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Markese Stepp

Certain people want to act like advanced stats don't matter, and I get that they're not everything, but we finished 32nd in SP+ this year. We were 55th last year and 49th in '18. Riley's best team was 33rd and he left the program ranked in the 70s. The numbers would say we have massively improved, we are just a mostly young team playing one of the toughest schedules in the country and make young-team mistakes. I am also frustrated there haven't been more wins, but some fans are being wildly, overdramatically negative about the state of the program and the coaching that is happening. We have improved a lot and are right on the doorstep of being a good team. The wins are coming if we just stay patient, and some of Husker nation needs to get a grip before we sabotage ourselves into being actually bad.

FWIW, Sean Callahan has been saying that Wan'Dale was trending out for some time now. But he said he's heard nothing from any source that indicates McCaffrey is next in line.

Eh, I think a lot of people are over-selling how bad we are because they are frustrated. Not that I blame them for being frustrated. But we're not nearly as far off as people like to claim. We played toe-to-toe for 25 minutes with an Ohio State team that took Clemson behind the woodshed. We had easily the second-best offensive outing of the year against a very good Northwestern defense and had two chances at the end of the game to beat the team that finished 7-2 and #14 in the country. We beat a Penn State team that has some of the most talent in the country with our backup QB who we later figured out wasn't really ready for the spotlight. We had the ball at the end of the game with a chance to be 6-2 Iowa team that finished #15 in the country. We also laid a couple eggs this year. But I think it's more accurate to say that we're a decent team that makes too many mistakes to be able to win many close games than it is to say we suck.

I remember how excited I was two years ago watching Martinez, Washington, JD and Wand ale and thinking wait until these guys get another year of development. Sometimes being a Nebraska fan sucks!

Wandale's dad was trying to get him pulled out of Nebraska last year too. He never wanted him here and was always tweet, liking stupid negative s#!t on Twitter about Nebraska. The "I want to run a speific route for the NFL" is dumb too. You don't need to run a specific route or two in college for the NFL to know what you can do and can't do. Wouldn't shock me if Wandale has a similar path as JD - think the grass is greener elsewhere and ends up on not having the type of season that he wanted that he would have had by staying pat and going out and working.

I don't think you and many others understand the difference between a sucky record and a sucky team.

In regards to offensive talent.... QB: AM (4* in his 4th season), LMC and Smothers (4*'s with multiple years in system) RB: Stepp, Sevy, Rahmir (all 4*s) WR: Toure (FCS All American) - Betts, Omar, Brown, Martin (All 4*) TE: Allen (proven), Fidone (4* Top TE) OL: Anchored by Benhart and Corcran (4* top 150 guys) If the offense can't go with this group, IDK if it ever will.

Total offense yards per game, 2014-2020: 452, 446, 380, 385, 456, 415, 391 So Riley took at 450-yard offense and ground it down 70 yards per game in two years. Frost immediately took it back to where it was when he still had enough Pelini recruits to field a decent team plus a dynamic Martinez. But, as I've pointed out elsewhere, we didn't even recruit one full offensive until worth of contributing recruits over a four-year period from 2015-2018. So if he's shown he can turn it around here, which is the more likely issue: that he doesn't know what he's doing or that he doesn't have the horses to run right now? Turnovers Lost, 2014-2020: 25, 27, 14, 19, 22, 21, 18 Penalty yards per game, 2014-2020: 50, 63, 53, 60, 70, 42, 60 Turnovers have been a problem for over a decade - new coaches, old coaches, doesn't seem to matter. Not sure a whole lot can be determined from that. We were actually #18 in the country in fewest penalty yards per game last year. Yet people still talk about it like we've always been the worst in the country since Frost got here. We're still pretty bad most years but, again, that's been how it's been for years. I think it's more we just haven't been that good so we make more mistakes. I think trying to throw out all the accusations you did is more just trying to find an outlet for frustrations rather than based on any evidence that those are actually the issues.

flat/bubbles/swing passes work great when your offense has already gashed the opposing defense for chunk plays and they have to back off as a result. Our tendency to call these plays 20% of the time when we havent thrown it more than 5 yards and are gonna qb run 80% of the time is just dumb

This is not going to hurt as much as everyone thinks. Nice kid, would rather have him here then not, but it’s ok too. He would have benefited from his having a bruising RB and some legit downfield threat- but who wouldn’t. my point- he was/will never be THE GUY. He’s just guy

Fidone is correct. Bama, Clemson, OU, tOSU....they all reigning champs and have the cycle of pro-turns. I heard on the game cast Bama OT is 6’7” and 360 lbs? I mean, that’s a human wall. Plus Smith and Harris? Lol, that’s some 90s N s#!t right there. we have some walls now, we have a couple 6’2” WR, we have a D that’s gotten better by inches, we have a Sr QB... I’m excited for next year. I think we’ll be good, not great, but breaking thru some of these f’ing 6-10 pt losses we’ve had the last 3 yrs. We are on the up

