Every year I do a 3 year recruiting thread and sometime in the spring or fall, I do a detailed breakdown of each position group. Given the changes currently being made, I thought it a good idea to do a bit of an update on where I feel we are at each position.
Before we start, here are some guidelines. I don’t know who is staying/going/whatever—for the most part, I am not assuming any transfers.
I don’t know Scott Frost’s philosophies per se, I am just taking some educated guesses as to what he MIGHT do. Please bear with me on that one.
This thread is not to discuss how good or bad the previous or incoming staff is at recruiting, development, etc. It is merely an attempt to access where we are right now as objectively as is possible. Of course, I do express some opinions when I feel appropriate—I promise that I will TRY to express my opinions as such.
I’ll start with the offense first and come back for the defense later. Okay, let’s go.
QB
The most obvious question on the minds of most fans is what is going to happen here? Is there a QB on the roster the fits Scott Frost’s system? Can Scott Frost adjust his system to the talents of the existing QB’s? How fast can Scott Frost get HIS QB in position to not only run his system, but run it well?
To be honest, at first glance I was a bit skeptical of this marriage of SF and our current QB’s. I have been asking anyone I know that I trust if there is any hope here. Are we doomed to watch another couple of years of round-peg square-hole quarterbacking like we saw with Riley and Armstrong?
What I have been told is that Frost likes a mobile QB. The key here is QB—not glorified RB. Frost likes to throw the football. But his offense is at his best when the threat of the QB run is in the minds of the defense. At first glance, things don’t look so rosy. Lee isn’t much of a runner. If Lee is Frost’s QB next year, Frost will likely have to alter his offense quite a bit to fit what Lee does. Can he do that? Or is Lee better off going pro even though I believe he could use another year in college refining his game. Personally, I don’t think this is a good fit.
Now, it is my opinion that Tristan Gebbia is a potential superstar at QB. I would hate to have him leave because of our change in offense. Is this a potential fit—not only for next year but for the future as well? After asking around, I have heard encouraging opinions. There are those that think that Gebbia is mobile enough to at least be a threat to run—he was an effective runner in HS. With all of Gebbia’s other intangibles, there is a good enough fit here that Gebbia could be successful in Frost’s system. It has also been pointed out that Frost has actually recruited some pro-style QB’s so it is likely that he is not averse to tweaking his system a bit. If Gebbia is the real deal (you never know until you see it on the field), he may turn out to be THE guy for Scott Frost that makes the offense go.
That leaves Patrick O’Brien. If we believe Gebbia is mobile enough to be a threat to run at least occasionally, then I see no reason not to believe the same of O’Brien. Of course, I could be wrong here. In his limited action in 2017, O’Brien did show the ability to make plays with his legs. He’s a good kid and a good looking QB.
Of course, this is the one position where fans will be watching for any attrition. QB’s tend to bolt when things don’t go their way. That is simply reality. QB depth could be a real issue even if Frost successfully tweaks and matches his system to one of the current QB’s.
FINAL TAKE: Frost will likely try to bring in HIS style of QB ASAP. Not just to take over the reins, but to build needed depth. He cannot afford to wait until 2019 to bring in his QB. Always remember that even a great QB prospect may not be ready to take over right away. There is some talk that he could go JUCO here—the name Terry Wilson ring a bell? But the reality is, if none of the QB’s on the roster (particularly POB and Gebbia) are a good fit, the transition to Frost’s system could be a long, painful one as it may take some time for outside help to arrive. If Gebbia or POB can be as good as their billing suggests, maybe there won’t be a transition at all.
RB
Not really sure what we have here. Of course, we have felt that way for quite awhile now. Tre Bryant looked great for about 7 quarters of the season before going down with a knee injury. What is his status going forward? Can he come back to the level of play he showed before the injury? If so, can he stay healthy or will he always be a health risk?
