Stopping the run key to Huskers' title run

[The Dude]

Crick - B+

Allen - C

Meredith - B

Steinkuhler - C+

70 tackles & 9.5 Sacks for a defensive tackle is a B+ grade? I understand Suh raised the bar 'round these parts, but if he only had a B+ season it must have been a very down year for Big XII defensive lineman as he was the best.

That being said I would grade Steinkuhler a little lower. He should be riding the pine if we're as deep as they say we are, unless he starts living up to those 5 stars.

 

[Fuzzy]

Crick - B+

Allen - C

Meredith - B

Steinkuhler - C+

70 tackles & 9.5 Sacks for a defensive tackle is a B+ grade? I understand Suh raised the bar 'round these parts, but if he only had a B+ season it must have been a very down year for Big XII defensive lineman as he was the best.

That being said I would grade Steinkuhler a little lower. He should be riding the pine if we're as deep as they say we are, unless he starts living up to those 5 stars.

High school ratings mean nothing compared to a career in college, just look at Marlon Lucky. What matters is what you do in college.

I felt Steinkuhler performed better than Allen did, but its also due to Steinkuhler's performance that Crick's performance was rated as low. Crick had 73 tackles standing next to Suh, if Steinkuhler lived up to his hype that would have taken pressure off of Crick and he would have had better than 70 tackles and perhaps more hurries, sacks, and tackles for loss. I seem to remember Suh saying that Crick had the potential to be better than he was at Nebraska. So far i haven't seen that potential just yet.

 

[knapplc]

I felt Steinkuhler performed better than Allen did, but its also due to Steinkuhler's performance that Crick's performance was rated as low. Crick had 73 tackles standing next to Suh, if Steinkuhler lived up to his hype that would have taken pressure off of Crick and he would have had better than 70 tackles and perhaps more hurries, sacks, and tackles for loss. I seem to remember Suh saying that Crick had the potential to be better than he was at Nebraska. So far i haven't seen that potential just yet.

My opinion - on this year's D Line, the spotlight shines harshest on Steinkuhler. We know what Crick brings, and if Steinkuhler can step up his game that could open Crick up to a monster year. But if Stein can't get it done, he's got to step aside.

 

[walksalone]

I felt Steinkuhler performed better than Allen did, but its also due to Steinkuhler's performance that Crick's performance was rated as low. Crick had 73 tackles standing next to Suh, if Steinkuhler lived up to his hype that would have taken pressure off of Crick and he would have had better than 70 tackles and perhaps more hurries, sacks, and tackles for loss. I seem to remember Suh saying that Crick had the potential to be better than he was at Nebraska. So far i haven't seen that potential just yet.

My opinion - on this year's D Line, the spotlight shines harshest on Steinkuhler. We know what Crick brings, and if Steinkuhler can step up his game that could open Crick up to a monster year. But if Stein can't get it done, he's got to step aside.

Baker may have the most to lose. Either he steps up, grabs some of the attention for himself, or just falls back into the ranks of mediocrity.

 

[NUance]

I felt Steinkuhler performed better than Allen did, but its also due to Steinkuhler's performance that Crick's performance was rated as low. Crick had 73 tackles standing next to Suh, if Steinkuhler lived up to his hype that would have taken pressure off of Crick and he would have had better than 70 tackles and perhaps more hurries, sacks, and tackles for loss. I seem to remember Suh saying that Crick had the potential to be better than he was at Nebraska. So far i haven't seen that potential just yet.

My opinion - on this year's D Line, the spotlight shines harshest on Steinkuhler. We know what Crick brings, and if Steinkuhler can step up his game that could open Crick up to a monster year. But if Stein can't get it done, he's got to step aside.

Baker may have the most to lose. Either he steps up, grabs some of the attention for himself, or just falls back into the ranks of mediocrity.

I've heard Baker grades out well in films, something that's not apparent to us fans. The coaches are happy with the plays he breaks up or redirects. Even though his contributions don't always show up in stats. The guy telling me this is generally pretty knowledgeable about this stuff, but who knows?

 

[walksalone]

I felt Steinkuhler performed better than Allen did, but its also due to Steinkuhler's performance that Crick's performance was rated as low. Crick had 73 tackles standing next to Suh, if Steinkuhler lived up to his hype that would have taken pressure off of Crick and he would have had better than 70 tackles and perhaps more hurries, sacks, and tackles for loss. I seem to remember Suh saying that Crick had the potential to be better than he was at Nebraska. So far i haven't seen that potential just yet.

