is very bright.
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Yeah, I’m trying not to get ahead of myself here, but if you look at the recruiting highlights from Box, McCummings, and Nebrich, this kid stands out. I’m not a recruiting expert so I don’t pretend to know all the things to look for, but he passes the eye test for me. The interesting thing will be to see if other schools like VaTech and the like come after him strong if all hell breaks loose with conference expansion. Expect a ton of negative recruiting targeting Big East schools.
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