Spencer Long--a key cog on offensive line

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Sophomore goes from long shot to key cog on offensive lineBy BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Monday, August 29, 2011 11:55 pm

Smart guys, those Longs. Brent Qvale knows. He's a neighbor to twin brothers Spencer and Jake Long. "They're just normal guys who take way too hard of classes," joked the Nebraska sophomore offensive lineman.

...

Go-getters, those Longs. And if you dare to doubt it, just take a look at where Spencer Long's resolute ways are taking him right now. To a starting spot on Nebraska's offensive line this Saturday? It's possible. No depth charts are out, but it seems he's in a tight battle at right guard with redshirt freshman Jake Cotton.

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I have to admit I don't know much about Spencer Long. Could it be possible this guy starts? Sounds like he'll be at least #2 on the depth chart. According to Christopherson anyway.

 
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If he starts then Pelini saying the best person will play is true and can recruits that if a walk on Sophomore can work hard and earn a starting spot a true freshman on scholarship can also! Or it means people are banged up and need rest?

 
NUance said:
Sophomore goes from long shot to key cog on offensive lineBy BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Monday, August 29, 2011 11:55 pm

Smart guys, those Longs. Brent Qvale knows. He's a neighbor to twin brothers Spencer and Jake Long. "They're just normal guys who take way too hard of classes," joked the Nebraska sophomore offensive lineman.

...

Go-getters, those Longs. And if you dare to doubt it, just take a look at where Spencer Long's resolute ways are taking him right now. To a starting spot on Nebraska's offensive line this Saturday? It's possible. No depth charts are out, but it seems he's in a tight battle at right guard with redshirt freshman Jake Cotton.

LINK
Click to expand...
I have to admit I don't know much about Spencer Long. Could it be possible this guy starts? Sounds like he'll be at least #2 on the depth chart. According to Christopherson anyway.
Click to expand...
I've had some private conversations with other members here for about 10 days now about this guy. He started getting a serious look in the 8 deep about 2-3 weeks ago when we had all of our guys standing around with bandages on their vajay-jays. He was pretty impressive and with the extra reps improved greatly. He always had pretty good effort. This is a case of a kid getting better from having extra reps and taking advantage of it. He's presented some problems for the Dline at times so its not just a case of guys ahead of him being hurt anymore.

 
da skers said:
NUance said:
Sophomore goes from long shot to key cog on offensive lineBy BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Monday, August 29, 2011 11:55 pm

Smart guys, those Longs. Brent Qvale knows. He's a neighbor to twin brothers Spencer and Jake Long. "They're just normal guys who take way too hard of classes," joked the Nebraska sophomore offensive lineman.

...

Go-getters, those Longs. And if you dare to doubt it, just take a look at where Spencer Long's resolute ways are taking him right now. To a starting spot on Nebraska's offensive line this Saturday? It's possible. No depth charts are out, but it seems he's in a tight battle at right guard with redshirt freshman Jake Cotton.

LINK
Click to expand...
I have to admit I don't know much about Spencer Long. Could it be possible this guy starts? Sounds like he'll be at least #2 on the depth chart. According to Christopherson anyway.
Click to expand...
I've had some private conversations with other members here for about 10 days now about this guy. He started getting a serious look in the 8 deep about 2-3 weeks ago when we had all of our guys standing around with bandages on their vajay-jays. He was pretty impressive and with the extra reps improved greatly. He always had pretty good effort. This is a case of a kid getting better from having extra reps and taking advantage of it. He's presented some problems for the Dline at times so its not just a case of guys ahead of him being hurt anymore.
Click to expand...
That's awesome! It's exactly what the walk-on program is designed to produce.

 
Either way if Long or Cotton starts the OL as it stands right now is pretty green as far as playing experience goes. Hardrick and Caputo are the only ones that have seen any “real” time and Hardrick shared that time with Sirles.

 
This is both good & bad news. Good news because it shows that a walk-on gets a fair chance to make the team. Bad news because NU has so many young inexperienced players on offense that it will PROBABLY result in penalties, fumbles and missed assignments.

I believe our offense will struggle mightily against good defenses again this year.

 
IlliniHusker said:
This is both good & bad news. Good news because it shows that a walk-on gets a fair chance to make the team. Bad news because NU has so many young inexperienced players on offense that it will PROBABLY result in penalties, fumbles and missed assignments.

I believe our offense will struggle mightily against good defenses again this year.
Click to expand...
Thankfully we won't hit a good defense until B10 play so that will give us a while to figure it out. The one thing people are forgetting here is that this line is base on forward technique that has us making contact with the defender be that in run or passing situations. We're not constantly moving backward trying to change the direction of the defender's momentum which is hard to do with a young line and requires a lot of excellent technique. We pretty much look to move the guy in front of you out of the way similar to most high school lines. These young guys have grown up in programs that are much further ahead of programs in the 80's and 90's so the gap isn't as bad as it used to be. They'll have some growing pains along the way but it isn't like they'll be clueless either. I'd rate them as slightly better than average (depending on the day) at this point with the potential to be good by mid season.

