Got to factor in that kids in boot camp can’t transfer out.
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Spring Practice Primer
- Thread starter One Hit Wonder
- Start date
Here I provide a little more depth to the discussion in terms of guys that are in the running at each position.
QB:
A. Martinez; L. McCaffrey and N. Vedral
The question remains as to whether there will be an actual competition for the #1 spot. Nebraska is in a fortunate situation which will (should) allow Smothers to redshirt.
RB:
B. Belt; R. Johnson; D. Mills; S. Morrison and M. Scott
Need at least 3 guys to step up from this group. Belt and Thompkins are the wildcards. Thompkins’ knees are a huge question mark and Belt showed some flashes on special teams and with some limited running plays.
WR:
Z. Betts; A. Brown; M. Fleming; D. Houston; O. Manning; J. Nance; W. Nixon; W. Robinson and K. Warner
Six to eight WRs are necessary in this offense. If anyone can take one of that last scholarship slots, I would nominate Warner – the kid is a baller. I would think some of the younger fellas will get a shot.
TE:
A. Allen; C. Hickman; K. Rafdal; J. Stoll and T. Vokolek
Difficult to find flaws with this group – just need to get them more involved. I like Hickman as a FLEX option in a double TE set.
OL:
B. Bando; B. Benhart; M. Farniok; W. Farniok; J. Fritzsche; C. Gaylord; T.Hixson; B. Jaimes; C. Jurgens; E. Piper; M. Sichterman and B. Wilson
A ton of guys but the O-line will be one of the more hotly contested competitions of the entire team and I like that idea a lot.
DL:
D. Daniels; K. Green; N. Hutmacher; M. Newsom; P. Payne; J. Riley; C. Rogers; B. Stille; D. Thomas and T. Robinson
You have 10 solid prospects for 3 spots. As I said before in this thread, they need to find “that guy” who can become a disruptive force in the middle. I hesitated to add Hutmacher but his physical talent is difficult to ignore.
OLB:
N. Cooper; J. Domann; G. Nelson; J. Graham; J. Hannah and C. Tannor
Outside of Domann and Tannor, there are a lot of unknown variables to this position. It will not surprise me to see an inside guy slide over to the outside as spring and fall practice progresses.
ILB
N. Henrich; W. Honas; J. Johnson; E.Mauga-Clements; C. Miller and L. Reimer
Same situation as the outside. Hopefully Keyshawn Greene can come in and get some reps but I’m not sure if he will be physically ready. Not very comfortable with the linebackers as a whole; too many question marks.
CB:
D. Bootle; B. Clark; Q. Newsome; C. Taylor-Britt and J. Wright
I feel pretty good about this group. As I look down the list of incoming freshmen, those three kids from Florida could add some valuable depth as the season wears on.
S:
M. Dismuke; M. Farmer; N. Pola-Gates and D. Williams
This is another group to which I feel as being considered solid in terms of depth and talent.
P/K and Special Teams:
Kickers: C. Contreraz and M. Waldoch
Punters: G. Detlefsen and W. Przystup
Probably the least asked about and covered even less by the media are the kickers, punters and special teams. I said there is a sense of urgency… Frost believes so too as he hired a new ST Analyst. Man, talk about being in a fish bowl scenario. But it isn’t just the kickers and punters; it will be the 11 guys that line up in each of the ST categories. Special Teams requires players with a different attitude – a bit of a crazy; cock-eyed; foaming at the mouth – run down the field and blow someone up attitude and get little to zero accolades.
QB:
A. Martinez; L. McCaffrey and N. Vedral
The question remains as to whether there will be an actual competition for the #1 spot. Nebraska is in a fortunate situation which will (should) allow Smothers to redshirt.
RB:
B. Belt; R. Johnson; D. Mills; S. Morrison and M. Scott
Need at least 3 guys to step up from this group. Belt and Thompkins are the wildcards. Thompkins’ knees are a huge question mark and Belt showed some flashes on special teams and with some limited running plays.
WR:
Z. Betts; A. Brown; M. Fleming; D. Houston; O. Manning; J. Nance; W. Nixon; W. Robinson and K. Warner
Six to eight WRs are necessary in this offense. If anyone can take one of that last scholarship slots, I would nominate Warner – the kid is a baller. I would think some of the younger fellas will get a shot.
TE:
A. Allen; C. Hickman; K. Rafdal; J. Stoll and T. Vokolek
Difficult to find flaws with this group – just need to get them more involved. I like Hickman as a FLEX option in a double TE set.
OL:
B. Bando; B. Benhart; M. Farniok; W. Farniok; J. Fritzsche; C. Gaylord; T.Hixson; B. Jaimes; C. Jurgens; E. Piper; M. Sichterman and B. Wilson
A ton of guys but the O-line will be one of the more hotly contested competitions of the entire team and I like that idea a lot.
DL:
D. Daniels; K. Green; N. Hutmacher; M. Newsom; P. Payne; J. Riley; C. Rogers; B. Stille; D. Thomas and T. Robinson
You have 10 solid prospects for 3 spots. As I said before in this thread, they need to find “that guy” who can become a disruptive force in the middle. I hesitated to add Hutmacher but his physical talent is difficult to ignore.
OLB:
N. Cooper; J. Domann; G. Nelson; J. Graham; J. Hannah and C. Tannor
Outside of Domann and Tannor, there are a lot of unknown variables to this position. It will not surprise me to see an inside guy slide over to the outside as spring and fall practice progresses.
ILB
N. Henrich; W. Honas; J. Johnson; E.Mauga-Clements; C. Miller and L. Reimer
Same situation as the outside. Hopefully Keyshawn Greene can come in and get some reps but I’m not sure if he will be physically ready. Not very comfortable with the linebackers as a whole; too many question marks.
