HuskermanMike

If he never would have reclassified its safe to assume Nebraska would have a top 10 class this year. 

I like his potential and what he brings to the table- can defend, shoot, and get to the rim. 

His semester at DePaul does not affect anything. Still has four years remaining and it is to be treated like early enrolling for football except he got to play in games. He also was going into a team with a solidified rotation. 

Fred has himself some depth and can use a lot of different guys out there. This shows our PG depth must be fine as we were rumored to be looking around for one in the portal. 

We still have one scholarship available to use if we want to. My best guess is that scholarship is used for next year since Kobe and Trevor already both have free years of eligibility. 

2 hours ago, Young Grand Island Husker said:

A source says that this unknown transfer guard fell through last night and we will move on to our next targets. 

Do we know what happened or is it just a move on sort of thing from one side?

The Missouri guard Xavier Pinson is looking better with Arkansas filling up and Auburn getting a PG grad transfer and they are still after TyTy. Not sure how Georgia's roster is looking but it might be down to us and them at the moment. I have also heard we might have moved on from him but that is just chatter and nothing official at the moment.  

Hearing we are after a new forward. Might have another spot open up depending on how people see playing time as we add players to the roster. 

I always wondered how our JuCo recruiting fared under Frost. Here is a nice for reference list I am compiling. Felt like the discussion was more suited for here rather than the main football forum. I put in walk-ons as well in case they were to contribute in some capacity. If I missed someone please let me know so I can be as accurate as possible. I believe all the scholarship guys are accounted for in each class.  I can't remember if John Bivens went Juco or prep school but he is no longer on the team.

I am grading them on a 1-4 scale. 

1= no contribution  2= very little contribution  3=some contribution  4 =Solid/starter level contribution

2018

Will Honas- 4

Deontai Williams- 4

Jaron Woodyard- 2

Greg Bell- 2

Mike Williams-3

Will Jackson-this one was very short lived- was he a walk-on?- 1

2019

Dedrick Mills- 4

Jakheem Green- 2

Desmond Bland- signed but never made it here-1

Walk-ons- All of them are a 1

Zach Ingram

Kadeem Telfort

Josh Wegener

2020-TBD for most- some can still make an impact

Omar Manning- 1

Eteva-Mauga Clemmens- 1

Niko Cooper- 1- transferred out

Jordon Riley-2

Pheldarius Payne- 3

Nadab Joseph-2

Walk-ons- No contribution-1

Chase Contreraz

Darius Moore

2021

No scholarship Juco's taken.

Walk-ons TBD.

Overall, a lot of misses and very few contributors so far. The 2020 class can really change this perspective. I am mostly looking at the scholarship guys and even they have struggled to produce.

Only counting scholarship guys- here is the breakdown for each group.

4s- three guys: Honas, Williams, and Mills. A solid year from some in the 2020 class and they could move up here. 

3s- Two guys in this group so far. I would have expected a few more here but there is still time for others to move up.

2s- Five guys fill out this group. Tons of potential but just not enough to get on the field. A few can still move up.

1s- Five guys in this group. Some are gone but some are still here and can move up.

So far 1/3 Jucos are solid contributors or better. There is a lot of time for others to move up and produce. JuCo recruiting is looking sub par but can really rebound with some solid contributions from the 2020 class.

6 hours ago, Toe said:

Niko Cooper was a reach to begin with. His only other P5 offer was Maryland. Given the timing of his departure (during winter conditioning), I'm guessing that he didn't like the grind of being a P5-level player. Apparently there was an incident where he threw a big s#!tfit after an older walk-on called him out for missing practice. Don't think he'll be missed much.

 

Still, recruiting JUCO guys is feeling like a colossal waste of time at this point. And for as much as the staff wants to find guys who are a good 'fit' culturally, they sure seem bad at identifying them as recruits...

Held has some great Juco connections. However, when they get here the recruits get a reality check.  Here's to hoping Manning can be all we expected him to be or heck even half of what we expected. Because most Juco offensive players have done nothing outside of Mills- who already had D1 playing experience.

The reason you take JuCos are 

1 You need to add depth and a ready to go mature player can slide in and give you depth or play right away.

2 No one at the position is ready to go so you are bringing in a player just as good or better than you have. 

The downside to doing this is that you take away reps/development from younger players. At this level, you cannot "gamble" anymore with Jucos. If you do, it takes up a roster spot and they end up leaving anyway. I would much rather we look to the transfer portal because those guys have already played D1 football and know what it takes. Grad transfers are also locked in for only one year and if it is a regular transfer they get to sit and learn the playbook. Some Juco's may have three years but again if you gamble on these guys there goes two years of development or so for other players. 

I do not mind taking the right Jucos as they can be so hard to predict. I am just not a fan of the amount of Juco guys we have taken under Frost. I would say 3 is the maximum for any given year and going into this cycle it should be one for each side of the ball. 

