Fortifying secondary a primary goal at NU

[HuskerfaninOkieland]

OWH

 

Fortifying secondary a primary goal at NU

 

BY RICH KAIPUST

WORLD-HERALD BUREAU

 

LINCOLN - It took only a pair of unfortunate recruiting twists to put Nebraska in a difficult position with its secondary. Then one injury to almost cripple it.

 

So it's no surprise that of 20 players who have pledged to the Huskers, five are defensive backs.

 

"This will be a strong emphasis with the secondary, particularly in the cornerback position," NU defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove said. "We've got to continue to add depth."

 

Call it rebuilding or restocking, but Nebraska has obvious work to do in the defensive backfield if it wants to improve on its No. 70 rating in Division I-A total defense.

 

NU returns two starting cornerbacks (Cortney Grixby, Andre Jones) and one starting safety (Tierre Green) for next season. Beyond those three, no other returnee played significant time in the secondary this season either because of talent level or lack of experience.

 

That's something Cosgrove wants to fix in coming seasons.

 

"That's real important," he said. "We're trying to balance things up right now."

 

Nebraska suffered a major blow with cornerback Zack Bowman's season-ending knee injury in preseason camp. The Huskers were expecting the senior to anchor one side and possibly compete for All-Big 12 honors.

 

It left no one immediately ready to back up Grixby or Jones, and also threw a wrench into how nickel or dime packages fit into NU's defensive plans.

 

Nebraska already had been belted by signing-day swings that cost it touted safety prospects in back-to-back Februarys.

 

Ten months ago, recruit Ashlee Palmer bailed on the Huskers just hours before head coach Bill Callahan unveiled his signees. The junior college All-American was considered somebody who could have contributed right away.

 

The prior year, prep star Reggie Smith headed for school in Edmond, Okla., still undecided on letter-of-intent day between NU and Oklahoma. Smith picked OU and already has been a two-year starter for the Sooners.

 

NU recruiting coordinator Shawn Watson said an ideal number of scholarship players for a program's secondary would be in the range of 14. The Huskers have carried 16 through the 2006 season, but that figure is deceiving.

 

Among the backups, Brandon Rigoni and Ben Eisenhart are former walk-ons used primarily on special teams. Tyrell Spain and Isaiah Fluellen are converted receivers, and Jordan Adams a refugee from the quarterback ranks. Fluellen appeared in just one game before being injured.

 

That narrows the pool to 11, and 10 with Bowman taken out. And out of those 10 available to assistant coaches Phil Elmassian and Bill Busch, four are true freshmen - Rickey Thenarse, Major Culbert, Corey Young and Anthony West.

 

The Huskers have started to address their secondary needs by getting commitments from Shawn Sullivan, Anthony Blue, DeAndre West, Armando Murillo and LaTravis Washington. They continue to chase safety Larry Asante of Coffeyville (Kan.) Community College and cornerback David Ross of Compton, Calif., with signing day still nine weeks away.

 

Rebuilding a secondary isn't always an easy thing to do, according to recruiting analyst Tom Lemming.

 

"Real good corners are tough to find and one of the toughest positions to play," Lemming said Monday. "There's always a major demand for pass rushers and corners, and usually a lot more demand than supply.

 

"There's players out there, you've just got to battle a lot of schools for the good ones."

 

Stocking up in the secondary

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Who's leaving

• Andrew Shanle, safety

• Brandon Rigoni, safety

• Jordan Adams, safety

• Isaiah Fluellen, cornerback

 

Who's back

• Tierre Green, safety

• Andre Jones, cornerback

• Cortney Grixby, cornerback

• Zack Bowman, cornerback

• Bryan Wilson, safety

• Titus Brothers, safety

• Major Culbert, safety

• Rickey Thenarse, cornerback

• Corey Young, cornerback

• Anthony West, cornerback

• Ben Eisenhart, safety

• Tyrell Spain, cornerback

 

Who's coming

• Anthony Blue, safety

• Armando Murillo, cornerback

• Shawn Sullivan, cornerback

• LaTravis Washington, safety

• DeAndre West, safety

[Hunter94]

yes, obviously a very weak area of our D......at least we are going for guys with some size, hopefully they will learn how to play the position and develop over the next 6-8 months...Green and Grix just aren't suited for the corner positions for obvious reasons.......

[Huskerfan55]

This makes me so Happy now sit Grixby and Shanley down and let the youngguys play!!!!!!!

[BIGREDFAN_in_OMAHA]

Fixing the secondary will make the Blackshirts whole again!!!

 

[tattooedhusker]

that mean we can start blitzing again?

[Hawkeyehusker]

I think we will see a few of the younger guys in against Auburn. I don't know why it has taken so long to get these guys game ready. The entire season is almost over.

[BIGREDIOWAN]

Yeah I think we will see some personnel changes back there on Jan. 1st....................

[husker rob]

do we fire Coz because he sees the problem that we are having and is trying to fix it by recruiting more skilled players than what we currently have?

[BIGREDIOWAN]

do we fire Coz because he sees the problem that we are having and is trying to fix it by recruiting more skilled players than what we currently have?

 

Hard to say........it looks like he is trying to fix the problem, but at the same time you can have a lot of talent and the wrong defensive schemes and it's not going to matter...............

[Touchdown Tommie]

I think with this recruiting class they realized what needed to be changed....as BRI said, you can have the best recruits, but if they don't fit the scheme, it will be the same thing next year.

[strigori]

But without the talent it can be nearly impossible to tell if you have the right schemes or not. If the scheme is right, but the player gets in the wrong possistion, or just gets physicly beat, you get the same results, big plays.

[HuskerHank]

Coz, in his 1st year,had the same personel that Pelini had, and they went from being very good, to very bad. I'm not sold on our secondary coach either.I hate that they are coached to not look for the ball....Asanine.

[gamecocks]

Coz, in his 1st year,had the same personel that Pelini had, and they went from being very good, to very bad. I'm not sold on our secondary coach either.I hate that they are coached to not look for the ball....Asanine.

 

It didn't help that the players didn't buy into his system either.

[husker rob]

plus it was their 3 DC in 3 years wasnt it?

[Hawkeyehusker]

Coz and Elmo will be on the hot seat after this season. I'm sure they will both be back but if we don't see huge improvements on defense they may be unemployed after next season. We lose a lot of talent on defense after this season but we have a lot losing their redshirts as well.