Adrian Martinez will make history this week for Nebraska by becoming the first true freshman quarterback to start the season opener for the Huskers, edging Tristan Gebbia for the top spot on the depth chart, when NU faces Akron on Saturday night.



This is not a surprise to many of the coaches who recruited Martinez. Martinez is a very fast, tough and mature-beyond-his-years kid. He’s an ideal fit for Scott Frost’s offensive scheme. Watch film of the Huskers’ spring game, and that becomes pretty apparent in the way he gashed the defense with his feet for three touchdowns and also displayed a good arm. Frost told me on the eve of training camp Martinez had packed on almost 20 pounds of muscle since arriving in the winter and was up to 218 — the same as Frost weighed when he quarterbacked the Huskers two decades ago. In his first semester at Nebraska, Martinez also compiled a 3.667 grade-point average.



Martinez’ path to Lincoln was...