Curtis Carter

[huskers1]

The more I read about what Carter said the more I think Gilmore is an idiot. If a kid is telling you these things don't you think you could say look just wait until we come down for you in home and we'll explain how we plan to get you the ball on a consistent basis. I wonder if he even tried to explain anything? I'm beginning to dislike Gilmore more and more. His wr's haven't developed one freakin bit in the time they've been here and he obviously sucks as a recruiter.

[caveman99]

I saw a thread awhile ago about how many offensive kids that are scholarshiped on the team. And there are more of them than on the defense. That is why we are a bit unbalanced this year with D vs O recruits.

You know I was thinking the same thing so I just ran the numbers. I am not sure what that person is talking about. Yes there are a few more offensive players than defensive but it wasn't the 70-30 split or so as was claimed. There are 142 players listed on the roster and the split is about even. Here is how it breaks down.

 

142 Total Players

Offense - 70 players - 49%

Defense - 64 players - 45%

Special Teams - 8 players - 6%

 

I didn't count Long Snappers or Kickers on either Defense or Offense because I wanted to keep Special Teams separate and look at the core Offensive and Defensive rosters. Going into next year the split is about the same, not counting the current recruiting class, here it is:

 

128 Total Players

Offense - 64 players - 50%

Defense - 56 players - 44%

Special Teams - 8 players - 6%

 

Adding 10 players to the Defense and 5 players to the Offense and the split would look like:

 

143 Total Players

Offense - 69 players - 48%

Defense - 66 players - 46%

Special Teams - 8 players - 6%

[dylan]

The more I read about what Carter said the more I think Gilmore is an idiot. If a kid is telling you these things don't you think you could say look just wait until we come down for you in home and we'll explain how we plan to get you the ball on a consistent basis. I wonder if he even tried to explain anything? I'm beginning to dislike Gilmore more and more. His wr's haven't developed one freakin bit in the time they've been here and he obviously sucks as a recruiter.

 

i am disappointed with the receivers this year, but considering the success that others had under him, i'll give him a pass for a season.

 

that said, what is wrong with what gilmore said to the kid? it needs to be clear to the kid and the school that he's either committed or he's not. and what makes you think we didn't explain anything to carter?

[huskers1]

I just don't think you can let the kid decommit right there. Keep him committed somewhat at least until his in home where he would feel appreciated and at ease with the head coach there, which his family really likes. I guess my problem with Gilmore is his position never seems to make plays. The only guy that I can think of that actually made plays on his own was Purify. IMO this is bc he never put the playmakers in position to succeed. Why not run one of those screens to Hardy? The fastest guy on the team and we have him running stop routes. This year we run a jail break screen, on more than one occasion to Holt? The slowest schollie wr we have, really? Why not run that to Paul or Bell? He subs in Dan Erickson w Brooks and Pederson on the sideline? His position has done nothing above average since he's been here.

[caveman99]

I just don't think you can let the kid decommit right there. Keep him committed somewhat at least until his in home where he would feel appreciated and at ease with the head coach there, which his family really likes. I guess my problem with Gilmore is his position never seems to make plays. The only guy that I can think of that actually made plays on his own was Purify. IMO this is bc he never put the playmakers in position to succeed. Why not run one of those screens to Hardy? The fastest guy on the team and we have him running stop routes. This year we run a jail break screen, on more than one occasion to Holt? The slowest schollie wr we have, really? Why not run that to Paul or Bell? He subs in Dan Erickson w Brooks and Pederson on the sideline? His position has done nothing above average since he's been here.

I agree with this, I don't quite get Gilmore's tactic on this. It sounds like Carter is still willing to listen to NU so maybe there is hope still, but it is clear that NU is a distant 3rd right now.

[dylan]

I just don't think you can let the kid decommit right there. Keep him committed somewhat at least until his in home where he would feel appreciated and at ease with the head coach there, which his family really likes. I guess my problem with Gilmore is his position never seems to make plays. The only guy that I can think of that actually made plays on his own was Purify. IMO this is bc he never put the playmakers in position to succeed. Why not run one of those screens to Hardy? The fastest guy on the team and we have him running stop routes. This year we run a jail break screen, on more than one occasion to Holt? The slowest schollie wr we have, really? Why not run that to Paul or Bell? He subs in Dan Erickson w Brooks and Pederson on the sideline? His position has done nothing above average since he's been here.

