Xmas32

We all agree that the Darlington package should be called 'Zack Attack' right? I mean, I'm not even open to hearing other suggestions.

I think the questions most people are asking is: Why did he hire those people in the first place if they weren't championship caliber coaches ? Did we throw the last 2 years away because he hired his friends ? To answer your first question, I really think Riley thought the coaching staff he brought with him was championship caliber. Riley probably felt that the staff would be able to elevate their performance and the heightened expectations that come with taking a job at a big boy program like Nebraska. The thing is, if you've never been at a top flight program (Riley has the 3 year stint with San Diego but that's about it) it's hard to tell if your staff will sink or swim unless they've been through it. Some people excel when the pressure is on, others shrink. It's evident that Banker, Read, Hughes and others shrunk under the pressure. That doesn't mean they aren't good coaches or men, they just aren't good enough to be coaches at Nebraska. For your second question...I would say no. He thought his long time assistants could get the job done, when that proved to not be the case, he pulled the trigger and fired them. I'm not one to harp on people when they make a mistake, I will crush people when they continue to make the same mistake. In retrospect, Riley made a mistake bringing Banker and Read with him, but I commend him for realizing it and quickly cutting ties with them for upgrading to Diaco (although time will tell).

Lol seriously? Keith Williams has no business at Nebraska? It's ok to have an opposing viewpoint, but for people to take your opposing viewpoint seriously, it has to at least make sense. Pretty sure it was geared towards the OSU guys he brought with. He even says Langs and Cav. There was no connection with KWilliams prior to this job. Not when he references the 4 staff members that have been let go or moved on. Two of those were not Oregon State guys either. He is just delusional if he thinks Trent Bray and Keith Williams have no business at Nebraska. Never said anything about Bray. That being said, his crew didn't take the step forward that I expected last year. KWill is a good recruiter and may be a good coach. I'm no so sure that the play we saw out of his crew in 15 wasn't the residual from his predecessor. They certainly didn't impress in 16 considering that many said it was the best position on the team and the best WR group in the conference. Regardless of his coaching acumen, he never should have been hired due to his legal issues. Even though he was hired he should have been fired after his arrest in Lincoln last fall. That's a total embarassment to the university. The legal issues are troubling, but should be looked at separately to his coaching ability. It's hard for me to judge the WR talent when the QB play was pretty sub-optimal in the passing game. If they can't get the ball, it's hard for them to showcase their skills. Would you agree with that? With that being said, starting this year I feel the offensive side of the ball needs to show some pretty marked improvements. It was downright painful watching Nebraska try to pass last year. I personally really like Langsdorf as a play caller, I feel like Nebraska's WRs/TEs/RBs were open all year long they just didn't have a QB that could deliver the ball to them with any regularity. Bold prediction for next year...Stanley Morgan eclipses 1000 receiving yards next year.

Would be great to see Newell get himself into the mix and provide some depth as a possible NT. He's listed at 6'3 290 as is..I wonder if he has the ability to put on a little more good weight.

Yup, you're exactly right. Never in the history of college football has a team not listed in the initial top 25 amounted to anything. Best we cancel the season so you can find your safe space and you won't be so triggered all the time.

Lol seriously? Keith Williams has no business at Nebraska? It's ok to have an opposing viewpoint, but for people to take your opposing viewpoint seriously, it has to at least make sense.

You've got a good point. However, we have a recent example of our DC coaching a position group and conflict arising with the assistant coach at that position. It will come down to how Diaco and Bray co-exist. Yup, agree 100% with you there.

This game is painful to listen to.

Didn't it kind of feel like Riley didn't like that last year, or am I misremembering? Off the top of my head I thought it was Cavanaugh...

I think this is largely a non-issue as there will be plenty of work to go around. Almost every college DC (that I'm aware of) specializes with a position group. No reason to think Bray and Diaco can't exist in harmony. Alabama, for example has Pruitt coaching the Inside LBs and Lupoi coaching the Outside LBs. +1 to what Lo Country stated as well.

4.41 40 yd? Dang, this dude is a missile.

If Calvin turns out to be 10% of the competitor that Steve Smith was, that would be awesome. Steve Smith is/was an absolute beast.

No worries!

Played in Oklahoma's largest class for football (6A) http://ossaa.net/docs/2015-16/Football/FB_2015-16_1617Classifications.pdf

Does he play basketball too?

Rick Kaczenski - Iowa's defensive line coach from 07'-11' and jump shiped to Nebraska for the same position in 12' Does that count? This one and Larry Johnson leaving PSU for OSU when Meyer took over are the only that come to my mind. Chris Ash left Ohio State to take the HC job @ Rutgers. He also had a previous stint at Whisky before he left with BB to roll down to Arky for a year.

Man, I forgot all about Chris Septak. He was incredible in HS. Just couldn't get healthy. Septak was supposed to be Matt Herian before Matt Herian showed up. Speaking of....talk about an injury costing a dude some serious bucks at the next level. Herian was just a beast in 2004 up until he broke his leg.

About the only guy that remotely pops to mind who played in the West is Alex Erickson from Whisky and I'm not sure how apt that comparison is. to be honest, not at all. Yeah, I was going through opponents in the West that had productive slottish WRs. Erickson was the only guy I could think of that had pretty good athleticism. Definite reach haha.

About the only guy that remotely pops to mind who played in the West is Alex Erickson from Whisky and I'm not sure how apt that comparison is.

dp

You may want to follow another team for a couple years then. Or increase your alcohol consumption. A lot.

I love me some DPE...but Lindsey's ceiling blows DPE's out of the water.

He would be available as he got fired about a month ago. He coached some solid TEs @ ND (Tyler Eifert and Troy Nicklas) that have gone on to be productive NFL players.

I get what you're saying here. At the same time, defense isn't rocket science (although Banker made it seem that way). In my opinion, it's a lot easier to put in a new defensive scheme especially when the coach putting it in is actually competent. I'm not sure about the 'easy' part but yes I'm sure there is a better defensive coordinator out there than MB. I agree, 'easier' was a poor word choice. In retrospect, I should've gone with, "should go much smoother".