I mean ... that's why "development" is such a hard thing to really know. People like to throw it around a lot but it usually means "we aren't as good as we should be". But there's a ton of stuff that goes into that. A lot of the issue is Riley's crew didn't recruit RBs any better than they recruited WRs - and they were abysmal at that. After getting Ozigbo in 2015, they took a known injury risk in Tre Bryant in 2016, then a long-shot project last-minute hope in Jaylin Bradley in 2017 followed by having no one for 2018. Frost's crew got Washington in a couple weeks be he turned out to be too much of a head case. They also grabbed Bell but he had attitude issues. In 2019 they got Mills and Rahmir Johnson. Mills was solid but now gone after two years and Johnson has seen the field but not done anything spectacular. But that means that Johnson is the only one left from four straight recruiting classes and he's just a freshman. So I'm not sure how you can pin "lack of development" on that situation.

My point: while he may be just guy, he was our best just guy. Our best guy in our coach's third year, who had the offense built around him despite being just guy. It doesn't hurt to lose him as much as it hurts that he was our best guy. And he wanted to leave. If the players we have couldn't outplay Wan'dale this season, I'm not sure why they would next season. But who knows. It's a vacuum. Someone will step up. I think. I just don't like s#!tting on players in order to pretend there's not a player development problem here. Recruits who have other choices are that much more likely to avoid Nebraska.

Yes those plays are good. BUT bama also had many successful downfield throws and a solid running game to compliment. It doesnt work for us because we do it all the time and none of the other stuff works either.

Agree with your sentiments. I also will add that Google is acting all high and mighty while at the same time defending against their intellectual property theft of Java. Without that theft, Google wouldn’t be what it is currently. Apple is acting all high and mighty when they use basically Chinese slave labor to build their products. It would be nice to see those companies fix their own lack of morals while they save the rest of society from speech they deem unacceptable.

He's probably too classy to just come out and say it...but his further development was going to be hamstrung by crappy coaching if he stayed at Nebraska. It's not just about touches, it is about development and direction. If he thinks his ceiling is higher and good coaching can help him reach that ceiling, then he owed it to himself to find a different place to play.

The NFL will find you if you can play even if you are working at a Subway making lunch.

I am honestly stumped on how Wandale thinks he can be best utilized. He describes himself as a swiss army all purpose type of player and Frost went out of his way to get Wandale the ball in a multitude of ways. My hope is that removing Wandale could somehow cause us to spread it around in our attack. I know Frost is thought of as a offensive guru and I am hoping our OL can make him one again.

1: We are recruiting bigger bodies at WR and RB the last two classes (2020 and 2021). 2: Frost has tried the small, quick guys that worked in the Pac 12 but always was stone walled when facing Big Ten (OSU) and SEC defenses. Frost tried his style the last two seasons and it didn't work from the perspective of putting points on the board. 3: With bigger bodies on the outside you have a bigger catch radius to pass too, better downfield blocking (if the effort and technique are good), and our OL recruits have been bigger and more athletic. I suspect what you will see is a bigger emphasis on a downhill running scheme out of the spread offense. More emphasis on using TE's as a mismatch. You can line up with a double TE set and have one or both motion to the slot to go with a big running back and big WR's. That will make it harder for a defense to defend instead of having a small DuckR player being the focal point. The defenses in the Big Ten are too f#&%ing good to run the zone, lateral offenses in the Big Ten. Gotta use the TE's, pass deep to big WR's, and downhill rushing. Then you can use your speedy guys with size on motions, screens, etc.

I see a lot of people aren’t sure what Wandale meant by this. I think it’s pretty straightforward. At his size, he won’t be running between the tackles in the NFL and a lot of his touches at Nebraska were doing exactly that. I guess it makes sense to me that he would’ve preferred to have different touches than he got....I sure would’ve preferred they were different. It’s pretty tough when so much of our offense was sputtering. Didn’t really open things up for what he would be best at. I’ll take him at his word that it was 50% that and 50% mom/family. But I also don’t think he leaves if the offense was operating better and he was utilized to his strengths instead of being subjected to physical abuse by B1G defenses up the gut.

It says his son is a cop and he was a Blue Lives Matter guy. WTF is wrong with these people. Your son is a cop but you kill a cop at a Trump Rally? Trump is a disease.

Mills out Stepp in!

I don't agree at all here. We shoot ourselves in the foot all the damn time, and that's a coaching problem at the root. But this is very, very different than giving up 9+ yards per play to a Minnesota team led by a guy who couldn't even find a Juco willing to let him play QB after the season. Or just laying down and letting Iowa score 42 unanswered points. Even earlier in Riley's tenure, there was the "bloodbath" game and literally not wanting to be on the field against OSU. It's not good enough now, but it's not even worth comparing to Riley's teams.

Get Avante and 2 more good talents out of the portal and get to work. Only can bring in 3 more bodies via scholarship.

Another big win. Frost and Co doing work on the portal.

Yep that was me. I know nothing about him potentially leaving. Just colored me odd he started following 5 different coaches at different schools in the past couple weeks.