If Bryant comes back strong, the RB room takes on a completely different look. But let’s just imagine that he doesn’t come back strong. What then? I think it is obvious by now that although Mikale Wilbon and Devine Ozigbo are decent useful backs, neither has proven to be THE guy in the opportunities that they have had. True, Ozigbo did have a couple of 100 yard performances in 2017 however, he is likely one of those guys we have been hearing about in reference to discipline. He has had major issues there. That would leave Jaylin Bradley. Sadly enough, Bradley was just starting to make a move for more serious playing time when an injury derailed his season. There are many fans who love Bradley and think he is the next 1500 yard rusher at NU (forget 1,000, at NU our standard starts at about 1,500). Bradley was reported to be struggling a bit with the finer points of RB (picking up blitzes, that sort of thing) but that is not unusual for a freshman RB. What does everybody think? Could Bradley be THE guy?
Lurking in the background is walk-on Wyatt Mazour who probably would have been given a chance to perform in 2017 had an injury not ruined his season. If healthy, he could be an interesting guy. Another walk-on Austin Rose isn’t bad either and can play either the “I” or fullback.
Speaking of fullback, Ben Miles comes off his redshirt year and it will be interesting how Frost uses him. I like this guy’s versatility and was shocked that he redshirted last year.
FINAL TAKE: Skip RB this year? Ah, are you kidding? RB should be one of Frost’s first priorities. He doesn’t need a useful back (roster full of those), he needs to recruit a stud. ‘Nuff said.
OL
Okay, one of the elephants in the room. It doesn’t matter what system you run, if your OL can’t block, you’re doomed. I think all Husker fans understand that. Last year’s OL was remarkably awful. In fact, the last year and a half, I am not sure I have ever seen so many defenders flying free to the ball carriers in the backfield. This usually points to communication as much as anything. Somewhere in 2016, I think opposing DCs figured out that if you do ANYTHING to confuse our OL, our OL became helpless. To me, this points to the center play. Dylan Utter and Cole Conrad were brutal in terms of making line calls. Looking back at just last year, we could actually see a noticeable upgrade in our line play when Michael Decker took over at center. Suddenly, our OL started to show promise. Ozigbo had a couple of 100 yard games. Lee stopped throwing interceptions. Maybe we were on to something.
Then Decker got hurt and we were back to the same awful, helpless line play we had seen early in the season—not that we were sensational with Decker. To me, there were three serious problems with the line last year, center play was the #1 issue in my mind. So can Decker stay healthy? Teammates marveled at his intelligence and abilities to see the defense and make the right line call. He needs to stay healthy because Cole Conrad is a decent player—but he is NOT a center. That experiment was a complete disaster.
So if Decker still struggles with injuries, who else is there? John Raridon wasn’t physically ready in 2017, but perhaps a good offseason of weight training will help him reach his considerable potential at either guard or center. I still think Boe Wilson makes a world of sense at center. And of course, we have recruited a center this year, Will Farniok who has said he is solid with change of coaches.
To me the second issue is something I have been harping on for years and years. Why can’t we recruit tackles? When I say tackles, I am not talking about tackles who move inside to guard (see Matt Farniok) and I am not talking about recruiting Right Tackles and hoping they can be adequate at LT.
In the NFL, LT’s are some of the highest paid players in the league. At Nebraska, we act like we can stick any quick guard at tackle and we’ll be “okay.” Right now we are still a bit short on tackles and that is with a true freshman playing RT last year. Brenden Jaimes may be the only true LT on our roster, but he is playing RT because we moved Nick Gates, a player who excelled at RT, to LT where he has struggled. It wouldn’t hurt my feelings if we switched the two around next year. But either way, we are okay at tackle as long as NO ONE GETS HURT. How often does that happen?
What else do we have? Perhaps Matt Farniok. The previous staff loved him a guard so it will be interesting to see if Frost’s staff agrees. I think Farniok could play both so this could be interesting. Christian Gaylord strikes me as a guy who just isn’t going to be able to get enough meat on his frame to be a factor. I could be wrong but Gaylord was never really seriously mentioned last year in spite of all of our injuries. The next two guys are redshirt freshmen of considerable potential—Matt Sichterman and Chris Walker. Another option should be Cole Conrad who has proven to be adequate at the position.
Guard is a position that baffles me a bit. We seem to have solid players there, but the production doesn’t seem to match the hype. Gerald Foster and Tanner Farmer are two year starters who just have never really taken that next step for whatever reasons. Matt Farniok seemed to have passed Farmer last year and Boe Wilson has may also be a factor if he doesn’t help out at center. The same could be said for John Raridon. Even Cole Conrad could help out here in a pinch. Jalin Barnett has plenty of potential but can’t get his weight in line. Bryan Brokup was practically a no show last year. Meanwhile Broc Bando comes off his redshirt year next year and could be a nice player somewhere down the line.
