Winter Testing Results

[Power of Corn]

If the higher training numbers are true.... terrific, but the intangibles will have just as big an effect.

The intangibles.... turnovers, penalties, 3rd down efficiency on offense and def. An OL that is cohesive, WR that see and make blocks at a better rate that the year before. RB that are 10% better at choosing the right hole to hit, and knowing when to wait for a block. All the hidden yardage of special teams. Even the ability to get 2 1st downs, before you have to punt, at least your punting from your own 40 rather than your own 15-20, that flips the field, and forces them into an 80 yard field, rather than a 55-60 yd field.

Def that verbally communicates better on the field. DL that can apply QB pressure on 7-8 more passes. DL that can force 2+ holding penalties per game, and 2 illegal motion/shift per game.

These seem like simple things, none of which are direct points for or against.... but they add up to success. Theres plenty of more things to mention also.

 

[ShortSideOption]

We've talked about where flexibility fits into the equation, so I found this quote from Jaimes today in the OWH (I saw it here on Hmax) an indictment on what our S&C team is doing compared to how Jaimes is training for the pros. The article said that "Jaimes said he’s had to improve his flexibility."
“That’ll dissolve a lot of problems (scouts) see in my game,” Jaimes said. “If I can get that taken care of, I’ll be in pretty good shape.”

How’s he working on that?

“Doing things I don’t normally do, that we didn’t do as much here at Nebraska,” Jaimes said

Jaimes and Farniok said some things at their pro day that pretty much solidify what I’ve been talking about in regards to S/C and how our guys look/play.

We are stiff, slow, and too big. The scouts told them both to work on their core, flexibility, and to drop some fat. I think when you try running the offense we do and that’s what your OL need to work on when they graduate and try to get to the league, you will have poor results like we have.

Hopefully we are changing some things up in that regard.

 

[Husker In Oklahoma]

Jaimes and Farniok said some things at their pro day that pretty much solidify what I’ve been talking about in regards to S/C and how our guys look/play.

We are stiff, slow, and too big. The scouts told them both to work on their core, flexibility, and to drop some fat. I think when you try running the offense we do and that’s what your OL need to work on when they graduate and try to get to the league, you will have poor results like we have.

Hopefully we are changing some things up in that regard.

If you’re seeing that, why aren’t the coaches seeing it? Wouldn’t they know if they are stiff and slow? Why would they train that way if it is detrimental to overall success? Do they just have the wrong belief of what works best? Or, are they just hard headed and think their way is the only way?

 

[NeroFakesThePitch]

If you’re seeing that, why aren’t the coaches seeing it? Wouldn’t they know if they are stiff and slow? Why would they train that way if it is detrimental to overall success? Do they just have the wrong belief of what works best? Or, are they just hard headed and think their way is the only way?

This is a good question. I think that is what we all want to know.

 

[ShortSideOption]

If you’re seeing that, why aren’t the coaches seeing it? Wouldn’t they know if they are stiff and slow? Why would they train that way if it is detrimental to overall success? Do they just have the wrong belief of what works best? Or, are they just hard headed and think their way is the only way?

I don't have a great answer there, but I do believe when you go 13-0, win a conference title and beat an Auburn team in the bowl game that it's really tough to change what you do. If I see it, multiple people on twitter and message boards see it, and now the pro scouts are seeing it, and the players agree that's a flaw of theirs so they go elsewhere to work on it, it gets frustrating to me because we are in year 4. Guys like Hixson, Wilson, and Farniok have all regressed. Jaimes seemed steady, but never really took the next step. Now Nebraska fans are excited for guys like Benhart, Piper, Corcoran, etc. but if they have the same trajectory as others I just mentioned, we already seen the best of them?

My theory is that we came in and wanted to get bigger, we didn't like the build of the Jerald Fosters of the world or the Tanner Farmers, we wanted taller so we could put that much more weight on them. Guys like Piper and Jurgens don't necessarily fit the mold of what we look for on the OL now, I do like what they bring to the table.

 

[Husker In Oklahoma]

I don't have a great answer there, but I do believe when you go 13-0, win a conference title and beat an Auburn team in the bowl game that it's really tough to change what you do. If I see it, multiple people on twitter and message boards see it, and now the pro scouts are seeing it, and the players agree that's a flaw of theirs so they go elsewhere to work on it, it gets frustrating to me because we are in year 4. Guys like Hixson, Wilson, and Farniok have all regressed. Jaimes seemed steady, but never really took the next step. Now Nebraska fans are excited for guys like Benhart, Piper, Corcoran, etc. but if they have the same trajectory as others I just mentioned, we already seen the best of them?

