tmfr15

Last year, in just the limited amount of time he was out there, Gregory was impressive, and that was him playing unprepared because of the suspension he served. But he was playing on appeal of a year long ban at the time. And when the ban was upheld, back to suspension he went. He wasn't going to eligible to come back until late in the 2017 season. Now I think they go to an indefinite suspension deal where he has to make a case to the commissioner to be reinstated. It's good bye. But oh, what might have been. As a Dallas fan as well as a Nebraska fan, that just makes me sick. The weed must be good. Damn good.

Spring summary: Quarterback is set. Three guys who can throw the ball with confidence and accuracy. Future is bright. Offensive line? Hard to tell. The game atmosphere will be very different this fall. I get the concerns, but I am Ok with letting it play out into the fall. RB? Got some guys there with talent. I figure we will play the guy with the moss pass protect and catch out of the backfield skills, but that's this offense's nature. WR? It will look different this fall. Competition will be good. Young guys need to be ready to go. But I am fairly confident. Defense as a whole? Can't determine anything there. They didn't show anything, probably because they're not ready to run a lot of the stuff. We will find out this fall, but with a competent passer, I think Nebraska does a better job of moving the sticks and keeping the defense out of bad situations. I was not confident going into spring ball, but saw a lot from the QB position. We are recruiting better right now. Just keep marching. 10-2 with a possible shot at the conference title would be top end for this team. Look out for Nebraska in 2018 and 2019 though.

Lee/O'Brien = Keller/Ganz The drama is totally manufactured here. We have heard hype upon hype about Lee. And almost nothing about Patrick, other than Riley likes what he sees. Tanner came here and sat out a year because of a promise to play. If Patrick or Tristian want a turn, they'll have to wait for a Lee injury or two years, whichever comes first. There is a slight chance, underline slight about a dozen times, that Tanner plays so well that he opts for the NFL after year one. In absence of that, he'll be here for two years as the starter. We'll just all hope that he plays well and that the Huskers win. But to think that the QB battle is going to turn any other way is a waste of time. Maybe Tanner is truly a cut above and should be the starter. We don't know that for sure. And we might not know until fall 2019.

With a new defense and the complications that come with that.... ... a new style of quarterback plus replacing a ton of play making studs and teaching the line to block for a guy who stands in the pocket...... ... a new special teams strategy and a manner of implementation that hasn't really been tried. i.e. most teams have a special teams coordinator well, let's just say worst case talk and imaginations of troubles and disappointments... that's easy. How about a thread that talks about the best case scenario and gives us all reason for hope? I could use one.

We had 26 sacks last year? More than I would have guessed. This is a very optimistic piece and I'm all for it!I think hiring Diaco and moving to the 3-4 is the best move of the Riley era so far.I would argue the mere fact he fired Banker and Reed as the best move. No matter who he hired it would be a big upgrade . I do agree that Diaco could be special here for us.I'm happy HCMR made the staff changes but at the same time still puzzled on why they were brought here in the first place. Certainly set us behind the 8 ball but there is something to be said about having known commodities around you in an unknown environment. There's no real way to know exactly what he'd need coming into an entirely different environment than Corvallis. You can blame SE for bringing in someone who didn't know what to do instantly, but you can't blame Riley for being methodical about how he built his staff and team. If you make too many massive changes right away like many suggest he should have done, you potentially lose control and make poor decisions. The way he did it was definitely slower, but man has he taken the time to find what seem like the correct pieces. In a win right away world it's hard to accept but I have no problem with his decisions and timeline of getting them done. There is definitely a feeling of momentum with the program since many are hoping that the moves HCMR is making will produce fruit. And we are all ready to see what comes from the addition of a true throwing quarterback to the mix. Lee just keeps getting more and more praise from folks outside the program. What makes it frustrating ... It was thought Riley brought with him a certain level of knowledge that would make him a hit anywhere in the college football world. Riley knew coaches and was a hugely respected guy. The coaches didn't come to help him out at OSU because the program was one in which it was very hard, even for the most seasoned and successful coach, to go in and have success. Now that he was coming to Nebraska, it was speculated big name coaches would follow him here. Then he brought his cronies. So that was bull. In the recruiting, we were told the same story as with the coaches. Riley's Beavers were on the radar with top flight kids who turned him down because they just couldn't come to an OSU program that had zero in terms of tradition, facilities and player perks like the Huskers Life Skills Department. Now that he was in Lincoln, with great everything and a lot of booster money, the players would come here. We haven't had a knock you over top 10 class yet. Now, maybe we are building. The recruiting seems to be trending up. And the coach hire with Diaco might be great. But we thought we would start from this spot, not wait two years and then start. From here, with the improvements, what are we looking at, four or five more seasons before we could be relevant in the big picture? I would have liked to cut that down to three by now. In a win-now society it's hard to wait. It gets harder to wait if you keep having to re-set the clock.