FINAL TAKE: The center position has been a point of angst for years at Nebraska. Fans have moaned the fate of the position for years. We have a verbal at the position and some talent on the roster. Player development is paramount here. At tackle, the numbers aren’t too shabby at RT but LT is a bit of a concern after Jaimes and Gates (who leaves after next year). A true LT should be a priority. NOTE: The tackle numbers could be affected if Chris Walker moves to DL. At guard, just find the right combination—there is some clay to work with here. I wasn’t really thrilled with the OL recruiting this year from the old staff so a fresh approach may be just the shot in the arm we need. Don’t be surprised if Frost looks for a JUCO here (as Riley did as well).
TE
You may have noticed in my OL discussion I mentioned three main issues but only discussed two of them. Well, #3 was the TE group. YIKES!
The blocking from the TE’s last year was practically non-existent. What was sad was that Riley used two TE sets much of the time and the results often simply meant we were short one receiver running a route. Our two walk-on senior TE’s were as bad as you would expect from two walk-ons who had never played a key down of football entering their final season. Hoppes was a fine receiver but not a blocker. Ketter? . . . I don’t know what to say.
Luckily, there is some talent on the way here. Late in the year, Jack Stoll emerged as a decent receiver and probably will be first in line for the starting job next year. The good news here is that Stoll was known more for his blocking than his receiving skills coming out of HS so perhaps we have a good one. Another TE who saw the field a bit in 2017 was Matt Snyder but he didn’t seem ready to make an impact. Optimism for the position likely rests with sophomore Stoll and a trio of young TE’s. Sophomore David Engelhaupt is an interesting guy who can really move. I was half expecting him to contribute in 2017 however that never occurred. Spring will be really important for him. He is a lanky player so adding some solid weight is probably his off-season goal. There are two freshmen to keep an eye on—not difficult given their massive size—6-8 Austin Allen and 6-7 Kurt Rafdal.
FINAL TAKE: I like the young talent here but obviously, we need to see some quick development from at least a couple of these guys. Fans tend to look at receiving and forget that the TEs are also an extension of the OL. I think there are some receivers here, but who can step in and provide solid blocking in two or three TE sets? Recruiting wise, we have a solid commit from Cameron Jurgens, although some like him more for the defensive side of the ball. It would be interesting to see how aggressively Frost recruits another TE in this class. I am also curious if he sees Jurgens as a TE or a LB. We just need to keep adding talent and develop, develop, develop.
WR
Such a frustrating position. We have been seemingly on the verge of an earth-shaking influx of talent at this position for years now only to be disappointed time and again. Some weird . . . stuff (substitute your own expletive here) has happened to us at this position. I don’t want to restate all of the issues but this year might be no different. Once again, we appeared to be on the verge of cherry-picking some of the best talent in the nation at this position only to have our 4-8 season cast a major cloud over the class. So many of our recruits love our WR coach and fans wonder if he is going to be retained. If he is not retained, what will happen to our WR class?
Let’s look at what we have. We have Stanley Morgan fresh off of a record setting season. What is remarkable about the season is that he missed a full game and suffered through a mind-boggling series of dropped passes (perhaps somewhat due to his injuries). But will Morgan come back next year? Some people think he will leave however, I think he could use one more season. If he comes back, we are in great shape at the top of the board next year as J.D. Spielman is coming off a record setting freshman season of his own. Speilman was simply sensational last year but injuries curtailed some of his production in the second half. With Morgan, NU would have a tandem of WR’s no Big Ten team could match. Without Morgan, the WR room is on scramble alert.
Next up would be Tyjon Lindsey, coming off a ho-hum freshman year. There are those who think he may transfer. If he is thinking of it, hopefully Scott Frost can sit the young man down and talk to him. Lindsey has considerable potential—not sure why he wouldn’t want to stay to play in a Scott Frost offense.
