Are you looking forward to next year?

[NPhusker]

This might take you a while to read but i bet it will make you look forward to next year.

 

I am very optimistic every year for Nebraska football and this year is no different. I think with a new coach we can have a great year. I dont think we have to worry about a coach coming in and trying to change the entire culture again cause there is no way TO hires another coach like Callahan who only knows how to do things one way.

 

I think our new coach will have a different offensive philosophy but he wont come in like Callahan and try to force a "square peg in a round hole". I beleive TO will hire a guy who will adjust his scheme to the players we have right now and will slowly adjust the scheme as we get the right guys in here. So i think next year could turn out great and look something like this:

 

San Jose St(home)- W

N Mexico St(home)- W

V Tech(home)- L

West Mich(home)- W

Mizzou(home)- undecided

Tex Tech(away)-L

ISU(away)- W

Baylor(home)- W

OU(away)- L

Kansas(home)- undecided

KSU(away)- W

Colorado(home)- W

 

So if we have a bad season and lose to KU and MU at home we finish 7-5.... not bad, but if we have a good season and beat both KU and MU at home then we go 9-3(same record the last time Pelini was in Lincoln)

 

I did some research before i filled this out and this is why I think we could go 9-3 next year.

 

The coach next year will have a lot to work with next season:

 

Everything starts upfront so lets start there, on the O-line we lose two starters(Carl Nicks and Brett Byford), but our O-line should be solid if we can get a better blocking scheme.

 

-RT and LT should be filled by Lydon Murtha and Jaivorio Burkes with Mike Smith and Marcell Jones pushing for playing time

 

-RG and LG should be Matt Slauson and Jacob Hickman with Keith Williams, D.J. Jones and Mike Huff all pushing for playing time

 

-C is the question mark, hopefully someone will step in for Byford and do a good Job.

 

A team will only go as far as the Quarterback will take them, and i dont think we have to worry about our QB holding us back.

 

-Starting QB is probably going to to be Joey Ganz, partly because he is about 3 steps ahead of everyone else with his playing experience and partly becuase he can fit into about any system. He is mobile enough to run the spread and he has a good enough arm to be a pocket passer. Behind Ganz we have Zac Lee and Patrick Witt pushing eachother real hard for the backup spot.

 

Running back should be no problem at all(as long as Lucky stays.... well even if he doesnt we would be OK). We return every single back who had a carry this year, and get Kenny Wilson back.

 

-Starting RB will be Lucky(as long as he is here). Lucky lead the team in rushing with 1,019 yards and 9 TD's, but he also led the team in receiving with 75 receptions for another 705 yards. So getting the leading rushers and receiver back would help a lot. Behind Lucky things are looking pretty good also, we will have Quentin Castille, Roy Helu, Kenny Wilson, and Cody Glenn all competeing for carries. That has to be encouraging!!!

 

-At FB(which i hope we use a little more) we have Thomas Lawson returning with the Little Makovica brother, Justin Makovica trying to keep the FB job in the family.

 

Tight end might be another question mark coming into the season, hopefully we can find another Sean Hill and have someone step up and be very reliable. Also it would be great to get rid of this H-Back crap and just go back to a true Tight End

 

-TE could be filled by Hunter Teafatiller or Josh Mueller, both seem to be more traditional TE's. Look for Mike McNeil, Ryan Hill or even walk on Dreu Young to get some playing time.

 

Wide Reciever is probably where NU will take the biggest hit next year. Losing Mo Purify hurts bad and there is no way to replace a guy like that, and losing Terrence Nunn and Franz Hardy doesnt help much either. However we still have some reliable guys and hopefully we have some playmakers on the sideline right now just waiting for their chances.

 

-At WR we will have two very sure handed guys in Nate Swift and Todd Peterson at the X spot. Hopefully Niles Paul can live up to his billing and step in as a play maker at the Z spot or maybe have Chris Brooks or Curenski Gilleylen be a deep threat. Then we also have two big bodied receivers who have tremendous upsides in Menelik Holt and Will Henry. So the WR corp will be a little inexperienced but they have a ton of potenial.

 

 

 

On the defensive side of the ball things might even be more encouraging than the offense, and atleast it cant get any worse. With a new defensive philosophy and a little passion for the game we could have a good defense again and then i can finally call our D the blackshirts again.

 

 

Our defensive line could go from being our biggest weakness on defense to being the strength of our D. We have every single starter back along the D-line and almost all of the backups back also.

