flatwaterfan

https://saturdayroad.com/acc/report-pac-12-programs-interested-in-being-aligned-with-the-acc/ I am not a fan of the USC and UCLA addition for the big 10. USC and UCLA complicates scheduling for sure. There is a 3 hour difference between the west coast and the east coast. I doubt that I will watch any game that starts at 9 pm and I am sure there are nightowls that would say the same for 9 am/10 am games. With just 2 teams on the West Coast I think the B1G probably can make it work out, however I don't think aligning 2 leagues on different coasts will work out very well. Talk about scheduling problems! I don't think this will work very well of course it depends how they do it. In the long run(years) I don't think college football can or will keep these unnatural alignments. The tail (TV) needs to stop wagging the dog. For the sake of fans and student athletes they need to go back to geographical conferences.

From the broadcasts, it sounds like Christo has made progress with his secondary pitches but his fastball is a little flat yet. He must be throwing strikes in practice to earn a start but is overthrowing or getting yippy in the games? I hope he sticks with it. Maybe this summer they can change his arm angle to get more movement or something like that? Or maybe he throws a 4 seamer and needs to develop a 2 seam fastball? Any experts out there that can comment how pitchers fix their issues?

So who will be in our top 10 - two deep. Help me out.

Disappointed to hear Hood will not be a factor this year. We definitely need a couple of transfers yet especially at OT. There are 8 guys that are locks to be in the 2 deep. In no order Scott, Piper, Nouili, Henry, Miller, Turner, Teddy and Benhardt. If we can't get any transfers who are the next 2 or 3 to complete a 2 deep? Jenkins is a scholarship guy. He may be in the mix at center. Anybody have info about OL walkon's other than Miller that are possibles? I am thinking maybe Menning at tackle? Moses at guard? It hurts to lose Boerkircher and Stafursky who were good walkon depth. Will Parrot help us? I am not optimistic about true freshmen making the 2 deep at OL, however who has the best shot there to contribute early rather than later in there careers? Sledge at OG? Gottula or Knutson at OT? (I like Maciejczak on D at NG as I think he could help at NG depth and goal line defense sooner than he would help at OL but he may be forced into OL? Learning OL takes time. Any thoughts there?)

I wonder how long the Huskers flight was delayed?? I am guessing it might impact a possible practice session in San Diego. edited - Husker twitter has photos of the team practicing on the field at San Diego. GBR

Bolt spoke today. Brumbaugh is out for the season which hurts a little. Frahm is also out. Hood and Hughes are dinged up so I am guessing they won't be on the travel roster. Somes notes on the game. https://huskers.com/news/2023/2/15/baseball-huskers-set-for-season-debut-at-san-diego.aspx

Looks like Brumbaugh is injured from the fan fest video. Is he out for the year? It's on @Husker_Baseball twitter. I tried to post it but got the whole account listed. There is also a new scrimmage video.

I think our pitching will be better. Guys that need to be replaced that pitched double digit innings were.... Frank (59 innings), McCarville (48 innings), Bragg(35 innings), Martin(25 innings) and Jelkin(11.2 innings). We picked up transfers Kaminska ( Witchita St. 78 innings), Garza (Incarnate Word 73 innings) and Juco Brett Sears (ICCC 83 innings). Sounds like Kaminska is a Saturday guy and freshmen Caleb Clark is getting mention for a weekend role - Sunday guy. Garza, Sears and Brockett are fighting for the 4th starter spot. One of those guys could end up a swing guy.(5th starter/long reliever) That would allow the odd man out to pitch where needed either as a closer type or long relief. This depth explains how Shay who pitched 77 innings as a Friday guy can be leveraged from the bullpen. Shay's slider should be very effective in shorter stints. You also get Bunz and Perry back from injury. Walsh might play a bigger role this year. Ornelas is healthy. Christo is coming on. Rizzo is a talent and might add to our middle relief guys. I have a positive outlook on the pitch staff. Offensively, Coach said we would be mixing and matching the batting lineups. We have some power guys, some speed guys, some guys that should hit for average and some left hand bats. We lose Chick(.881 ops), Gomes(1.08 OPS), Banjoff(.709 OPS) and Jackson(.626 Ops) and some others. We return regular starters Anderson, Matthews, Everitt and Anglim so we need to replace 5 bats. We have added Fischer a left hand bat who had a .958 OPS in 2021. His OPS in 2022 was not as good but he was dealing with injury. We add Burnham (.716 OPS lefty) and Brumbaugh(.757) We also added Juco Ben Columbus (Left hand bat 1.099 Ops) and Juco Cole Evans(1.15 OPS). Hughes (.924 OPS) and Mozley(.716 OPS at Missouri State). Now the OPS for the juco's are high because it's juco but I think it shows promise. Dylan Carey is a freshmen that might have a Max Anderson type first year. Josh Caron and Cerventes had good summers and Fall camp. So that's 10 possible guys to find 5 bats. I like our chances to have a solid offense. We should be better than last year but not as good as 2021. Defense is my biggest question mark specifically middle infield defense. Does Bolt start with an offensive lineup and swap in defensive guys in later innings? Or does he go with strong defense up the middle to start the game, which would put some of the better bats on the sidelines? How much do you sacrifice? I think the outfield and catchers should be solid. Good depth. I think over the season we will have a lot of guys play. I like our chances to be a regional team. CWS would be a long shot given all the new players.

Husker baseball twitter describing Max as a 2nd basemen could indicate one possible lineup with Carey at 3rd, Fischer at 1st and Caron DH. It then could be tweaked for defense in later innings as needed. Hmmm. Yes or no? Another question could Max provide defense at a level above Cam Chick, below or same?

