Mickey: Take note

[dallasblackshirt]

Exactly!! They haven't been developed. And you're discounting kids because you don't recognize their name? Did you even know who Malcom Hartzog was 4 weeks ago?

When we have dudes from the last couple years blossoming in the NFL it shows you how undercoached these poor kids have been. Austin was poor. Raiola is worse. Why not bring in new direction to give the kids a chance to succeed. I can watch tape and clearly see what many are doing wrong. It wouldn't take much to make it markedly better.

Nah, we'll just make more excuses and say that's all they can do?? Sorry, I'm not of that belief.

I am with you. DR should never been hired but now needs to be fired.

What many have lost perspective of is we don't need a good offensive line we just need serviceable OL which means kids who can engage the person they are supposed to block, move their feet and stay between the defender and the hole we are attacking. Notice I didn't say we needed to move them, just hold your ground

The product we have put on the field the last few years is indescribably bad and we need to rip off the bandaid. Honestly a high school coach could do NO worse than DR. He has proven to be awful

 

[Wandering Nebraskan]

Oh I agree completely that it's a combination of all three, but I just see really poor technique and preparedness out of o-line. I don't think he's moved the needle at all with them. I hated the hire from the get-go because of the circumstances surrounding it. Nobody else with so little experience would have been accepted here.

I understand the frustration with the hire, and I agree that it hasn't changed the line performance much. I'm just not sure there's anything to be done this season but continued practice and evaluation.

 

[jreb14]

Huskers Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda enters the Transfer Portal​

 

[Quality Czech]

I am with you. DR should never been hired but now needs to be fired.

What many have lost perspective of is we don't need a good offensive line we just need serviceable OL which means kids who can engage the person they are supposed to block, move their feet and stay between the defender and the hole we are attacking. Notice I didn't say we needed to move them, just hold your ground

The product we have put on the field the last few years is indescribably bad and we need to rip off the bandaid. Honestly a high school coach could do NO worse than DR. He has proven to be awful

I will preface this with the disclaimer that I am definitely NOT a technical expert on o-line performance, but I absolutely 100% agree with this! Bring in a high school coach that can drill on basic technique and movement and some of these lumps might just become serviceable...

 

[Captkenny]

Actually it'd be easy to fire him. Our o-line is undeniably worse this year than last, and that's really saying something. The $15 an hour man has done zilch. We have 4 star dudes that can't pick up a block to save their lives. There is no way aside from Hixson, that every single O-line player we've recruited is a bust. Zero chance. I guarantee that room could be shuffled and five of them coached up to play serviceable football.
The only letter of recommendation that we got with Raiola was that Frost was impressed with his coaching philosophy. Frost also said Zach Duval is the best in the business, so there's that. The only thing I agree with you on is our S&C is a fail.

I don’t disagree with a lot of what you said, but I have to wonder if our current O-line coach, who just got here, explains the failure of our o-line for the totality of the Frost years before he arrived as well as the Riley years.

The tackles are just not competitive with even the lower level of talent we are facing. Even when we aren’t calling a screen pass, you would swear we were by how fast their defender gets past them. Is there any minute possibility that we need a talent upgrade in some positions?

 

[Captkenny]

Shuffle what? Here's your pool for offensive lineman. Who are you going to put in there that isnt currently playing?

SAM HOSKINSON RFr.
JUSTIN EVANS-JENKINS Fr.
RILEY MOSES So.
BRYCE BENHART So.
ETHAN PIPER So.
IAN BOERKIRCHER Jr.
HENRY LUTOVSKY RFr.
DYLAN PARROTT Fr.
NOAH STAFURSKY So.
NOUREDIN NOUILI Jr.
TEDDY PROCHAZKA So.
EZRA MILLER So.
JOEY MANCINO RFr.
TURNER CORCORAN So.
KEEGAN MENNING RFr.
BROC BANDO Sr.
BRANT BANKS So.
TRENT HIXSON Sr.
BEAU SCHALLER RFr.
ELI SIMONSON RFr.
HUNTER ANTHONY Jr.
MICHAEL LYNN So.
KEVIN WILLIAMS JR. Sr.
ALEX CONN RFr.


