Why didn't we see more of Cross?

Imani isn't a "no lateral" movement back. But he's a different type of lateral back.

Ameer makes a lot of lateral cuts behind the line of scrimmage, adjusting to where the gap or hole is.

Imani is a straight ahead runner to the line of scrimmage and then a smaller cut when he reaches the second level. He's not a typical "find the hole" runner. Thats why he's so good inside the tackles, he's explosive into the gap. But I don't think you'll see a lot of him quickly bouncing it outside if the interior collapses.

I would like to see him out in space. Like a slip screen, bump the rusher then slip out into the flat. He's a scary proposition coming at you at full speed if you're a DB.

 
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RRJR and 3rd and Long are basically making the same comments that I am making. The types of plays that Imani and Newby excel at are totally different plays. I honestly think Newby is a better "all-around" back in NU's current system. I understand that a lot of people like Cross, because of his strength and work ethic. I just happen to think that he somewhat limits the offense in the types of plays that can be run. If Ameer would happen to get hurt this year, it will be interesting to see what they do at I-back. Do they tweak the offense a bit to Cross's strengths, or do they put Newby at I-back because his talents are closer to Ameer's talents.

 
I think we didn't see more of Cross because the coaching staff knows what they have in Cross and he has major experience already to be ready for the tougher part of the schedule. They wanted to get Newby more playing time since he is relatively inexperienced.

What I did see of him I really liked. His freshman year he was tentative hitting the hole. In this game, it showed that he can hit it hard. He needs to have the mentality that he is going to punish anyone who tries to fill the hole from the other side. I saw that Saturday.

 
Everyone backing up Ameer looks like they can't cut and get to the edge. When Ameer is your #1 back of course the guys behind him look disabled. Newby has the "excuse" of being inexperienced, but c'mon, he doesn't look like Ameer either.

Two excellent running backs, Braylon Heard and Aaron Green also saw this, and transferred to where they could look better relative to the competition.

I too wonder about Cross. I think a lot of the same things as everyone else- that maybe he's just not very nimble or whatever. But then every game he gets in he busts a huge run off and has surprising speed for his size. I think if Ameer was gone and Cross was getting full-time game reps he would easily be 100+ ypg back.

 
From what I remember the game plan Saturday was to run it downhill. They didn't really try a lot of outside stuff. So to say he wasn't part of the game plan doesn't really make sense to me in this case. I also remember Cross getting in the game before Newby. I know Cross had the one fairly long run early on. I think they just stuck with ameer because he was doing so well and then it got to a point where it was time to get newby and then the others in the game. I'm sure Cross will see the ball more against McNeese.

 
As for the backups. I never expect the backups to look as good as the starter. First, he is the starter for a reason. Second, they don't have the experience reading defenses and seeing holes like the starter has. Third, many times when we see them, they aren't playing with other starters around them like on the line.

They all can and should improve before they are required to carry the load. I remember one knock on Ameer coming out of his Freshman year is that many people didn't think he would be an inside runner. Well, I think he has pretty much proven he can run anywhere he is asked to run.

 
Imani Cross scored as many touchdowns as Ameer Abdullah Saturday.

He had one more rushing touchdown than Ameer Abdullah last season.

The coaches obviously trust Imani Cross. But they don't treat him like the #2 I-Back.

They treat him like a fullback.

I honestly don't know how Cross feels about the current situation, but as a spectator something doesn't feel quite right.

 
I don't feel like starting a new thread, so I'll just tag on here that the Jamal Turner experiment seems to be over. He might yet get a big play or two this year, but his promise as a game-changer has burned out, and a slew of receivers have now surpassed him.

Same thing could happen to Cross if he enters his Senior season with coaches and fans high on Newby and Taylor and a blue-chip Freshman just entering the coversation.

 
After seeing Newby's ability Saturday, and I know, we havent seen Taylor yet, I'm thinking Newby will be a lot more of a spotlight back like Ameer and Taylor more of a situational type of guy like Cross currently is. Newby just seems to fit what we do like a glove. And his improvement and ability to run like you need to run in the college game has been impressive.

 
Count 'Bility said:
After seeing Newby's ability Saturday, and I know, we havent seen Taylor yet, I'm thinking Newby will be a lot more of a spotlight back like Ameer and Taylor more of a situational type of guy like Cross currently is. Newby just seems to fit what we do like a glove. And his improvement and ability to run like you need to run in the college game has been impressive.
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I agree 100% what you are saying. The only thing that might cause the coaches to go with a "We-backs" approach is the absence of Ameer. Ameer does everything well, so it is tough to get him out of the line-up. If Newby/Cross/Taylor all have some limitations in their game, then we could see a lot of split carries/playing time, depending on the opponent and game plan.

Not that I would agree with it, but it could look like Callahan's use of Lucky, Brandon Jackson, and Cody Glenn in 2006. Nobody knew who was going to be the feature back from game to game.

 
Guy Chamberlin said:
I don't feel like starting a new thread, so I'll just tag on here that the Jamal Turner experiment seems to be over. He might yet get a big play or two this year, but his promise as a game-changer has burned out, and a slew of receivers have now surpassed him.

Same thing could happen to Cross if he enters his Senior season with coaches and fans high on Newby and Taylor and a blue-chip Freshman just entering the coversation.
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agree about Turner, he has been a huge disappointment, with all the incoming hype, he has failed to deliver much of anything.

 
BlitzFirst said:
Yes we remember that for a boneheaded play calling by Tim Beck. You shouldn't call that type of play backed up to the goal line...the defensive line got penetration and that's because we tried to spread it out. DUMB play call...not a dumb run by Cross...the deck was stacked against him by Beck.

You'll never convince anyone that Imani (notice I spelled his name right) is anything less than a complete back. Given the chance, I think he'd easily be a 1,000 yard rusher on a season and I think he'd be more than capable of taking outside runs.

You must think Nebraska coaches are complete morons if you think he's a 'run forward with no lateral cuts' back.
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Really?

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=9773486

Looks like to me he was one missed block away from it going for a big gain. But he should have known where he was at on the field and just cut upfield for a minimal gain. He instead tried to bounce it outside and got hit into the endzone.

 
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