My opinion - on this year's D Line, the spotlight shines harshest on Steinkuhler. We know what Crick brings, and if Steinkuhler can step up his game that could open Crick up to a monster year. But if Stein can't get it done, he's got to step aside.

Baker may have the most to lose. Either he steps up, grabs some of the attention for himself, or just falls back into the ranks of mediocrity.

I've heard Baker grades out well in films, something that's not apparent to us fans. The coaches are happy with the plays he breaks up or redirects. Even though his contributions don't always show up in stats. The guy telling me this is generally pretty knowledgeable about this stuff, but who knows?

That is a bit more reassuring, but I think the majority of the Husker fan base is wanting him to be Crick to Cricks' Suh, if that makes a lick of sense...

 

[NUance]

I felt Steinkuhler performed better than Allen did, but its also due to Steinkuhler's performance that Crick's performance was rated as low. Crick had 73 tackles standing next to Suh, if Steinkuhler lived up to his hype that would have taken pressure off of Crick and he would have had better than 70 tackles and perhaps more hurries, sacks, and tackles for loss. I seem to remember Suh saying that Crick had the potential to be better than he was at Nebraska. So far i haven't seen that potential just yet.

My opinion - on this year's D Line, the spotlight shines harshest on Steinkuhler. We know what Crick brings, and if Steinkuhler can step up his game that could open Crick up to a monster year. But if Stein can't get it done, he's got to step aside.

Baker may have the most to lose. Either he steps up, grabs some of the attention for himself, or just falls back into the ranks of mediocrity.

I've heard Baker grades out well in films, something that's not apparent to us fans. The coaches are happy with the plays he breaks up or redirects. Even though his contributions don't always show up in stats. The guy telling me this is generally pretty knowledgeable about this stuff, but who knows?

That is a bit more reassuring, but I think the majority of the Husker fan base is wanting him to be Crick to Cricks' Suh, if that makes a lick of sense...

Yeah, that's exactly what I thought too.

 

[Hercules]

You can't convince me that the front four perform as well as the front four the year before.

Of course they didn't. The 2009 front four was the best defensive line at Nebraska since Grant Wistrom and Jason Peter. Ndamukong Suh, arguably the greatest defensive player ever at Nebraska, was on that line, along with Jared Crick (who right now is generally seen as the team's best player), Barry Turner and Pierre Allen.

To lose Suh and Turner and then expect the defensive line to dominate the same way is completely insane. We may not see a defensive line at Nebraska that good again in our lifetime. That's the only college defense in my memory, including the 90's Nebraska defenses, who could create all the pressure they wanted while still containing the QB and the run game, without using blitzes or spies. It was completely ridiculous.

If that is your measuring stick for our defense, your expectations are WAY out of control. We're not going to see that again. The truth of the matter is that Pelini has lined up championship defenses in 2009 AND in 2010. Nebraska's 2010 defense was better than Oregon's or Auburn's. Now, you can always nitpick with each player or unit and say that they could be better in this way or that - but to honestly expect them to be at a 2009 level year in and year out, that will never, ever happen.

 

[knapplc]

To be fair to Steinkuhler, though - the dude was an underclassman this whole time. He's a Junior this year, and he could very well have a big leap in noticeable production.

I say noticeable, because for armchair quarterbacks like us, we're apparently not seeing what the coaches are seeing (which is why nuance's source is saying Stein grades out well on film).

I just want to see chaos and mayhem, dammit. That's what the Blackshirts are all about.

EDIT - and I think I actually spoke to Baker the other day, now that I look at his bio and pic. I walk around the stadium at lunch every day and I see a lot of the players, but some I don't recognize. They all look the same with those helmets on, after all. I exchanged a couple of words in passing with a pretty large, shaggy dude, and it turns out that must have been B Stein.

Saw Caputo on Monday or Tuesday this week, too. He's shorter than me, and he walks all bow-legged. Thick as a tree trunk, though.

 

[Hercules]

To expect Steinkuhler as a sophomore to be as good as Crick was as a sophomore is crazy too. Crick played next to Suh, AND Carl Pelini is on record saying that Suh and Crick were probably the best two individual defensive linemen he'd ever coach, and to have them at the same time was pretty ridiculous.

Maybe I'm misjudging the measuring stick everybody here is using, but it seems like people are trying to compare Crick to Suh, and Steinkuhler to Crick, and I think that's simply unreasonable.

