Danny Bateman

Apparently someone thought that was a way to slander me or something. I thought it was so absurd I wore a pineapple as an avatar for a while. I'm gonna go with "tough on the outside, sweet on the inside". As far as Taylor's injury goes, I think one of the problems is he can be at 90% health so to speak, but that hinders his effectiveness a lot, because he relies on that little bit of edge and explosion. "90% Taylor" might really be "50% Taylor". Another thing people don't think about is how long these things actually take to fully heal. Anyone who's ever had any kind of athletic injury likely knows what I'm talking about. Especially with ankles or shoulders (like myself right now), where the bloodflow is poor, take a really really long time to heal up. Even moreso if you are constantly using the injured area, like Taylor would be if he is working out or practicing. Weird thing is, sitting around and not using the joint isn't really any better for it. You might not make the injury worse that way, but it still takes a hell of a long time to get back to 100%. Actually getting from 90% to 100% is frustrating as heck.

This. Why do the Pats have so many draft picks EVERY YEAR? It seems like the talking heads are mentioning how they could possibly use their dearth of picks year after year.

+1 GMoose. I noticed that this morning too... Waltrefootball now has him at 13 to the Lions. I personally don't see him falling that far (especially past Houston, who they had selecting Aldon Smith), but if he does, it would be sweet to see three Huskers tear it up together this fall. Too bad they let Daniel Bullocks walk. In other draft news, this lockout is really starting to grind my gears. No new CBA= no free agency= my Eagles cannot unload Kevin Kolb for some serious draft pick upgrading. Also, free agency in the NFL is just plain fun. It's fun to watch big name guys don a new uniform and the ensuing power shift.

I guess my number one point is kind of a weak one. Obviously Taylor and Cody are going to have prior knowledge of Wats' system that is going to benefit them. However, Beck could have entirely different terminology for everything. I do agree though, he could still say something like " Do ______... It's like ______ from the old system" to Taylor or Cody, whereas he doesn't have that luxury with Brion.

Keep in mind two things, though, when you consider whether Carnes can challenge this fall: 1) We scrapped the old offense, and though the new one is very similar, all 3 guys are learning a new system. So, Carnes theoretically could pick it up faster than the other two, even though they've been here longer. 2) Taylor was not 100% today, and it could be quite a while until he actually is. What if this turns into one of those nagging injuries that follows a guy around his entire career? God forbid, but it could happen. Is a gimpy Martinez really the best choice to run our offense? We saw what it looked like at the tail end of the year, and it was not pretty for our offense.

THAT much is not new. They did this last year as well.

It's probably been said before, but I think Tmart's problem last year was the READ portion of the zone read, and subsequently a ton of plays got blown up in the backfield. Of course, it didn't help that our O-Line allowed seemingly total penetration at weird, random times. They can dominate, but they're not very good at doing it consistently. They take a lot of plays off, and it showed. Anyway, then we get to third and long, and it was easy to see why an excited, nervous freshman QB couldn't make some money throws to receivers who were coached to place blocking above all else and probably far undershot their potential accordingly. Sorry, my personal breakdown of our offense when it sucked last year. Keep in mind there were times it didn't completely suck.

Wow... Some on this board would've gladly taken this guy to round out our class, too. (That was before we landed TP JR.)

Kind of like Derek Slaughter, who will join the team as a walk on LB this fall, or Chris Rock from two years ago.

are you kidding me? rb will be fixed when the new guys show up? the ones with no D-1 experience?.. you just lost your crediability with that koolaid comment. Wow, that's harsh and unfounded (which is saying a lot for me). Credibility, btw. Last year, four runningbacks carried the ball more than 1 time, 2 more than 24 times. You make it sound like: a. we need a ton of healthy backs b. runningback isn't the easiest position on the team to pick up in a short period of time. If one of those guys is able to step up and take carries like Rex did, sans injury, in 2009, we should be ok. If two prove to be even adequate, spelling Rex on a couple of series a half, we'll have a decent little stable. Finding two adequate true freshmen runningbacks out of between 5 and 7 prospects (in addition to the others who may be poised to break out due to Brown's coaching) shouldn't be too terribly difficult. Now I don't think that RB will be completely taken care of, but I also don't think of it as doom and gloom position group. Yeah, AND we could always hit the jackpot with a Marcus Lattimore type guy... Also, to fill in the original blank, Ron Jeremy.

Ya I saw that and was pretty upset...I dont make too many of these things but when I saw that Kenny didnt have a thread yet I got excited. Thanks for crushing my dreams Ha... That'll teach you to have hope.

