floridacorn

Chief Borders keeps jumping off the screen to me when I peep these limited training camp vids. It's not ball, but he looks like a different athlete this spring compared to what I saw last season and compared to other players he's in drills with. It also looks like he's consistently in drills with the Jack's. We'll see how that translates, but along with some of the O-lineman, he stands out as a player who looks like he's made a leap.

I noticed the receivers doing a drill today known as settle up and noose. It's an everyday drill air raid teams use to train running mesh vs zone & it's kind of exclusive to that system. I'm not implying NU's on the verge of becoming an air raid offense, but between this and the Holgorsen visit, I expect to see them implement some concepts from that offensive.

For anybody interested, Rhule did state today that Jack Potenza was indeed coaching the Jacks and that was a new development this season.

I found it interesting MJ made a point in both this presser as well as the 1on1 interview with the official Nebraska athletic department media member that the "Jacks" have their own "room" separate from the inside linebackers. Is this a new development and is a coach leading this room other than Dvoracek?

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. Hugh Green & Leroy Selmon were 2 of my favorite players growing up, they wore 53 & 63, but I was a WR/DB growing up so I always wore 13 or 23. By the time I got to HS, everybody wanted 23 because of MJ, and I wore 43 through HS & college as a SS. It was more important to me than it should have been. lol

Singleton still out & Hartzog still at S is noteworthy. Looking at the likely candidates to emerge at the corner opposite Hill, that is a very undersized defensive backfield. In addition, of the 5 players I thought would be key for spring ball (other than QB), 4 have been early members meeting with the media (Fidone, Prochazka, Butler, Hartzog), with Coleman receiving praise from Rhule but limited during spring. Hopefully that's a positive sign these guys have taken big steps forward.

It's admittedly a PR nightmare to have a native son with his name etched on the stadium make a lateral move to another school. A&M on the other hand has a track record of throwing $ at problems for PR wins. Did they actually poach an elite AD or overpay for a PR W???

Perhaps I misread, but I was under the impression it would still stop to move the chains in the last 2 minutes.

The clock stops to move the chains on every first down, 2 minute warning isn't needed. Just like the 2 pt conversion quit being needed when CFB opted for OT. Now teams are forced to go for 2 in extended OT's to avoid 7 OT periods. Short sighted, reactionary rules drive the world...

If I had to boil it down to 5 individuals, it would be these 6... Fidone - With a healthy year under his belt, does he look like a matchup nightmare in the middle of the field? Coleman - With a season, winter conditioning, and spring practices, does he look like a player DC's are scared to cover in man yet? Haarberg - He's a backup with significant game experience, that's a luxury in CF in 2024. He's also a player with a baseline we can assess the impact of Thomas with fairly easily. Butler - Started the season at Jack, what does he look like with an offseason of prep at DE? Hartzog - Has a lot of experience, but it's time for him to look like a 1b CB. Prochazka - I don't think he's had a healthy offseason and if the left side of the O-line is solid this year, the O-line will be respectable for the first time in a long time. If he can solidify himself as the LT, everything else falls into place.

CB I would be surprised if Hill & Hartzog aren't entering spring as the projected day 1 starters. Bootle was ahead of Lynum on the depth chart before he got hurt last season & Nation seems weight away from being a factor as your day #1 #2's. Rhule has said Turner & Charles were in the mix at CB last season. I wouldn't be surprised if Buford makes a push. He's talented and has more size that most of these guys. Not sure Gradney plays CB & I don't know how Hill projects. OL I'm not saying you're wrong, but Mazzccua has only played RG to my knowledge, & I'll be surprised if any of the Freshman avoid redshirt.

I believe Martin was a ST's analyst prior to being promoted to TE coach. If analysts are indeed permitted to work with players moving forward (and you have to appreciate the irony of that happening after Saban retires since he lobbied for it), I wonder if Martin will be retained as an O analyst who actually coaches TE's, and Satterfield is the OC without a position room as White is. That would make a lot of sense if applicable.

Agreed, they've made the strategic additions needed through the portal to bolster those rooms. CB is probably the position with question marks left for me, but there's no shortage of competition.

Saw him play live a few times this season, he's a force. He has plays where he's heavy footed, but what caught my attention is that he'd recover if he got a single hand on the defender. So, elite strength, and short area quickness. He has plays in run game and pass pro where he just engulfs people.

Holgorsen would be a really interesting addition. I'm guessing Rhule has a relationship with him, because it's not a scheme fit. Which could be really electric or combustible. Again, interesting. Those Air Raid guys seem to be true believer, blood oath Air Raid guys.

I understand and to his credit Riley leans on a run concept that compliments his tendency of having his OT's in a 2 point stance. In other words, they don't tip their plays. Their scheme is clearly a factor in their efficiency running the ball, but the claim was made it's a "better scheme" for running the ball. That's akin to claiming draws are the best running play in football.

It's an interesting way to analyze running games, but USC's presence as an outlier tells me he should just leave it at contact and not make the leap to scheme/OL. USC is an Air Raid offense that seemingly only runs counter gt outside of short yardage and they finished 90+ in rushing.

Rhule did hype him up pretty hard on signing day a year ago.

The perspective of what constituted a blowout loss was vastly different back then.

This is why the elite basketball players go to these academies. I don't know that I've ever even seen a disparity like this in youth sports.

I will only say if Rhule isn't certain this is going to happen, I don't understand why Rhule or Dom would allow this to be played out so publicly, and doing so would seem to be an unnecessary risk for Rhule. At this point if Raiola stays with Georgia, it's going to be the recruiting equivalent of putting Anthony Grant in the game vs Minnesota.

There would be a lot of factors into Kaelin potentially sticking with Nebraska, first would be how hard the staff pushes to keep him in, and probably the most overlooked one would be how he gets along with Raiola. They have been around each other in a few settings.

I hesitate to feed into all this speculation, but I seriously doubt a trainer makes anything close to an assistant coach these days. Kieth Williams managed to continue training the likes of Tyreke Hill while he was a position coach at NU and Pep Hamilton did the same across his various coaching gigs.

Is that a euphemism?

Safe to say this would be the biggest recruiting W for Nebraska since Tommie Frazier