NUance

Linebackers! What does our 2-deep look like in the Peso? Are we moving to the Peso D because we lack LBs? Will there be much ML play this year? Where does Compton fit in? Is Sean Fisher bigger than last year? How is Eric Martin coming along? We have a whole slew of redshirt frosh walk-ons at LB. Any of them look promising? Sorry for bombarding you with questions. If you could get an answer for even one or two of them, it would be great!

This is the QB who picked us apart in Memorial last year.

I wondered where all those "thanks for the update" comments over on the recruiting forum came from.....and to think I just thought he was a nice guy. +1 Ha ha! Code that passes the Turing Test.

I had forgotten that Cassidy is the son of Tim Cassidy. Huge props to the Cassidy family for their sacrifice in going the walk-on route and supporting our football program. It is big boost for the team when a top notch athlete like Cassidy walks-on. The year of scholie saved is HUGE. It allows NU to bring another athlete into the football program.

I would say the article came off as "Cody didn't do great his freshman year, but these guys didn't do." So I'm critical of the article from the standpoint of, it's still projecting crazy sky-high expectations for this guy just because he had 4 stars, because he's really shown nothing else. I mean, Green and Spano were about .1 RR different in their rankings, and Spano was ranked ahead of Green comparatively in the dual-threat QBs list the year prior. But Spano was a late commit switch and had 3 stars while Green had 4, so we were always in love with Green as our "next big QB commit". I feel like the expectations for these guys shouldn't be too different, despite how all the media just focuses on Green. Basically, from my standpoint I would have thought you'd be agreeing with the article: that Green didn't light it up, but it's okay because the great ones didn't either. I'm disagreeing because I don't think the logic of "Just because he's not doing well this year doesn't mean he'll do great next year" doesn't make too much sense. I'm not writing off Green, I just don't know why everyone is treating him like a young Vince Young yet. About arm strength though, Lee's arm strength is definitely not lacking. Cody lasers his throws which we've seen, but you're not supposed to laser all your throws. And I don't know bshirt, I realize you've never been a huge fan of Lee's skills, and I wonder how much that is factoring in your respective evaluations of those guys. Is Green elusive? I didn't see that. Sure he has nice top-end straightline speed, but Lee looked quicker and more agile as a runner. Cody is a terrific kid and if he develops his passing game, then he does have tremendous upside. Martinez? I don't know. Lee is far and away the best passer on the team, so I don't know where this "limited upside" sentiment comes from. If Lee's passing skills correspond to limited upside, I think we are all going to be severely disappointed by what Martinez and LTW have to offer. Quentin Castille couldn't run circles around Lee, I doubt Green can. And Green and Martinez can surely run circles around Sam Bradford, but that didn't stop Bradford from being the best QB in the nation. I guess my point is: at Nebraska, we sure love our mobile QBs. But I don't get why we all of a sudden seem to have bias against guys who can throw, and only favor the guys who can't yet. It's like a guy's 40 time is the #1 criteria being used to determine if we like a QB or not. See it with the new recruits, every time we offer a guy with a slow 40, people start asking what we're doing offering a slow pocket passer. Fair enough. I didn’t really buy into all of Cody Green’s recruitment hype. But I think he shows promise from what I saw of him last year. This is why I like Cody Green: He has a strong arm, quick feet, and can lower his shoulder for an extra yard when he needs to. Don’t get me wrong. I realize Cody Green looked a bit raw last year, and still needs work in some key areas. He needs to improve on his throwing accuracy and touch. He needs to work on running through the progression of receivers and not locking on his #1 receiver. And his pocket presence and decision making could use improvement. These things will come. I hope. I think CG will become the man this year at QB. He will provide the offensive spark we lacked last season. At least I am hoping for this. But first he needs to grab the reigns of the offense and become the team leader. And hone a few basic skills. He's not a true freshman anymore.

Just thinking about that game brings a smile to my face. Statue of Liberty. Ohhh yeah!

Sure we lose a few seniors. But we do have some pretty decent DBs coming up through the ranks. All these guys are back next year. Safety: P.J. Smith. Austin Cassidy. Courtney Osborne. Dijon Washington (RS). Cooper (true frosh). CB: Dennard. Lance Thorell. Blue. Coming off redshirt: Andrew Green. Lazarri Middleton (safety?). Plus a couple of recruits.