You a Lions fan Gmoose (since before last year)? It'd be pretty sweet to have 3 former Huskers on the field at once for the same team...

How is Burly riding a hot bat? Second inning, inning you are referencing, he hadn't hit yet and was hitting about .250 on the season with no hitting streak. Be my guest and ask some baseball guys if they would play small ball in the bottom of second down 8-0. Won't find any...that includes me. By the way please recreate for me your idea (how you would have managed the second inning using small ball. Below is the hitters and what they did: Kash- hbp farmer- double kash scored Christensen- ground ball to second Farmer to third Sheffert- K Cooper- walk Burly-K How would you use small ball? Can't wait to see your response. Their starter 1.07 era Freeman was 1.77 going into game last night. Know your facts better before you open the pie hole. Will check back in later to take you to baseball school some more. Lol... The plot thickens...

HuskerHacker, You don't anger me, you frustrate me. Posters all over the net use message boards to ventilate their frustration about their schools head coaches. Since most of these posters have some intelligence, they can use stats, compare apples to oranges, to make their points. Additionally, they will misrepresent the information (intentionally or unintentionally); i.e blaming Coach Anderson for our poor offensive out put when he has nothing to do with our offense except coaching third. I know what you are going to say, "coaching third has a huge impact on our offense". This would be true if he was still giving our best hitters the take sign with 3-1 or 2-0 counts, but he isn't. Coach Erstad is in control of our hitters approaches! Anderson calls hit and runs, bunts, suicide squezze....approach is Erstad. Bases loaded K's with less than 2 outs is and approach issue. Lack of 2 out knocks with runners in scoring position is an execution/approach issue. One of the fewest base on balls in Big 12, approach. NOT TRYING TO THROW ERSTAD UNDER THE BUS! I believe the team is still transitioning from one philosophy to Erstad's and this takes time. I was simply trying to make a point. Let's substract our runs scored against Doane and UN Kearney and compare our runs per game scored to; Oral Roberts, Creighton and DBU. Haven't done the math but I would bet we would fair pretty well. Again, why can't we talk baseball instead about coaches. I am sorry that I got this involved with this discussion! Don't be... It's incredibly entertaining for the rest of us.

TOO FREAKING WEIRD. Was just about to post this. They're far and away my favorite band. Their music actually makes me think, unlike a lot of stuff today, and very few bands can release entire albums where one or two or more songs sound "weak." I enjoy literally all of their songs. Which songs do you like the best?

Al Davis took Sebastian Janikowski with the 17th pick overall in 2000. In the NFL they use brand new balls when kicking. They are a lot harder and many have struggled adapting quickly to it. Kickers in college love kicking beat up old footballs. Alex goes in the 6th round IMO because the asset of being a hell of a punter, makes teams think of roster space. And he is that good as well. Alex's value is definitely boosted by the fact he is also a STUD punter. Not very often do you find a specialist that can do both ably, let alone excel at both like he has. Holy mother of pearl... I guess Davis isn't the punchline of so many draft jokes for no reason. I had no idea he took a kicker in the first round. Al Davis: Bringing you the finest in crazy for over eight decades now.

I love me some David Akers as an Eagles fan, but he can't keep kicking forever. I don't know... he's 36 now. We might be able to get anywhere from 3-15 more years out of him, depending on how badly he wants to keep kicking into his "Morten Andersen" years. I'd love for the Eagles to snag Henery late. Go from one deadly accurate kicker to another. Just depends on how much longer Andy wants to keep Akers around, I guess. Haven't the eagles been on the fence with Akers lately? Just another case of kicker traffic in the NFL, the reason I think Alex goes late. Sure he's adjusting to a new ball, but all kickers do. Not long ago Kiper and crew were saying he would be the highest kicker picked in years, and we were agreeing. Hmm... I guess upon further review, I forgot that Akers declined to sign his transition tag for next year (similar to franchise tag). A lot was made of how Andy Reid commented on Akers missing two kicks in the playoff exit to the Packers, because it later turned out Akers was distracted by the fact his young daughter has cancer. A bit of a backstory for you. I guess you're right. A lot of teams changed kickers lately. Dallas, Pittsburgh, Minnesota... and that's just the teams I can think of. Should be a good year for Alex to try to get taken. Wonder if he's got a chance to be taken before Mason Crosby, who was the highest drafted kicker I can remember for a while (5th round).

I love me some David Akers as an Eagles fan, but he can't keep kicking forever. I don't know... he's 36 now. We might be able to get anywhere from 3-15 more years out of him, depending on how badly he wants to keep kicking into his "Morten Andersen" years. I'd love for the Eagles to snag Henery late. Go from one deadly accurate kicker to another. Just depends on how much longer Andy wants to keep Akers around, I guess.

