brophog

At this point, Palmer is gonna be a steal for someone. He’s just falling because he’s sort of a tweener, size wise.

We saw several players last night in the NFL draft that either haven't been starters for long or weren't starters at all and still got drafted in the first round. This is becoming more and more common as NFL GMs adjust to the free agency of today's college football. I think, with all of the tape Casey has produced at this point, the opinion of him as a potential NFL player is pretty set, or close to it. Maybe he transfers and has a breakout year, but he's been very consistent to this point, and his numbers also show that. He's also not some genetic freak that the NFL takes a flier on based on athletic potential. In terms of the NFL, I don't see this transfer helping him, and it may actually hurt him slightly if teams think he just runs from competition. Now, everything isn't just about the NFL. Playing is its own reward and he certainly has the ability to be the Day 1 starter on many other teams. In terms of Nebraska, this maybe a good thing. Sims looked like a starting QB in the spring game, which isn't an easy thing to do when everyone is getting used to a new system and the defense decides it still wants to throw half of the kitchen sink at you. Rhule is a pretty straight shooter, and it would be surprising to hear Casey didn't sit down with him and discuss his realistic options.

Satterfield. Rhule was expensive, but the Big Ten sorta has a 'tax' now because agents and potential candidates know teams in the Big Ten have gobs of money. As I said at the time, you could argue a few different coaches were roughly equivalent in potential quality but it's hard to argue anyone was clearly superior to Rhule. I don't think anything has happened since the hire to do anything but strengthen that statement. You're right, he never really did. Look at his propensity, especially the first several years, for taking the ball first if he won the coin toss. Football is an alternate possession game, except that pattern doesn't repeat at halftime...whomever deferred has the choice at the start of the second half. If you can score last before halftime and get the ball first in the second half, you can 'double up'. Not surprisingly, as teams have access and trust in more analytics, the number of coaches deferring greatly increases over the years. The same can be said about his infatuation with play count. It's an alternate possession game, not an alternate play game. A lot of the advantages of running a very high tempo have either been legislated out and/or teams have found ways to counter it. The game comes down to how efficient you are on each drive and there are times you want to increase or decrease the number of drives each team gets. Once Rhule got his teams up and running he typically won the games he was supposed to win because he understood the above, whereas Frost almost seemed to master the ability to lose winnable games.

I believe we recently fired a guy for thinking that way. The moment I knew that wasn't going to work out was the second half of the 2019 CU game. Acted like the game was won at halftime and lost to what should have been a clearly inferior team. I'm not underestimating Sanders. He pushes the envelope of ethical behavior, and that's all I will say on that, but I don't underestimate him as a competitor.

Satterfield was one of the weakest hires he made, at least in my opinion, but he’ll do what he’s told. Rhule’s teams don’t tend to win the game with their offense as much as they seek to control the game. I think we could have done better for the money but it’s not like this is a mismatch. White is an extremely exciting hire that I’m thrilled with and I think his style will make him a huge favorite with players and fans alike.

Rhule has had the (re)building success he has had precisely because he doesn’t shortcut the process. The road to improvement usually starts with a step backwards. On all fronts, they ran the concepts they want to run and if they weren’t successful then they ran them again. This was not the showcase style event that some spring games are. That’s just sorta how Rhule is, bit of a grinder.

One thing I'd add to this is the defense gave them a lot of mental reps in this game. Blitzes, stunts, twists, multiple fronts. The offensive line saw more variety than they may see in the first 4 or 5 weeks of the season.

I thought it went about as expected, from play calling to execution. The biggest thing I took away was Rhule, himself. He was clearly in charge, active, and tried to take advantage of the situations that were presented. This didn’t feel like a throwaway day, as spring games often do. I know some of the execution may be questioned for the next few months, and that’s totally fair, but I think everyone should be a little more confident that some of the gameday management issues that have plagued this team for so long will be immediately remedied and over time those execution errors will decrease.

Charlie Brewer and PJ Walker were listed at 6'1" and 5'11", respectively. Both were the primary QB for Rhule's entire time at their respective schools. Neither of them, or Thompson, is even in the same ballpark, athletically or physically, as Jeff Sims.

To be fair, the pocket was the most dangerous place. That's where all the defenders were.

The number of potential pass rushers in this class is exciting. Nebraska has too rarely had a single guy on defense that the offense had to scheme around.

Guys leaving via the transfer portal can be a very good thing. There are always guys you need to cycle out because there aren't enough snaps for everyone, but everyone's mama tends to get mad when you do. But with the transfer portal, all the sudden Timbuktu State is your new best friend.

Maybe Jeff Sims can call the plays. (I kid...I think). I do love this talk of being a 'positionless' team from Rhule, Satterfield, and White. I haven't posted a lot during the Frost era, but if you go back over the years prior I talked a lot about that stuff, especially on defense. When Rhule talks about putting a modern look on old ideas, this is what I envision. One great example that came to my mind while listening to Satterfield was a play the KC Chiefs ran earlier this year. I apologize for not remembering the game, but the set was 2x2 single back, but the back was Mecole Hardman, a very fast WR. The two 'receivers' towards the boundary were tight ends. The play was a simple throw to the boundary flat to Hardman, who beat the Safety for an easy score. What makes that play interesting is by alignment you're getting Hardman vs a MLB. That's already a big advantage, but then you put two tight ends as your 'recievers' to just be big bodies getting in the way. Hopefully, on both sides of the ball, we see this sort of creativity. When teams want to hide that 5'8" CB in the slot, I want them thinking "Ooh, we just recruited a 6'4" RB".