I guess we'll really know when they have guys in front of them that they haven't figured out from playing against them everyday.

 
da skers said:
IlliniHusker said:
This is both good & bad news. Good news because it shows that a walk-on gets a fair chance to make the team. Bad news because NU has so many young inexperienced players on offense that it will PROBABLY result in penalties, fumbles and missed assignments.

I believe our offense will struggle mightily against good defenses again this year.
Click to expand...
Thankfully we won't hit a good defense until B10 play so that will give us a while to figure it out. The one thing people are forgetting here is that this line is base on forward technique that has us making contact with the defender be that in run or passing situations. We're not constantly moving backward trying to change the direction of the defender's momentum which is hard to do with a young line and requires a lot of excellent technique. We pretty much look to move the guy in front of you out of the way similar to most high school lines. These young guys have grown up in programs that are much further ahead of programs in the 80's and 90's so the gap isn't as bad as it used to be. They'll have some growing pains along the way but it isn't like they'll be clueless either. I'd rate them as slightly better than average (depending on the day) at this point with the potential to be good by mid season.

I guess we'll really know when they have guys in front of them that they haven't figured out from playing against them everyday.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your insight. I've been wondering how much the change in offense has affected the OL assignments and technique. And how much the change in OL translates to the players on the team. Are we better off now with the guys we have or do we need to recruit for the new OL?

 
da skers said:
IlliniHusker said:
This is both good & bad news. Good news because it shows that a walk-on gets a fair chance to make the team. Bad news because NU has so many young inexperienced players on offense that it will PROBABLY result in penalties, fumbles and missed assignments.

I believe our offense will struggle mightily against good defenses again this year.
Click to expand...
Thankfully we won't hit a good defense until B10 play so that will give us a while to figure it out. The one thing people are forgetting here is that this line is base on forward technique that has us making contact with the defender be that in run or passing situations. We're not constantly moving backward trying to change the direction of the defender's momentum which is hard to do with a young line and requires a lot of excellent technique. We pretty much look to move the guy in front of you out of the way similar to most high school lines. These young guys have grown up in programs that are much further ahead of programs in the 80's and 90's so the gap isn't as bad as it used to be. They'll have some growing pains along the way but it isn't like they'll be clueless either. I'd rate them as slightly better than average (depending on the day) at this point with the potential to be good by mid season.

I guess we'll really know when they have guys in front of them that they haven't figured out from playing against them everyday.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the keen insight, da skers. LOVE the smashmouth approach to Oline practice and scheme. Thank you God!!

We get average to good play from our freshman saturated OLine this year & I'm deeply impressed. We continue recruiting the road-graders and we're BACK.

 
da skers said:
IlliniHusker said:
This is both good & bad news. Good news because it shows that a walk-on gets a fair chance to make the team. Bad news because NU has so many young inexperienced players on offense that it will PROBABLY result in penalties, fumbles and missed assignments.

I believe our offense will struggle mightily against good defenses again this year.
Click to expand...
Thankfully we won't hit a good defense until B10 play so that will give us a while to figure it out. The one thing people are forgetting here is that this line is base on forward technique that has us making contact with the defender be that in run or passing situations. We're not constantly moving backward trying to change the direction of the defender's momentum which is hard to do with a young line and requires a lot of excellent technique. We pretty much look to move the guy in front of you out of the way similar to most high school lines. These young guys have grown up in programs that are much further ahead of programs in the 80's and 90's so the gap isn't as bad as it used to be. They'll have some growing pains along the way but it isn't like they'll be clueless either. I'd rate them as slightly better than average (depending on the day) at this point with the potential to be good by mid season.

I guess we'll really know when they have guys in front of them that they haven't figured out from playing against them everyday.
Click to expand...
Always look forward to your posts.

 
I would be really surprised if Spencer wasn't the starter on Saturday.

Him starting really has nothing to do with other guys letting down either. Spencer is a kid who has put on massive amounts of weight, switched to OL, and has just done terrific since the switch. He looks to be just one of those kids who got overlooked as a recruit and is now making everyone realize what a mistake it was.

Supposedly an absolute road grader as a run blocker. Really, really excited to see if all the good news about this kid is true on Saturday.

 
BigWillie said:
I would be really surprised if Spencer wasn't the starter on Saturday.

Him starting really has nothing to do with other guys letting down either. Spencer is a kid who has put on massive amounts of weight, switched to OL, and has just done terrific since the switch. He looks to be just one of those kids who got overlooked as a recruit and is now making everyone realize what a mistake it was.

Supposedly an absolute road grader as a run blocker. Really, really excited to see if all the good news about this kid is true on Saturday.
Click to expand...
"absolute road grader as a run blocker"........the very, very finest music to my ears. Thanks BigWillie!

 
Great to have another good guy in the mix. Looks like we could have some real depth at O-line this season.

 
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