huskerstag

I don't know if I would say its easy to put on 15 lbs and maintain your speed and athleticism. There's no doubt that the Nebraska trainers and facilities are top notch, but you can't just put on weight/muscle without sacrificing quickness, speed, or agility - and that's what everyone expects. I remember earlier in the spring reading an article about Barry Turner and maybe Pierre Allen talking about how hard they worked through the entire season to regain their speed and quickness off the line. They lost some of it because they put on weight the previous offseason/summer. It wasn't bad weight, it was healthy weight the coaches wanted them to gain, but it still affected the rest of their game.

I believe Andre Jones said something to that effect after the Texas game. He said he didn't know it fell from the sky or something...

Congrats!

F Purify, I'm sick of this crap and I hope Cally is too... It's time for Chris Brooks and Niles Paul to step up. The future is now boys...

I live down in KC and the attitude down here is unbelievable. I personally believe that a major factor in JF's decommitment was all the hatred people were showing towards him. It was in the papers, on the radio and everywhere else. It's not as bad with Gabbert b/c he's from farther east, but it's still unreal. The stupid thing is, it's not that they're leaving the state to go to another school that makes people angry - its that they're going to Nebraska. Recruits from KC and the surrounding area have gone all over the country, but the only ones that get a bunch of crap about it are the ones who go to Nebraska. If they want to go to a game and cheer against the team he's chosen then fine, but don't publicly bash an 18 year old kid for where he chooses to go to college. Cheering against a team is fine, but cheering against a certain player - when he's still in High School - is completely classless.

Unfortunately for him, I think its the byproduct of playing with one of the best point guards of all time in Jason Kidd. He's the kind of player that makes everyone around him better. Mikki Moore led the league in field goal percentage this season - largely because Kidd was always getting him set up for dunks. But hey, if he can contribute to a playoff team and create a niche for himself in New Jersey or somewhere else then good for him.

Here's the hit by Tom Ruud on Kelly Phelps. As I recall, the ref was so stunned by the hit that he called the runner down. That was the closest TO ever went to really losing it on the sidelines. Tom Ruud lays out Kelly Phelps

I'll admit - that was more optimistic than I expected.

If I was a dual threat qb with aspirations to go to the NFL there's no way I'd go to Mizzou. Pinkel did absolutely nothing to coach up Brad Smith. Hopefully Gabbert can see that.

Thanks to the likes of Jim Rome and even ESPN every sportscaster in the nation thinks they have to be controversial. They'll never take things at face value and they'll always try to create and promote controversy. They get off on "telling it like it is" when in reality its usually nothing more than an uninformed opinion. Unfortunately, since they have access to players and coaches like few others, their crap carries enough weight that some people buy into it. I don't assume everything is rosy and great in huskerland but I imagine most of these guys know who likes Cally and Pedey and which ones don't. Heck all they have to do is see who went to which golf tournament. They'll talk to the anti-Pederson crew and do what they can to stir things up. The one thing that always puzzled me though, is why some people are hoping BC will fail. He never did anything to this program, he was just the coach that was hired. It seems to me that regardless of how you feel about Pederson, if you're really a husker fan you'd be hoping and praying that BC was the right man for the job. Personally I think that speaks to the maturity and intelligence of the anti-BC crew out there.

The 1's on both sides get plenty of work against each other in practice. Not playing against each other in the "Spring Game" doesn't hurt the team at all. I'm sure the coaches have a very specific idea of what they want to accomplish in every practice - the spring game included.

Fellas, Does anyone know if any of the area Husker Bars will be showing the spring game?

I saw this on another site and thought it was pretty funny... ebay_cup

The few years I lived off campus i always made sure i had a class i really didn't care about early in the morning. That's because there were days when i'd drive around for a half hour trying to find a spot. If i sat and waited for someone to pull out and some jackass came along and snuck in before me I'd be pissed too. My bet is that it was some chick who thought "too bad for you" when she took his spot and didn't realize that some people might do more than shake their fist and drive off. If the worse thing our qb does is throw a cup at someone then we don't have any character issues to worry about.

In the present era of message boards and 24 hour media scrutiny all a coach can do is try to avoid controversy for him and his players. It doesn't really bother me that Callahan gives vague answers to any questions this time of year. He knows that ultimately he'll be judged by the product he puts on the field and that's what he'll have to answer for. Every athlete and coach has to be careful what they say to the media. There's always going to be a handful of reporters out there who want to make a name for themselves by blowing something out of proportion. Remember Andre Jones last year? One comment and suddenly that was all you heard about Nebraska. Callahan has to be careful what he says and set a good example for his players. On top of that - Cally may not know what he has yet in Witt and Lee. He may be keeping everything on the down low so he doesn't end up with another Harrison Beck episode. 18 year old kids trying to compete at this level will almost certainly lack maturity and confidence. Personally I like the mentality that the press doesn't need to know everything and the team's well being comes first.

