Husker in WI

A lot of people got taller too, always love when that happens.

Reasonably in depth breakdown from a local radio station: https://krod.com/utep-football-2024-preview-breaking-down-the-season-ahead/ New coach is from Austin Peay (FCS), and looks like most of the major contributors for year 1 are guys he brought with him. A handful of exceptions with returning guys, notably along the DL. Probably only have to worry if the DL (Westmoreland in particular) and the RB from Austin Peay who ran for 1,300 yards last year (Jevon Jackson) go off and have career games. Actually should be a great week 1 game for us, the coach says he wants to snap the ball every 12 seconds. Obviously not even remotely close to Colorado in terms of athleticism, and they are going to run the ball a lot more. But hopefully a good tune up regarding quick defensive communication and defending the width of the field.

I don't know if it's a guarantee that we don't have a 90 - the list stops at top 100, not all 90+ overall players. But it wouldn't be surprising. Can't trust all of these screenshots (they might space overalls in Road to Glory to make you work your way up the depth chart), but this has Tommi Hill as an 89. If they rely a lot on PFF he's a good bet to be alone up there, but there are arguments for Hutmacher and Robinson to be at least similarly rated. My biggest complaint (not having played it yet) is not being able to change ratings. You can edit ratings in Madden despite using real players, and I would imagine most players would be on board with it because they want to boost themselves and their buddies to what they believe their ratings are. Like I get locking down name/height/weight/birth place etc, but not having the ability to update ratings is a step backwards.

I mean they were the 2nd worse scoring offense last year and got to 10 wins. They really need an enormous leap to get one more? The schedule is not difficult in the slightest, OSU is an L but as much as I hate to say it they can win the rest of them.

I have no problem with him taking the money he just didn't need to be a jerk to the reporter who asked the day before. I get that you don't want to answer that question immediately post-game, but getting angry at the implication that you're already looking to leave and then leaving the next day is a bad look. It's not that hard to say something along the lines of "Right now I'm focused on this team and the great year we had" and move on.

From 8 months ago, and he's no longer employed by 247 so it's not going to be updated.

I know they wouldn't take him if they didn't think he could at least be competent, but I think he's competition/insurance for Longval in the "emergency QB" role more than anything. The leap from NAIA > Big Ten is massive, it's significantly below Juco IMO. Now Longval didn't play in his year at Juco so it's not like any of the walk-ons have great pedigrees and playing well counts for something regardless of the level. But things will not be going to plan if either of them take meaningful snaps - best case for all involved is they get to take some snaps as we close out blowout wins to preserve Kaelin's redshirt.

He played it in the spring game, but Rhule confirmed Jaidyn Doss is now at corner full time.

I don't have any inside info or anything, but I think for the big time recruits in this class it's going to come down to how we look on the field. Signing in the same class as a QB recruit like Raiola is one thing, but this next class has the luxury of waiting to see how much of the hype is real. Right now this team seems to be trending up, but the big fish will wait and see if that trend continues in actual games - and may still commit elsewhere anyway.

I mean, Nathan Peterman just got a $1.3 million free agent deal and has been on NFL rosters every year. There are fewer really solid QBs in existence than people think.

You can do both, there's a reason the USFL is in the Spring. I can't find official numbers, but looks like they were expecting the general USFL salaries to be ~60k. QBs are probably making more than that. But NFL practice squad comes out to ~200k for the season, and really doesn't affect your USFL status - so I'm sure he'd take the opportunity, even if he ends up back in the USFL next Spring.

Neither of those are good odds, so Colorado just has more variance and more people randomly betting on them. Both of the natty odds are really "no chance," so the difference is just based on interest. More people will throw away money on Deion, especially if they can get "better" odds than other longshots.

Yeah - if I remember correctly, they have a limited number of roster spots for non-Canadian players and most of those are already filled. Not to downplay the honor for EMC, but there were only 18 total picks and 7 of those were kickers or punters. It's like a supplemental draft. There's also no guarantee these players will sign - Tory Taylor was picked in the 2nd round, but I imagine he'll go with the Chicago Bears who picked him in the 4th round of the NFL draft. But if he randomly gets cut (he won't), the B.C. Lions would have his rights for the CFL. Nouri Nouili was selected in the CFL draft as well, last pick to the Montreal Alouettes.

For James Williams, I agree he looked great. But he was mostly rushing against Jacob Hood and Gunnar Gottula, who I think are a ways behind Prochazka/Benhart and even Knaak. Bizarre with Doss, I was wondering who 12 was - he was even playing some corner it looked like. There are already a lot of bodies in the DB room, but seems like maybe he had been passed by Barney and Bell in the slot. I'm excited about the receivers - didn't see much from Banks, but Neyor, Bonner, Lloyd, and Barney looked good. Add in Coleman and Bell if he's healthy by the fall (plus IGC and Bullock as competent depth) and I like that room a lot.

Helpful to have a sanity check on ideas. "Hey Brian, we're thinking about trying this package out on offense. What do you think?" "Wow, that looks great!" "Alright, scrap that package."