There's at least 10 players on that list that I had to ask myself "Who?". Teddy is hurt. Williams is hurt. Nouili is suspended. You have guys on the team who were plan C and D guys like Conn and Lynn who will never sniff the field. You have guys like Benhart who have a 4* body but have a 1* vision and brain. Piper has been benched previously for poor play, but maybe he can still be developed. Lutovsky has been getting good review from practice, but he's young and there's obviously a reason he hasn't cracked the rotation even with the injuries and new HC.

So again, what would you do with that list? Where is all this supposed talent? Many of those guys have already got a chance to prove what they can do this year, and have shown exactly what they are. Like I said, I'm not sold on Raiola as a coach, but he doesnt have crap to work with. Stars also dont mean jack, when some kids just dont click. And I think our S&C has failed miserably, as we have seen across the board, with not just OLine, but also with DLine and other positions. Our players just seem to lose quickness when they get in the program.

And then you add in the lack of experience at center, the guy who is supposed to be directing traffic in there. Perhaps there is also confusion about blocking assignments.

 

[Uncle Buck]

I am not defending the O Line or Dom Raiola, and my timeline may be inaccurate, but wasn't he hired in an attempt to get his nephew top-rated QB to sign with Nebraska?
If the rumors regarding Raiola's recruitment errors are true, it seems like another incident of Frost not being able to follow his own game plan.
I believe Frost has cost the O line by both his recruitment in body type and coaching experience.
Despite these issues, I feel that the O -line can perform better, maybe an alignment change to at least try to get in a defenders way?

It's actually Don Raiola, but it's an easy mistake to make

 

[1standten]

I don’t disagree with a lot of what you said, but I have to wonder if our current O-line coach, who just got here, explains the failure of our o-line for the totality of the Frost years before he arrived as well as the Riley years.

The tackles are just not competitive with even the lower level of talent we are facing. Even when we aren’t calling a screen pass, you would swear we were by how fast their defender gets past them. Is there any minute possibility that we need a talent upgrade in some positions?

Absolutely we do. It's a combination of everything. But aside from poaching guys from defense, we are stuck with what we have for this year. Best we can do is enhance their coaching and/or give young guys a shot.

 

[Captkenny]

Absolutely we do. It's a combination of everything. But aside from poaching guys from defense, we are stuck with what we have for this year. Best we can do is enhance their coaching and/or give young guys a shot.

So, who is this top talent O-line coach that is unemployed, could make any difference in the few weeks left, and would be willing to take this very temp job?

How deep into the season will we be replacing coaches and expecting positive results?

 

[Drozz]

I will preface this with the disclaimer that I am definitely NOT a technical expert on o-line performance, but I absolutely 100% agree with this! Bring in a high school coach that can drill on basic technique and movement and some of these lumps might just become serviceable...

Do you guys honestly think that the current OL coach and GA's and other assistants aren't already doing that? Like, what do you think they do at practice, and film studies? It's not like this guy and other coaches haven't been around football before. I mean, he played at Wisconsin, along with a few years in the NFL, he coached at the Bears and also had stops at Hawaii and Notre Dame and coached under a guy who is known as a pretty damn good OL coach. Yeah, not a swath of experience, but you would think he picked up some info and techniques along the way? There's no doubt in my mind he'll be gone after this year, and probably shouldn't have been hired in the first place, but damn, the players need some freaking accountability.

At what point do we just say "Our players on the line just aren't very good", regardless of coaching? What if who we are playing is just bigger, faster, stronger, smarter, and BETTER than what we have on the roster? And we have had so many misses/transfers, that the cupboard is just bare.

 

[Merkules79]

We lost Cam Jurgens to the NFL and we lost our arguably best returning linemen to suspension.