Things start to drop off pretty sharply at this point in terms of proven production. The graduation of Pierson-El will be felt. It now appears that wayward Keyshawn Johnson Jr. will make his return to the Husker team this spring. The word is that his attitude has really improved and he has made tremendous strides reshaping his body. He has genetics and talent on his side, but how much can we really count on him in 2018? He may need some time to complete his adjustment to college life. The forgotten man in the room to me is Jaevon McQuitty. Remember him? He’s still here. After working his way into the rotation for the 2017 season, McQuitty suffered a season ending injury and took a redshirt. If healthy, I love this guy’s potential.
What’s left on the roster at this point are a number of useful players who have played or flashed some potential. Somewhere in the group of Keyan Williams, Bryan Reimers, and Conor Young, there might be a contribution here or there. Kade Warner should also be back from injury and who knows, could be a surprise. I also like young walk-on Christian Banker.
FINAL TAKE: If everyone stays, there is some excellent top end talent here and maybe enough pieces to scrap together a decent group of backups—provided of course the injury bug doesn’t rear its ugly but all too familiar head again. If Morgan goes (and Lindsey transfers), then open auditions start in the spring and continue right into the fall. It is paramount that Frost either hold on to the current class of verbals and players rumored to have been leaning to Nebraska OR recruit some top end talent of his own. Retaining Keith Williams would probably go a long ways in bringing in the original class but Frost may decide to go with a fresh start. Our current board sits with Joshua Moore and Cameron Brown as verbals.
Some names we appear to be in on are Tommy Bush, Jacob Copeland, and athlete Bryan Addison. This is not a complete list but all three players have commented that they are still interested in NU since Frost being the new coach.
A JUCO is not out of the question here. One thing that Scott Frost has on his side, he can sell playing time and immediate opportunity for both 2017 and 2018.
OFFENSE-FINAL TAKE: All in all, not bad. There are some fit issues here but for a 4-8 team that failed to produce a 500 yard rusher, had a shortage of WRs, scrambled to put an offensive line together, and QB’s that threw 17 interceptions . . . the talent level is not bad. The QB situation is the first item. Even if Lee comes back, he isn’t guaranteed to be the starter or even second string. Spring camp should be exciting. Next item is get the OL straightened out and patch together a WR and TE corp.
Given Scott Frost’s offensive talents, the transition on offense may not be so bad with a little bit of luck. Now defensively . . . oye, that’s a different story.
Defense to come in second post.
Before we start, here are some guidelines. I don’t know who is staying/going/whatever—for the most part, I am not assuming any transfers.
I don’t know Scott Frost’s philosophies per se, I am just taking some educated guesses as to what he MIGHT do. Please bear with me on that one.
This thread is not to discuss how good or bad the previous or incoming staff is at recruiting, development, etc. It is merely an attempt to access where we are right now as objectively as is possible. Of course, I do express some opinions when I feel appropriate—I promise that I will TRY to express my opinions as such.
I’ll start with the offense first and come back for the defense later. Okay, let’s go.
QB
The most obvious question on the minds of most fans is what is going to happen here? Is there a QB on the roster the fits Scott Frost’s system? Can Scott Frost adjust his system to the talents of the existing QB’s? How fast can Scott Frost get HIS QB in position to not only run his system, but run it well?
To be honest, at first glance I was a bit skeptical of this marriage of SF and our current QB’s. I have been asking anyone I know that I trust if there is any hope here. Are we doomed to watch another couple of years of round-peg square-hole quarterbacking like we saw with Riley and Armstrong?
What I have been told is that Frost likes a mobile QB. The key here is QB—not glorified RB. Frost likes to throw the football. But his offense is at his best when the threat of the QB run is in the minds of the defense. At first glance, things don’t look so rosy. Lee isn’t much of a runner. If Lee is Frost’s QB next year, Frost will likely have to alter his offense quite a bit to fit what Lee does. Can he do that? Or is Lee better off going pro even though I believe he could use another year in college refining his game. Personally, I don’t think this is a good fit.
Now, it is my opinion that Tristan Gebbia is a potential superstar at QB. I would hate to have him leave because of our change in offense. Is this a potential fit—not only for next year but for the future as well? After asking around, I have heard encouraging opinions. There are those that think that Gebbia is mobile enough to at least be a threat to run—he was an effective runner in HS. With all of Gebbia’s other intangibles, there is a good enough fit here that Gebbia could be successful in Frost’s system. It has also been pointed out that Frost has actually recruited some pro-style QB’s so it is likely that he is not averse to tweaking his system a bit. If Gebbia is the real deal (you never know until you see it on the field), he may turn out to be THE guy for Scott Frost that makes the offense go.
