Next step at QB for Nebraska rides on Tommy Armstrong’s legs

2:42 PM ET

LINCOLN, Neb. — This week, we ranked the top 10 players on the Nebraska roster and placed quarterback Tommy Armstrong Jr. atop the list. That’s debatable, I know.

He’s not an NFL prospect at his position. But Armstrong is the most accomplished player in the Nebraska locker room and presumably the team’s preeminent leader. It sure looked that way last week at the Red-White game as Armstrong stood front and center, facing his teammates amid the billowing white smoke as the Cornhuskers practiced their Tunnel-Walk entrance.

He has talked a solid game over the past five months and undoubtedly matured, embracing adulthood away from the field and on it. At this point in Armstrong’s career arc, there’s no room for middle ground — either you believe in the 22-year-old Texan or you don’t.

Nebraska appears set to utilized Tommy Armstrong Jr.’s running ability more than it did a season ago. Steven Branscombe/USA TODAY Sports

That perspective likely shapes your view of Nebraska in 2016.

On one side of the Armstrong discussion, the Huskers appear worthy of status among the favorites in the Big Ten West after a 6-7 season. The opposing viewpoint says that he’s serviceable until 2017, when Nebraska can move forward offensively — and as a program — with a new quarterback recruited and groomed by this second-year coaching staff.

It’s an important distinction. Program-altering, in fact.

But Nebraska coach Mike Riley can’t afford a second season of mediocre QB play. Armstrong, despite eye-popping statistical accomplishments — he’s on track in September to set …

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