Spring Game grades

[BigRedOhio]

My thoughts on Rhule's first spring game:
Defenders were pretty physical and you could see guys playing free and showing some athleticism.
Swarming to the ball on D was pretty good. Nice effort.

On O, Bonner could develop into a really nice piece, Washington's hands are holding him back, and the O line was taking some different angles playcalling wise. More come off the ball and strike.

Athletically we have some cool pieces for the future and hopefully near future.

Other than that it was the first spring and they weren't going to give Colorado and Minnesota much to work with.

Not sure we could have expected any more at this point.

You hit the nail on the head. I always view spring as more of a talent evaluation and less X and O's. New coaches, new players, etc... Its a view into what they have to work with.

 

[Cornhuskers7]

The other thing fans need to remember...

This season we probably won't see a giant jump in improvement. You've got a lot of the same players who are trying to learn new systems/coaches. Plus there is a limited amount of time to work on those improvements. We especially shouldn't be expecting giant improvements in this Spring Game, when coaches have only been working with these guys a couple of months.

The Year 1 to Year 2 jump should be bigger. Let's make sure we don't set expectations for Year 1 too high.

 

[Cornhuskers7]

• Offensive line definitely needs to continue to improve, but depth is going to be critical too. You are going to have a few guys get rolled up over the season and have to have guys who can come in and play.
• I agree that QB play was solid. Sims played well and looked like a serviceable starting quarterback. The rest of the guys probably won't be in the top-3 on the depth chart (I assume Thompson and Smothers will be up there). I think we saw some good things out of each, but still a lot of improvement is needed before I want to see them in a game that matters.
• I still believe our RB group is only going to be as good as our OLine will allow. I think we've got some really good backs, but they'll need holes to be able to showcase their talent. This is probably the position I'm least worried about.
• Kemp had a really good start to the game. We don't have a Trey Palmer this year, so the group as a whole will need to step up. Number of drops and fumbles that we can't have when season starts.
• TE- I didn't get to see a lot out of this position in the 1st half (which is all I watched).
• Defense as a whole seemed to play pretty well. Hard to tell how much of that was because of sub-par offense or good defense. Regardless, I'm hoping defense will be a strength for us this season.
• Special teams definitely still has me worried. Bleekrode missed a couple of field goals. We didn't get to see much on coverages or returns. If we can even be average on special teams, that would be helpful. Can't afford to have it be a weakness.

News of Smothers likely hitting the portal is a little bit of a hit, although not entirely surprising. I think he had some potential, under the right coaching, but not sure he was going to be a good fit with what we will likely do this season offensively. I hate losing the depth, though.

Torres entering portal wasn't surprising to me. Never really had worked his way into contention on the depth chart. Don't think he was ever going to get a shot to play here, so better off moving somewhere he has a better chance to play.

Again, I think we've got good 1-2 depth with Thompson and Sims, but I do think it is concerning once you get past those guys. Haarberg's athleticism is a nice asset, but think he is still really raw as a quarterback. We saw how Purdy faired last season, and I worry about him making the jump mentally.

We need our OLine to improve for a lot of reasons, but protecting our quarterbacks is reason #1. We can't afford to end up going deep into the depth chart at the QB position late in B1G play.

 

[fjbfour]

I've been trying to be a glass half full guy and hope that the fumbles were more because the D has improved than that the carriers were unimproved on ball control.

Missed kicks should be taken with a tiny grain of salt, there was a stiff wind all day.

Still not sure why HCMR went with XFL kickoff rules, not sure if that helped or hurt comparison/evaluation of KRs. I mean, it ensured catchers always ran, but it also gave the kicking team time to see where the ball was going and align their sights on the KR before having to engage. It was weird.

 

[HuskerSuperGenius]

The other thing fans need to remember...

This season we probably won't see a giant jump in improvement. You've got a lot of the same players who are trying to learn new systems/coaches. Plus there is a limited amount of time to work on those improvements. We especially shouldn't be expecting giant improvements in this Spring Game, when coaches have only been working with these guys a couple of months.

The Year 1 to Year 2 jump should be bigger. Let's make sure we don't set expectations for Year 1 too high.

Any HC other than SF does not lose to Northwestern (1-11 in 2022, in case you forgot ) or Georgia Southern in Lincoln by giving up more than 600 yards of Total offense and the winning TD with 36 seconds to go.
Win those two, and DONU is 6-6 in 2022.

My point is that this team was a decent coaching staff from a .500 season last year and now by all measures they have a decent coaching staff, so why can we not expect a .500 or better season in 2023? Add in a schedule which is not as sever as last year, and expectations are further enhanced, no?

And don't give me "well, this years team is learning a new system......". Last years team had four new coaches, a new OC, and then withstood the turmoil of the firing within season of the HC, DC and rearranging of the staff and still played football (Minus the OU game) that had that staff coached the first three games, would have given them a .500 season.

So, yeah, HCMR should be held accountable for a good year this year, I'm sure he feels this way too.
Good programs expect success, they don't downplay it, GBR.

 

[Cornhuskers7]

Any HC other than SF does not lose to Northwestern (1-11 in 2022, in case you forgot ) or Georgia Southern in Lincoln by giving up more than 600 yards of Total offense and the winning TD with 36 seconds to go.
Win those two, and DONU is 6-6 in 2022.

My point is that this team was a decent coaching staff from a .500 season last year and now by all measures they have a decent coaching staff, so why can we not expect a .500 or better season in 2023? Add in a schedule which is not as sever as last year, and expectations are further enhanced, no?

And don't give me "well, this years team is learning a new system......". Last years team had four new coaches, a new OC, and then withstood the turmoil of the firing within season of the HC, DC and rearranging of the staff and still played football (Minus the OU game) that had that staff coached the first three games, would have given them a .500 season.

So, yeah, HCMR should be held accountable for a good year this year, I'm sure he feels this way too.
Good programs expect success, they don't downplay it, GBR.

Not saying he shouldn't be held accountable for this season- I'm saying expectations should be realistic. We should be aiming to get to a bowl. That has been a realistic goal for the last six years, but we've failed to meet that goal.

That said, the improvement is going to be a journey. Things don't improve immediately. You will not see our offensive line go from one of the worst in the country to one of the best by game one. Issues with depth probably won't be fixed in Year 1, if anything it could be worse due to roster turnover that comes with coaching changes.

The learning a new system thing can be an overused excuse- you are right. But, the more valid concern is that with the exception of Raiola, all of these coaches are having to learn their roster. Finding out strengths and weaknesses of guys they not only haven't coached before, but didn't recruit.

A 0.500 or better season would be a realistic goal. If those are the expectations you are setting, I'd consider that reasonable. There are others in our fanbase that have drank so much Kool-Aid it is coming out of their pores. If the goal is "win the West", I'd consider that highly unlikely. There will be hiccups this year. We need improvement, but don't expect to see the 95 Huskers roll out of the tunnel at any point this year.