CB:
D. Bootle; B. Clark; Q. Newsome; C. Taylor-Britt and J. Wright
I feel pretty good about this group. As I look down the list of incoming freshmen, those three kids from Florida could add some valuable depth as the season wears on.
S:
M. Dismuke; M. Farmer; N. Pola-Gates and D. Williams
This is another group to which I feel as being considered solid in terms of depth and talent.
P/K and Special Teams:
Kickers: C. Contreraz and M. Waldoch
Punters: G. Detlefsen and W. Przystup
Probably the least asked about and covered even less by the media are the kickers, punters and special teams. I said there is a sense of urgency… Frost believes so too as he hired a new ST Analyst. Man, talk about being in a fish bowl scenario. But it isn’t just the kickers and punters; it will be the 11 guys that line up in each of the ST categories. Special Teams requires players with a different attitude – a bit of a crazy; cock-eyed; foaming at the mouth – run down the field and blow someone up attitude and get little to zero accolades.
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I wonder how much double TE sets we'll see in the fall? Seems like it could add value in several ways ... running game, WR rotation if that continues to be a challenge and maybe some measure of un-predictability in play calling.
A little 'banzai' attitude sure would not hurt.
Remember when we played Oklahoma when the Boz was playing? He came out barking like a dog and they kicked our butts.We haven't had that kind of attitude since the Peters brothers. I specifically remember one game where both of them were on the bench in the 4th quarter and the radio announcer said OMG the huskers are now playing with their peters out!
ShortSideOption
Guest
I get it. But we are banking on kids to come in and bolster depth from our recruiting class and that's what happened last year with Rahmir. If MIlls goes down we are screwed IMO. While I like the 2020 RB class as a whole compared to 2019, if Mills goes down who is your workhorse? Rahmir? A true freshmen? Not ideal.
ShortSideOption
Guest
lol yes.
@ShortSideOption: based upon your comment #66 above, would a grad transfer at the RB position group make any sense to you after Spring ball?
My take is RB is maybe the 3rd position group to round out with one more serviceable addition.
My take is RB is maybe the 3rd position group to round out with one more serviceable addition.
ShortSideOption
Guest
RB, DL, OLB. You could talk me into WR as well. Gotta have the right guy tho, guy like Greg Bell comes in (I know he was JUCO) and destroys your room.
As bad as last year was, losing our top two kickers to injury was just an unheard of situation. As bad as we looked at times, this issue cost us at least two games. Getting on top of this situation will pay big dividends. So that is the number one position that concerns me for next season.
They need to get all of the weapons on the field to be effective. The TEs can be huge in this offense.
I would go with a LB above every other position. The DL depth is solid but it's difficult to make any real assessment at this juncture. WR and RB is completely unknown. Spot on with the Bell comment.
At least two games. Special teams can flip the field; steal momentum and change a way the opposing coach approaches a series. Unfortunately, it worked against them in most facets of special teams play.
I think we forget what being a freshman is like, especially in sports. Most come in as the stud on their team, an All-Stater, the guy other teams had to plan for. That change in speed and strength from HS to College is a shock for most. We’re taught from day 1 to lean on the leaders, the upperclassmen, to learn from them. Strong leadership can elevate a lesser team, just as weak leaders can hinder a team’s development. We have had a gap in the leadership department for quite a while. Stan was probably the strongest over the last few years, but even he had some lapses, and that could be in part because of Walters.
I’m not saying there haven’t been mistakes in how we’ve handled some of the ‘buy in’ issues, but hindsight is 20/20, and people pounding keyboards saying ‘I’d show those spoiled brats the door’, have likely NEVER been involved with a situation like we had the last 7 or 8 years. There are only a handful of people who have seen a majority of the dynamics of the administration, staff, players, locker room, weight room, training room, all those components that create a personality, or culture. I love some of the tidbits we get from folks on here, but it’s pretty ridiculous to think those small glimpses are a window worthy of drawing conclusions from. When you have freshman or sophomores jumping into predominant leadership roles, you have an obvious void. When those guys hit challenges, they don’t have 3, 4 or 5 years of experience to draw from, and they aren’t going to be in a position to pull up those around them when doubts set in. I think one reason our DL played much better was having a guy like Daniels as a leader, even if he’d only been with the team a few months. That’s a great indication of just how weak we were in that regard. Coaches can help create the culture, but it’s the players using peer pressure and motivation that maximize the results.
@One Hit Wonder, thanks for the thread and for the details.
I'm excited to see how the DBs step up this season. Also, intrigued how the CBs make you feel....
"Oh so pretty..."
I'm excited to see how the DBs step up this season. Also, intrigued how the CBs make you feel....
"Oh so pretty..."
Your last sentence sums it up. If the negative aspects of the culture...…..as you have referenced for our lack of immediate change is do to peer pressure from the old stale, lazy culture remaining Seniors than our Freshman shouldn't be looking up to them and should definitely be able to notice the difference between what those Seniors are doing and what is expected of them from the Coaching side. If they can't we have a coaching issue. I can buy that in year 1........not year 3. Culture cannot be an excuse this year. We have seen to many examples of bad programes change in a one or two year process.
Every team has a unique dynamic. This still isn’t addressing our lack of player leadership. As for buy in, I doubt we see much in the way of bad culture this year, but there could be a few who create dissent. The interesting part of that will be how they are addressed by the team and the staff. I’m especially interested to see if big Farn is a problem, and is relegated to a lesser role, will that impact little Farn or any of the rest of the linemen?