That leaves Patrick O’Brien. If we believe Gebbia is mobile enough to be a threat to run at least occasionally, then I see no reason not to believe the same of O’Brien. Of course, I could be wrong here. In his limited action in 2017, O’Brien did show the ability to make plays with his legs. He’s a good kid and a good looking QB.
Of course, this is the one position where fans will be watching for any attrition. QB’s tend to bolt when things don’t go their way. That is simply reality. QB depth could be a real issue even if Frost successfully tweaks and matches his system to one of the current QB’s.
FINAL TAKE: Frost will likely try to bring in HIS style of QB ASAP. Not just to take over the reins, but to build needed depth. He cannot afford to wait until 2019 to bring in his QB. Always remember that even a great QB prospect may not be ready to take over right away. There is some talk that he could go JUCO here—the name Terry Wilson ring a bell? But the reality is, if none of the QB’s on the roster (particularly POB and Gebbia) are a good fit, the transition to Frost’s system could be a long, painful one as it may take some time for outside help to arrive. If Gebbia or POB can be as good as their billing suggests, maybe there won’t be a transition at all.
RB
Not really sure what we have here. Of course, we have felt that way for quite awhile now. Tre Bryant looked great for about 7 quarters of the season before going down with a knee injury. What is his status going forward? Can he come back to the level of play he showed before the injury? If so, can he stay healthy or will he always be a health risk?
If Bryant comes back strong, the RB room takes on a completely different look. But let’s just imagine that he doesn’t come back strong. What then? I think it is obvious by now that although Mikale Wilbon and Devine Ozigbo are decent useful backs, neither has proven to be THE guy in the opportunities that they have had. True, Ozigbo did have a couple of 100 yard performances in 2017 however, he is likely one of those guys we have been hearing about in reference to discipline. He has had major issues there. That would leave Jaylin Bradley. Sadly enough, Bradley was just starting to make a move for more serious playing time when an injury derailed his season. There are many fans who love Bradley and think he is the next 1500 yard rusher at NU (forget 1,000, at NU our standard starts at about 1,500). Bradley was reported to be struggling a bit with the finer points of RB (picking up blitzes, that sort of thing) but that is not unusual for a freshman RB. What does everybody think? Could Bradley be THE guy?
Lurking in the background is walk-on Wyatt Mazour who probably would have been given a chance to perform in 2017 had an injury not ruined his season. If healthy, he could be an interesting guy. Another walk-on Austin Rose isn’t bad either and can play either the “I” or fullback.
Speaking of fullback, Ben Miles comes off his redshirt year and it will be interesting how Frost uses him. I like this guy’s versatility and was shocked that he redshirted last year.
FINAL TAKE: Skip RB this year? Ah, are you kidding? RB should be one of Frost’s first priorities. He doesn’t need a useful back (roster full of those), he needs to recruit a stud. ‘Nuff said.
OL
Okay, one of the elephants in the room. It doesn’t matter what system you run, if your OL can’t block, you’re doomed. I think all Husker fans understand that. Last year’s OL was remarkably awful. In fact, the last year and a half, I am not sure I have ever seen so many defenders flying free to the ball carriers in the backfield. This usually points to communication as much as anything. Somewhere in 2016, I think opposing DCs figured out that if you do ANYTHING to confuse our OL, our OL became helpless. To me, this points to the center play. Dylan Utter and Cole Conrad were brutal in terms of making line calls. Looking back at just last year, we could actually see a noticeable upgrade in our line play when Michael Decker took over at center. Suddenly, our OL started to show promise. Ozigbo had a couple of 100 yard games. Lee stopped throwing interceptions. Maybe we were on to something.
Then Decker got hurt and we were back to the same awful, helpless line play we had seen early in the season—not that we were sensational with Decker. To me, there were three serious problems with the line last year, center play was the #1 issue in my mind. So can Decker stay healthy? Teammates marveled at his intelligence and abilities to see the defense and make the right line call. He needs to stay healthy because Cole Conrad is a decent player—but he is NOT a center. That experiment was a complete disaster.