 

-At DE we return both starters in Zach Potter and Barry Turner along with both back ups Clayton Sievers and Pierre Allen. Also look for Simi Kuli(top JUCO player in the nation) to step in and provide a much needed pass rush, or challenge for a starting spot. William Yancy could also be a pass rush specialist.

 

*I think we will see our D-ends might drop a few pounds and gain some speed, hopefully getting away from the big slow D-Linemen model that we have right now and put some pressure on the QBs.

 

-DT should be solid with Ty Steinkuhler and Ndamukong Suh to return as starters, with Shukree Barfield and Kevin Dixon to provide a potent second wave of DTs.

 

 

Linebacker will take the biggest hit due to graduation(losing Bo Ruud, Corey Mckoen, Steve Octavien, and Lance Brandenburgh), but i dont think there will be a huge drop off from last year to this year. Losing Octavien and Brandenburgh will hurt but Ruud and Mckeon are very replaceable. This unit will be young but hopefully we can have some kids step up and play well.

 

-MLB spot will be filled by Phillip Dillard who will be a beast in the middle, with Nick Covey being a very good back up. If Dillard did not get hurt in the A&M game he would have started the rest of the year after taking over the job for the Okie State game.

 

-SLB spot should be filled by either Tyler Wortman or Blake Lawrence, both Wortman and Lawrence got playing time during Ruud's injury.

 

-WLB spot should be filled by Major Culbert who after being moved from safety to RB during his freshman year and then going back from RB to the defensive side of the ball and was Steve Octavien's backup at the end of the season. So with Culbert having a winter to put on a little extra muscle and learning the LB position he could be a force on D with the speed this guy has. Look for LaTravis Washington to back Culbert up at this spot

 

*Also remember the names Austin Stafford and Thomas Grove, both good players and could get some playing time.

 

The secondary should be solid next year with some big hits and with some pressure from the D-line hopefully we can turn this D back into a ball hawking D like we were in 2003.

 

Cornerbacks should be very solid eventhough we will lose 3 good DB's(Courtney Grixby, Zac Bowman, and Andre Jones). Even with those losses we should still have experience at CB and some very good backups.

 

- The CB spots will be filled by Armando Murillo and Anthony Blue. Murillo was probably the most consisten DB this year and had a very solid year coming outta the JUCO ranks. Blue worked hard all year and took over the starting spot for the final two games and played solid in both games. Look for Anthony West, Prince Amuakamara, and Shawn Sullivan to be solid backups at CB.

 

Safety will be solid for NU even with the loss of one starter(Tierre Green) and two solid backups(Ben Eisenhart and Bryon Wilson). But this position could be scary with some hardhitting kids roaming NU's secondary.

 

-SS will be filled by Larry Asante who is a hard hitter and was the second leading tackler with 71 stops. Asante will just get better after a year of experience under his belt and an offseason to become a more polished safety(he played LB in JUCO and was a little rushed to learn the safety spot).

 

-FS should be Rickey Thenarse who was a headhunter on special teams and will continue this in the defensive backfield. The only thing that kept Thenarse off the field in 2007 was his mental mistakes in practice and hopefully another year will help him mature and cut back on those mistakes. Eric Hagg should provide a great back up to both safty spots.

 

*So look for some big hits coming from the safety spot next year and hopefully they will make opposing WRs think twice about coming across the middle.

 

 

Special teams should be solid again next year just like it was this year.

 

-Dan Titchener returns as the starting punter after averaging 41.0 yards per punt.

 

-Adi Kunalic returns as the kickoff specialist after putting 27 of 60 kickoffs in the endzone for a touchback.

 

-Alex Henery returns as the field goal kicker after a year where he didnt miss a single kick, Henery was 40-40 on PAT's and 8-8 on field goals.

 

Losing Grixby will hurt our kick returning, he was a very dangerous weapon in the field position battle, but we will have some very talented young returners. Look for Marcus Mendoza, Prince Amukamara, Niles Paul and Ricky Thenarse all to give the offense great field position.

 

 

 

Another reason I am so optimistic about next season is because we have a much weaker schedule next year than we did this year. The BigXII North will be far down next year compared to the resurgence we saw this year. Also we have 8 home games in 2008 and that includes games against Missouri, Kansas, and Colorado all in Lincoln.

 

-KSU losses 4 starters on offense including Jordy Nelson who was KSU's leading reciever by far with 122 receptions(#2 had 57 receptions) and James Johnson-KSU's leading rusher with 1,106 yards. On defense KSU loses 6 starters including two DEs, one LB, and 3 DBs.