Good breakdown as well, GKFB. A lot of those picks make sense. It will be interesting to see if Roy or Niles is next off the board after Prince. I think both of them probably helped their draft stock with their post season showings more than any other Huskers (besides Prince solidifying his top 15 status). Roy especially TORE IT UP at the combine. Niles also posted a better 40 time at our pro day than many thought possible. I can't decide whether I like the lineman as pro prospects or not. For two years now, we've been hearing Keith Williams is/was our best lineman (or had the most potential), and yet, I personally hardly ever saw him prove it on the field. Now, whether or not you can blame that on his constantly being hurt is up for debate. However, I did see one magazine mock said he has awesome potential at the next level, but flat out called him out on "how badly he wants to dominate." Summed it up pretty well to me. Henry, he's as nasty as they come, but I question his pass pro at times. Guess we'll see. Who would you take if you could have one of the two at the next level? I'm tempted to say Ricky.

Unfortunately, from what I've gathered, Alex has actually possibly dropped his draft stock during the post season events this year, so he could've performed his way out of getting drafted. I've heard the same with Pierre Allen... Was unimpressive at Senior Bowl, didn't work out at combine (IIRC). Out of all the positions though, teams should put the least stock into the off the field performances of kickers. It's all about what you can do on the turf. You can either put the ball between the pipes or you can't. Alex has definitely proven he can (moreso than any other kicker we've ever had, anyway), so if I'm a GM, I'm definitely looking at him in the late rounds... if I've done my homework. They don't call him the Skinny Assassin for nothing. Gmoose, I too think I like Walterfootball the best out of all the mocks. I tend to stick to the reputable one as well, and I recognize the format of a few others from past years, but WF is definitely my #1 as well. I agree that a lot of mocks have Prince going to the Cowboys. They need help at corner about as badly as my Eagles do... Probably even worse. However, I noticed a couple weeks ago a ton of mocks started to have J.J. Watt as the Cowboys selection, with Prince falling to the Texans. Definite possibility... Jerry Jones seems more and more like Al Davis anymore. He drafts a lot of guys based on their physical tools, as opposed to actual proven playmakers. Watt definitely is a freak of nature... but taking him at number 9 might be reaching a bit. Looks like either way our boy Prince winds up in Texas

I don't know. Do we really want this? One of the issues I see is not really the whole 'we need an identity' thing, but when it comes down to it, and it's 3rd and 3, late in the game, what does Beck dial up that DOESN'T produce results like we saw vs. aTm and OU. Both times, with plenty of clock, we had a chance to at least come down and tie the game with one of the best FG kickers in the HISTORY of college football, and we could hardly pick up a first down both games. Saw that vs. ISU in '09, too. I remember a lot of games from the option days where it would be 3rd and medium and Osborne would send in some ISO, counter or FB trap. At first glance, it was like, "What the hell is he thinking?" But you'd see those linemen pull around and create driveway-sized holes for guys like Hipp, Rozier, Keith Jones, Calvin Jones, Phillips and Green who would bull through a tackle to move the sticks. The boys in red had those plays imprinted in their brains, and they just pushed opponents around. Then, of course, on 1st down, the all-expected ISO between the tackles suddenly became a deftly hidden play action fake, and then a deep spiral to Johnny Mitchell, Bostick, Rod Smith, Muhammed, Baul, etc. It worked because even if defenses knew one of those two plays was coming, they couldn't stop either effectively. If we're going to be consistent, we can't be a 'jack of all offenses, master of none.' Bread and butter's gotta be somewhere. I know it doesn't address your actual point, but if it makes you feel any better, someone said in another thread they watched practice for a few minutes this spring and saw more option plays being run than they had during all of Watson's reign.

Hopefully this can become a bit of an official thread for discussing who's worked out for what teams, who's getting drafted where, etc etc... right up to draft day. I know the draft and next season looks really murky right now, but the draft is still on and I'm still very interested in where our boys wind up. Mods, I guess feel free to do away with this thread if you think it isn't a good idea... I had a nice tidbit to share that I picked up on yesterday. I read my Philadelphia Eagles are bringing in Dejon Gomes for a workout... he'll most likely wind up as a safety. Obviously, I'd love to see use trade way up to snag Prince to pair with Asante Samuel, but Gomes has been every bit the playmaker throughout his two years here that Prince has. Anybody hear anything else about other guys getting private workouts so far?