Where is Nebraska football headed under Mike Riley? It’s too early for detailed answers, but we’ve seen a full season, and now a full recruiting class, which rates about No. 25 nationally. Riley is trying to assemble the team in Lincoln that he never had the wherewithal to assemble during more than a decade in Corvallis. His 2016 class gives us a clearer picture of the next three or four years.
The broad strokes will be in place within a year. The detail will take a little longer to fill in. At this point, we can make big-picture statements.
We already know Riley is committed to a pro-style offense. But what does that mean long-term? If he’s willing to break away from the 50-50 balance on offense that he showed in 2015, I don’t think Riley will wallow around the .500 mark, as he did at Oregon State. That’s largely because he’s already announced he wants to be among the top three rushing teams annually in the Big Ten, which feeds my assumption that he wants to lean on the run game more heavily than he did in 2015.
Barring injury, Tommy Armstrong Jr. will play his entire senior season at quarterback. But even after Armstrong graduates, I think Riley will trend toward becoming a bit more run-heavy at Nebraska than he was at Oregon State. I’d call it a “Stanford/Alabama approach,†and frankly, I’d be OK with that. Riley’s history indicates a preference for using a fullback, which leans more Stanford than ‘Bama, but both are built around a strong power run game, with effective downfield passing capabilities.
On defense, it seems clear that Riley wants to take risks and attack. He’ll use a scheme that’s strong on stopping the run (a good strategy in the Big Ten West) while seeking big, physical defensive backs to handle the substantial responsibilities of press coverage, which include avoiding too many big plays.
There are hopeful signs in the Husker recruit class of 2016, which is highlighted by offensive linemen, defensive backs and a quarterback who illustrate what Riley is moving toward.
It looks like Riley envisions an offense that runs the ball between 55 percent and 65 percent of the time. To me, this means aiming for about a 45/28 run/pass split on average, but retaining the ability to throw it 35 to 40 times if needed. That demands a lot of versatility from your offensive line, making it essential that he aim for Stanford or Alabama quality in the trenches. If he can’t recruit as much talent, he’ll certainly have to develop them at least as well. I like the four o-linemen in this class. With John Rairdon, Matt Farniok, Boe Wilson and Bryan Brokop. NU took important steps toward building a physical, athletic offensive line.
Patrick O’Brien impressed Riley and Danny Langsdorf, who have reputations as quarterback specialists. It looks like Nebraska will have a dependable passer who can run a little, instead of a runner who can pass, and that’s the best approach in a pro-style offense. If he can make all the throws, make good decisions and extend plays with above-average mobility, he doesn’t need to have breakaway speed. But it would be nice to see him run about as often and as effectively as did Kevin Hogan in 2015 – or Jerry Tagge in 1971. Neither was a breakaway threat, but both could move the chains and had to be accounted for as runners in the red zone.
I like the trend I’m seeing on defense. When all the pieces are there, Mark Banker is trying to stop the run first, counting on big, strong defensive backs to nail down the back end. He’ll recruit safeties and turn some of them into speedy outside linebackers. Lamar Jackson, Marquel Dismuke and Tony Butler are all over 6 feet tall and seem to be great additions to the secondary. Banker will put his corners in a lot of one-on-one situations, and depend on them to play effective press coverage. The missing element so far is the pass rush. It’s a real problem. The weakness of Riley’s 2016 recruits is the absence of defensive tackles and the lack of edge pass rushers, which leads us to the firing of Hank Hughes.
The fact that Riley dismissed Hughes indicates he understands the pass rush issue and urgently wants to improve recruiting. Riley knows he cannot afford to lose any more ground in the defensive line. Sam McKewon of the Omaha World-Herald pointed out in a recent column that the Huskers had only two high school or junior college d-line recruits on campus during the past football season, including defensive end Ben Stille of Ashland-Greenwood, who likely would have signed regardless of which coach was in charge of recruiting his position. That’s astounding.
Overall, It looks like Riley is taking more control of his team and will not be content to quietly drift toward retirement. It appears he wants to finish his career with a sprint. His words indicate he wanted more out of the 2016 class, and is taking steps to raise the bar in 2017. After a 6-7 season and a good-but-not-great recruiting class, it needs quite a bit of raising.
