Which was better, our D-line or our DBs?

[NUance]

So who do you think will lead the way at the safety positions when spring ball starts up? I'm thinking PJ Smith & Thenarse. And I think Haag would also do quite well in that role.

Athletically, Thenarse is incredibly gifted. NFL caliber gifted. But the word is, he has problems knowing where to be. Sometimes Rickey gets caught out of position. If Thenarse hit the playbooks during his injury year then he will be the man at FS. If not, well, I don’t think Bo has much patience for guys who don’t know what going on (Hagg could slide over into FS). At SS I think it’s Hagg’s job, assuming Thenarse plays FS, with P.J. Smith nipping at his heels for PT at strong.

[EZ-E]

PJ has one spot locked up. The other is up for grabs. Could be Thenarse, Osborne, or Hagg depending on if they want to move him or not.

[NUance]

PJ has one spot locked up. The other is up for grabs. Could be Thenarse, Osborne, or Hagg depending on if they want to move him or not.

Which spot is PJ's? Was PJ ahead of Hagg at the end of last year?

[ESPY]

PJ has one spot locked up. The other is up for grabs. Could be Thenarse, Osborne, or Hagg depending on if they want to move him or not.

Which spot is PJ's? Was PJ ahead of Hagg at the end of last year?

I believe PJ 2nd string SS behind Asante, while Hagg played DB in dime & nickel sets. Due to that, I'd have to agree with EZ-E. Based on experience at the position, Hagg is behind PJ but also more likely to play DB.

[jnkyrdoff6]

Our secondary WILL be the best in the nation next year no question. They should help out our young DL a ton.

I think we've got some questions at safety.

 

I agree though with the OP. Our DBs did such a good job of coming up and sticking the receiver before they could get any YAC, which is huge against the BIG12 spread.

 

Sure we lost our two starters. But we dont have questions about being able to replace the ones we lost, just who will do it.

 

Bo Pelini's forte is safties and corners. I am not at all worried about finding two servicable safties to play next year.

So who do you think will lead the way at the safety positions when spring ball starts up? I'm thinking PJ Smith & Thenarse. And I think Haag would also do quite well in that role.

It's really a tough call at this point. That's partly why I think it's such a huge question, probably our biggest defensively. It will pry be Eric "Go for the Head" Hagg, and PJ Smith, but I could see one of the corners stepping in and taking PJ Smiths spot. To me it's never really seemed like Thenarse has fit at safety. I could see him playing that Hybrid OLB position next year.

[HuskerTrucker]

Oh sure the D-lineman got all the ink this past season. (That hardly ever happens.) And Suh is all world, all everything. But look at the all-star defensive backfield we had:

 

CB: Prince is a NFL caliber lockdown corner. Heck, Gomes would start in nearly any other B12 backfield.

 

CB: Dennard was a rock solid performer. Rock solid. And only a soph. And playing opposite Prince!

 

FS: O'Hanlon. This is why we have a walk-on program in the first place. So we can find guys like Matty once in a blue moon.

 

SS: Asante. Can you remember a strong safety who can lay the wood better than Asante? Sure, maybe a couple of hits were borderline. Well, that's because ball carriers start sliding about 2 yds earlier when Asante closes in.

 

 

A great defensive backfield helps out the D-line tremendously. And vice versa. Make no mistake, our D-line was GREAT. But our DBs may have been just as good in their own right. Maybe even better. And next year our defensive backfield will be better yet. 10X better.

 

Damn, it sure is funny how times change. At the mid-point in the season, everyone was whining about how O'Hanlon couldn't cover anyone and blew assignments, and Asante was getting stupid penalties for late hits, etc. Between the penalties that Asante got late in the game that extended a drive here or there, and the blown coverages from O'Hanlon that cost us, we lost at least one or two games that we could have won. But then who is to say that anyone else wouldn't have cost us even more, nobody is perfect. I do hate the penalties though...they are a sign of an aggressive player, okay, but then they also are a sign of being undisciplined as a team.