 

-Missouri losses 3 starting O-Linemen, along with TE-Martin Rucker(leads the team in receiving with 75 receptions), RB-Tony Temple(leads the team in rushing) and William Franklin(4th leading receiver). MU loses 3 starters on the defensive side of the ball.

 

-Iowa St. is a team that has been down recently but people have been saying they wont be a guarenteed win next year. They were a very young team this year but i still cant see ISU beating NU. The Cyclones will only lose 3 starters on offense by out of those 3, one is starting QB Brett Meyer (the backup QB this year for ISU was a freshmen), and another is Todd Blythe one of the leading receivers for ISU and their biggest offensive threat with 5 TD. ISU will lose 5 starter on the defensive side of the ball.

 

-Kansas is another team that really put it to the huskers this year but i think NU has a great chance to beat next year. Kansas is probably the most improved team this year but i still dont think they are the 7th best team in the nation. KU was very young this year and will only lose 4 starters on offense but they will lose 2 of their top 3 recievers(Marcus Henry and Derek Fine) and their top rusher(Brandon McAnderson). KU's defense is definetly the weak spot and they will only lose 1 starter but we did not have much trouble moving the ball on them.

 

-Colorado is another young team with only 8 senoirs on both sides of the ball. But they will lose 3 of their top 5 receivers, also they will lose their top rusher and biggest playmaker, Hugh Charles. The Buffaloes also lose 3 starters on defense including one of the top defenders in the nation in Jordan Dizon.

 

So eventhough the Huskers lose 4 starters on offense and 5 starters on defense, I think next year could be a very good year.

 

P.S. Remember the glass is half full.

[Syzygyone]

Of course I am optimistic about the future. You can't keep a good Husker down for long, especially now that Cally is history.

[HuskerNCo]

To the 2008 season...YES!!!

to the fans...Not so much.

[gamecocks]

I think that we can have a successful season next year, if we have a coach that can come in and change the attitude of the players. We have a lot of talent still coming back, and if a coach is hired relatively quickly, then we should get and keep some quality recruits. The thing that the new coach needs to be is a leader. Some one that can get this kids fired up and get them to run through a wall for them and the football team.

[lswhawk14]

That definitely pointed out a lot of positives. I am a lot more optimistic about next year than I was before I read this. This post was also very deep and thoughtful. I think you deserve a cookie.

[Cy the Cyclone]

ISU has one of the easiest schedules out there for 2008 to go along with all the returning starters. God knows the schedule in 07 made the Baatan Death March look tame so it's not like we don't deserve it....

 

I'm thinking Big 12 North Champion...

[Hunter94]

wow, while i agree the glass is half full, you make it sound as though it is running all over the table. a little dose of reality for you:

 

the DB's and D line will have to "go back to school" all over again.

although there are some guys coming back with some playing time, that is all they got. they will have to be rebuilt physically and mentally from the ground up. cos taught them zero technique, Elmo, well he was totally clueless. the new coaches will have their work cut out for them.

 

on the O side of the ball, the linemen will need to "go back to school" as well, but simplifying the whole O should be the goal of the new coach and will help the RB's and QB adjust much more quickly, as well as the line.

 

there is indeed a lot of work to be done, in the weight room and on the field. these kids will need to get a whole new attitude along with learning some technique and new schemes.

 

it won't take long to see if any are so infected with the previous coaching philosophy, that it causes some fallout, of which i do expect some to occur.

 

i think for starters you will have to be one tough son-of-a-bitch to play here next year.

[strigori]

wow, while i agree the glass is half full, you make it sound as though it is running all over the table. a little dose of reality for you:

 

the DB's and D line will have to "go back to school" all over again.

although there are some guys coming back with some playing time, that is all they got. they will have to be rebuilt physically and mentally from the ground up. cos taught them zero technique, Elmo, well he was totally clueless. the new coaches will have their work cut out for them.

 

on the O side of the ball, the linemen will need to "go back to school" as well, but simplifying the whole O should be the goal of the new coach and will help the RB's and QB adjust much more quickly, as well as the line.

 

there is indeed a lot of work to be done, in the weight room and on the field. these kids will need to get a whole new attitude along with learning some technique and new schemes.

 

it won't take long to see if any are so infected with the previous coaching philosophy, that it causes some fallout, of which i do expect some to occur.

 

i think for starters you will have to be one tough son-of-a-bitch to play here next year.

As it used to be, and damned well should always be.