So if Decker still struggles with injuries, who else is there? John Raridon wasn’t physically ready in 2017, but perhaps a good offseason of weight training will help him reach his considerable potential at either guard or center. I still think Boe Wilson makes a world of sense at center. And of course, we have recruited a center this year, Will Farniok who has said he is solid with change of coaches.
To me the second issue is something I have been harping on for years and years. Why can’t we recruit tackles? When I say tackles, I am not talking about tackles who move inside to guard (see Matt Farniok) and I am not talking about recruiting Right Tackles and hoping they can be adequate at LT.
In the NFL, LT’s are some of the highest paid players in the league. At Nebraska, we act like we can stick any quick guard at tackle and we’ll be “okay.” Right now we are still a bit short on tackles and that is with a true freshman playing RT last year. Brenden Jaimes may be the only true LT on our roster, but he is playing RT because we moved Nick Gates, a player who excelled at RT, to LT where he has struggled. It wouldn’t hurt my feelings if we switched the two around next year. But either way, we are okay at tackle as long as NO ONE GETS HURT. How often does that happen?
What else do we have? Perhaps Matt Farniok. The previous staff loved him a guard so it will be interesting to see if Frost’s staff agrees. I think Farniok could play both so this could be interesting. Christian Gaylord strikes me as a guy who just isn’t going to be able to get enough meat on his frame to be a factor. I could be wrong but Gaylord was never really seriously mentioned last year in spite of all of our injuries. The next two guys are redshirt freshmen of considerable potential—Matt Sichterman and Chris Walker. Another option should be Cole Conrad who has proven to be adequate at the position.
Guard is a position that baffles me a bit. We seem to have solid players there, but the production doesn’t seem to match the hype. Gerald Foster and Tanner Farmer are two year starters who just have never really taken that next step for whatever reasons. Matt Farniok seemed to have passed Farmer last year and Boe Wilson has may also be a factor if he doesn’t help out at center. The same could be said for John Raridon. Even Cole Conrad could help out here in a pinch. Jalin Barnett has plenty of potential but can’t get his weight in line. Bryan Brokup was practically a no show last year. Meanwhile Broc Bando comes off his redshirt year next year and could be a nice player somewhere down the line.
FINAL TAKE: The center position has been a point of angst for years at Nebraska. Fans have moaned the fate of the position for years. We have a verbal at the position and some talent on the roster. Player development is paramount here. At tackle, the numbers aren’t too shabby at RT but LT is a bit of a concern after Jaimes and Gates (who leaves after next year). A true LT should be a priority. NOTE: The tackle numbers could be affected if Chris Walker moves to DL. At guard, just find the right combination—there is some clay to work with here. I wasn’t really thrilled with the OL recruiting this year from the old staff so a fresh approach may be just the shot in the arm we need. Don’t be surprised if Frost looks for a JUCO here (as Riley did as well).
TE
You may have noticed in my OL discussion I mentioned three main issues but only discussed two of them. Well, #3 was the TE group. YIKES!
The blocking from the TE’s last year was practically non-existent. What was sad was that Riley used two TE sets much of the time and the results often simply meant we were short one receiver running a route. Our two walk-on senior TE’s were as bad as you would expect from two walk-ons who had never played a key down of football entering their final season. Hoppes was a fine receiver but not a blocker. Ketter? . . . I don’t know what to say.
Luckily, there is some talent on the way here. Late in the year, Jack Stoll emerged as a decent receiver and probably will be first in line for the starting job next year. The good news here is that Stoll was known more for his blocking than his receiving skills coming out of HS so perhaps we have a good one. Another TE who saw the field a bit in 2017 was Matt Snyder but he didn’t seem ready to make an impact. Optimism for the position likely rests with sophomore Stoll and a trio of young TE’s. Sophomore David Engelhaupt is an interesting guy who can really move. I was half expecting him to contribute in 2017 however that never occurred. Spring will be really important for him. He is a lanky player so adding some solid weight is probably his off-season goal. There are two freshmen to keep an eye on—not difficult given their massive size—6-8 Austin Allen and 6-7 Kurt Rafdal.