I know the coaches have talked about locking down St. Louis before. But it would be awesome to start winning more battles in the KC area. We have a few guys with connections to that area and it is a short drive close to home. KC area kids might need to be our focus. We can still get kids from STL but we have not got a foothold there. KC is a place we need to do better in as they have amazing athletes every cycle. I find it interesting we haven't taken more kids from there with the connections and distance. Long story short we need to win a few of these for the 2022 cycle. 

This kid and the other receiver from KC would be a great start to get the ball rolling. 

Pierce definitely has some athletes. Talent is growing in football in the state and it is good for us. Now, we just gotta lock up our in state guys. The 2022 cycle could be rough but 2023 is a year we can get many of them. 

Benjamins size is nice and he could be another Austin Allen-esque player for us. 

11 hours ago, seaofred92 said:

This is really impressive considering what our record is

I believe we picked up a Q1 win beating a team with a losing record. Let that sink in lol.

2 hours ago, Decked said:

Top 5 coming soon. I wouldn’t be shocked at all if we didn’t make it. 

If we don't at least make the top 5 that is just not right. Whether or not he comes here is one thing. If he doesn't at least list us that is a major problem with his talent. We need OLBs bad and to not even make top 5 of an instate player at a position of need would be devastating. 

We will see when it comes out. 

3 hours ago, Decked said:

They are gonna go after two portal guys or potentially a JUCO. Makes no sense to grab a DL. Get a safety or two offensive guys. Hopefully a WR and maybe an OG. I don’t like the talent at that RG spot. It’s gonna be the same as last year as it sits. 

I believe we were going after a D-lineman from Northwestern, who was in the portal, but he may have looked/gone elsewhere. Thus, why I put it up there with Offensive guard. Still, I agree with taking another O-lineman and wide receiver. We could definitely take a younger DB if there isn't a wideout we need. We took a blow from losing a few of the Florida guys at those spots. However, it is still a solid group despite the attrition. 

Need to take 25 this year for sure. A couple options we have left.

IF Avante signs.

1 Go after a D-lineman in the portal OR

2 Get a plug and play O-lineman to help with depth/start. 

Numbers on the D-line are fine, but another young guy would help.

IF Avante does not sign(looking more likely)

1 Go after a young D-lineman for numbers.

2 Get an O-lineman that can pug and play after we have lost some vets on the line. Had a few transfer as well, but numbers at this spot are still really good.

3 Get a younger CB in the portal that can develop and is the right fit. Secondary numbers were down for 2021, so a younger guy with some years left to play would be solid. 

4 Can't miss offensive weapon at the WR spot. We are probably done here, but if there is the right guy we might as well add to our numbers. 

5 Give a scholarship to either Ezra Miller, Oliver Martin, or Isaac Gifford* who were walk-ons that could get a scholarship.

*Not sure if he is on scholarship yet or when that would take effect. 

22 hours ago, admo said:

 

It's tough to say, probably OU since they won their championship game. It doesn't matter if you lose 2 anymore.  It matters if you win, if you have firepower, and if you are a hot team going into post season.  I'm not against ND.  I am against a team that loses their conference game and gets in ORRR doesn't play in a conference game and still gets in.  Alabama has done both of those (one being a championship game after losing it). And now ND did the same (lost but got in).  The committee is bonkers.  Let's be fair and give someone else a chance.  Don't make us accept it (their decision) for the sake of a brand name.

OU was definitely clicking at the right time. However, that loss to K-State did them no favors in the end. If they only lose 1 they are in. They dominated Florida, but the game would have been closer without the injuries and opt outs. OU would have still won by about 10 or so points.

Texas a&m would get dominated and even Cincy would too. Oklahoma would have competed the best with Bama but still lost. So again, it really did not matter because 4 was a sacrifice to whoever runs into the 1 seed. It is almost becoming like a 2 vs 15 in basketball where the better team wins with a few exceptions. The teams that have won as 4 seeds are Ohio State and Alabama where these programs are already elite. 

I say expand to 8. Yes, the eight seed would get clobbered this year, but it allows for the regular season to matter. This gives g5 teams a seat at the table as well. 

5 minutes ago, Decked said:

I feel bad dogging on a young kid but this dude screams drama queen to me. I have a feeling his recruitment may not live up to the substance of his actual playing career. 

He comes with some baggage. Heard he may have possibly hit a teacher and was kicked out of a few high school programs. He has all the talent, but can he put it together without causing trouble is the question. We took our chance with MoWa. I am not mad he is going somewhere else as he most likely would have left like the other Florida guys. 

His situation is similar to Zach Evans last year. I wonder if Maryland was the only team left willing to take him?

