chamrocck

I was visiting relatives in NE and just returned. I was at the Spring Game last Saturday and have read some of the other threads. My .02 cents: *Yes, Carnes, Turner, and Martin all played well. So did Burkhead and Legate. *Martinez and Green looked as they did last year and did not see anything new from them. *Was looking for improved play from Kinnie, he did alright. Also focused a lot on Kenny Bell and he did alright. Appeared SJB did not play much and I thought he would be highlighted more. It was obvious as to why Turner is at WR now...he is our most dynamic WR and should hopefully play a lot. *Groaned seeing Cotton drop balls and Green fumble. *Zach Taylor was interesting. I liked his ability more than Kildow and Jones. *Whaley and Ebke appeared to have a nose for the ball on defense. *TE Robert Barry was a huge target and kid caught some balls. *Last year I thought Ankrah was too thin in the legs and base...he appears to have added bulk there. *Jay Guy is a clog in the middle on run defense. *Lots of DB's playing and tough to keep track of them all. *Kicking and punting was decent. GBR!

This does not appear to be going well. We need a big splash on the offensive side of the ball. We miss on this opportunity and prepare for 3-4 years of more mediocrity. Anyone from the NFL that could be a good candidate? So you'd rather we make a big "splash" for the PR? Who's to say Beck isn't the best guy out there? He's got as much potential and more experience than Frost. First, I was never all in on Frost as the OC. I would love him back at NU in some capacity but sounds as if he wanted OC or bust...I am fine with that if we couldn't come to agreement. Second, yes we need a big splash and to land a significant hire. Beck has been on this staff which hasn't exactly done much on the offensive side of the ball. So if you are telling me we looked at the former NU QB who is a hot but inexperienced prospect, the Notre Dame OL coach, Houston's latest OC, and maybe the guy at the local JUCO, but in the end decided on,"hey, let's just give Beck a shot!"...yes, I will be completely underwhelmed. This is Nebraska and we better start to get it together...unless everyone is happy with 2nd tier bowl games and no championships. I am willing to be patient, but yes this better be a damn good hire.

This does not appear to be going well. We need a big splash on the offensive side of the ball. We miss on this opportunity and prepare for 3-4 years of more mediocrity. Anyone from the NFL that could be a good candidate?

Interesting... http://huskerextra.com/article_81e9a38a-7c40-530b-a562-3867a408d7d6.html and http://www.und.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/warinner_ed00.html

First I love our class and want to say we did a great job! My only point of disagreement is that we did strike out at wide WR. I am counting on Turner as a dynamic QB, not a WR. We are losing WR recruiting battles to Arizona, Virginia Tech, and Kansas. We are a ways off in this category. It is not like we lost WR's to OU, TX, and FL. We are not competing for WR's with even mid tier Pac 10 and Big 12 teams. I think the addition of someone like a Frost has to target this weakness and need. When we lose games it is because we our stacked against and teams play our RB's and running QB. That will get us about as far as we have been last two years and that is it.

Phillips has an interesting bio that would lend serious credibility to WR's and would be ripe to continue as an OC on the rise, excellent ties to talent in TX: http://www.uhcougars.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/phillips_jason00.html I have always been a proponent of Frost coming back to the staff...he has done excellent with Oregon's WR's. I don't think he would be OC but could take on WR's and recruiting coordinator. We have Beck for RB's. Phillips and Frost > Watson and Gilmore

I think K Bondi is I want DT Peat to be I don't think WR Lockhart will be here as word is he is going to VT. I know there has been debate on how many WR's we will take. IMO we need some good ones still. WR Patrick Onwuasor seems to be headed in other directions. 50/50 we end up with WR Aaron Ernest on signing day. WR to me still seems to be an achilles heel in recruiting.

Has committed to SMU.

LSU's offense has not been as good as it should be under Crowton. One thing I noticed about that game is their players are so much more athletic than the players we have on offense. Maybe we are changing that with some RB's but our WR's are well behind the talent at LSU and that needs to get fixed. LSU does well on athleticism alone. But, think most LSU fans thought Crowton could never reach the potential those LSU players have.

I'm with you on Frost. I get somewhat humored by the folks that say that Scott doesn't have enough experience. Look at who he has mixed with in his career thus far ... look at who he can recruit ... and my God, he is the WR coach on the team that played for the championship. Isn't that a statement? We know who this kid was as a player, we know his character, we know his heart bleeds RED. You would think one would do whatever they could to get him on the staff, not excuses why it can't work. From Scott's perspective, I would think he would take a lateral move, possible even a reduced role to get here ... knowing the opportunity down the road to coach at Nebraska ... atleast, that's how I would look at it if in the same position. SheepdogMark So I keep reading stuff on Frost and from other posts on this board about how our offense is going in the direction of Oregon's, etc. So again I say, why are we not bringing in Frost? Not as the OC but straight up replaces Gilmore as WR's coach and recruiting coordinator giving him a promotion from Oregon. This would also be a big signal about a revamped offense and that we are serious about getting WR recruits in here to run an important role in this offense. We could definitely start pulling athletic WR's in here from Texas, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, etc. This is too easy, folks.