At least Mike Riley isn't standing pat and staying with what wasn't working, so there's that. Plus, there are many different ways to address a problem and Mike Riley is addressing it in the way he thinks will work and be great for the program. Will it work? But at least he's proactively addressing problems and not insisting he's "...excellent in every area..." and doing nothing. I am happy to see a contradiction in football practices between Mike Riley and Billy C. That's always a positive. Here's hoping it all works out. And, like everyone here has said before, Mike is a nice guy. If you are a Husker fan, you are pleased with the way he represents the program. He seems to be trying to do whatever he can to be successful. And we are rooting for him. It's just that sometimes I read something, think..... huh? And then start thinking negatively. I might need aversion therapy for that! LOL

This kind of news just makes me wonder if we actually know what the heck we are doing. We got rid of our special teams coordinator and now we are hiring someone who will advise us about special teams but not be on the staff. There are two positions to have here 1) Our staff had the knowledge to take over special teams without need for a coordinator; or 2) We made the change to show we are willing to make changes. It appears that we were in the second category. When you hire someone because he is a veteran with a great feel and knowledge for the game, you expect him to show up at the door with a great system and a great way of teaching that system. When a coach comes in with a plan, then makes wholesale changes two years later, you realize the original plan sucked. And, if the first plan sucked, what confidence can we have that plan two will be better than plan one?

Patience? Excuse me, but I am kind of sick of that line. Everyone had the same idea with Bo. Just be patient. Seven years later.... it's bye bye. Same thing with Callahan. Before him ... Solich. In order for patience to be a real thing, you need results. Better recruits. A better plan. Better game management. Etc. Etc. Etc. Results please. And before I am dead in the ground. That would be nice. It may seem to you all like I am being ultra negative. I am just ultra sick and tired of being disappointed and ultra sick and tired of being lied to. Mike Riley needs to get this program going in the right direction. We can't afford to hire a new coach... in more ways than once since we are still paying the previous guy. I swear to you that I want to see this work, but when you hear the same talk over and over and over again... you start to think, crap, here we go again. I was convinced prior to last year at Ohio State that our days of getting our doors blown off in a rout where we were non-competitive were over. That's the kind of disappointment that just makes you shake your head.

All of you guys want to be positive and believe in the rhetoric that's coming out of Nebraska. New coaches, new quarterback. Exciting stuff. Remember all the great things people said in fall 2015. Then the games started and it was all of a sudden a great big rebuild that required tons of time and an entirely new culture. There are lots of positive energy about the defense. Are we going to hear later that the terminology and strategy requires time to digest? The passing game is supposed to be great. Are we going to hear about how young they are and that they need more time? I believed in all the rainbows the first time around. A bit hesitant this time I am just preparing myself for what is likely going to be a pretty depressing fall. If we keep the coaches we have at the end of the 2017, then we can avoid the dreaded transition to a new regime and the multiple year transition that comes with it. I just hope there are positive things to build upon come this time next year. That's about all the sunshine I can offer.