My theory is that we came in and wanted to get bigger, we didn't like the build of the Jerald Fosters of the world or the Tanner Farmers, we wanted taller so we could put that much more weight on them. Guys like Piper and Jurgens don't necessarily fit the mold of what we look for on the OL now, I do like what they bring to the table.

13-0 in the AAC is different from 13-0 in a power 5. They most definitely HAVE to know that. If they don’t, they will never succeed here. If the problem with NU taking the next step lies in S&C, and development, then fix it and move forward. You have to recognize your shortcomings or you can never overcome them. Seems like it’s an ongoing issue still rolling the same way. It’s frustrating to watch the team have the same issues over and over and over. A good leader recognizes that, makes changes for the better, and moves forward to better things. A yes man leader stands pat, and winds up fired.

 

[Brew City Husker]

Jaimes and Farniok said some things at their pro day that pretty much solidify what I’ve been talking about in regards to S/C and how our guys look/play.

We are stiff, slow, and too big. The scouts told them both to work on their core, flexibility, and to drop some fat. I think when you try running the offense we do and that’s what your OL need to work on when they graduate and try to get to the league, you will have poor results like we have.

Hopefully we are changing some things up in that regard.

I don’t think we are too big. We don’t seem bigger than Alabama, Clemson or Ohio State.........but we certainly look stiff and slow compared to them across both lines, although maybe not as much on the D-Line. Part of it is the athletes we are able to recruit, but I believe a bigger part is how we train.

And I absolutely agree that the offense that we’ve tried to run doesn’t look so good with the way we’ve trained our linemen. A combination of movement towards more flexibility and quickness combined with movement towards more power running would get us to where we need to be. The way it’s looked is that there seems to be a disconnect between how we’ve trained and how we run an offense and call plays.

 

[ShortSideOption]

13-0 in the AAC is different from 13-0 in a power 5. They most definitely HAVE to know that. If they don’t, they will never succeed here. If the problem with NU taking the next step lies in S&C, and development, then fix it and move forward. You have to recognize your shortcomings or you can never overcome them. Seems like it’s an ongoing issue still rolling the same way. It’s frustrating to watch the team have the same issues over and over and over. A good leader recognizes that, makes changes for the better, and moves forward to better things. A yes man leader stands pat, and winds up fired.

I've said many times, 2021 success will have about zero to do with what we do in the weight room this spring despite everyone liking HuskerPower videos they put out. We need to get faster and more athletic, and Martinez needs to get on the same page with his skill players. OL, DL, LB, and DB if we are still needing to get stronger there in year 4 we are in trouble.

Hoping the 7 v 7 is going well.

 

[ShortSideOption]

I don’t think we are too big. We don’t seem bigger than Alabama, Clemson or Ohio State.........but we certainly look stiff and slow compared to them across both lines, although maybe not as much on the D-Line. Part of it is the athletes we are able to recruit, but I believe a bigger part is how we train.

And I absolutely agree that the offense that we’ve tried to run doesn’t look so good with the way we’ve trained our linemen. A combination of movement towards more flexibility and quickness combined with movement towards more power running would get us to where we need to be. The way it’s looked is that there seems to be a disconnect between how we’ve trained and how we run an offense and call plays.

Well I guess what I meant is, if pro scouts tell our two guys on the OL to lose weight and fat so they can become more athletic and flexible, they are too big for who they are. I get Alabama and those teams are bigger, faster, and stronger, but i'm trying to get to a bowl game, we aren't at competing in the CFP yet. I completely get that we told our fans "we are bringing back Husker Power" and "look how much we are squatting" but we were 0-2 against this team that fired their coach then had a first year coach where we were praising:




We prioritize the wrong things IMO, or at the very least continue to prioritize the wrong things. There is zero reason to chase strength gains or weight gains in year 3 or 4 of a program. Yet we continue to celebrate them as if any of those things matter. If it takes 4 years in our strength program to get where we want, I think we are in trouble. Fast forward to around 13:10 of this:



I think Jaimes and Farniok just got inflexible, same with Wilson. As I pointed out earlier, I worry that all the people on offense fans get excited about are young kids that haven't been in our program long. If the best guy bringing excitement for the upcoming season is an unknown that is going to make us better, I worry.

I do like what we've done on defense. I worry that we have gotten worse every year in the second half of games but that may not all be S/C. Could be adjustments as well.

