In Reply to: Re: You're focusing on the wrong attribute posted by TheHappyBurgermeister on August 14, 2025 at 08:44:45
based on performance."
This is so idiotic as to hardly warrant a response.
Nico has played in 18 college games. He's started 14 games. He has an 11-3 record as a starter. He's thrown for nearly 3k yards, 21 TD v. 5 INT., and run for more than 400 yards and 6 TD's. He won a starting job at two FBS schools.
Justyn Martin has appeared in 5 games, with one start. He threw for a garbage time TD and has negative rushing yards. He's thrown for less than 200 yards in his career. His coaches at UCLA did not want him back and he is still trying out for the starting job at Maryland as of Aug 14.
I've already clearly demonstrated how important it is to field a QB with starting college experience, and that your criterion of "returning player" is not nearly as important, and in the context of UCLA is actually quite meaningless. I would love for UCLA to field a good, returning starter. But we are not there yet.
Also, winning 2 extra games would be huge for the program. Jobs and recruits are won/lost on such margins. I put the number at more like +3, which would be massively helpful to the program's profile and recruiting going forward.
We will soon find out how good Martin (and Nico) are. Your whole argument of "returning player" and building from within assumes that Justyn Martin is a good QB, a proposition for which there is so far no evidence. But a dummy like you considers something that has not been disproven as being no worse than something for which there is some pretty good evidence.
I don't know if Nico will be a star for us. In fact, when it was first mentioned on this board that he might be coming I was skeptical, saying he was not worth the $4 million he had reportedly been seeking. But for a fraction of that and with the brother in tow? It was a no brainer.
Beyond all the discussion about who is better, Nico or Martin, why in the world would you want the coaches to stay with a QB they didn't want or recruit, vs. a QB they do want and did recruit? You seem to always ignore this. The coaches did not want Martin back, and they have a lot more knowledge of his abilities than you do from re-watching the Penn St. game.
Is it possible that Martin is good and that we should have stayed with him? Sure, it's possible. But it's very unlikely. I think the circumstantial evidence is there that Martin is not that good. He was not as highly recruited as Nico, he has never been talked about as being as talented as Nico, the coaches at UCLA did not want him back (even though at the time they did not even have a commitment from a transfer QB), and he has not yet secured the job at Maryland. In the three years he was at UCLA there was scant buzz about the up and coming Justyn Martin.
In any event, mark the tape. We will see.