Nine win season? This year? I am not so sure you can count on that. Nebraska is going into a very challenging season where 6-6 might be the best it can do. Consider that the Huskers play four tough games (Oregon, Wisconsin, Ohio State and Penn State.) Then there's Iowa and Northwestern that will be at least respectable. Not hard to see a break even season. Anytime you transition from one thing to another, there's chance that it will go badly. And we are transitioning. This might as well be a new coach with us going from a running QB to a throwing QB, going from a 4-3 to a 3-4 hybrid and coming up with some new approach to the special teams game as well. We haven't been recruiting especially well. And by that, I mean that there aren't any 5* players or Junior College studs coming to save us. HuskerMan, you noted that I didn't mention the great new coaches. Diaco coached three years as the head man of the Huskies. Every year he was worse. Last year, he went 3-9 and 1-7 in league play. As a coordinator, Diaco presided over the Notre Dame defense during their run to the national championship game. In that year, the Irish won several games by very close margins, which gave the appearance that maybe they were lucky more than they were good. Alabama confirmed those thoughts in a 42-14 beat down that was never close. Bob Elliott has a lot of coaching experience, but up until Nebraska hired him to coach the safety position, I had not heard much about the dude. He came here because of the connection to Diaco. Adding a layer to that, even if these coaches are GREAT, why are they just getting here now. We all said that when MR came here he should have brought good coaches with him and not just signaled a mass move from Corvallis to Lincoln simply out of loyalty. But that's exactly what he did. The guys that he fired were not going to be able to do the job. As fans, we figured that out, particularly about Banker, before he ever coached in a game. It doesn't inspire confidence to have to course correct like this in year three. Strategy wise, the most annoying comment MR has made was in reference to our running game. It is very telling. The guy said that he doesn't yet know or we haven't yet established, take your pick, Nebraska's identity run. What the heck? This guy has a long coaching resume leading teams in all kind of different leagues and settings from the NCAA to the NFL to the CFL and he doesn't know what the identity run of his offense is. That's a joke. Most veteran coaches know exactly what their strategies are and wouldn't bend from those strategies. Coaches are just stubborn as heck that way. Coach Riley tells you what you want to hear and then his team's struggles to perform. His reaction is, "Shucks guys. I thought it was going to work." Someday those will be the last words he utters as the coach of this program. He's going to say that he gave it his best. And that he wishes the Huskers the best in the future. And then he'll ride off in the sun set leaving us to start over. AGAIN. No fret though, it's only working on 20 years since our program has mattered to anybody outside of the direct fan base. Guess we'll just have to get used to it. And, lastly, I said I feared we were becoming Kansas. I didn't say we were Kansas yet. If in 10 years, we have goals like, go to a bowl game, then I was right.

After the season ended as sadly as it could have for the Husker men's basketball team, we got good and bad news about Miles and that means both good and bad news about Coach Mike Riley. After making the NCAA tourney in his second year, the last three seasons could not have gone much worse for Miles. Actually they went worse in each of those years. But SE has stood right by Miles the whole way. It's that positive vibe thing. Don't be a negator or something like that. Good news, no revolving door at the Pinnacle. Bad news.... raise your hand if you think we are going to be significantly better next year. Nobody? Thought so. Going into 2017 with Husker football, I just can't escape the thought that we are just going to be a mess of a team. Replacing every position of significance on offense and ripping up a defensive plan in favor of a 3-4 that will certainly take time to implement. We need players that fit the system and the players we have on the team now need to figure out how to run the system. Meanwhile. Coach Riley has been waiting and waiting to throw-throw-throw. And he will indeed have a throwing QB. Look for us to use every excuse in the books to throw the ball... because we're too far behind, because the last run was for only three yards, because we have to be balanced and lastly.... the worst... the game got out of control. Did I mention the special teams should be a mess too? *Sigh* The bad news in that situation was, I thought, was that Coach Riley would be shown the door for a dismal season of horrid results. We would have to start over with a new coach, would lose a recruiting class and .... well, etc. Now we have good news from this Miles situation. We know that SE will stand behind Riley after this year. He won't fire him. The question is when will he fire him. I don't want to start over but the thought of having a bad 2017, followed by a bad 2018 and 2019 makes me wonder if we are slowly becoming Kansas. And the only way I want to be more like Kansas is if Miles turns the thing around for the basketball team.

