Spring Practice #6 (4/5/18)

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I will be at work tomorrow so counting on some of you lovely people to provide the practice information as it happens.

Thu 4/05, 7:30-10 a.m.
Coach Chinanader, requested defensive assistant coaches available to media

 

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[AzHusker]

I will be at work tomorrow so counting on some of you lovely people to provide the practice information as it happens.

Thu 4/05, 7:30-10 a.m.
Coach Chinanader, requested defensive assistant coaches available to media

Am I making this up, or was Diontae the kid who's dad played with, or had some strong connection with one of our coaches (maybe T Fish?). Anyone else recall that?

Edit: article said he had a strong relationship with T Fisher. I'm excited to see Diontai lay the wood on some folks this fall.

 

[Lavaman]

Aside QB play, how things shake out at RB this spring and fall is the most intriguing position battle this year imho. I cant wait to see how Bell plays in the spring game, along with seeing how Ozigbo's lost weight will affect him. I'm really hoping the light turns all the way on for Wilbon because some of the flashes he has shown have been tantalizing. Throw a healthy Tre Bryant in there, along with the incoming freshmen and your guess is as good as mine as to who gets the lion's share of carries this fall.

 

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[AzHusker]

Aside QB play, how things shake out at RB this spring and fall is the most intriguing position battle this year imho. I cant wait to see how Bell plays in the spring game, along with seeing how Ozigbo's lost weight will affect him. I'm really hoping the light turns all the way on for Wilbon because some of the flashes he has shown have been tantalizing. Throw a healthy Tre Bryant in there, along with the incoming freshmen and your guess is as good as mine as to who gets the lion's share of carries this fall.

I do hope Tre is healthy, he's a special athlete. I suspect because of the speed at which we'll play, you'll see a much deeper rotation than in past years. I hope that helps Tre, too. Just my opinion, (and this is hindsight analysis), but I don't think he was managed optimally last year given his bad knee and the coaches lack of preparation/confidence in the other running backs.

And then you have guys like JD Spielman, Tyjon Lindsey, Mike Williams, and probably others who could rotate from the slot into the backfield for an occasional carry.

Ball security, of course, given the emphasis of this coaching staff, will be at a premium (in fairness, fumbling the ball was NOT an issue with our backs last year). I was thrilled to see the guys carrying the ball around constantly "high and tight" even in early spring practices! I guess Ozigbo did put the ball on the ground the other day during some live action, but there was some question about whether he was down or not.

Wonder if Wyatt Mazour busts onto the scene? Tell me that our current offensive staff wouldn't have found a way to use a Danny Woodhead type...

I think the thing I'm looking forward to the most is just seeing our guys put into positions to succeed with mismatches, deception, confidence, aggression, supreme conditioning, and blazing fast pace. Those are advantages of COACHING before the players even step on the field for a game.

 

[Skunkman1]

Aside QB play, how things shake out at RB this spring and fall is the most intriguing position battle this year imho. I cant wait to see how Bell plays in the spring game, along with seeing how Ozigbo's lost weight will affect him. I'm really hoping the light turns all the way on for Wilbon because some of the flashes he has shown have been tantalizing. Throw a healthy Tre Bryant in there, along with the incoming freshmen and your guess is as good as mine as to who gets the lion's share of carries this fall.

Me thinks Wyatt may get a few reps also!

 

[Discoverer27]

Me thinks Wyatt may get a few reps also!

Don't know if you saw it Skunk, but Held was talking about which backs could split out of the backfield and Mazour was one of the three he named.

 

[Discoverer27]

 

[All 'N' 011808]

 

[All 'N' 011808]

This is actually a good thing for the Huskers in Frost's first year on a couple of fronts. If you don't dismiss fancy figurin' out of hand simply because it's fancy, this is a good reminder of what the "known" variables say about this football program at this specific moment. It's average. Been average for basically the entire look-back period ESPN uses in these calculations, and that should matter.

It can be a baseline, practically if not emotionally, and that will allow the context of the season––the actual games and stuff––to tell the story and shape perception, which is how it always works anyway. Practically, the consensus opinion on the Huskers right now is that 2018 is all about progress. Emotionally, uh, we'll see if folks can maintain that pragmatism. It's unnatural in an endeavor governed primarily by visceral reaction, which I believe is the working definition of "football fandom." Give people a couple of those beautiful blooms of hope early, and they'll start to expect more quickly even if they said they wouldn't. Nothing wrong with that, just how it is.