Held talks inexperience and talent in the RB room

lo country

lo country

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I think this is one area where NU has got to do MUCH better in if they have any hopes of doing anything besides racking up a losing record. I know Bell quit, Mo didn't pan out, Oz had one year, Mills didn't return etc......Not to mention Wan'Dale the featured "back" for what seemed like too many times over the past two years.  I hear that Held can recruit.  I don't follow recruiting so I have no idea, but it seems in year 4 we shouldn't ever have to use the word inexperienced and RB in the same sentence at Nebraska.  Are we getting killed by recruiting misses ie wrong guys, guys who just "don't get it", injuries or simply lack of coaching.  Bell #1 Juco, Mills #1 Juco IIRC and neither one, IMHO, set the world on fire.  Oz had a phenomenal senior year, but I really wonder was that the staff or his own determination.  When given his shot, he never looked back.  Our RB room, like the WR is high on potential, but LOW on production.  How do we improve that instead of waiting 2-3 more years for guys to be in the system....In the article, IMO, he didn't exactly inspire confidence.  Again, IMHO, he'd be more on the hot seat than Frost.  You can only coach what you have/develop.  

https://journalstar.com/sports/huskers/football/husker-rb-coach-ryan-held-talks-talent-inexperience-injury-and-challenges-in-his-wide-open/article_d8dcad7e-1c8a-534c-aacd-1f027a174ddf.amp.html

 
I agree, in year 4 we shouldn’t be using words like “potential” or “inexperienced” for the RBs or the WRs or really any position group.

Part of recruiting imo is also holding on to the guys you had at one point. If you recruit a bunch of potential and good players but they don’t stick around or ever realize their potential, you’ve just wasted time and effort and its a sign you aren’t recruiting the right mentality and are failing to develop them.

This year should tell us all we’ll ever need to know about the long term viability of this coaching staff. And I don’t want to hear what a brutal schedule this is. There’s Oklahoma and tOSU and then everyone else are teams we should expect to compete with or beat. Its the B1G West for chrissakes. I’m done with excuses.

 
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Toe said:
I'm more skeptical of Held than I am of anyone else on this coaching staff. At this point, he looks a lot like Keith Williams: all recruiting hype and no production.
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The issue with Williams is that he didn’t do the actual recruiting.

For Held, he did a good job with Ozigbo in 2018, but the last 2 years have been disappointing.  The big “what if” was Mo Washington because that type of talent could have been special to be a RB under held. It’s tough to judge Held on 2020 because they have been depending on young talent, and I have heard the RB room dealt with COVID issues.  I agree that it’s time for 1-2 I-backs to step up and be studs, because the I-back production has been a cluster-eff since Ameer left. 

 
lo country said:
I think this is one area where NU has got to do MUCH better in if they have any hopes of doing anything besides racking up a losing record. I know Bell quit, Mo didn't pan out, Oz had one year, Mills didn't return etc......Not to mention Wan'Dale the featured "back" for what seemed like too many times over the past two years.  I hear that Held can recruit.  I don't follow recruiting so I have no idea, but it seems in year 4 we shouldn't ever have to use the word inexperienced and RB in the same sentence at Nebraska.  Are we getting killed by recruiting misses ie wrong guys, guys who just "don't get it", injuries or simply lack of coaching.  Bell #1 Juco, Mills #1 Juco IIRC and neither one, IMHO, set the world on fire.  Oz had a phenomenal senior year, but I really wonder was that the staff or his own determination.  When given his shot, he never looked back.  Our RB room, like the WR is high on potential, but LOW on production.  How do we improve that instead of waiting 2-3 more years for guys to be in the system....In the article, IMO, he didn't exactly inspire confidence.  Again, IMHO, he'd be more on the hot seat than Frost.  You can only coach what you have/develop.  

https://journalstar.com/sports/huskers/football/husker-rb-coach-ryan-held-talks-talent-inexperience-injury-and-challenges-in-his-wide-open/article_d8dcad7e-1c8a-534c-aacd-1f027a174ddf.amp.html
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Couldn't agree more with what you said.  Remember Ozigbo didn't get much playing time at the start of the season..

 
RichardHangslow said:
Could have something with their offensive line not being very strong and dominant
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Being stuck using Wan'dale as an RB had absolutely nothing to do with the O-line.

Seriously, I know there were some injuries and covid to deal with, but Held couldn't get anyone ready to play besides Mills, at the position that's usually one of the easiest for newcomers?!

 
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Toe said:
Being stuck using Wan'dale as an RB had absolutely nothing to do with the O-line.

Seriously, Held, I know there were some injuries and covid to deal with, but you couldn't get anyone in the RBs room ready to play besides Mills?!
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If you are referring to 2020, the RB room was killed by injuries and COVID. It’s difficult to get a guy to play in a position if players aren’t available.

