Husker in WI

Does this mean anything for Loftin/Zebert? I know Satt loves his TEs, but how many do we need? This guy looks more like a true inline TE unlike those two so I'm sure we'd still take Loftin, but for all the talk of this being a small class I didn't figure we would be taking multiple TEs and definitely not 3.

3 minutes ago, MyBloodIsRed16 said:

su'a Cravens was a 220 lb safety at USC.  Brian Urlacher was like 230 playing SS.  I'm sure there are more guys who have weighed at least 220 who played safety.  

Yeah I don't have a problem with a 220 lb safety as long as they are fast enough, and I think he is. The problem is anytime he's trying to cover a guy and they make a cut, I don't think he's sticking with them through the turn. But I'm sure the coaches will figure out what he can and can't do.

14 hours ago, MyBloodIsRed16 said:

Move him to safety.  You are telling me with his numbers he's not a better fit at safety than Hartzog?

I think he's more of a straight-line guy which makes it tough to play DB. He'll lose some speed as he puts on LB weight, but he doesn't really need to run a 10.5 there to be fast.

11 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

 

They did just bring in an OSU transfer, but I don't think they're happy to lose Edwards. They'll get some dudes, but I don't think enough to outweigh the losses.

Just now, BigRedBuster said:

If that's the problem, then go find another school. 

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.

8 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

I'll never understand some player's actions in the portal.  So, he's a senior with one year eligibility left.  He comes here in January.  It's most of the way through Spring practice and now we are hearing this?

So, what is he going to do, transfer to a lower level?  What major D1 program can bring him in, without being there in the spring.  Have him there just for fall and he's going to have a better chance playing there than the program you were with through spring practice?  Now, if you went through spring practice here and you don't think you're going to get much playing time.  What makes you think now you can go somewhere else and all of a sudden become a star?

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.

8 minutes ago, DGNU said:

Had some injury issues I know but terribly under-utilized at Wisco this year- would be a great fit. Portal is completely insane- over the last hour 2 guys from smaller conferences joined SEC teams to fall into obscurity... I like Fred's approach. I don't think he's bringing in guys just to add bodies to the bench. They fit the system/they play.

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.

14 minutes ago, Mavric said:

Perhaps I'm reading too much into it but it sure sounded like we are prepping Dvoracek to be DC next year if (when?) White leaves.

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.

17 hours ago, SouthLincoln Husker said:

I'm talking scholarship players!

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.

39 minutes ago, SouthLincoln Husker said:

On few, but not this many

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.

3 minutes ago, Huskerfollower4life said:

Do you think Nebraska is going to look at adding any qb's from the transfer portal to add more depth or is just fine with having only 3 scholarships qb's on the roster and hope none get hurt??

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?

7 minutes ago, Red Five said:

 

The vast majority of holds don't get called anymore, so I would basically be teaching how to get away with holding.  But I am also just a guy sitting on my couch.

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.

On 4/5/2024 at 8:08 AM, Mavric said:

Word is Lutovsky and Mazzccua would be the starters at Guard today.  

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.

39 minutes ago, Xmas32 said:

Was reading through Dane Brugler's awesome 'The Beast' draft preview he does every year and it's looking pretty slim for Nebraska players to get drafted. Here's what I saw:

 

The top listed guy for NU was Marco Ortiz as the #2 Long Snapper--UDFA grade

 

Omar Brown #34 S--UDFA grade

 

SUMMARY: Omar Brown grew up in the Minneapolis area. He lettered in basketball and football at Minneapolis North High, helping the latterteamto the state title as a senior. A three-star recruit, he received just a few FCS scholarship offers and signed with Northern Iowa. He set the bar high with six interceptions as a true freshman corner, then entered the transfer portal after the 2021 season. He became Nebraska’s starting nickel in Tony White’s 3-3-5 scheme in 2023. Brown is a savvy cover man who plays on the balls of his feet and has the reactive athleticism to drive on throws. He tracks the ball well in the deep third of the field, but h e might not have ideal split-field range. He fills with a head of steam and looks to wrap-finish versus the run, but he needs to stay square at contact. Overall, Brown is smoother than he is explosive, but he has the eyes of a cornerback to quickly read and crowd receivers without drawing attent ion from officials.

 

Phalen Sanford in Best of The Rest--#68

 

Quentin Newsome in Best of The Rest CBs--#79

 

Luke Reimer in Best of The Rest LBs--#62

 

Billy Kemp in Best of The Rest WRs--#197

Marcus Washington #184 WRs

 

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 

2 hours ago, Mavric said:

Word is Lutovsky and Mazzccua would be the starters at Guard today.  

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. 

20 minutes ago, Fru said:

Just please get bowl eligible in this time frame. 

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.

25 minutes ago, teachercd said:

Ugggg!

 

It just seems like a bad match up because they will just keep throwing and throwing and eventually catch a few deep ones.  Where I just don't see NU playing like that this year.  NU will need to get up two scores.

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.

