Spring Game, My overall thoughts

[Huskerthom]

QB had a clear hierarchy, 1. Raiola 2. Haarberg 3. Kaelin 4. all the rest. To give you an idea of the separation. Overall DR statline, 16-22-1. That is 72.7% completion rate. Haarberg was 8-13-0 or 62%. Kaelen 9-16-1 for 56%. Also DK int was way uglier than DR int. DR was a little behind the WR who got 2 hands on it but tipped it up to a defender. DK int was thrown into heavy coverage. He also made bad decisions on a few of the incomplete passes.

Running Back: I have heard a few opinions on this one but to me it was 1 Dowdell with almost 11 YPCarry and another 11 yards in the passing game. No one else even close.

OL looked good overall but it was hard to track who was who with them as manyh were going both ways.

DL impossible to grade as the best 2 never really saw the field.

LB play was pretty good on the runs. They did not IMO do a great job of helping to cover the short passing game.

Kick offs and punting looked pretty good. I continue to worry about our field goal game. When you are hunting for 3. Missing 2 out of three FGs is not good, they were not even terrible tough field goals.

 

[NorthwoodHusker]

Emmet the clear number one rb. They barely ran him then sat him.
WR room good depth and talent.

 

[Huskerthom]

Emmet the clear number one rb. They barely ran him then sat him.
WR room good depth and talent.

He may well be but I did not see enough to make that judgement.

 

[NorthwoodHusker]

He may well be but I did not see enough to make that judgement.

Exactly

 

[Skers4life]

DR will be the starter come UTEP. HH will be a very good back up and needed for sure at some point. DK will see some action but will most likely RS. RB's will be Emmet, Dowdell and hopefully Rahmir. After that, it drops off significantly. WR group is refreshingly good, and those guys should have a banner year. O Line looked and played well for what it was, a scrimmage. DL is impossible to judge with Ty and Nash out, but the other guys played pretty well. DB's are strong, lots of experience and talent, and LB's need to learn on the run.

Kicker and ST is still giving us heartburn and will need to be a big focus this summer/fall. If we keep Raiola healthy and our D plays even close to what they did last year, this is a 7-9 win team with 10 wins not OUT of the realm of possibility. The schedule sets up for a 7-0 start.

For once, I am excited about the talent on the field bringing us back to prominence and not the head coach driving all the headlines (Frost,Rhule,Pelini) GBR

 

[Alaskajohn]

DR will be the starter come UTEP. HH will be a very good back up and needed for sure at some point. DK will see some action but will most likely RS. RB's will be Emmet, Dowdell and hopefully Rahmir. After that, it drops off significantly. WR group is refreshingly good, and those guys should have a banner year. O Line looked and played well for what it was, a scrimmage. DL is impossible to judge with Ty and Nash out, but the other guys played pretty well. DB's are strong, lots of experience and talent, and LB's need to learn on the run.

Kicker and ST is still giving us heartburn and will need to be a big focus this summer/fall. If we keep Raiola healthy and our D plays even close to what they did last year, this is a 7-9 win team with 10 wins not OUT of the realm of possibility. The schedule sets up for a 7-0 start.

For once, I am excited about the talent on the field bringing us back to prominence and not the head coach driving all the headlines (Frost,Rhule,Pelini) GBR

At RB, did you forget about Gabe? If he gets healthy, see him starting.

The FG game if not fixed could cost us some games.

 

[NorthwoodHusker]

At RB, did you forget about Gabe? If he gets healthy, see him starting.

The FG game if not fixed could cost us some games.

Yea, Mr steady isn't looking so steady at the moment. Seems almost every kicker goes through this. Some pull out of it, some never do

 

[Alaskajohn]

Yea, Mr steady isn't looking so steady at the moment. Seems almost every kicker goes through this. Some pull out of it, some never do

If a good one hits the portal we need to go for him. Just looked and not much there, but that could change in a heartbeat.

 

[Skers4life]

At RB, did you forget about Gabe? If he gets healthy, see him starting.

The FG game if not fixed could cost us some games.

I actually wouldn't be surprised if Gabe hangs up his cleats. Hearing his rehab has been daunting. Just my opinion.

 

[NorthwoodHusker]

If a good one hits the portal we need to go for him. Just looked and not much there, but that could change in a heartbeat.

I think he has time yet to get it right, but keep a name handy.

 

[Cornhuskers7]

I only got to watch the 1st half, but my thoughts echo some of those of the original poster.

QB: Raiola does a good job with ball placement and processing. I think his ability to anticipate and make good throws is going to be a huge difference maker for us. Haarberg still seems like he is in a similar spot to where he was last fall. He is good on the deep bomb throws, but you only get a handful of those per game. His ability to snag the 2nd spot on the depth chart is going to be dependent on his ability to make quick decisions and make good throws on the short/intermediate stuff.

Rest of the offense: Saw some nice flashes from the receivers. I think we have quite a bit more depth at the position this year. Having someone that can make good passes will help make them shine. Rest of the group looked good. I didn't see any glaring weaknesses.

