Husker in WI

Right, seems like that might be the plan. I think we can all agree he (and any player for that matter) would likely be better served to stick it out and be pushed, but it's his career.

He would be one of our best five linemen even without being in great shape, and there are other schools who would take that. It's almost easier in fall camp because there's less time to not meet expectations - spring ball is a grind. He's not going to Georgia or Ohio State, but there are P5 schools that would take him in the fall, let him use fall camp to get in shape, and play him week one. Honestly we would probably let him do that at the end of the day, but maybe the constant pushing to do better than that isn't what he wants. But he's a proven P5 starter, lots of schools would take him and play him if he's better than what they currently have.

I don't follow basketball (especially non-Nebrasketball) closely enough to verify this, but the talk here is he was "under-utilized" because he doesn't play defense and the coach got frustrated with that.

Sure sounded like it to me too - wasn't paying super close attention, but sounded like Dvoracek has been calling plays (maybe just for the scrimmage) and then getting feedback from White. What wasn't clear to me was if the other assistants were also doing that and we just heard about it from Dvoracek. Either way makes sense to me, there's clearly mutually interest between White and head coaching gigs and I'm sure Rhule would love to promote from within when he leaves. That's easier if they've at least practiced calling plays.

Right, but my point is just because somebody thinks we have 95 scholarship players doesn't mean we do. Several prominent players who were on scholarship at one point, either here or at another school, are not technically on scholarship now. The Athletic just had an article about it ($), some teams focus their NIL on their top players and others use it to add a few scholarship-caliber players over the 85 limit. We're in the latter group.

You can pretty much assume anyone who started their career as a walk-on (even if they were on scholarship at one point) and most of the guys transferring in each year are not technically on scholarship. Also guys coming back for 5th/6th years - my understanding is guys who sign out of high school get that scholarship for 4 years, but after that they could be taken off. Several high school guys are not on scholarship either. There are a lot more than 10 guys in those buckets.

I don't think any QBs in the portal will be interested in coming here. Sure it's only 3 scholarship QBs, but we're clearly planning on Raiola winning the job so there's not a path to playing time. The portal QB ship sailed for this year when we didn't push for McCord.

There are just some dudes with a natural feel for it - Dejuan Groce comes to mind, and then most recently Demornay Pierson-El. Haven't had one of those guys since. Nation deserves more of a chance, but gotta say he didn't look 'different' than the other guys back there so I don't have super high hopes with those two options. I know there's more to a punt return than pure speed, but I don't understand why Lloyd, Charles, Barney, or even Brice Turner aren't in the mix. Can they not catch a punt or something?

I imagine it's like those DB drills where they aren't allowed to use their hands - you have to use the right footwork this way. And it's easier to work the hold in than it would be to take it out when you've been relying on it and get a ref who decides he's going to call it. Still kinda weird, but I'm sure the selling point for the next level is their technique must be phenomenal to have any degree of success at this level without holding. Should be easy to teach them to hold "correctly" if their footwork and hand placement is good.

Rhule dropped some moderately interesting nuggets today: Mazzccua working second team at the moment JEJ is starting at Guard and then working some at Center Lutovsky is starting at Guard but also repping some tackle Knaak is doing well I don't think this contradicts the quoted statement either, I imagine Mazzccua is with the 2's right now due to a combination of deference to the guys who have been here and him not showing up in great shape, and potentially some motivation. You can afford to work guys in different spots when the first game is still months away. Also really surprised by Lutovsky at tackle, but we don't have a lot of depth there and Rhule said some guys look like Guards and just play more naturally at Tackle and vice versa. Also said Brix is a Tackle, and basically they will keep guys at Tackle if there's a chance they can handle it because they're hard to find.

There were a few others buried in there - I'm pretty sure the numbers he lists are from the pro day as well, and it's clear why they aren't getting drafted: Anthony Grant (#53 RB) - 4.71 40 with a 26" vert and an 8'11" broad - not exactly explosive. Josh Fleeks (#63 RB) - 4.63 40 at 205 lbs Billy Kemp - 4.78 40 at 180 lbs Nouredin Nouili (#45 G) Casey Rogers (#30 DT, transferred to Oregon) got a priority free agent grade Isaiah Stalbird (#40 LB, transferred to SDSU) tested well - 4.49 40 - but is small Luke Reimer (#62 LB) - 4.7 40, only ~220 lbs, short arms and lots of injuries Quinton Newsome - 4.57 is pretty slow, at least for 6' 185

Would love to have two legitimate road-graders on the inside, I just hope Lutovsky has improved his mobility a lot. Curious if Buckley can make a move or if he's just going to be one of the culture guys but not a major on-field contributor.

We absolutely should be, but I honestly expect like we'll be sitting at 5-2 and the season will be a real test of the teams ability to push through the "here we go again" collapse. Winning 1 (or more) out of UCLA, @USC, Wisconsin, and @Iowa is totally possible, but the added pressure of bowl eligibility is significant. Getting ahead of ourselves obviously, but getting to 6-1 or 7-0 seems too easy for us.

It's going to be interesting for sure. Shurmur will have them running the ball a little more (they went from 42% run to 46% after he took over), but they're still going to sling it. Shedeur was also whining about Lewis's offense having too many in-play adjustments, so he might be able to get the ball out quicker with Shurmur. But to my mind at least, the more static plays are easier to defend. And they did not address the OL in a noticeable better way than last year. Jordan Seaton is probably going to be a stud, but LT as a true freshman is incredibly difficult. Proctor at Alabama last year at least had great size, and he got bullied for the first half of the year. He's definitely athletic enough that none of our edge guys are going to consistently beat him with speed, but I don't think he will be physically prepared to withstand bull rushes from 22-23 year old men. The rest are transfers from G5, Juco, or meh starters from Indiana and Houston. Probably an all new line with no continuity. I don't think we'll get 8 sacks again, but I think we're better equipped to turn some of the havoc into turnovers this year.