knapplc

The decision isn't really being made on a coach. It's being made on a philosophy. Coaches can either get on board with that philosophy or not. There was no time line given, but my speculation is that they would say "here's where we're going" soon, and the staff will need to decide if they want to go there pretty quickly after the bowl game. Tyler Gabbert talked to Brian Christopherson on the phone today (it's in the LITR blogs), and he said he took a look at the recruiting we've done recently, all the linemen and running backs, and decided we weren't going in his direction, which is throwing the ball 40 times a game. I would say he's right on, and that the Watson Coast Offense is soon to be a thing of the past. I'm guessing we'll see a Zone Read or a power running game with "keep 'em honest" passes sprinkled throughout. If Wats thinks that's an offense he can and wants to run, my guess is he'll stay and get to work scheming. If not....

A "source close to the situation" told me tonight that Watson is not gone. Not at this point. There's more that I cannot talk about right now. Nothing is set in stone at this time. I guess what I can say is, there will be an evaluation and a decision on a direction coming up at a later date. Reading into that, my speculation is that the direction we're going in won't include the skills guys like Gabbert and Carter possess, they were made aware of the situation, and they've moved on because of that. I think we're being pretty far above-board with these guys, giving them the chance to make a better decision for themselves, a more informed decision. And that's what I would expect from Nebraska, so it seems to fit.

Mangino was really, really good, and they only beat us when we had the worst team we've fielded in 40 years. I'm not all that concerned.

Knock me over with a feather.

Absolutely. IF we were to make a change, at any position, Bo has a black book of highly qualified coaches from all levels he would call, either for advice or to make an offer. He's very well connected amongst the fraternity of coaches.

Oh yeah. And the quote from the coaches how Martin "will BE the defense" coming up... yeah. I'm pretty juiced about this guy. Meredith will be a baller. Ankrah should be a baller. Crick already is. Stein and Moore are ballers. Compton, Fisher and May looked adequate this year, their first year of major action apiece, and should be ballers in the future. I see some teams forfeiting to us rather than having to face this defense in coming years. I really, really do.

And Gomes, Burkhead, Kinnie, Cody Green, Tray Rob... he's gotten some contributors out of his recruiting efforts already.

That's what makes it all the more impressive in the case of Dorsey & Suh. They're not Pelini recruits. It just goes to show how quickly he can influence and mold young players into All-Americans in such a short amount of time. it would be even more impressive if he could find them AND coach them up. we'll see how he does over the next few years, with his own recruits. Hard to knock the progress he's made so far. If he can train up these kids he inherited, it would be a monumental failure if he couldn't train some of these exciting guys he's bringing in, like Compton, Martin, Fisher, Ankrah, etc.

If we do snag him, do we ask him to switch jersey numbers with Gomes? OO7 Nice. He has a lot of work to do to catch up with Gomes. Dijon has been pretty good this year, and has earned dibs on his jersey number.

Does that mean Lou won't root for us anymore?

Welcome to the right side of football. I've always been more interested in defense than offense. Maybe because defense appeals to primal instincts more, maybe because it's so much fun watching a guy get lit up - don't know. All I know is, from my days as a young knapplc I've always liked the Blackshirts more than the offense.

That's what I thought. Thanks.

Where did the Jeff Sims talk start?

Was that on the message board or the Rivals reporter dudes?

Has that been confirmed? I've seen that both Hardrick and Lavonte David have committed to NU, but it's all rumor.

One would hope that Owamagbe Odighizuwa is paying attention to this.

I agree that Eckerman was a tough loss. I'm still pretty bummed about that. BUT, you have to be excited about players like Taylor Sampson and Lara Dykstra. These are solid players with big-game experience walking in the door. Todd Henrichs says Dykstra has played on the AVP tour already. Pretty impressive. Our main advantage over Texas is John Cook. I have all the respect in the world for Jerritt Elliott, but I wouldn't trade Cook for Elliott and Eckerman. I wouldn't trade Cook for Elliott and Destiny Hooker, for that matter. We're having a bad season this year. We've had more losses this year than in the past three years combined, and despite all that, we're still ranked in the top ten and our foes fear us. We have a good chance of beating ISU and Texas and going, once again, to the Final Four. And this is a rebuilding year. I'm liking where we're at.

I'm hoping it's because there is going to be some major coaching changes on their side of the ball. Is that what you are hinting at? I hope so. See: Rumorville for my post on the subject.

No... Gabbert decommitting should be no surprise. Carter decomitted because he didn't like our style of offense when he watched the Big 12 Championship game, claiming we just "ran and ran over and over again." Why would a kid like Carter decommit when he can see plain as day that he could come in here and possibly even start as a Freshman? Why would Gabbert decommit when he's a huge fan of Shawn Watson? Think about it: Watson recruited Gabbert. Gilmore recruited Carter. Both the QB and WR positions have floundered this year, embarrassingly so. Both Gilmore and Watson are holdovers from the Callahan Era. I don't know if there's even smoke here, let alone fire, but it does point in the direction of possible change at those two positions.

Makes you wonder why he and Carter decommited, doesn't it?

Umm, Archie Griffin won it twice (1974, 1975) so unless they give the trophy to a rookie pro player, he won as an underclassman 39 years after the start of the trophy "Underclassmen" are Sophomores and Freshmen. "Upperclassmen" are Juniors and Seniors.

Yep, that looks correct, EZ-E. Gilmore was also a holdover from the Callahan Era, and he's also in charge of wide receivers. Hmm.... curioser and curioser.

There are eight stickied threads in the main Husker forum. Combine that with the really tall banner up top and Rumorville's real estate and it's a lot to wade through to get to the meat of the forum. Any chance of paring that down some?

How much heat is Watson under? Is he under enough heat that he knows, or thinks he knows, that he's out of here after the season? I know Watson spearheaded the recruiting of Tyler Gabbert. Who recruited Curtis Carter? If it was Watson, or a Watson protege, I think we may be getting our signals that there's change in the air.

Stewart Mandel on Suh: