Epley's comments on Talent

[Savage Husker]

I like that Boyd is putting this testing in place across the board. It's awesome that he is making it public too, it' another competitive goal for these athletes to beat each other at. It's not sexist to any gender and is probably fun for them to run the tests. Sharpen iron with iron.

Competition breeds excellence. Across the board start installing a winning attitude. Little things like Epleys testing competition could do that.

Yessir, another moment for leaders to step up and standout. It's good to see, it's also good to hear how hard the players are working. It makes sense why the volleyball team is this legit too. Cool to see this stuff "on paper" too.

 

[ironmike]

What really interested me in the OWH article was the metrics used to evaluate athletes, especially with regards to Offensive linemen. It will be interesting to see if improvements in the index leads to an improved power run game.

 

[zoogs]

Athletic talent =/= football talent.

This was less about Boyd weighing in on the "In how good of a shape was the roster Bo left" and more of "Where is and how do we improve the athleticism aspect of the team". If it's commentary on anything, it's on the prior S&C program. Specific to OL, it's maybe not that shocking, either.

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

We have 3 NFL caliber athletes, 7 above average, a significant number average, and around 20 walk on caliber.

I cant link via mobile. I read the Journal Star article, OWH has one too.

Epley says Phillips is doing best he can but we need 1.5 years to get the talent we need.

Overall I agree with his point.

I disagree that we'll have the talent in 1.5 years. If this recruiting class holds up, NU is currently averaging in the mid 30s or so in the rankings, that will not be good enough. The 2017 class will likely be small, but has a chance to have some special players,although to be fair, we almost always say "Wait until next years recruiting class".

Unless Nebraska finds some miracle recruits to finish out this cycle, we're at least 3-4 years from having the talent we need. We have to string together back to back classes ranked around 20th to move in the right direction.

 

[Herbie87]

I disagree that we'll have the talent in 1.5 years.

I think he's saying that with the current roster it would take 1.5 years to get to that level. Recruiting better players would potentially shorten that timeframe.

 

[Husker Psycho]

Wow... I really admire people who can speak honestly about difficult matters...

But that has to really sting the upperclassmen on the team. So much for chat boards being the only ones making critical remarks. I guess making critical remarks doesn't hurt the team after all... which I think we already knew.

Very good to hear some real honesty. About time.

When people start talking honestly... that's when real change starts to occur.

 

[Husker Psycho]

Overall I agree with his point.


I disagree that we'll have the talent in 1.5 years. If this recruiting class holds up, NU is currently averaging in the mid 30s or so in the rankings, that will not be good enough. The 2017 class will likely be small, but has a chance to have some special players,although to be fair, we almost always say "Wait until next years recruiting class".

Unless Nebraska finds some miracle recruits to finish out this cycle, we're at least 3-4 years from having the talent we need. We have to string together back to back classes ranked around 20th to move in the right direction.

And I agree with you.

I might add that the players on this years team and next years team are the players from recruiting classes that ranked... 22nd... 15th...25th and 17th.

As you said, after that we have players from recruiting classes ranked... 32nd...31st... and so far this year 44.

 

[BigRedBuster]

I disagree that we'll have the talent in 1.5 years.

I think he's saying that with the current roster it would take 1.5 years to get to that level. Recruiting better players would potentially shorten that timeframe.

No.....he's saying once a player gets here if takes 1.5 years to develop them. We aren't starting at ground zero right now. We have upper class men that have been herd long enough to develop physically. (More than 1.5 years).

The problem he is pointing out is the new players coming into the system have a hard time contributing early due to needing developed.

This wasn't as big of issue under TO due to more numbers of athletes. Now, we will have 80-85 scholarship players. If 40 of those are freshmen or redshirt freshmen and aren't developed enough, they aren't going to be able to contribute as much.

 

[teachercd]

Mike will have these guys back on the BowFlex in no time...expect some changes!

 

[Saunders]

Nobody is really disagreeing with Epley's statements that we don't have the athlete's to win a championship (even though the AD and HC said as much, it was fluff speak).

The issue is with the theory that 5-7 was the best we could muster in 2015 with this current crop of players. There are folks on here that said we had equal (or worse) talent than Purdue after we lost that game. That's ludicrous.

The coaches need to get better players, and maximize the ones we have now. This isn't really a debatable point.

 

[shyndy]

If there is any one I'd trust about the current athleticism of our team its Boyd epley

 

[Husker Psycho]

I love this part of his comment:

"I think it's fair to say — and all the fans can see"

Turns out the FANS have "cred" (credibility) after all... despite what many naysayers claim.

And yes, we see it and know it... here... FIRST.

 

[VectorVictor]

Athletic talent =/= football talent.

This was less about Boyd weighing in on the "In how good of a shape was the roster Bo left" and more of "Where is and how do we improve the athleticism aspect of the team". If it's commentary on anything, it's on the prior S&C program. Specific to OL, it's maybe not that shocking, either.

This is how I took it--not as a defense of Riley's 5-7 record this season (so far), but that athletically, we're far from where we should be as a program (if the 1990s are a metric to judge against).

But what's maddening is that this team had better talent on the field than EVERY SINGLE TEAM in the B1G West and both players and staff failed to capitalize on it this year. And our schedule is only going to get harder next year--unless there are some quantum leaps made in the off-season by players and staff, things are going to get dicey in a hurry.

 

[Red Five]

Boyd coming off the top rope with those commets

 

[ColoradoHusk]

I am not saying Eppley is wrong, and I know that there was considerable lack of depth in quality talent. However, Eppley is now working for Riley and the Athletic Department, which he wasn't doing under Bo. There could be a bit of his commentary meant to cover Riley's/Eichorst's a$$ here.

NU fans are not happy with the 5-7 record and Eichorst knows that. But, Eichorst also knows that Eppley is very well regarded by NU fans, so maybe Eichorst sent out Eppley to do some PR work with both major news outlets in the state.