I was discriminated against at my bank, because of my 520 credit score and crippling debt.

I think it's a bit premature to be claiming player development issues. Even at year 3 the upperclassmen are either Mike Riley recruits or transfers. In year 3, Mike Riley lost his last 3 games by approximately 100 points. I mean Frost has brought in offensive linemen who probably aren't truly ready.....yet they are better than the upperclassmen. And yes, ultimately it's Frost's responsibility.

Brett McMurphy’s Top 25 College Football Rankings for 2021 1. Ohio State 2. Alabama 3. Georgia 4. Oklahoma 5. Clemson 6. Texas A&M 7. Iowa State 8. Texas 9. North Carolina 10. Penn State 11. Utah 12. Oregon 13. Florida 14. Notre Dame 15. Wisconsin 16. Miami (FL) 17. Cincinnati 18. Oklahoma State 19. Washington 20. Arizona State 21. Virginia Tech 22. Iowa 23. USC 24. Mississippi 25. Liberty Rounding out my top 40 teams (in alphabetical order): Appalachian State, Arkansas, Auburn, BYU, Indiana, Louisville, LSU, Nebraska, Northwestern, Pitt, TCU, UCF, UCLA, Virginia, West Virginia https://watchstadium.com/brett-mcmurphys-top-25-college-football-rankings-for-2021-01-11-2021/

That's not even what he said. And all those types of buisnesses he listed (which includes small town mom and pop, AKA Smallville USA white owners) are traditionally worse off. Stop trying to find a reason to get mad about something.

I don't think so. Last year we had a freshman show up late in the summer and be one of our most dynamic offensive players. This year we had two different freshman lead the team in carries by a RB for a given game and a third that played pretty well in the first game of the year. They couldn't stay on the field due to injuries but they were ready to play and showed it. I don't think that is a development issue.

He might never be “the guy” but if we get Stepp, another WR + Tamore he would’ve been allowed to play more one on one matchups instead of the entire defense keying on him because he’s the only player with enough talent and experience to scare them.

Or, Wandale is going to go to another school and do really well and all this downplaying of him being good but not great and us not missing him that much is going to be completely wrong. We'll see. Stepp is supposedly N but finalizing transcripts

I will have some of what this man is drinking, please.

I don't get the quote. He love the number of touches AND how he got them. What does he mean by "they don't translate to the way I want them to for the NFL."? If anything, I'd think it would be good for his NFL chances. No blocking? Ok, find a tiny crease and make gain. Poor pass? Ok, make a good catch? Wouldn't being productive when a lot of things are stacked against you be a positive on a resume?

This sounds pretty serious...which probably means the Democrats will schedule a meeting to talk about it next week.

Why are people laughing at this? RB's were banged up all year. Was there even a game where all were active? Let alone individual RB's active for more than two games in a row? The staff also confirmed that Morrison battled COVID for a chunk of the year. I'm not saying it's the going to be the best RB room in the conference next year, but people can't ignore that this year was hard on the RB room.

Ok. I’ll give you my response to this ridiculous hypothetical. It really is tragic that the young woman lost her life, however if she were black, she wouldn’t even have made it into the building.

Isn’t there another team you can be a fan of?

Riley was exactly .500 at Nebraska. Scott Frost is .375. So far, Frost has been worse than Riley. If Frost wasn't a national title winning QB, he would have already been fired, and would have gone down as the worst coach in Nebraska history. Probably even worse than Bill Jennings, since Jennings coached before Devaney and Osborne created the Nebraska program as we know it.

Good article. Hopefully McConnell is ready to rid the party of the smell of Trump https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/12/us/mitch-mcconnell-trump-impeachment.html

Stepp into a starting position day one.

that is a tiny problem at this time. it will work itself out. let's get past Trumps insurrection first....that kind of takes priority to me and many Americans right now.

from the article: Consider the liberal state of Oregon, for example. When organizing its COVID-19 relief efforts, Oregon legislators specifically designated $62 million to only go to black citizens and business owners. “In creating the Oregon Cares Fund, lawmakers took the rare step of explicitly naming a single racial group as the beneficiary, arguing that Black residents have been subjected to unique discrimination that put them at a disadvantage during the pandemic,” the New York Times reports. Now, the remaining money is on hold with lawsuits pending. In the interim, it has been suspended. “It’s discriminatory,” argued Walter Leja, a Hispanic business owner and plaintiff in the lawsuit. “It’s locking up a bunch of funds that can only be used by Black businesses when there’s a ton of other businesses out there that need access to those funds. It’s not a white or Black thing. It’s an everybody thing.” The race-specific Oregon relief program was meant to help disadvantaged groups. But, clearly, all it really accomplished was further division, conflict, and dysfunction.

Whats a 'VCR" ??

Do you support the spreading of lies, hate and promotion of violence? Absolutely no way would they still be in the capital. Wait...I thought the people who stormed the capital were Antifa. They weren't?

Grammar! It's "we done saw"