 
ColoradoHusk said:
Ozigbo had to earn his PT because he was dreadfully out of shape. Once he lost his weight, he was a much different and better running back.
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Maybe that's true, but Ozigbo had one of the more wasted careers in recent Husker Football. Was late to see the field his senior year (maybe that was on him being out of shape), and Riley absolutely wasted him. The game his Freshman year against Illinois stands out. Had a breakout game, the talent was obvious, and then you barely saw him over the next few seasons.

 
What's fascinating is those who couldn't see the qualities and abilities in a player like Wandale.  So, because he isn't the all-purpose back that saves the team then, "he sucks ... we don't need him ... he's not that good".  And then now, Held isn't that good ... he can't develop players, etc.  So, you add in those injuries and covid [which hurts development] and leave Wandale without anything around him developing [and lay the blame on him that he isn't the Savior of the program].  Then we lose the face/star/bright spot of the program with the most experience of the program who is ready for his best years [with folks saying, "it doesn't matter ... we don't need him] and now we are back to Held can't recruit or build any depth.  We keep staying "young" because we either can't or don't seem to be able to keep our WR or RB's for the necessary years [some of it is in our control, some not].

It's all just so "fan-ish" to me.  I'm offering no judgment.  It just makes me smile. 

I'm hopeful for Ervin/Yant as a 1-2 combo this season.  Plus, if the OL really is good and our strong suit, then anyone should be able to emerge from our current dust.

 
B.B. Hemingway said:
Maybe that's true, but Ozigbo had one of the more wasted careers in recent Husker Football. Was late to see the field his senior year (maybe that was on him being out of shape), and Riley absolutely wasted him. The game his Freshman year against Illinois stands out. Had a breakout game, the talent was obvious, and then you barely saw him over the next few seasons.
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 Not sure Ziggy could have been out of shape. He was about 15-20 lbs lighter his Senior year vs Junior year. There were articles about his weight loss during the summer prior to the season.  He was visibly faster and better lateral speed. He struggled to get carries early- not sure why. 

 
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B.B. Hemingway said:
Maybe that's true, but Ozigbo had one of the more wasted careers in recent Husker Football. Was late to see the field his senior year (maybe that was on him being out of shape), and Riley absolutely wasted him. The game his Freshman year against Illinois stands out. Had a breakout game, the talent was obvious, and then you barely saw him over the next few seasons.
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Ozigbo had talent but he wasn’t a good RB until his senior year. He showed flashes, but his YPC and tape showed he wasn’t that good. Also, his weight slowed him down and didn’t allow him to be on the field more than 2 plays at a time. The 2016 NU-Wisconsin game was on BTN last night, and Ozigbo had a couple nice carries, but was huffing and puffing and had to come out. Then, later on in a goal line carry, he was stuffed near the LOS and nearly fumbled.  He wasn’t a consistent back until he lost the weight and ran with more speed as a senior. 

 
Some High School running backs who have not run a lot of zone plays, do not understand how patient they need to be and how to properly read their landmarks. It is not the easiest skill to teach or to learn.

We even saw this with Mills- he was NEVER a great back but he did improve some during his tenure here. At Georgia Tech- he played Fullback and I'm very doubtful he ran much zone in that then option offense. You could see he would rush the play and run to the point of attack before he should have. Later on you could definitely see the improvement. I dont think this was it with Ziggy,  sprinkles ran zone also.

 
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lo country said:
Are we getting killed by recruiting misses ie wrong guys, guys who just "don't get it", injuries or simply lack of coaching. 
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This one is hard for me.  The guy can recruit.  He has always had talent in the room.  His development of said talent hasn't been outstanding but his 3 most talented backs have been with him for like a combined year and a half (Oz, Mo, Bell).  Oz was already molded and needed only fine tuning, Mo was great but had off field issues, bell left after a cup of coffee.  

Mills came in and was highly recruited...but let's not forget, he was a B back at GT.  That a glorified fullback.  Vision was not required there.  He struggled in that department.

Then he recruited smaller guys, guys that were diamonds in the rough or guys that had serious injuries.  In hopes that everyone mentioned above would pan out & he'd have time to develop them before having to use them.

Flash forward to now, knowing how it all turned out.  Held recruited high on potential and low on immediate readiness in the first few years...with the exceptions listed above.

With all that said, he recruited his best back yet this year.  A guy that has the flash and the polish.  Ervin is ready to play and will do well this year.  Morrison has the potential to do great things too, he has all the tools.  Scott is a freak, but has vision issues as well.  He's mills 2.0.  fortunately for us, he's got time to figure that out.  

Yant is the wildcard.  He's ozigbo.  He's the bruiser with burst.  He was a chunk, and now he's leaned way down.  Good thing for us is he did it after his first year here...not before his last season.  He was a gift.  I'll always root for a kid like him.  

Held has a tough job, one he hasn't had a passing grade in for lots of reasons.  He's got his best stable.  He'll get his house in order.  

Keep in mind, the schematics of our offense have been pretty abysmal when it comes to RB production too.  

 
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