To me, the key is and always has been the opener vs Minnesota next year. Win that, with the non con being what it is and there is a good chance you’re 4-0 with Michigan coming in. Imagine the hype if that happened! Recruiting this year is not that important, these year 0 classes are often scramble drills and it’s just that much harder for new coaches with the early signing period. I think there is a bit of a secret weapon here combining Trev’s media savvy with Rhule’s ability with a mic. I think they can sell players on the portal. Hit the portal hard, cobble together something to take advantage of a favorable schedule then use that advantage to execute your longer development strategy though recruiting prep players.

I’m not a big fan, either, but I’m being somewhat unfair, tbh. I just think if you’re going to spend this kind of money then you need to aim high. If we are only looking to be bowl eligible every year, we could do it on a lot less than we spend. Rhule’s offenses in the past have just been ‘OK’. Now, he’s likely never going to light up the box score because of his relatively slow pace, but they can stand to be more efficient. His offenses have been more about controlling the game as an accompaniment to a strong defense rather than being a force in their own right. It reminds me a bit of Saban when he initially took over Bama. He found, despite all of his 5 star defensive talent, that he still needed to juice his own offense if he was going to survive playing so many explosive offenses every year. The offenses in today’s environment just have too many advantages to hope to shutdown all of them, all of the time. From this perspective, I think Rhule’s offensive coordinator means a lot. Is he going to be an 8-10 win guy that just beats those he should or is going to have the firepower to win against the better teams with better offenses. I think in terms of offensive talent he’s shown he can develop athletes and I think with the right staff he’ll be able to recruit enough weapons. What he needs is an offensive coordinator that can take his approach to offensive football and give it that little bit of juice.

I think it sucks.

I think we will need to wait until some of these head coaching positions are filled. I believe Nebraska wants him, or this would have been resolved already. Just reading the tea leaves, I even think Nebraska is willing to pay a bit of a premium, but the assistant coaching pool is a fixed value and you obviously can't pay a position coach a head coach salary. I think if it gets to the point his offers are position coach vs position coach Nebraska will be very competitive, but if someone wants to throw a big promotion his way then that's that.

Or they got some short fields against Clemson, which is what happened.

If his offenses resemble what he did at Temple and Baylor, we are in no danger of becoming Iowa.

Look at it from their perspective. You have a new coach with a history of slow starts who willingly admits he's developing for years 3 and 4. Do you want to suffer through that again or take your crack at the NFL. Personally, with the transfer portal flexibility Nebraska has and a pretty favorable opening schedule, I don't see a 1 or 2 win season like Rhule has had in the past. Given how close to winning practically every game Nebraska has been the last two years, a slow start could be a bowl in this scenario. If you're a player whose fate is now tied to a new staff, you may not want to take that gamble, though. I'd be concerned if a dozen guys entered the portal tomorrow, but if some fringe prospects want to take a stab at the league then more power to them.

It's hard to compare Rhule to Fickell based on resume. In Fickell's corner you have more sustained success, but Rhule never stayed long enough to show that. In Rhule's corner he did it at two programs, but Fickell has yet to try it at a second program. Personally, I don't think an NFL or an Interim job is a great indicator given other evidence because they are very different situations. Both coaches have a big challenge ahead of them. Nebraska's is pretty obvious, but Wisconsin's is huge, too. This isn't another new coaching hire that is just going to be an iteration of what they have already done. They're looking to make pretty substantial changes. It could be as simple as what style of play each school is looking for. From interviews the past few days I think Rhule's Temple teams is very attractive to what Nebraska higher ups would like to see, whereas Fickell's big departure from what they've been doing is attractive to them.

If you’re going to spend this much money on this operation, get a better OC.

Mickey wasn’t signed on to be the head coach. He kinda got thrust into it and had to make the best of it. He was an amazing interim head coach. He kept everyone together and gave them something to play for. Anyone putting on the tape can see he’s not ready to be a game day head coach. That’s maybe something he can develop, but it’s not his skill set at the moment. But, if he and Ruhle can decide they can work together then you back the truck up for Mickey. There is so much money thrown at coaches in the name of hopes and dreams that often times doesn’t pan out. Mickey, as a position coach, recruiter, and just general people asset, is as wise of an investment as there is. You find the money to pay Mickey.

There were maybe some names out there about equal to Rhule’s but hard to say there were many available that were clearly superior. It’s, imo, not a great year to be hiring a head coach and if dominos fall the way it is looking then this may be the hire of the season even if that may not mean much. Rhule’s biggest strengths are in building relationships and he is not afraid of making changes to match the available resources at his disposal. That’s what worked at both Temple and Baylor; he found out what didn’t work and adjusted until it did work. He’s not a big X’s and O’s type of head coach who is dogmatic to a particular style, but he understands what wins football games. Definitely a hire that can be seen as half empty or half full, but I go back to what I said when Frost was hired. There is always some degree of risk. You give him 3 years and if it isn’t working you fire him and try again.

Right decision, wrong timing. I was as big of a fan of this hiring as anyone, but I said the below at the time and it’s no less true today than it was then. What Trev tried to do with this fifth year would have been a nearly unprecedented turnaround. I wish the best for Frost, but it didn’t work out and that has been apparent for years now. https://www.huskerboard.com/index.php?/topic/84819-scott-frost-megathread-all-things-sf/page/1067/#comment-1947832 Is there an option out there as exciting as Frost was? No, this will be a difficult decision.