From what I have seen, defenses are evolving into using a lot of hybrids. We used to say that someone was a tweener when they were too small to be a defensive end but too big to play outside backer. The size of the player had a correlation to quickness. The smaller defensive end was quick but struggled against the bigger offensive tackle. The bigger linebacker was a more physical presence that lacked the speed that position required. Coordinators made players fit the roles they had, they needed certain players at end and tackle. certain players at outside and middle backer, and certain players in the defensive backfield. Get the right fits and you had a good defense. Now we are seeing a lot of players who are almost glorified safety type guys. The idea is that you walk up guys to the line and make defenses guess what each player is doing while knowing that each defensive player is capable of doing multiple things, i.e. cover, rush or play the run. From listening to Diaco's intro press conference, I got the feeling that he is very into this hybrid movement. So I am thrown by the idea that he wants to use the 3-4 in a very Bill Parcells type of way. Bill used to talk about the need for bigger and more physical linebackers. But those guys are pretty slow too. I remember our old 5-2 defense of the 1980s. Our guys were big and powerful but were too slow to get to the passer at times, which killed us against teams like Miami who had drop back passers capable of releasing the ball quickly to athletic receivers. The switch from the 5-2 to the 4-3 and the addition of speed allowed the Huskers to attack the passer. And, well, I think Frank Costa might still be feeling the effects of that switch up. In the end, I think we are all for a defense that will do two things that we have struggled mightily to accomplish for sometime now. We need to get to the passer quickly and we need to make a hard edge so that jet sweep plays go for something less than 10-15 yards per crack. Alright, I admit that 10-15 per crack on jet sweep might be a little bit of over statement, but those plays definitely worked for our foes through the last two coaching administrations. And the passer has been very comfortable of late as well.

I seem to recall a sack of Blaine Gabbert, maybe by Ciante during which Blaine lowered his head out of reflex to the hit coming in and that caused a helmet to helmet situation. I can't recall if anything was called on that or not, but either way, it should not have been. If an offensive player sees a hit coming, the natural reaction is probably to lower your head just a bit. The defender can't be expected to factor that into how he delivers his hit and tackle attempt.

Amend that a bit. I forgot about Steven Jackson because I kept thinking about Jacquizz Rodgers ...He's the ultimate speed back. Also seems like the kind of guy that you tap him on the shoulder and he goes down. Just saying

Tre or Wilbon will be the man before Ziggy. I like Devine, but the coaches obviously don't. And judging by history, Coach Riley has always preferred the speed back over the power back.

Watched this thread for a while. Spinning away trying to figure out where I think Riley has this program going. It's not an easy question, at least for me. Do I like the competitive QB room? Dang straight. Am I concerned about the line play, both sides of the ball, with a lot of solid players but no super stars? Yes. This too. But would I still like to think the recruiting is getting better every year with Riley? I would. This is the bottom line. And it's pretty scary to anyone who wants Nebraska to have any chance of making it to big time bowl games and winning league championships.... Riley is almost out of time. We knew going in that he was an older guy and the chances of him having a long tenure here, beyond 10 or so years, which is a short time really, were remote. But I am not talking about that kind of running out of time. I am talking about blowing up in the fall, losing between six and eight games and seeing the coach get shown the door. That is a real possibility, one that we all wish were not true. But when you change your defensive scheme ... and you have a new QB.... and you have youth on the offensive line ... and you are replacing your main skill people at every position, then, OUCH. Good luck. I could totally see Riley falling love with the forward pass at Callahan-esq levels this year, especially if he thinks we need to score a lot to make up for struggling defense. That's not good. And the idea of firing Riely scares the hell out of me too. Just who the hell would we be able to hire? How long would firing the coach set us back.... 5 years? ....longer? Got to say I am not looking forward to this season because It could end up being the ugliest and the most depressing football we have ever seen from the Big Red.

I thought we practiced hard... good on good ... that was supposed to make us tougher. He just injured our guys. Does Riley know what he is doing? With his veteran status, in my mind, if that question is asked, the answer is no!

Darlington must play now. Let's see if he can do anything. Even if he sucks, we would at least learn something from this crap. On the QB situation, I feel like Lee has won the job already. You have to create competitive situations constantly at every position. I really believe that they're afraid Darlington might play well and thus make it hard to hand the ball to Lee next fall