On 12/29/2020 at 9:15 PM, Omaha-Husker said:

 

Roby had a great game. 19 and 7 with super efficient shooting.

 

He has obviously done a ton of work on his game, but it makes sense that he would be a guy that fit the NBA game better than college. A lot more room in the paint than in college where especially at Nebraska the floor spacing was terrible. If he can keep hitting 3s at a decent pace he can have a long career.

But does he know how good he can be?

/s

15 hours ago, admo said:

I like the Irish, like a good independent competitor.  Maybe beat Navy, maybe  lose to Army, maybe go to OT with Purdue or USC or Michigan State.

 

They are like Northwestern with a bit more talent and a lot more historical sensationalism. They should never been in the playoff, and it is ridiculously clear to everybody outside of the committee/TV/Network sponsors.

Who would you have put in over them? Texas a&m would have been motivated but they had no great wins that the committee is looking for to get in. It also would have been a rematch from earlier and it would have been a blowout either way. If you put in Cincy, they get blown out worse than ND. OU would make sense, but they had two losses. Yes, ND was going to most likely lose, but who would have given Alabama a run for their money? They are just a step ahead of everyone not named Clemson or OSU. 

1 hour ago, Mavric said:

 

Number four for Mississippi State will face criminal charges most likely. If you watch him he is smiling after he hits a guy and kicks a man when he is down. Many of those guys that choose to come back will be suspended and many may be told to not come back. It seems every year there is a bowl game with a big brawl at the end. 

12 hours ago, Mavric said:

S-E-C!  S-E-C!

 

 

I believe they will fire their DC. Not sure who they go after but last night definitely sealed his fate. 

On 12/22/2020 at 1:01 PM, JJ Husker said:

Does anybody know how much Pelini has been paid over the last 10 years to not coach vs how much to actually coach? Sorry I’m too lazy to look it up myself but I’m guessing it has to be at least a 5:1 ratio. That is maybe a pretty good indication the guy should adapt and modify what he’s doing. Or not....getting paid to not coach has been a very lucrative deal for him.

I think he could be a good assistant coach or co-defensive coordinator. Not sure which spot or position he would coach though. I thing a g6 or FCS job is right up his alley where he could do good. ULM just hired a new coach and he is old, I could see him landing somewhere like that where it is not a big time gig where  there is minimal pressure. 

LSU had a horrific offense as well. They were just not a great team this year. When Ed O was screaming at Pelini, you knew it was most likely the end. Obviously, it was difficult going from the 3-4 to 4-3 but no way should they have been so bad.

Double post, my bad.

I don't see Frost firing anybody. Verduzco comes to mind but Frost says he is one of the best in the business, so I do not see Frost letting him go.

If he does do this or Verdu decides to retire, I would love for Frost to get Helfrich as Co/OC and QB coach. Plus, Helfrich has coached QBs before on top of being a great offensive mind. Frost can still have input during games but this gives Frost a coach with p5 experience and lessens the load for him. If I had to pick one I would want Helfrich calling plays, but both Lubick and Helfrich can have input on things. I think something like this could help get us over the top because Frost looks stressed calling plays and managing the team. I could see Helfrich wanting to get a grad transfer qb to get us over the top at this spot. 

As for special teams, the LSU Safeties coach Bill Busch just parted ways with them. He is from Nebraska and coached here before so I would go after him. We need to find a way to get him in the program because he coached special teams and is the best option we got with ties to the program. If we fired Verdu, this would be my next choice as he would be a great hire. This is my second choice because Frost needs to give up playcalling duties. He can take them back down the road but right now someone else should call plays. Bill Busch would be the most experienced staff member and has proven his ability as a p5 coach. Look at his resume and I do not see one coach on this staff with a resume as good as his. 

I do not believe Frost wants Lubick to call plays for whatever reason. Also, getting another offensive guru in Helfrich might make him reconsider doing it. At the very least, it would give Frost another trusted mind to tell him things that will work. I don't see Frost coaching the qbs as that would put more stress on him. I see this going three ways:

1) Verduzco is kept on staff.

2) Verdu retires and we get Helfrich/another offensive coach to coach qbs and possibly have input on offense.

3) Verdu retires and we go after a much need ST coordinator- like Bill Busch.

Doane just lost to Mount Marty by 18 tonight. GPAC is a solid conference for NAIA but Doane has struggled to have basketball success in it.

They may try running some 3-2 zone throughout the game tomorrow. Something people do not see often. They will have a 5-9 record and coming off a loss. 

This game will just be an exhibition for Doane and will not count toward their final record. It is a game for us and will count toward our record. Last year Doane had a lead for three or four minutes before Nebraska woke up and took over the game. Expect us to get over 100 like we did against McNeese. 