 

[djlhuskerfan]

Well I guess what I meant is, if pro scouts tell our two guys on the OL to lose weight and fat so they can become more athletic and flexible, they are too big for who they are. I get Alabama and those teams are bigger, faster, and stronger, but i'm trying to get to a bowl game, we aren't at competing in the CFP yet. I completely get that we told our fans "we are bringing back Husker Power" and "look how much we are squatting" but we were 0-2 against this team that fired their coach then had a first year coach where we were praising:




We prioritize the wrong things IMO, or at the very least continue to prioritize the wrong things. There is zero reason to chase strength gains or weight gains in year 3 or 4 of a program. Yet we continue to celebrate them as if any of those things matter. If it takes 4 years in our strength program to get where we want, I think we are in trouble. Fast forward to around 13:10 of this:



I think Jaimes and Farniok just got inflexible, same with Wilson. As I pointed out earlier, I worry that all the people on offense fans get excited about are young kids that haven't been in our program long. If the best guy bringing excitement for the upcoming season is an unknown that is going to make us better, I worry.

I do like what we've done on defense. I worry that we have gotten worse every year in the second half of games but that may not all be S/C. Could be adjustments as well.

The three you mentioned all looked too heavy and too stiff!

 

[BigRedAvenger]

I don't have a great answer there, but I do believe when you go 13-0, win a conference title and beat an Auburn team in the bowl game that it's really tough to change what you do. If I see it, multiple people on twitter and message boards see it, and now the pro scouts are seeing it, and the players agree that's a flaw of theirs so they go elsewhere to work on it, it gets frustrating to me because we are in year 4. Guys like Hixson, Wilson, and Farniok have all regressed. Jaimes seemed steady, but never really took the next step. Now Nebraska fans are excited for guys like Benhart, Piper, Corcoran, etc. but if they have the same trajectory as others I just mentioned, we already seen the best of them?

My theory is that we came in and wanted to get bigger, we didn't like the build of the Jerald Fosters of the world or the Tanner Farmers, we wanted taller so we could put that much more weight on them. Guys like Piper and Jurgens don't necessarily fit the mold of what we look for on the OL now, I do like what they bring to the table.

The UCF guys didn't seem to be big, slow, and unflex.... inflexi.... not flexible. Do you think they are doing things different thinking the Big Ten is just a different beast, and it's not working?

 

[ShortSideOption]

The UCF guys didn't seem to be big, slow, and unflex.... inflexi.... not flexible. Do you think they are doing things different thinking the Big Ten is just a different beast, and it's not working?

I think people hear that Frost got UCF to 13-0 in 2017 after they were 0-12 in 2015 and get pretty excited, but people forget that in 2013 and 2014 UCF won conference titles. It would be like Ohio State going 0-12 next year, firing Coach Day, and the next coach winning a conference title in the following year or two. UCF had really good players down there.

But your question is one I ponder quite often. I believe we've tweaked things a bit, but for the most part we are doing everything the same. Part of me wonders if we overemphasized getting bigger due to the B1G. Especially if we start talking about changing up our offense to be bigger WRs. I don't think Wandale Robinson's size was our problem. I believe our OL underperformed and despite our QBs completion percentage it made him a bit inaccurate which made playcalling and execution difficult.

 

[Husker In Oklahoma]

I've said many times, 2021 success will have about zero to do with what we do in the weight room this spring despite everyone liking HuskerPower videos they put out. We need to get faster and more athletic, and Martinez needs to get on the same page with his skill players. OL, DL, LB, and DB if we are still needing to get stronger there in year 4 we are in trouble.

Hoping the 7 v 7 is going well.

I’d settle for just some cohesive football, all 11 working together. Simple things. We know there is some talent here, so do the little things and the wins will just happen.

 

[NorthwoodHusker]

I think the speed part isnt the problem. The flexibility is.
The size isnt the problem either, but that creates even less flexibility.

I think if our O line gets more flexible, we can control more blocks, and same for the D line, its going to allow some guys to get 'skinny', along with their quickness to be more effective.

We arent getting those bama types,who come in naturally as big as we get, but we sacrifice too many big guys, and dont allow for enough flexibility in the guys that would help us in spots along with a bigger stronger, slightly stiffer player.
A mix and match approach, just having that pen point diversity would keep our opponents on their toes.

Each guy has a point of diminishing returns when it comes to weight/strength or weight/flexibility, they need to granulate the team better

 

[Tenafly Tiger]

I've said many times, 2021 success will have about zero to do with what we do in the weight room this spring despite everyone liking HuskerPower videos they put out. We need to get faster and more athletic, and Martinez needs to get on the same page with his skill players. OL, DL, LB, and DB if we are still needing to get stronger there in year 4 we are in trouble.

Hoping the 7 v 7 is going well.

This may be a really bad analogy, but I'm hoping that our approach to S&C ends up being like that of a bodybuilder...they focus initially on building size and strength, and then shift to cutting it down to something they can take on a stage. The NU S&C team has spent plenty of time building mass, now it's time to focus on adding the speed and quickness.