admo

Nice post MWJ I get the feel that most Husker fans are becoming more patient, cautious and slightly optimistic with the new staff. And we do feel more updated and embraced by them. At the same time it is good to talk about it, since it is almost impossible to just unplug everything until BYU Feels great to be an involved fan on the board again.

You're not wrong Dude. QB under center will be part of the offense. It's something these guys will learn to do. As you know very well, pro-style offenses in the NFL balance them both because the style is flexible and allows it. And for us, just because we are in shotgun doesn't mean pass, and under center does auto mean run. Very flexible.

I would like to see a breakthrough from this group. I do not know why, but we've had a lot of inconsistency at WR over the years. I also would like to see an improvement of recruits come here. Don't want to be too critical but when I look back I recall a lot of patience is needed for Husker receivers to develop and finally put it all together. I am very glad we have Westerkamp, and although a lot of these guys played real well in many games, a lot of times it was MEH, unfortunately. Nunn, Fluellen, Grant Mulkey, Meno Holt, Swift, Petersen, Niles, Enunwa, Kinnie, Turner, Bell Swift & Bell probably the best we've had, and I'm a fan of what they contributed. Westy & the passing game will need some help from others. I'm confident about our TEs when they chip in.

Teach - Not really. Maybe early struggles and with the game opener. But I think the offense has speed and good enough athletic ability to score points. By conference we should be experienced and ready to go. The key is if we do improve from week to week, instead of hitting an early season peak and declining or becoming inconsistent.

What were his defensive ranks prior to his arrival here at Nebraska? I think you can look at history as an example of future performance. It's not perfect, but it'll give you an idea. From what I can tell, Banker was the main person who received the bulk of the criticism from the Oregon State fans and media. Mike Riley brought him here because they've coached together basically for their entire careers together. I'm not sure that's a good thing. Riley didn't just bring him here cause they've coached together for a long time. Obviously, for him and Riley to coach together for so long at Oregon St., and then to carry on with him at Nebraska, Riley clearly believes in Banker as a coach. Maybe Riley believes there were other reasons for some defensive struggles. I know this without even digging into it; they played some of the better offenses out there on a regular basis. Regardless, Banker deserves a shot as much as anybody else does. Hell, Papuchis even got a shot at DC at Nebraska and who the hell is he to be holding that postion? Maybe we reserve the bitching, negativity, and questioning his scheme til' we have a decent sample size of how his NEBRASKA defense is even going to look. I'm more than willing to give him a chance to see how his defense performs at Nebraska. He'll be playing in a joke of a division, the offenses in the B1G West aren't very good. So, statistically, he better improve. However, going on hope each season hasn't worked out well for Nebraska for about a decade and a half. Instead, I'll predict what I think will happen based on past performance. Which for Banker and his defenses border on poor sometimes and mediocre most of the time. My honest prediction is a slight drop off on the defensive side of the ball. Really? That surprises me a bit but it's alright if that's your expectation. Honestly, I just don't see how it could get worse. Here's a basic thought of mine on the concept of playing defense in the Big Ten West. I look at the QB's, then I look at the RB's. We play quite a few good RB's throughout the year, but we only play a couple decent Qb's during the season. So the natural conclusion for any defensive coach is to stop the run and make the QB best you with his arm. What QB will we face this year that you believe could beat us with his arm? Maybe Kaaya at Miami? Cook at Michigan St.? I've never been able to grasp Bo's commitment to stopping the pass whether it be in recruiting or playing 7 men in pass coverage. We rarely blitzed and we never crowded the line of scrimmage, even as we watched every other team in the country do it to us. Changing these things alone should make immediate improvements. Unless of course, you think there are a lot of dangerous QB's in the Big Ten West. But then of course, you'd be the only one to think so. Totally in agreement here. And the bolded part is what every team focused on when preparing to play us "So the natural conclusion for any defensive coach is to stop the run and make the QB best you with his arm." (including a team like Macneese state). Those good teams that carried out that plan pretty much gave our offense fits throughout the games and we usually turned the ball over more often than not.

thats great and all. But what about the clap?Only when they break the huddle, I hope. Lol me too. Let's also assume they will integrate a hurry up offense without a huddle sometimes. It just won't be the central part of the offense.

And teach him not to force the ball into coverage, to check down, and to do these things with the correct timing. Sooo mostly things that don't involve mechanics "Location of the football and making good choices, those two things together make good quarterbacks" - Mike Riley, post practice a few days ago Clearly he is saying "see it, get rid of it, and get it there". And do it quickly to avoid sacks. Mechanics aside, 1 out of 3, probably 2 out of 3 should be the easiest part.

More and more I am starting to think our Quarterbacks are limited. And because of that being very possible, they are the ones "that are" handcuffing the entire offense; Are or will (hold back the plans for this offense). Riley and Langsdorf are here to coach, teach, implement, help/assist the players in any way to be successful. Riley has said the QBs need to improve/work on drop back passes, see the coverage, read it quicker, make good decisions, and get the ball out faster. Question: Is this too demanding for these quarterbacks to pick up by fall? Should the QB be the reason it makes the offense scrap it's plans for the team to fit what they can/will do? I've always thought reading coverage, making good choices and delivering a catchable ball is a requirement to be a quarterback. Personally I think if you have a nice strong arm and quick feet, that's more than half the battle. Accuracy & touch & timing can be practiced & developed. So can pocket presence. And reading coverage if you want to learn.

I'd like to add that most new players in Bo's system became a lot better after a season or two with it. Even the group that transitioned to Bo's 1st season had some difficulty. They had an 8-4 regular season, gave up 62 to OU & 52 to Missouri. They gave 28 points or more, 7 out of 12 games. And not once during the season were the Huskers ever ranked. They improved a lot the following year with more time in the system. As did most newcomers that could stay healthy. So I am not sweating Banker's system. The current struggles are mostly because you have good athletes learning something new. It's going to take some time. Eventually they will develop into good players within the system.