I believe we got Rutgers because we were originally supposed to play them and because of the similar records. Frost and Moos got what they wanted. It should probably be in Lincoln, but since Rutgers has a better record we have to play on the road. 3 home games to 5 road games makes this seem strange. However, we get to see the Huskers for another week which is what we all wanted at the beginning of the year. Need a win to get some momentum for the offseason instead of ending on a loss for a 5th straight year.  

@seaofred92 nice input! Ball movement is very important, but player movement is also key. It definitely felt at times we had guys just standing around during the USD game. When we go on droughts scoring, why do we not run set plays or something like you showed to get more flow? I think we need to run more of these or just down screens like above to get open for an easy two or three. Hoiberg said he has a ton of plays so he should be able to get something ready to roll. 

It is really nice how having Lat out on the perimeter forces players to stick to him and allow for drives. I wonder if Trevor Lakes is going to play at all as he can add a three element to this team. If he plays he would still be allowed to come back next year as well. Do you have any news on him or is he just not ready yet? I haven't heard much and maybe you haven't either so just putting this out there if someone knows. 

4 hours ago, Mavric said:

Definitely agree on the shots we're trying to get.  Should be shooting 3s and getting to the rim.  Don't waste time on anything else.

 

I think we have a team built to do that.  Pretty much everyone we roll out there except Yvan can shoot the three.  McGowens, Banton, Teddy and Webster are all really good off the bounce.  Banton is so tough because he can get around/over anyone and Teddy is an absolute beast getting into contact and getting to the line.

 

We'll definitely miss a couple big guys once conference play starts.  But we have enough shooters and defenders that I think we should be competitive.  I'm guessing we'll shoot ourselves out of a couple games but Teddy might go off and win us a game we shouldn't.

 

Definitely headed the right direction.  

Wanted to get your opinion on this Mav but @seaofred92 can also chime in too. 

I feel like during this game and the Nevada game it feels we forced things a little too much. Early 3s in the clock or forced drives that led to turnovers and charges- which led to early foul trouble. I do not mind an early three but some were just way too quick and then the other team is going on the break in transition. Sometimes guys just drive right into the defense where if they kick it out someone will be open. Ball movement and assists make this team go and they need to get a few more passes to make the defense work. 

I believe that if we moved the defense and got great shots we would have blown out USD easily. Teddy drives me crazy sometimes but he somehow gets the ball in the hoop. I also thought that early T is something we do not want to see down the line. I would have understood it if USD had the board but the fact we have the ball and he is yelling at the refs was a little uncalled for, but I like the passion. 

In short, move the ball and make the defense work, take great shots and we are coasting this whole game.

Lastly, I think Thor only has a few attempted field goals, so that is why his numbers are down. I think we need to try and get him some threes early as he is one of the best at that. Other players are getting his shots I guess is what I am trying to say. 

4 hours ago, Jason Sitoke said:

Is it surprising to anyone else that this is such an issue with a supposed innovative offensive mind?

 

AM should be the QB, and you have LM who can line up at any skill position and be a threat to run, receive, and throw. Obviously the regression of Martinez is the reason we have this thread, but where’s the creativity?  Why aren’t they on the field together most of the time?

Luke can be a great QB he just needs more polishing and time. I say go with 2AM and put in some packages for Luke to keep the defense honest. 

I agree that he needs to see the field in some capacity. What I really want to see is all the trick plays or some creative plays against Iowa. I think a good play would be a qb option with Martinez and McCaffrey. Pitch to Luke and have him throw or fake it to Luke and have AM run. It doesn't have to be that play but a play similar to what Rutgers ran in OT against Michigan is the kind of play calling we have lacked. The creativity is not there. I am not saying it has to be every play but a solid 5 or so plays to try to create a spark. 

One other play I like is a jet sweep with a speedster. Wisconsin runs that all the dang time. We should run it 5 or so times a game and then we can actually catch a defense off when we have a WR run in motion. If the QBs cannot run certain plays we have to get creative. I like the levels concept play where we roll a qb out and pass either to the rb, TE, or WR deep. The qb literally just looks and throws to the open man. 

5 hours ago, BlitzFirst said:

 

When someone is gunned down, it's poor form to insist that any crimes they committed previously that did not contribute to the death are relevant.

 

You are stating non relevant facts in order to illicit a reaction.  That's trolling and it's against the board rules.

 

Placing labels upon victims of violent crime is really poor form and if you continue to do it, makes me think you are trying to troll people versus having civil discussion.  I want to believe you're here for civil discussion.  Help me out.

 

If you want to continue to debate here and not make it on everyone's ignore list and become invisible, I'd recommend some candor and tact. 

 

But yes, we are in agreement on the overall argument.

He is not trolling. What reactions is he getting out of people? I just believe you do not like what he says and that is totally fine. Calling it trolling is not right and is taking this a little too far. From my view, the discussion is civil and has some nice back and forth.