Formerly the sports editor at the North Platte Bulletin and a sportswriter/columnist for the North Platte Telegraph, Tad Stryker started writing for this website in 2008. You can e-mail him at tad.stryker@gmail.com. Stryker is a freelance writer, favoring topics related to Nebraska history or Christianity. You can buy his recent book at this link.
The broad strokes will be in place within a year. The detail will take a little longer to fill in. At this point, we can make big-picture statements.
We already know Riley is committed to a pro-style offense. But what does that mean long-term? If he’s willing to break away from the 50-50 balance on offense that he showed in 2015, I don’t think Riley will wallow around the .500 mark, as he did at Oregon State. That’s largely because he’s already announced he wants to be among the top three rushing teams annually in the Big Ten, which feeds my assumption that he wants to lean on the run game more heavily than he did in 2015.
Barring injury, Tommy Armstrong Jr. will play his entire senior season at quarterback. But even after Armstrong graduates, I think Riley will trend toward becoming a bit more run-heavy at Nebraska than he was at Oregon State. I’d call it a “Stanford/Alabama approach,†and frankly, I’d be OK with that. Riley’s history indicates a preference for using a fullback, which leans more Stanford than ‘Bama, but both are built around a strong power run game, with effective downfield passing capabilities.
On defense, it seems clear that Riley wants to take risks and attack. He’ll use a scheme that’s strong on stopping the run (a good strategy in the Big Ten West) while seeking big, physical defensive backs to handle the substantial responsibilities of press coverage, which include avoiding too many big plays.
There are hopeful signs in the Husker recruit class of 2016, which is highlighted by offensive linemen, defensive backs and a quarterback who illustrate what Riley is moving toward.
It looks like Riley envisions an offense that runs the ball between 55 percent and 65 percent of the time. To me, this means aiming for about a 45/28 run/pass split on average, but retaining the ability to throw it 35 to 40 times if needed. That demands a lot of versatility from your offensive line, making it essential that he aim for Stanford or Alabama quality in the trenches. If he can’t recruit as much talent, he’ll certainly have to develop them at least as well. I like the four o-linemen in this class. With John Rairdon, Matt Farniok, Boe Wilson and Bryan Brokop. NU took important steps toward building a physical, athletic offensive line.
Patrick O’Brien impressed Riley and Danny Langsdorf, who have reputations as quarterback specialists. It looks like Nebraska will have a dependable passer who can run a little, instead of a runner who can pass, and that’s the best approach in a pro-style offense. If he can make all the throws, make good decisions and extend plays with above-average mobility, he doesn’t need to have breakaway speed. But it would be nice to see him run about as often and as effectively as did Kevin Hogan in 2015 – or Jerry Tagge in 1971. Neither was a breakaway threat, but both could move the chains and had to be accounted for as runners in the red zone.
I like the trend I’m seeing on defense. When all the pieces are there, Mark Banker is trying to stop the run first, counting on big, strong defensive backs to nail down the back end. He’ll recruit safeties and turn some of them into speedy outside linebackers. Lamar Jackson, Marquel Dismuke and Tony Butler are all over 6 feet tall and seem to be great additions to the secondary. Banker will put his corners in a lot of one-on-one situations, and depend on them to play effective press coverage. The missing element so far is the pass rush. It’s a real problem. The weakness of Riley’s 2016 recruits is the absence of defensive tackles and the lack of edge pass rushers, which leads us to the firing of Hank Hughes.
The fact that Riley dismissed Hughes indicates he understands the pass rush issue and urgently wants to improve recruiting. Riley knows he cannot afford to lose any more ground in the defensive line. Sam McKewon of the Omaha World-Herald pointed out in a recent column that the Huskers had only two high school or junior college d-line recruits on campus during the past football season, including defensive end Ben Stille of Ashland-Greenwood, who likely would have signed regardless of which coach was in charge of recruiting his position. That’s astounding.
Overall, It looks like Riley is taking more control of his team and will not be content to quietly drift toward retirement. It appears he wants to finish his career with a sprint. His words indicate he wanted more out of the 2016 class, and is taking steps to raise the bar in 2017. After a 6-7 season and a good-but-not-great recruiting class, it needs quite a bit of raising.
Formerly the sports editor at the North Platte Bulletin and a sportswriter/columnist for the North Platte Telegraph, Tad Stryker started writing for this website in 2008. You can e-mail him at tad.stryker@gmail.com. Stryker is a freelance writer, favoring topics related to Nebraska history or Christianity. You can buy his recent book at this link.
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