I don't doubt the coaches never explicitly asked him to move to WR, but I think that was because they promised he could play QB and they didn't know how to walk that back. I used to be a little bitter that he didn't move here, but thinking it through - why would he? And would it really have changed anything? Maybe the "greatest 3-9 team of all time" wins a few more games with another WR to pair with Toure, maybe they don't. But would that have been enough to turn around the Frost era? I doubt it.

Walters was fired in 2019, and Lubick would leave at the end of 2021. Then you get the 2022 MJ experience, and then everyone is fired. I don't blame him for looking for stability and playing time elsewhere - even if you knew we would fire Frost and hire Rhule, are you sticking around for the dumpster fires of 21/22 to get one year of that in '23? He would have been nice to have last year, but when he transferred he was still trying to play QB and a G5 school made sense for that. And I wouldn't wish the 21/22 seasons on anyone, as thankful as I am for the players that did stick around and give it their all here. 

13 hours ago, floridacorn said:

Interesting that Bonner is switching back to WR.  Not surprised because he wasn't utilized as a mismatch out of the backfield and there are more natural lead blockers at FB, but that seems like quite a physical transformation to yo yo between over the course of 12 months.  

Yeah, I noticed that as well and I think it's a good sign. I still like him as an H-Back type, but it's in everyone's best interest to make sure he develops WR skills and isn't just an unusually athletic FB who we only use for a handful of snaps per game.

I would think the year at FB gave him enough of a foundation that he can focus on WR and still play FB in certain packages. I don't think the reverse (working mostly at FB and then playing WR) works. The good news is I don't think they put a ton of bad weight on him to play FB, physically he looks like Quincy Enunwa and that will play at WR and as a light situational FB.

Just now, BigRedBuster said:

I didn't know freshmen, that aren't going into this year's draft, ever worked out at pro-day.

They don't, but someone has to throw the ball for the WRs. A lot of times it's alumni or the current QB, we just don't really have any of those. Martinez coming back would be a bit odd, Thompson is somewhere else, and the guys working out in front of scouts would have been wise to politely decline Haarberg  throwing to them.

4 hours ago, GoDucks349 said:

Can anyone tell how good or bad Colorado will be? They really need an offensive line or Shadar will have another broken bone in his back. It's hard to run or throw when you're looking at the sky threw 300 pound defensive linemen.

 

Offensive lines typically take time to become great offensive lines. With the roster turnover, it's hard to believe they can become great quickly. 

I think it's going to be similar to last year - they did marginally better in the portal at OL this year, and they signed a 5-star OT. But it'll be a totally new line again, and just ask Alabama how rough the transition can be even for uber-talented true freshman Tackles. I expect a potentially explosive offense with a bad OL that isn't going to run the ball, and a very bad defense.

Sheduer also seems to be channeling 2018-19 Aaron Rodgers where he just will not risk interceptions, which leads to terrific TD/INT ratios but also extra sacks and a mediocre yards per attempt. Bad OL + QB who is obsessed with his passing stats is how you end up allowing almost 5 sacks a game, and that hasn't changed.

36 minutes ago, GretnaHusker14 said:

Add Jimari Butler to the list!

I wonder how they figure out the 85 - is it first come first serve? Feel like it would have to be, I don't think they would bump a guy because he's down on the depth chart and a starter signs up. But it's clearly not limited to scholarship guys which is interesting. Most teams won't have the same degree of this problem, but we have ~45 guys not on the 85 and most of them would jump at the chance to be included in the game. Like no offense to Derek Branch, but if he's in the game and Marques Buford isn't because he was the 86th guy to try and opt in that's not great for the consumer.

Sticking with 85 man rosters is kinda dumb IMO anyway - I don't need complete realism in roster management, but it seems like implementing walk-ons would not be difficult. Instead of only getting walk-ons when you don't have enough players at a position (and them counting against your 85), you should also get a set number of walk-ons based on prestige level (who do not count against the 85). If they hit a certain overall or play more than a handful of snaps, you can either add them to the 85 or they'll transfer. Have a very low but non-zero chance of a generated walk-on actually being a decent player and/or developing super quickly.

9 hours ago, GoDucks349 said:

 

FYI: As to the 275# DL men, a quick look at the Nebraska roster lists 13 DLs at 275 or less. Oregon roster lists no one under 280#. In my opinion,  weight isn't everything, they have to be athletic as well, so actually I discount the weight comment above quite a bit. 

Some of that just comes down to how positions are grouped on the rosters, and the fact that we have a lot of walk-ons that inevitably end up at DL because they aren't athletic enough to go anywhere else. Most of the sub-275 guys are edge players, which Oregon lists as OLBs and also don't have any 275+. A few young guys are also significantly heavier than their currently listed weight at this point.

But all in all I agree size is helpful (and Oregon has comparable size to Big Ten teams), but not everything. I do think the grind of Big Ten play will get to Oregon more than they think, but a lot less than it's going to impact USC/UCLA.