BC cutting walk-on program

[sCrUmptious!]

the _________ (insert coach here) experiment has begun!

 

Frank Stallone.

[T_O_Bull]

Numbers matter if you drop below a certain point. For instance, it wouldn't be effective with 20 walkons. Right now I wouldn't want to go any lower, but we don't necessarily need any more. Repeating, "numbers matter" over and over isn't going to make it true, you know.

 

 

 

OK. We can still party from the same tailgate right?

 

...T_O_B

 

[EbylHusker]

I don't party or tailgate with people on the board. But I don't think I'd knife you or anything like that, if I ever came across you one day, if that's what you mean.

[T_O_Bull]

I don't party or tailgate with people on the board. But I don't think I'd knife you or anything like that, if I ever came across you one day, if that's what you mean.

 

 

Not looking for a date or anything like that. I'm an old guy with a great wife and two wonderful kids, one of which will be a Husker Frosh next year. You are still welcome to stop by for a brat and some chips. We won't have anything that needs to be cut so you can leave your knife at home.

 

...T_O_B

 

[DRAINO]

I found this from a post back in Jan. '04, shortly after BCs hire. It's interesting the follow the sequence of events on this board, from Solich's firing to the coaching search, to BCs hire and so on. If you want to check out some of those reactions from fans, go to page 220.

 

http://www.ketv.com/sports/2789466/detail.html

 

I think that is a very interesting point. This not only shows again that the hire of Callahan brought about a new attitude with a bigger emphasis on finesse in Nebraska football. If you look at all the great teams we had they were built on attitude and toughness, and I think that alot can be correlated with the reduction in the walk-on program.

[HUSKER 37]

We have enough walkons right now, that's not the problem. The problem is the attitude the coaching staff apparently took towards those walkons.

 

Callahan lowering the number of walkons was not a problem.

 

Yes, it was.

 

Why does it have to be all or nothing?

It's obvious that both had an effect on our depth and toughness.

 

 

I think it's a good thing. I can't understand why you would want 180 guys on your team. There were 120-125 guys on the roster this year. 85 are schollies. That means there are roughly 40-45 walk-ons.

The more guys you have...the more guys you can hit. The more guys you hit...the tougher you get.

 

Makes perfect sense to me.

BS. You don't need 180 guys to have physical practices. By that logic, the baseball team should have 20 pitchers so you can see every kind of pitch humanly possible.

 

I don't follow baseball, but I do seem to remember looking at the Diamondbacks roster for a familiar name of a pitcher from Omaha around my age..I was surprised to see half the roster was pitchers.

 

Having the extra players allows you to devote a larger share of your (Playable) players more repetitions in our system and have redshirts and human tackling dummies emulate the opponents' formations.

 

By the middle of the season, some of those "tackling dummies" start to even get better through practice and earn the chance for playing time..probably Special teams, but the incentive's still there.

Sure it can be done with fewer, but I remember in Highschool, I was a starter on Defense, but being a 3rd string Guard, I never learned our Offense..Plus it was embarrassing scrimaging against myself when we went 1's vs. 3's

 

With our crappy weather and low population base, in addition to the scholarship limits, we need any advantage we can get to keep up with the Fla. and Calif. and Texas schools.

 

180= ~90 Defenders + ~90 Offensive

roughly enough for 4 strings playing against 4 "Opponents" not even counting the dozen or two out with injuries.

 

You'd want 1's against 1's some of the time, but when learning your formations/responsibilities and new plays..You need mostly reps against semi live bodies.

 

That's how you end up with a 4th stringer like I.M. Hip being named Big-8 offensive player of the Week honors.

[EbylHusker]

We have enough walkons right now, that's not the problem. The problem is the attitude the coaching staff apparently took towards those walkons.

 

Callahan lowering the number of walkons was not a problem.

 

Yes, it was.

 

Why does it have to be all or nothing?

It's obvious that both had an effect on our depth and toughness.

 

It is? Gee, I must have missed that.

[Captain K]

I don't party or tailgate with people on the board. But I don't think I'd knife you or anything like that, if I ever came across you one day, if that's what you mean.

 

 

Not looking for a date or anything like that. I'm an old guy with a great wife and two wonderful kids, one of which will be a Husker Frosh next year. You are still welcome to stop by for a brat and some chips. We won't have anything that needs to be cut so you can leave your knife at home.

 

...T_O_B

 

Just give up T O, he is a lost cause. He will never accept you may be right or he wrong. When a scholarship guy comes in and sees how many guys are willing to give it everything they have, with no promises, just to be a Husker, it has to have a positive effect. The lowest kid on the totem pole, who might not make the team at Wesleyan, being a tackling dummy, just to be out there. Just to go back to his hometown a hero. It tells the 4 and 5 star guys what a privilege it is to start at Nebraska.

 

Callahan underestimated the kids in the walk-on program. Hopefully, the new guy won't

[GHOST]

And this is the guy they thought would keep texas and oklahoma away from getting the big 12 champion ship??

[HUSKER 37]

We have enough walkons right now, that's not the problem. The problem is the attitude the coaching staff apparently took towards those walkons.

 

Callahan lowering the number of walkons was not a problem.

 

Yes, it was.

 

Why does it have to be all or nothing?

It's obvious that both had an effect on our depth and toughness.

 

It is? Gee, I must have missed that.

 

For the sake of argument, I'll assume you're serious.

 

A group of 20-30 walk-ons trying to take playing time away from a group of 85 scholarship athletes is a nuisance..You can isolate them, keep them down as a whole..The coaching staff can even help keep them down without much effort.

When you start getting outnumbered by them..You have to take the time to understand where they're coming from..Maybe even visualize yourself in their place as they recite to you how they used to play with the neighborhood kids on Saturdays on the vacant lot at the end of the block with the transistor radio blaring the Husker game and they were running back a punt or playing "smear the Queer" and trying to emulate Johnny Rodgers' moves...

 

It's much more than what a few lucky walk-ons can do on the field on Saturday...It's team Identity.

 

 

Back in my day..You even had Walk-ons and scholarship athletes rooming together.