 

[The Dude]

Crick - B+

Allen - C

Meredith - B

Steinkuhler - C+

70 tackles & 9.5 Sacks for a defensive tackle is a B+ grade? I understand Suh raised the bar 'round these parts, but if he only had a B+ season it must have been a very down year for Big XII defensive lineman as he was the best.

That being said I would grade Steinkuhler a little lower. He should be riding the pine if we're as deep as they say we are, unless he starts living up to those 5 stars.

High school ratings mean nothing compared to a career in college, just look at Marlon Lucky. What matters is what you do in college.

I felt Steinkuhler performed better than Allen did, but its also due to Steinkuhler's performance that Crick's performance was rated as low. Crick had 73 tackles standing next to Suh, if Steinkuhler lived up to his hype that would have taken pressure off of Crick and he would have had better than 70 tackles and perhaps more hurries, sacks, and tackles for loss. I seem to remember Suh saying that Crick had the potential to be better than he was at Nebraska. So far i haven't seen that potential just yet.

All fair points, but when you take Suh's hyperbolic comment away, and you take all that other stuff away, and step back and look at it... those are pretty rare, out-of-this-world stats for a defensive tackle.

If you haven't seen that kind of potential, then you didn't see the Big XII Championship. Crick was in beast mode. Also, Suh's Junior stats are very, very comparable to Crick's Junior stats. 76 tackles, 7.5 sacks, 19 TFL (to Crick's 17 TFL). The potential is undoubtably there. Will he have a better Senior season than Suh? Very, very doubtful, but it's unfair to Crick to be expected to just because Suh was using hyperbole to talk up his buddy.

I give Crick a solid A for last year, an A- at the very worst.

 

[knapplc]

That's the thing about Crick's stats being comparable to Suh's in their Junior years. NOBODY thinks Crick is going to be another Suh this year. But hide the women and children if he's even close.

I work myself up so much thinking about stuff like this. If B Stein improves even some, and Crick improves even some, and Camstache improves even some, and EMart is an upgrade over Allen... good God that's a scary D Line. That's 2009-esque, that's what that is.

With David & Co. at LB and Dennard & Co. in the secondary, this has the potential to be a scary defense.

 

[Mierin]

EDIT - and I think I actually spoke to Baker the other day, now that I look at his bio and pic. I walk around the stadium at lunch every day and I see a lot of the players, but some I don't recognize. They all look the same with those helmets on, after all. I exchanged a couple of words in passing with a pretty large, shaggy dude, and it turns out that must have been B Stein.
Saw Caputo on Monday or Tuesday this week, too. He's shorter than me, and he walks all bow-legged. Thick as a tree trunk, though.

I saw Jared Crick coming out of math class a couple days ago. He's as big as the doorway. Seems like a lot of football players take summer classes. I've always thought that must be awesome for the ones who graduate in the summer and then in their senior season they're free to just play football.

 

[knapplc]

EDIT - and I think I actually spoke to Baker the other day, now that I look at his bio and pic. I walk around the stadium at lunch every day and I see a lot of the players, but some I don't recognize. They all look the same with those helmets on, after all. I exchanged a couple of words in passing with a pretty large, shaggy dude, and it turns out that must have been B Stein.
Saw Caputo on Monday or Tuesday this week, too. He's shorter than me, and he walks all bow-legged. Thick as a tree trunk, though.

I saw Jared Crick coming out of math class a couple days ago. He's as big as the doorway. Seems like a lot of football players take summer classes. I've always thought that must be awesome for the ones who graduate in the summer and then in their senior season they're free to just play football.

Yeah, I think a lot of the athletes are here during the summer taking classes and training. I see tons of them as I swing around the stadium by the weight complex doors.

Just yesterday on my walk I saw: Gina Mancuso, Lara Dykstra & Jordan Wilberger (VB players), two gymnasts whose names I don't know, Baker Steinkuhler and later KC Hyland and probably another WR whose name I didn't know, plus Harleen Sidhu and Jordan Hooper as they ran up to Lindsey Moore's car. You can't swing a stick without hitting two Huskers this summer.

 

[kchusker_chris]

when you think about it - baker could either make or cost Crick millions of dollars. if baker has a season similiar to Crick's sophomore season, then Crick will be free to go all Suh on the QB and land firmly in the top 10. If baker has a year like last, then Crick get's swallowed up by the OL and goes late in the second round.

Suh was a beast, but I personally think he owes Crick a few million bucks for his senior season.

EDIT: Which makes you wonder how great Suh will be this year w/ Fairley next to him.