But the way things are now, imagine if they're record is 2-2 going into the conference schedule, this will be the board... Airplane GIFs always get a +1 from me.

Hope the QBs study, ask questions, practice a bunch and by fall time they will be ready to go.

I think any of his shortcomings were addressed by Riley in the hiring of this staff. Hughes and Stewart know what they are doing. If 3 DCs can't figure it out we got problems Trent Bray is the coach that worries me the most. We are thin at LB & have struggled in this area for several seasons. Bray is a young coach & very unproven. Riley raves about the guy. He has 7 years of experience If I'm remembering correctly. I think it may be more like 4. But Riley does have nothing but great things to say about him. He played LB for him and was a pretty good player. Blackshirt - we are thin at LB and that worries me too. Hoping we can stay healthy there. Maybe some new guys can pitch in and help out. This group has often been misused in the past. Since the early 2000's I can only think of Barrett Ruud and Lavonte David as standouts. Under Bray and Banker's system I think Will Compton would have had a bigger impact at DONU. Maybe even Fisher too. Misused meaning the LBs haven't been as aggressive or physical as you would hope. Not a lot blitzing or tackles at Line Of Scrimmage. Their responsibilities kept them back on their heels and hesitation a lot.

How can that be? We played Illinois against their backup QB, and we knocked out Rutgers starter too. Wisconsin didn't throw it, and even NW couldn't throw the ball. Man that is surprising. I didn't know that stat.

That's not nice. I should retract.

Or tOSU when Urban inevitably leaves in a few years citing "health concerns". I can see him staying there for several because in his mind he's probably.... "not living in a fishbowl, it's his team and no one else's, the media is not out to get him with questions, and he's pulling in $150K per month from NU hahahaha stick it" Is that me being jaded in thought?

I agree completely. I can sustain a little anger if our secondary gets beat at times. It happens. Hopefully it's just because the WR makes a good play. So that's ok as long as we do the other things. Win the LOS, stop the run, put pressure on the QB. Make him have to get rid of it and force a good throw. I like our chances most of the time with that theory.

Stewart has vast experience compared to Warren Thank you that's great then! I thought Warren did a pretty good job so I just wasn't sure.warren was here for less than one year. Not one full recruiting cycle, though it appears he did well with that. So id the jury shouldve still been out on Warren. Its hard to compare the two cuz we dont really know anything about either one. Good catch about recruiting because I thought I read he brought in some good talent. With the year he had it was good in that there really hasn't been a drop off from the secondary in Pelini's career. That is one thing I will always credit Pelini for - the physical style (mostly) from the secondary and close coverage skills (over 7 years). Not sure though if part of the success is because he used so many out on the field A lot of good ones came through here and the cupboard is still full. I guess since he played in the secondary that it's an area he always focused on. On the flip side, the type of coverage and instruction did not produce the amount of picks we would hope for. Didn't they play behind the receivers a lot to avoid getting beat on routes? And bin position to make a tackle or break up a pass? I guess I am torn.....I think the secondary was solid, with some normal mistakes here and there, but would also like to see the same type of talent improve. Especially with picks. I'm a little worried we might get frustrated in this area. Maybe I don't know enough about Stewart yet and specifically, what he wants out of this group. That's probably the bottom line.

Stewart has vast experience compared to Warren Thank you that's great then! I thought Warren did a pretty good job so I just wasn't sure.

I believe all position coaches got upgraded. And head coach obviously. Although I still don't know about DB/Secondary yet.

I know what you are saying but I see it as a positive (more base). Linebackers are hitters and tacklers. Corners aren't wired to do that as much. They are skinnier and built differently. It's also easier for the secondary to make a half-try tackle attempt against a back running with steam coming at you or in space. If you have to do it a lot in a game I think the secondary gets mentally tired of it. Let the big boy linebackers make the hits on the RBs and TEs in coverage. The corners can be a step behind to help swarm. Instead of seeing an offense sustain long drives against our defense, gashing them with runs that keep drives going, it will be better to cut it in half and get the D off the field more often. If a team is going to throw a lot then you have quality nickel packages. In the B1G teams are more run heavy so that shouldn't be a big fear.

Pretty encouraging! I like what I read

if we had half the quality players Stanford gets i would be thrilled........we ain't even close. We have to begin somewhere with the new implementation process. I would be thrilled if we ran an offense similar to Stanford, Wisconsin, USC, Notre Dame. Those are pro set offenses that are flexible to run and pass in a more traditional base offense. These players are smart enough to adapt to what is being taught. The talent is good enough to compete. Maybe in a year we can recruit the next Andrew Luck. He knew to choose a balanced pro-style offense instead of a shotgun clap read-option shot-put thingy style offense.

His high school offense really hasn't helped him. IIRC, they ran a double wing option attack. He wasn't really asked to throw it around much so I think he's had to learn some things in college that some QBs developed in HS. I did not realize he ran so much in HS. I heard that he has a strong arm and a good touch on his throws from the Elite video. Hopefully he just works hard, finds that confidence and relaxes when he is out there. Until then it might just take a little longer for it to come together. Like next week

All of that makes me worried too. Those are issues that have been lingering for a few seasons. I am encourage about the new staff's experience, expertise and flexibility. They are also teaching and going about it differently. So I'm curious and a little excited to see what happens.

Yeah probably Nelson. I thought Nelson did a nice job with the few carries he got. Taylor and Wilbon have the talent to make a great 1-2 combo for several years to come. I would be excited about that. Might not be next season when they put it all together, but should see plenty of glimpse. They just need to perform when they each get their opportunity. And stay healthy please!