I think you make a very good point. So who is or best defensive 2nd base guy? Hughes? Cerventes? Brumbaugh? Mozley? Carey? I have no idea.

Sounds like Bunz, Perry and Ornelas are healthy. Mentioned Perry and Shay as possible relievers. Wonder if they are going to stretch Bunz out? 12-13 guys that are battling to start as position guys.

I don't have any first hand or even 2nd hand info. IIMHO Olson and Kaminska are 1&2. There was a guy on another board who I believe was pretty dialed in, that said Sears and Clark were 2 other guys that were candidates for the rotation. Sounds like Shay wants to be more involved over more games so he probably will be a reliever. Not sure where Perry's arm is at after so many injuries. I am thinking he's a spot reliever. Again, I don't know anything...I am guessing. Also read somewhere that Lewis is injured so he will most likely be a waiver guy. I agree with you on the OF choices. In the Omaha and Ku scrimmages I thought Brumbaugh, Burnham, Evans and Anglim were the top 4. (No specific order to my top 4) Also, not sure if Brumbaugh will play OF or 2nd. Again, it's just my uninformed opinion.

Ah, thank you for correcting me and pointing out the roster had returned to 35. I thought it was 40 but I went back and reread the ruling and see the 40 was including the covid sr's. (So they capped the covid guys at 5.) A reading comprehension failure on my part rather than a memory issue. https://247sports.com/college/north-carolina-state/board/103752/Contents/college-baseball-roster-size-changes-for-2023-182257602/ Hate to hear about the injuries. That bites. Thanks for the info.

https://huskers.com/sports/baseball/roster

Looks like Husker.com updated the roster. Dayvin Johnson moved on and I am guessing Guthmiller is dropping baseball to concentrate on his studies. Covid rules allow for a roster of 40 and they non-count players with the covid year so that's an extra 3 I think. That would leave 1 extra. It could be an injury waiver but I am guessing there are walkons that will redshirt this year and they don't count against the 40. https://huskers.com/sports/baseball/roster

Sooooo, we have 12 players that I think could make the travel roster. I have slotted my guesses of where I think they would fit on a depth chart as far as a primary spot and a potential secondary spot. Thoughts? LT Rouse, (Teddy), (Boerkerker) LG Nouili, (Turner), (Piper), Miller Scott, Piper, Boerkerker, Jenkins RG Turner or Henry, (Anthony) RT Teddy, Benhart, Anthony

https://www.nfldraftbuzz.com/Player/Walter-Rouse-OT-Stanford I noticed he didn't do as well as a Sr vs how he did as a Jr&So. I think his Labrum issue may have played a role in that.

I agree he is a possession receiver. Below is a really good evaluation and it posts his 40 time as 4.53. I am guessing his speed is up front and not after 40... https://www.si.com/nfl/draft/news/billykempiv Read another article that said he worked more at outside Wr early in his career and was suppose to get more time at the slot as time went on. Due to his size his natural position is slot. He also could work the Z as a secondary spot. Slot and Z tend to work shorter routes and have more combination routes with the TE. The X spot are the receivers that usually stretch the field. (This isn't set in stone as Palmer and Toure ran a lot of deep routes. That may be because we didn't have a blazing X guy?) His Sr season was derailed somewhat by injury and sickness. Was ill and then had some kidney issues & dehydration I think. Also battled a sprained ankle

I saw practice reports but did not see the game. Any takes on how Nation and Lenhardt played in the Under Armour game? Thanks in advance, appreciate it!

Not sure about this hire but will give it full support until and/or if it goes sideways. Haha. Here's an interesting story that may detail why he got the job. We shall see if it works. https://www.panthers.com/news/garret-mcguire-begins-coaching-journey-with-panthers

Just to expound on your good info, Cade Mueller was the starting punt snapper in 2020 and 2021. He got hurt towards the end of 2021 and our punt snapping became a little dicey. They brought in Weas for insurance/competition/depth/possible upgrade and Weas won the job for 2022. I think Mueller is accurate with his snaps but may not have the fastest snap time? Ortiz sounds like a good pickup. Between the 2 we should be in good shape.

https://www.mcall.com/sports/mc-temple-football-rob-dvoracek-20150902-story.html Rhule said Dvoracek contributed significantly to last year's defense, from serving as a player liaison to making sideline calls. He called Dvoracek "extremely intelligent" and a player on whom teammates rely. "He's overwhelmingly the guy that, if guys need something, 'Rob Dvoracek is the first guy I call,'" Rhule said. "I'm hoping I can stick around long enough as the head coach to hire him someday. He's that talented."

I think the WR's and running backs will be fine. Good depth in each room. We need Amart to stay healthy. I think the number 2 QB is by committee depending upon the situation.

Usually what you get out of spring games is some idea of individual talent and promising newcomers. S. Shanle was a LB that popped out in a spring game years ago. Casey Rogers is another guy that looked good in the spring game a couple of years ago. On the flip side, Brian Knuckles is a guy that had a good game but disappeared after that. It's really tough to see my points in a spring game as they usual call a basic game and mix personnel or stage it so it's nothing but a showcase but the question was what do I want to see. I want to see the commitment to special teams and that means having them do real kickoffs, real punts & returns. We probably won't because it's the spring game; BUT that's what I WANT to see. I want to see the offense take some shots. We didn't hardly take any last year. I want to see the arm strength&accuracy of the various QB's. They don't have to complete all of them but I want to see at least some completed. I want to see the line protect, I want to see WR's that can highpoint the ball. Yah I want the defense to hold it's own. You can still have good coverage and have the offense execute some plays. We should have a good defense so if the offense can make some plays I will be encouraged. Same with the run game. I want to see the OL win some battles and the RB's hit some holes. I am not worried about the defense but I want to see some grit from the offense in the run game.