Not sure what you are expecting from a first year offensive line coach.

I still maintain that the 4* dudes who can not block on the edge is because S&C has failed them particularly in developing/improving their lateral quickness.

....... and Prochazka (sp), completely agree with you.

 

[dallasblackshirt]

Do you guys honestly think that the current OL coach and GA's and other assistants aren't already doing that? Like, what do you think they do at practice, and film studies? It's not like this guy and other coaches haven't been around football before. I mean, he played at Wisconsin, along with a few years in the NFL, he coached at the Bears and also had stops at Hawaii and Notre Dame and coached under a guy who is known as a pretty damn good OL coach. Yeah, not a swath of experience, but you would think he picked up some info and techniques along the way? There's no doubt in my mind he'll be gone after this year, and probably shouldn't have been hired in the first place, but damn, the players need some freaking accountability.

At what point do we just say "Our players on the line just aren't very good", regardless of coaching? What if who we are playing is just bigger, faster, stronger, smarter, and BETTER than what we have on the roster? And we have had so many misses/transfers, that the cupboard is just bare.

It's very clear that they are NOT teaching / instilling fundamentals. Otherwise we would see evidence of basic techniques like foot movement, leverage, use of their hands, positioning. These are the basics which we can't even get 4 out of 5 on any given play to do let alone all 5 OL

 

[Cornhuskers7]

Do you guys honestly think that the current OL coach and GA's and other assistants aren't already doing that? Like, what do you think they do at practice, and film studies? It's not like this guy and other coaches haven't been around football before. I mean, he played at Wisconsin, along with a few years in the NFL, he coached at the Bears and also had stops at Hawaii and Notre Dame and coached under a guy who is known as a pretty damn good OL coach. Yeah, not a swath of experience, but you would think he picked up some info and techniques along the way? There's no doubt in my mind he'll be gone after this year, and probably shouldn't have been hired in the first place, but damn, the players need some freaking accountability.

At what point do we just say "Our players on the line just aren't very good", regardless of coaching? What if who we are playing is just bigger, faster, stronger, smarter, and BETTER than what we have on the roster? And we have had so many misses/transfers, that the cupboard is just bare.

I would give them the benefit of the doubt on this stuff most of the time, but I also would have figured that we'd be doing live tackling in practice and working on a lot of things we evidently weren't working on.

I don't think you get rid of the coach unless you already have someone who can pick up that slack and do a better job. I'm going to say based on his current employment, we don't. He'll be gone this offseason. At this point we need to do the best we can with what we've got.

 

[Quality Czech]

I would give them the benefit of the doubt on this stuff most of the time, but I also would have figured that we'd be doing live tackling in practice and working on a lot of things we evidently weren't working on.

I don't think you get rid of the coach unless you already have someone who can pick up that slack and do a better job. I'm going to say based on his current employment, we don't. He'll be gone this offseason. At this point we need to do the best we can with what we've got.

Sadly, you’re likely right on this. It might be a case of just gritting your teeth and living with it. But honestly, if what we are seeing on the o-line is doing the ‘best we can’, then what would it hurt to bring in another set of eyes to see if there aren’t even a few things that could be done differently. It’s been done before - even SF did it when Cam was having problems with snapping the ball…

 

[Cornhuskers7]

Sadly, you’re likely right on this. It might be a case of just gritting your teeth and living with it. But honestly, if what we are seeing on the o-line is doing the ‘best we can’, then what would it hurt to bring in another set of eyes to see if there aren’t even a few things that could be done differently. It’s been done before - even SF did it when Cam was having problems with snapping the ball…

I'm all for getting other people involved and trying to fix the mess this season. I just don't foresee us getting rid of our O-Line coach, unless there is someone in the wings that is capable of stepping into that role. Mickey got rid of Chins but felt good about Busch's ability to fill that role. Is there anyone else on staff that could fully step into that role? Probably not. I'd also be leery of adding more change to a team that has gone through a lot of change this season.