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Receivers?

berryhusker

Travel Squad
15 Year Member
I am the first to admit that I am a novice about football strategies and the specifics of the game. Football has been my favorite sport to watch for 35+ years but I don't pretend to know but only the basics of the game. With that pretense, my question is about our WR's' in particular... Lots of questions. I am one with few answers, which is why I ask.

It seems we have quite a few small, quick/speedy receivers on this team and are lacking the very tall guys that some would prefer. I remember watching Maurice (sp) Purify catch some tall passes I (I was there at the a&m game). But it makes me curious with our current offense if our selection of receivers has shifted. Do we really need those very tall 6'6" guys to catch the corner routes and fades in the endzone? Or do we rely on the more Eddleman types to make catches over the middle and short routes, and then rely on the TE's in the red zone? That probably isn't mutually exclusive, IDK.

I seem to read a lot of consternation on the recruiting board about how we miss on the bigger guys but tend to reel in the small dudes like Robinson who seem to 'fit' with the offense. I yearn to learn more going forward about who is the best fit, but it also makes me wonder if the tall receivers are less important to Frost. Again, mostly just questions to get input. GBR!!
 
Not an expert either, however let me try and answer for you. The offense does lend itself to guys with a lot of quicks. These guys can be moved into the slot, out wide and even occasionally at RB. They offer flexibility to the offense. That being said, when you get into the red zone especially. The tall guys are often capable of going up for a jump ball in the corner of the end zone etc. So it does leave a bit of a hole. However this offense being so diverse can adjust.
 
No expert either but just my observation. It seems when we have the bigger guys, unless they have speed, they can't get separation. That's not a good thing when in the past our QB's weren't all that accurate with their passes so they would tend to either throw in int or tuck and run instead. The quick smaller guys can be shifty and can get that separation. They can also adjust and get to a ball that isn't necessarily on the mark.

I think of the Chiefs and Tyreek Hill. A very fast but little guy who always finds a way to get open because the defenders can't track him. That helps get the ball down the field quickly. Then when they get near the end zone they go for the big physical tight end like Travis Kelsey. The smaller guys can still be a target but they are not typically the first read.

That's my two cents.
 
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Tall guys win in the short field so are a key component of the red zone offense. Those small pesky guys are nice in the open field because, as said above, they are hard to track and with separation, are hard to catch so can get a lot of YAC (Yards after catch). The 50/50 balls are where we may struggle as we don't have the height.

I would guess, but am no expert, that we will see more of our TE use in tight spaces as Allen and Rafdal are 6'7" and 6'8". Stoll is a matchup nightmare too with his big body.
 



Tall guys win in the short field so are a key component of the red zone offense. Those small pesky guys are nice in the open field because, as said above, they are hard to track and with separation, are hard to catch so can get a lot of YAC (Yards after catch). The 50/50 balls are where we may struggle as we don't have the height.

I would guess, but am no expert, that we will see more of our TE use in tight spaces as Allen and Rafdal are 6'7" and 6'8". Stoll is a matchup nightmare too with his big body.
Yup - looking forward to putting the athletic tall guys in as a blocker then splitting them outside against a 5'9" cornerback and seeing what happens. Allen had that long pass play against OSU, and Rafdal had the nice TD catch in the spring game. Seem like lots to work with there, in addition to Stoll running around doing Stoll things.
 
There’s no substitute for height. It’s wrong to you think tall guys get no separation. A guy like Kelce gets separation all the time cause he runs good routes. That’s why Antonio Brown is the best in the game. Or Adam Thielen or Cooper Kupp The guys that run the best routes get the most separation, then when you have a pretty accurate QB you can win th 50/50 balls and also do a lot of damage on the back shoulder fade.
 
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There’s no substitute for height. It’s wrong to you think tall guys get no separation. A guy like Kelce gets separation all the time cause he runs good routes. That’s why Antonio Brown is the best in the game. Or Adam Thielen or Cooper Kupp The guys that run the best routes get the most separation, then when you have a pretty accurate QB you can win th 50/50 balls and also do a lot of damage on the back shoulder fade.

I agree, route running is still a fine art and tall or short there are some guys better than others in getting that separation. You can't coach height so that is where the 50/50 or slightly off target throws come into play. I would take the taller of two guys every time if the rest of the skills were equal. The sad part is that we don't currently have one of those on the roster right now I don't think.
 



There’s no substitute for height. It’s wrong to you think tall guys get no separation. A guy like Kelce gets separation all the time cause he runs good routes. That’s why Antonio Brown is the best in the game. Or Adam Thielen or Cooper Kupp The guys that run the best routes get the most separation, then when you have a pretty accurate QB you can win th 50/50 balls and also do a lot of damage on the back shoulder fade.

If this was directed at me then let me clarify that my comment about tall receivers was not meant as a blanket statement about ALL tall receivers. I agree route running is imortant. Maybe more important than speed. But we don't get a lot of Kelce's and Thielen' s at Nebraska. Nor exceptional passers. That said, I like where we're heading. Maybe in the future we'll be able to bring more of those bigger guys in.
 
Did anyone else see the thread title and think to themselves "Ah ####. What now"
 



The reason we don't get very many of tall agile athletic receivers with good hands is because there aren't very many of them and eveybody wants them.
 
The reason we don't get very many of tall agile athletic receivers with good hands is because there aren't very many of them and eveybody wants them.

haha, exactly true. There are only so many Randy Moss's running around

I think we'll look to find the physical freaks when we can land them, but will otherwise look to get the fastest guys we can find while filling in the gaps for the ball control receivers with the walk-on program and through use of the TE's.

Warner's already in the lineup and while not huge is a guy who uses his body so good as to make him bigger than he is. Add in that he's already a mature and strong 210 and you have a guy who can be a valuable guy for us.

I also liked the way we were using Stoll in the second half of the season. I think we see more of that and likely some HB/FB usage in the passing game as well (Legrone can be a match up problem for lots of defenses).

While some may scoff at the walk-ons, Warner shows it can be done, and Liewer made an impression on the scout team last year. I also really liked the film I saw on Justin Holm. He's a project, but a big guy with speed, good hands and his body control could be a pleasant surprise for us. I'm sure there are others as well.
 


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