I think that if we're going to have any success, it'll be running a similar offense to this year. I hope they change the passing game, but if we completely overhaul the offense, then we're going to be monumentally screwed. We can't afford to completely change our system again, it would just be another disaster. So, I see you agree with me that our offense is pretty much a disaster right now. Not saying total overhaul of offense in any way. But how about some QB roll outs, some play action, some screens to the RB's, some action to the fullback, diamond formation with Rex and A. Green, upgrade to the WR's, and upgrade to the OL. I was at the Holiday Bowl and we looked terrible. Our QB's are warming up trying to hit the crossbar on the FG and meanwhile UW is out there running full speed offensive plays. Our guys are warming up with ballet like high steps while the UW line is hitting full contact on each other. This team has to wake up. If we don't improve the offense it will be a long season next year. How hard is it to scheme against us when you just need to focus on stopping the run and our OL can't block anyway? McNeil was open several times but we threw poor balls. Our poor QB and RB's were tackled for loss on the snap basically. This is a bad offense. Sure run the zone read a few times and keep it in the playbook but we act like we are going to hit a homerun with it everytime it is called, which is way too often since we fell in love with it early on. I don't care who plays on offense next year just as long as they are the best out there, QB included. A. Green and K. Bell better be really, really scary good or we are in a world of hurt. Poor Rex is going to get clobbered out there next year if no one else steps up next season. Big 10 championship game with this offense? What are people ?

USC just landed RB Amir Carlisle (who has switched from Stanford) which could mean good news for us with Ameer Abdullah. These two seem to have similar profile and make-ups as athletic all purpose backs. Perhaps USC landing a similar recruit for their class means Abdullah does not need visit them and can commit to us.

Latest on Abdullah from Husker Extra: RB recruit taking long look at NU With news that Braylon Heard still has a little work to do to qualify, the Huskers surely wouldn't mind adding a running back to this recruiting class to go with Aaron Green. So it will be interesting what decision is made from Ameer Abdullah, a 5-foot-9, 180-pound running back from Homewood, Ala., who visited Lincoln this weekend. Joining him on the trip was his high school teammate -- wide receiver Aaron Ernest. Abdullah has an impressive list of offers on the table: Nebraska, USC, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, a host of others. And at this stage in the game, with signing day about two weeks away, he's one of the best RBs still out there to be had. Scout.com ranks him 57th among running backs nationally and Rivals.com ranks him ninth among all-purpose backs. Abdullah seemed to leave Nebraska with a favorable impression. The running back said he enjoyed his visits with Bo Pelini and running backs coach Tim Beck. "Coach Bo said he liked how I play and how I can cut on a dime and just make plays," Abdullah told Scout. "He wants to bring more speed to the program, so they can help Taylor (Martinez) and the offense make more big plays. "I really liked what he was telling me and the direction the program is going into the Big Ten. I feel like with the offense they're bring in, they should go into that conference and do big things." The running back said he also likes the passion fans have toward the Husker team "I liked the vibe of the city," he told Scout. "It was like everything revolved around football and as a player that's the kind of environment you want to be in." Abdullah does have a visit to USC planned, but said it was possible that might not occur if he were to commit to another school before that scheduled date. With Roy Helu graduated and Dontrayevous Robinson having transferred to Montana State, running back is a spot where the Huskers will need to build some depth. Montana State made Robinson's transfer to its school official last week. Robinson told the Bozeman (Mont.) Daily Chronicle Nebraska's new zone-read system was the main reason for his exit. He also is very close to Montana State's quarterback and former high school teammate, Denarius McGee. "That's my brother right there," Robinson told the Daily Chronicle of McGee. "If you ever ask me about him, that's what I'm going to say, so you should just start calling him my brother."

I don't see us winning the division if it is status quo on offense. Do people really believe we are going to go in with same offense as this year and just get an automatic bid to the Big 10 championship? I will be shocked if we go in running the same drivel we ran this last year. Unless, we like losing a lot of 16-10, 20-13, 24-14 games. This is us next year in the Big 10 unless we shake this offense up.

DT Peat is a must and a no brainer for him. We are his best and safest option. We no doubt need another DT in this class. Not sure where we go with the offensive recruits...loss of Heard not making it, loss of Tray transferring...we are unexpectedly back in need for another RB but WR is still lacking. Abdullah and Ernest may be a package deal to solve for this exact problem.

We should have already used a diamond formation with Rex, Roy, Martinez, and a fullback as a way to get Rex and Roy on the field together. With Roy gone, I think we should do it to get Rex and A. Green on the field at same time. Get the best players on the field...we do on defense, why not on offense? I would also agree with more play action and trap plays also.

Time to get Frost on the staff. IMO he could fit the bill for a promotion here as receivers coach plus recruiting coordinator (he has four :star :star recruits right now for Oregon's class). Gilmore can exit (why does he have an assistant head coach tag?). I would give that tag to Beck. Get an offensive coordinator and Oline coach as we all know. But IMO Frost can recruit receivers which is one area of recruiting we have not done well in. Frost is not the biggest piece of the puzzle but an important one.

Even Herbstreit is ripping Pryor and OSU. I usually find Herbie to be a major OSU homer so sort of was stunned when he went very negative on Pryor..."addition by subtraction", seems to call him immature, everyone has told him he is the greatest, but in fact he is not going to be a very high draft or cut in in the NFL at all! To me Pryor is not a high NFL candidate but the OSU WR and RB are probably going to bolt to the NFL as their stock is much better than Pryor's. Link to audio here: http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/15522

Has changed commitment from Florida to FSU.

Has changed commitment to Ohio State.

And now it's happened again...another Florida recruit (from my initial post) with an NU offer has bolted Florida for another program...this time it is DB Nick Waisome now to FSU. Linky: http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20101221/SPORTS0404/12210327/1002/SPORTS/Florida+Gators+lose+another+football+recruit

I like our chances. Michigan and UCLA both have coaching problems/issues. Florida is also in flux. You want to play big time defense you come to Nebraska (I don't see any Tevin Mitchell type issues here). Hope he commits to us.