WTF? It’s not like our offense was running up and down the field when Zac was in instead of Cody. All things considered, Cody Green looked fine for a true freshman. He has a strong arm, quick feet, and can lower his shoulder for an extra yard when he needs to. The gist of the article is that even the great QBs were not great their freshman year. Then the article says that Cody Green had an underwhelming freshman. What kind of logic is that? Cody Green’s performance was about what I’d expect from a true freshman—even a great one. If Cody Green was a junior college transfer with a year of PT under his belt and had all the spring and fall practice snaps, THEN I would say his performance was underwhelming. But for a true freshman coming off the bench to jumpstart an anemic offense he looked just fine. CG has the strongest arm of any QB on our roster, and is incredibly quick for his size. I think he will be a great QB for us. But people shouldn’t have expected him to light it up his frosh year just because the recruiting services fawned over him.

Great format for a preview, and excellent choice of photos. Nicely done.

WTF? It’s not like our offense was running up and down the field when Zac was in instead of Cody. All things considered, Cody Green looked fine for a true freshman. He has a strong arm, quick feet, and can lower his shoulder for an extra yard when he needs to.

Was this a pun? Ha ha!

Don't forget OT Okung. Yup. Big 12 will have half the top ten picks. Maybe five out of top seven or so. SEC? Pffffft.

Sounds like four of the first five or six picks will be from Big 12. Two DTs and two QBs.

Good point this. You plug Helu into our 2006 offense and he is a star. Probably would be All Big 12 and go at least as high as Bjax in the 2007 NFL draft. Regarding your draft thoughts: not with his durability issue he wouldn't. I agree Helu would have been a star behind the 2006 offensive line. That's definitely one of the bright spots of the Callahan years. ......and jackson was just as injury prone.... I can't agree with that. Helu was dinged up in one way or another all season. Even Bo seemed frustrated with Helu's constantly injured status. I believe someone on here commented that Helu's injuries are the type that most backs play through without much in the way of complaining. I think it might have been BigWillie. (not to put words in your mouth willie and correct me if I'm wrong) Brandon Jackson had setbacks too. He had an offseason shoulder injury his soph year 2005 that made him miss some time. Seems like Bjax injured his shoulder again his junior year. He had a good season that year though. The point above about the O-lines is valid. Bjax ran behind a MUCH better line that Helu has had. Hard to judge between them on toughness. Both have had injuries. But Helu has more speed. He has another gear that Bjax lacked.

Good point this. You plug Helu into our 2006 offense and he is a star. Probably would be All Big 12 and go at least as high as Bjax in the 2007 NFL draft.

Great season! But this last game against Kentucky was painful to watch. Things went well for the first minute or so. Then it sucked.

why do you hate zac lee? i'm sure our o-line will be better this upcoming year. Ha ha! Good point. There is nothing more painful than when it is our QB getting peeled off the turf. I want to see LESS of that.

Both Jackson and Helu suffered from injuries in their NU careers. Jackson seemed to hit the hole stronger than Helu even though he was listed a bit smaller. I think Helu is quicker, makes better cuts, and better running lane decisions. I doubt if Helu is drafted as high as Bjax (2nd round). But at least Helu stuck around for his senior year. If Helu stays healthy this year I give him the nod.

I want a season that will put an end to the "I wonder when NU will be back" articles. Also, I want to see more QB sacks. Nothing better than a smashing hit on the QB, and then watching his linemen gingerly help peel the QB off the turf.

There was a shot of Hardrick in a blocking drill towards the end. I’d like to see more clips of him. Looks to have very fluid movement for his size. I guess we have no way of knowing how well he is absorbing the offense.

I find this so hard to believe. Truly a sad, sad tragedy. I guess things like this can happen to anyone.

Yeah, hard to say how the LBs will pan out. Might be better this year than last. I agree about Dillard. Other than P-Dilly, our LB play last year was not a strong point. But this year Compton and Fisher have another year under their belt—-in the weightroom and with the playbook. And like Carlfense said above, Eric Martin and Lavonte David are wildcards. I’d be surprised to see them get much PT. But you never can tell. On the other hand, we might not have three LBs on the field as much this year…

It really is an odd motion. Seems like something that would have been good to rework over winter in the Hawks center. On the other hand, if Cody gets the ball there on time, and accurate, who cares what it looks like?

Get somebody else to do it. If you've never met the bride she won't know the difference.

huskerextra vid Anyone watch Cody Green in this Huskerextra vid? Seems like he’s developed an odd throwing motion. He lifts his back foot off the ground about halfway through his throwing motion, and throws with his weight entirely on his front (left) foot. Does this look odd and unbalanced to anyone else? Or is this how all our QBs are throwing now? Maybe it's not a big deal...