 

if he's visiting other people, he's not committed. there's nothing you can do to force a kid to keep his commitment. if it makes you feel better to have the kid pretend to be a soft commit (and oxymoron if i've ever heard one), that's great, but it's of no value to our recruiting. it's obvious he's moved on. should we still push for an in home to get him back? definitely, if we still want him and are OK with how he's handled things. but that doesn't mean we should let him be a placeholder.

 

if you don't think that paul, swift, pederson, purify, nunn, and even (occasionally) gilleyen and franz freakin' hardy made plays for this offense in recent years, then i don't know what to tell you. it appears that kinnie is finally on his way as well. i also strongly disagree that we've been average at receiver the last few years. we've had an awful lot of production out of it.

 

it remains though that the position was mostly disastrous this year and it's his job to fix it.

[huskers1]

Paul has had more drops this year than I can remember wr's having for quite some time. Hardy made plays for us, but we didn't use him to his abilities. why run a curl route or a stop route when we are running crossing patterns to swift? Swift was an excellent wr no doubt, but he isn't in the same league as far as speed is concerned. Swift was productive I'll gladly give you that one and so was Pederson. Gilleylan has had a very dissapointing year so I don't think you can have him on your list. He's lazy, runs terrible routes and is wayyy underachieving. Nunn was productive but had quite a few drops in his day as well. When Purfiy was a junior it was obvious he could make plays but he was on the field for only about 50% of the plays. He doesn't know the offense, fine but get the ball to him as many times as you can. Also the offense we ran when Cally was here didn't really lead to a lot of game changing plays. Any D1 wr should be able to run 6.5 yards turn around, catch the ball and fall down, which is what a lot of these guys did aside from Purify. Sure there was the occasional crossing route from Swift, or long bomb to Hardy, or slant that goes 50 for Nunn, but the majority of the time it was 6 yards at a time. That's why I say it was nothing above average that any other big time D1 program can do.

[dylan]

Paul has had more drops this year than I can remember wr's having for quite some time. Hardy made plays for us, but we didn't use him to his abilities. why run a curl route or a stop route when we are running crossing patterns to swift? Swift was an excellent wr no doubt, but he isn't in the same league as far as speed is concerned. Swift was productive I'll gladly give you that one and so was Pederson. Gilleylan has had a very dissapointing year so I don't think you can have him on your list. He's lazy, runs terrible routes and is wayyy underachieving. Nunn was productive but had quite a few drops in his day as well. When Purfiy was a junior it was obvious he could make plays but he was on the field for only about 50% of the plays. He doesn't know the offense, fine but get the ball to him as many times as you can. Also the offense we ran when Cally was here didn't really lead to a lot of game changing plays. Any D1 wr should be able to run 6.5 yards turn around, catch the ball and fall down, which is what a lot of these guys did aside from Purify. Sure there was the occasional crossing route from Swift, or long bomb to Hardy, or slant that goes 50 for Nunn, but the majority of the time it was 6 yards at a time. That's why I say it was nothing above average that any other big time D1 program can do.

 

i agree with most of your post, but i don't see any reason to saddle callahan's curious playcalling on anyone but himself.

 

the fact remains that we have had effective receivers under gilmore's tutelage in every year but one. by the way, i included gilleyen because you mentioned players making plays and he made some big ones early on. i agree though that he needs to get his head (and hands) on straight.

[huskers1]

The reason I went back to Cally's offense was bc a lot of those players that you said were productive were in Cally's offense and in that offense "productive" was catching 6 yard stop/curls/and out patterns. To me, that's nothing above average and something that a lot of big time high schools have no problem doing.

[dylan]

The reason I went back to Cally's offense was bc a lot of those players that you said were productive were in Cally's offense and in that offense "productive" was catching 6 yard stop/curls/and out patterns. To me, that's nothing above average and something that a lot of big time high schools have no problem doing.

 

you claimed that your problem with gilmore is that no one at his position made big plays. the players i listed made many big plays in the passing game, so i'm not sure what more you want. gilmore doesn't call the plays, but he sure as hell has had receivers ready to regularly make those plays in every year but this one (and if paul can get his head on straight, he may yet be our biggest playmaker on the outside).

 

if we don't have a productive wr corps next season between paul, kinnie, cooper and the rest, i will gladly sign a petition calling for gilmore's job. until that time, i suggest you stick to our actual problems rather than trying to pretend our receivers have sucked for years.