FINAL TAKE: I like the young talent here but obviously, we need to see some quick development from at least a couple of these guys. Fans tend to look at receiving and forget that the TEs are also an extension of the OL. I think there are some receivers here, but who can step in and provide solid blocking in two or three TE sets? Recruiting wise, we have a solid commit from Cameron Jurgens, although some like him more for the defensive side of the ball. It would be interesting to see how aggressively Frost recruits another TE in this class. I am also curious if he sees Jurgens as a TE or a LB. We just need to keep adding talent and develop, develop, develop.
WR
Such a frustrating position. We have been seemingly on the verge of an earth-shaking influx of talent at this position for years now only to be disappointed time and again. Some weird . . . stuff (substitute your own expletive here) has happened to us at this position. I don’t want to restate all of the issues but this year might be no different. Once again, we appeared to be on the verge of cherry-picking some of the best talent in the nation at this position only to have our 4-8 season cast a major cloud over the class. So many of our recruits love our WR coach and fans wonder if he is going to be retained. If he is not retained, what will happen to our WR class?
Let’s look at what we have. We have Stanley Morgan fresh off of a record setting season. What is remarkable about the season is that he missed a full game and suffered through a mind-boggling series of dropped passes (perhaps somewhat due to his injuries). But will Morgan come back next year? Some people think he will leave however, I think he could use one more season. If he comes back, we are in great shape at the top of the board next year as J.D. Spielman is coming off a record setting freshman season of his own. Speilman was simply sensational last year but injuries curtailed some of his production in the second half. With Morgan, NU would have a tandem of WR’s no Big Ten team could match. Without Morgan, the WR room is on scramble alert.
Next up would be Tyjon Lindsey, coming off a ho-hum freshman year. There are those who think he may transfer. If he is thinking of it, hopefully Scott Frost can sit the young man down and talk to him. Lindsey has considerable potential—not sure why he wouldn’t want to stay to play in a Scott Frost offense.
Things start to drop off pretty sharply at this point in terms of proven production. The graduation of Pierson-El will be felt. It now appears that wayward Keyshawn Johnson Jr. will make his return to the Husker team this spring. The word is that his attitude has really improved and he has made tremendous strides reshaping his body. He has genetics and talent on his side, but how much can we really count on him in 2018? He may need some time to complete his adjustment to college life. The forgotten man in the room to me is Jaevon McQuitty. Remember him? He’s still here. After working his way into the rotation for the 2017 season, McQuitty suffered a season ending injury and took a redshirt. If healthy, I love this guy’s potential.
What’s left on the roster at this point are a number of useful players who have played or flashed some potential. Somewhere in the group of Keyan Williams, Bryan Reimers, and Conor Young, there might be a contribution here or there. Kade Warner should also be back from injury and who knows, could be a surprise. I also like young walk-on Christian Banker.
FINAL TAKE: If everyone stays, there is some excellent top end talent here and maybe enough pieces to scrap together a decent group of backups—provided of course the injury bug doesn’t rear its ugly but all too familiar head again. If Morgan goes (and Lindsey transfers), then open auditions start in the spring and continue right into the fall. It is paramount that Frost either hold on to the current class of verbals and players rumored to have been leaning to Nebraska OR recruit some top end talent of his own. Retaining Keith Williams would probably go a long ways in bringing in the original class but Frost may decide to go with a fresh start. Our current board sits with Joshua Moore and Cameron Brown as verbals.
Some names we appear to be in on are Tommy Bush, Jacob Copeland, and athlete Bryan Addison. This is not a complete list but all three players have commented that they are still interested in NU since Frost being the new coach.
A JUCO is not out of the question here. One thing that Scott Frost has on his side, he can sell playing time and immediate opportunity for both 2017 and 2018.
OFFENSE-FINAL TAKE: All in all, not bad. There are some fit issues here but for a 4-8 team that failed to produce a 500 yard rusher, had a shortage of WRs, scrambled to put an offensive line together, and QB’s that threw 17 interceptions . . . the talent level is not bad. The QB situation is the first item. Even if Lee comes back, he isn’t guaranteed to be the starter or even second string. Spring camp should be exciting. Next item is get the OL straightened out and patch together a WR and TE corp.
Given Scott Frost’s offensive talents, the transition on offense may not be so bad with a little bit of luck. Now defensively . . . oye, that’s a different story.
Defense to come in second post.
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. Nice read, thanks for all the research.