Defense: Don't think we had all of our key guys out there. Did manage to force a couple of turnovers. Still think we probably need to improve in pass coverage, but I anticipate the D will be in a good spot.

Special teams: There were a couple of good KO returns. I'm not sure how much of that was good returning vs. bad coverage. Place kicking is still a problem. Alvano has the leg, we just need the accuracy to improve over the next few months. Couple XPs nearly were blocked and had a couple of bad misses on FG attempts. Even if our offense improves, we can't afford to leave points on the field in the kicking game (see 2021).

Overall, I was pleased with what I saw Saturday. I try not to put too much stock into the Spring Game, but it was good to see progression.

 

[Fort Husker]

I actually wouldn't be surprised if Gabe hangs up his cleats. Hearing his rehab has been daunting. Just my opinion.

I would not be surprised by this either but hope he returns. Even if he does I still see EJ starting. Really hope Ives takes a step this fall as he will likely be needed.

 

[bikedoug]

My Two cents

QB: DR wasn't perfect, but had great presence, cycled through progressions and had a couple of great 'throw the receiver open' throws. At one point there was a stat that he had through something like 15 passes to 13 different receivers. Clear #1 based on this scrimmage. HH looked 'light years' ahead of last year - some good touch passes and better form and ability to progress through reads. DK looked like a redshirt would serve him well, but through some nice balls also.

Running Back: No argument from what was said here, what we saw looked pretty good, and what we didn't see may be better.

OL looked good overall...but they gave up some would've been sacks in real game scenarios. QB's were off limits and I saw once where the defender just stopped and put his hands up and another where the QB was actually touched by the defender. Both would have been sacks, there were probably others.

DL impossible to grade as the best 2 never really saw the field. With that said, I think they held they're own - the no touching the QB rule made it hard to evaluate 'disruptive capability', but they didn't allow many gashers in the run game (IIRC).

LB play was pretty good on the runs. They did not IMO do a great job of helping to cover the short passing game. Yeah, but QB's had extra time in many cases since the DL had to back off.

Kick offs and punting looked pretty good. I continue to worry about our field goal game. mason crosby had a bad streak one year at GB several years ago, got it right and had another 4 or 5 of Mr. Reliable. Hope our guy gets through this quickly.

WR's looked great for the most part -- both in going after contested balls and blocking. I loved the screens that were thrown in stride with the solid blocking that went for 5-10 yards almost routinely. How many times in the last several years did we see a bubble screen thrown high or behind the receiver or a muffed block that allowed the defender to shed the block and make the tackle for loss.

 

[NorthwoodHusker]

My Two cents

QB: DR wasn't perfect, but had great presence, cycled through progressions and had a couple of great 'throw the receiver open' throws. At one point there was a stat that he had through something like 15 passes to 13 different receivers. Clear #1 based on this scrimmage. HH looked 'light years' ahead of last year - some good touch passes and better form and ability to progress through reads. DK looked like a redshirt would serve him well, but through some nice balls also.

Running Back: No argument from what was said here, what we saw looked pretty good, and what we didn't see may be better.

OL looked good overall...but they gave up some would've been sacks in real game scenarios. QB's were off limits and I saw once where the defender just stopped and put his hands up and another where the QB was actually touched by the defender. Both would have been sacks, there were probably others.

DL impossible to grade as the best 2 never really saw the field. With that said, I think they held they're own - the no touching the QB rule made it hard to evaluate 'disruptive capability', but they didn't allow many gashers in the run game (IIRC).

LB play was pretty good on the runs. They did not IMO do a great job of helping to cover the short passing game. Yeah, but QB's had extra time in many cases since the DL had to back off.

Kick offs and punting looked pretty good. I continue to worry about our field goal game. mason crosby had a bad streak one year at GB several years ago, got it right and had another 4 or 5 of Mr. Reliable. Hope our guy gets through this quickly.

WR's looked great for the most part -- both in going after contested balls and blocking. I loved the screens that were thrown in stride with the solid blocking that went for 5-10 yards almost routinely. How many times in the last several years did we see a bubble screen thrown high or behind the receiver or a muffed block that allowed the defender to shed the block and make the tackle for loss.

I watched some of the bluffs game, the wrs were wide open a lot.
We did play some tight coverage and did force good throws.
This above all is what the staff wanted to see imo.
Lack of pass rush changes all this when the D is let loose, but guys weren't getting that open like in the bluffs game.

 

[juju]

An upside for me was DR being able to throw into windows.

QBs all need to practice the shorter screen throws so the RB/WR is hit in stride and let them get uphill. Some of those looked awkward and would get someone crunched in B1G play.

Pass pro was fairly solid. If Greg Austin had half the coaching talent and scheme of Coach Raiola, 2AM wouldn't have been running for his life all the time. Wider pocket and getting 3+ seconds make a huge difference. Can't wait to see some of these young cats like Brix develop so we can get some nasty going in the run game.

Sucks that Blye Hill and D. Bell got hurt. B1G corners don't grow on trees but at least we have developing depth at WR.