Husker in WI
All-Conference
I mean you're right, RG could be a beast in this D. But I'll just never get over all the plays I saw him give half-assed effort. When he wanted to be a disruptive force he sure could be. But when he wanted to take a few plays or a series off..... I'm not sure it was a character issue and it sure wasn't lack of ability. He just seemed to be sporadically lacking tenacity. Probably not fair to compare him to a Wistrom or Alberts but it is inevitable in these discussions.
I don't remember him taking plays off, he just had to play a somewhat passive role in Pelini's defense. I watched a film breakdown somewhere (I'll see if I can find it) where the guy mentioned a "knock" on Gregory was his slow reaction off the snap. But when he actually watched the film, over 70% of the time Gregory was reading the tackle - not even looking at the ball, so obviously it's going to look slow. But that's just what Pelini's D asked, and he did a really good job with it.
I realize that's probably not what you're talking about with effort, but I really don't remember him loafing around at all. I do remember wondering why he wasn't just tearing around the edge wrecking QBs, but a lot of that was the style of defense.
Found it, here it is! I am not this dude and don't know his qualifications, but it was a good watch if you're bored.