[huskers1]

Thanks for your suggestion! No our wr's havent made plays for years. Our receivers have got six yard stop routes, turned around and fell over. Outside of last year and Purify that is. If you look at any dynamic team in the country they have wr's taking ten yard crossing patterns for 40 yards, four yard curl patterns for 30. My point mainly isn't about the guys we have, but the guys he plays and the positions he puts them in. Why not give Bell more opportunities this year in some fasion, whether that be screens, deep passes, reverses? Why not put Hardy in the position that he did Swift on the crossing routes? He just doesn't put his guys in the best position to make a play. Holt on a jailbreak screen doesn't utilize his 6'4 220 lbs 4.6 forty very well. You'd think putting Bell who is 6'1 190 lbs and probably runs in the 4.4 range would be a better option wouldn't ya? Burn his redshirt then don't use him at what he's best at, now that's good coaching.

[dylan]

Thanks for your suggestion! No our wr's havent made plays for years. Our receivers have got six yard stop routes, turned around and fell over. Outside of last year and Purify that is. If you look at any dynamic team in the country they have wr's taking ten yard crossing patterns for 40 yards, four yard curl patterns for 30. My point mainly isn't about the guys we have, but the guys he plays and the positions he puts them in. Why not give Bell more opportunities this year in some fasion, whether that be screens, deep passes, reverses? Why not put Hardy in the position that he did Swift on the crossing routes? He just doesn't put his guys in the best position to make a play. Holt on a jailbreak screen doesn't utilize his 6'4 220 lbs 4.6 forty very well. You'd think putting Bell who is 6'1 190 lbs and probably runs in the 4.4 range would be a better option wouldn't ya? Burn his redshirt then don't use him at what he's best at, now that's good coaching.

 

gilmore doesn't call the plays. not sure what else you're looking for. you wish our guys were better at breaking tackles or more explosive? me too! not sure what that has to do with gilmore's teaching of receiving technique though.

 

his job is to teach them how to read defenses, run routes, block and catch the ball. it is also his job to sit a player on the bench if he can't or won't do those things.

 

(and fwiw, we've averaged about 13 ypc in the years gilmore's been here. i also think you'd be surprised at the difference between swift and purify's career ypc's.)

[Blackshirtsguru]

He pulled a Gabbert!

[The General]

hey guys ask ND how getting top offensive recruits works out for them... you guys are making a big deal about offensive recruits vs. defensive recruits...were going to be ok...our defense will be top in the nation year after year and our offense will come around...id rather have a mediocre offense and a great defence then the other way around

[Billyball]

hey guys ask ND how getting top offensive recruits works out for them... you guys are making a big deal about offensive recruits vs. defensive recruits...were going to be ok...our defense will be top in the nation year after year and our offense will come around...id rather have a mediocre offense and a great defence then the other way around

 

I hope you are correct. However it seems we are quick to believe that we will have the same defense without some of the great players we had this year. I'm sure Bo is a great defensive coach. On the other hand talent plays a huge part. Suh, Turner and Asante had more collective talent than any 6 players leaving any other team. Those losses will be huge. We, I think will be better than average to good on D, but there is zero reason to believe that we will be the top defense in the nation.

 

Everybody gets all twisted in knots thinking that we are permanently bad on offense after one terrible year. In 08 we were one of the better offenses in the league. Our offensive coaches didn't change. We lost players. As a result we sucked on O.

 

Last year our defense was average to good. This year it was GREAT.

 

Next year, we lose a lot on D. IT WILL NOT BE AS GOOD. Deal with it. Bo is a football coach not the creator.

 

I am still concerned that we have not attracted any playmakers so far in this class--ala Curtis Carter or another QB. For all of the fans now wanting to bash Lil Gabbert as some midget with a great arm; after what I've seen this year, I'd take a one legged midget with a great arm. Everybody thinks we can line up and run the ball against the big 12. I have my doubts. Time will tell. Having all the players back on a team that sucked on offense may of itself make us a better team with the experience. Certainly if helu and Burk can stay healthy (big if for Helu)

 

Oh I hate Misery and all it stands for but it is silly for us to act like we now have a patent on soap and winning one North title out of the last 3 makes us a shoo in from here on is silly. They will be our competiton in the next two or three years. We will have to have an average offense and a better than average defense to dominate the North. It will not be easy at all. Our offense has to settle in on a plan and stick to it. Our recruiting has to improve.