We need another qb, speedy outside linebackers and cover corners. And maybe a punter.

It's the same crap Jason Whitlock pulls at the KC Star. They can't stand to lose their top talent to Nebraska and then they blame the kid for "defecting" or bash them for a "lack of loyalty". And its all done in the public forum. They write articles and talk on the radio until these kids can't hide from it. I personally think that the real reason Freeman decommitted wasn't because of Ron Prince but because of the public pressure he and his daddy were getting. I can't stand those guys. If you don't like Nebraska then fine, but bashing a high school kid because of where he's going to college is completely classless.

OK - I don't want to start spouting conspiracy theories - but did anyone notice that the head trainer of the football team was let go yesterday? He says it has nothing to do with Marlon Lucky - but it's a pretty big coincidence.

LJS is reporting he's been released and that he's looking forward to returning to classes and to workouts. No mention of what put him in the hospital - but at this point things sound pretty hopeful.

Honestly, my guess is that's exactly why you see Swift and Peterson on the field. They don't drop many passes. Nunn may be a better athlete, and Hardy may be faster, but you could pretty much count on each of them to drop 2 or 3 balls a game, even with no one around them and the ball hitting them directly in the hands. Personally I look for our receiver play to be much improved this year. However, at this point Holt, Henry and Brooks are unproven commodities. They could be great, and the offense won't have to rely on perfect play calling and perfect spacing to get a completion. But for all I know, they're no better than anyone else at this point. We'll just have to wait and see.

Too many people looked at Lucky's 5 stars and assumed he was going to do what Adrian Peterson did. If you compare him to the other top backs from his class he's right on schedule. He had a significant impact on the offense last year both in the running and passing game - as a sophomore. If he hadn't split time with the other 3 guys he probably would have had stats just as good or better than Jonathan Stewart (the top rated running back of '05) at Oregon and Jamaal Charles (also highly rated) at Texas. His junior year is coming when he'll have the opportunity to be as much of a feature back as Callahan will have in this offense.

David Horne, Curt Dukes, Frankie London, Joe Dailey....all these players were "obviously better" than the guys starting in front of them too. Something else to consider is that playing time isn't always the best way to develop a player. Callahan admitted he deliberately held Purify out of the early season games, even though his mom was watching at USC. Why? So Purify wouldn't fail, lose confidence, and go into a shell. That's what happened to Hardy last year and Callahan didn't want a repeat. Just throwing an 18 year old kid to the wolves and letting him get beaten up isn't always the best way to develop talent. Confidence is just as important as ability with these kids. Anyone who thinks they know more about personnel than the coaches probably thinks a little too highly of themselves.

Complaining about the impending football apocalypse is my favorite thing to do. Thank goodness there's a bunch of people who think just like me.

Exactly, the thing that I laugh about most is when the old folks complain about how kids these days have no respect. Who do you think taught them that? Their parents (the old balls themselves, or the oldballs's children). So if they really want to think about it, rather than passing quick judgement on some 19 yr. old kid, they don't have anyone to blame but themselves. Except they'll never admit it... But I don't know, maybe I'm just biased in favor of my generation...

It's a college football game. Folks need to get over it. First of all, I want to know what the dude who wrote to the OWH was doing showing up to the game only 20 minutes before kickoff. But if you're going to allow and entire stadium of people (80,000+) to tailgate in sub-freezing weather for a full 5 hours, there's no question that the place is going to get trashed. And people are probably going to get drunk so they don't feel so freaking cold. Does that mean that every fan was wasted and just threw their stuff wherever they wanted? NO it doesn't. I was there and partied all day long and while there was some good natured ribbing between the NU and OU fans, it wasn't out of hand at all. Folks need to realize that booze and college football are pretty much inseparable. That's why the alumni pay gobs of money to park their RVs next to the stadium every Saturday. That's the way its been for decades. If you're going to get all hot and bothered by it then I guess that's your problem. But it's not like Nebraska's fans, or fans in general, suddenly became a bunch of intolerable drunks. There's just a lot of self-righteous old balls out there who don't have anything better to do than complain.