 

In all honesty, even with the flaws that they had, this was one of the best defensive backfields that Nebraska has had in some time....but they don't measure up to the line, mainly because of Crick and Suh being there...it is hard to beat them. I can remember a couple of penalties that Suh got for helmet to helmet, or unnecessary roughness, but if you look at the yards that he personally took away from the opposing team, we could afford to have him take a penalty now and then, especially when some of them seemed pretty petty or bogus, like the officials were shooting for him, or weren't used to someone playing as dominating as he did. This will be Crick's year of opportunity to shine, but last year he was definitely a solid player. Teams quickly found out that if they doubled up or tripled up on Suh, they would pay because Crick would be there instead. Crick will be this year's Suh on defense.

 

I think Nebraska should come up with a defensive award, and name it after Suh...giving it to the most dominating player on the defense each year, I honestly cannot recall when someone has been so dominate on defense as Suh was...though, there were some really great players for Nebraska on the championship teams...NOBODY could dominate and strike fear into opposing QB's like Suh did...just ask McCoy.

[UGAHusker]

Oh sure the D-lineman got all the ink this past season. (That hardly ever happens.) And Suh is all world, all everything. But look at the all-star defensive backfield we had:

 

CB: Prince is a NFL caliber lockdown corner. Heck, Gomes would start in nearly any other B12 backfield.

 

CB: Dennard was a rock solid performer. Rock solid. And only a soph. And playing opposite Prince!

 

FS: O'Hanlon. This is why we have a walk-on program in the first place. So we can find guys like Matty once in a blue moon.

 

SS: Asante. Can you remember a strong safety who can lay the wood better than Asante? Sure, maybe a couple of hits were borderline. Well, that's because ball carriers start sliding about 2 yds earlier when Asante closes in.

 

 

A great defensive backfield helps out the D-line tremendously. And vice versa. Make no mistake, our D-line was GREAT. But our DBs may have been just as good in their own right. Maybe even better. And next year our defensive backfield will be better yet. 10X better.

 

Damn, it sure is funny how times change. At the mid-point in the season, everyone was whining about how O'Hanlon couldn't cover anyone and blew assignments, and Asante was getting stupid penalties for late hits, etc. Between the penalties that Asante got late in the game that extended a drive here or there, and the blown coverages from O'Hanlon that cost us, we lost at least one or two games that we could have won. But then who is to say that anyone else wouldn't have cost us even more, nobody is perfect. I do hate the penalties though...they are a sign of an aggressive player, okay, but then they also are a sign of being undisciplined as a team.

 

In all honesty, even with the flaws that they had, this was one of the best defensive backfields that Nebraska has had in some time....but they don't measure up to the line, mainly because of Crick and Suh being there...it is hard to beat them.

 

It's interesting that you only go so far back as the mid-point of this past season. Think about 2007 with that 115th ranked defense (that included Suh, Turner, and Asante) and what a turnaround was made. Are we even having this discussion if it weren't for Coaches Bo and Carl and their schemes?

[HuskerTrucker]

Oh sure the D-lineman got all the ink this past season. (That hardly ever happens.) And Suh is all world, all everything. But look at the all-star defensive backfield we had:

 

CB: Prince is a NFL caliber lockdown corner. Heck, Gomes would start in nearly any other B12 backfield.

 

CB: Dennard was a rock solid performer. Rock solid. And only a soph. And playing opposite Prince!

 

FS: O'Hanlon. This is why we have a walk-on program in the first place. So we can find guys like Matty once in a blue moon.

 

SS: Asante. Can you remember a strong safety who can lay the wood better than Asante? Sure, maybe a couple of hits were borderline. Well, that's because ball carriers start sliding about 2 yds earlier when Asante closes in.

 

 

A great defensive backfield helps out the D-line tremendously. And vice versa. Make no mistake, our D-line was GREAT. But our DBs may have been just as good in their own right. Maybe even better. And next year our defensive backfield will be better yet. 10X better.

 

Damn, it sure is funny how times change. At the mid-point in the season, everyone was whining about how O'Hanlon couldn't cover anyone and blew assignments, and Asante was getting stupid penalties for late hits, etc. Between the penalties that Asante got late in the game that extended a drive here or there, and the blown coverages from O'Hanlon that cost us, we lost at least one or two games that we could have won. But then who is to say that anyone else wouldn't have cost us even more, nobody is perfect. I do hate the penalties though...they are a sign of an aggressive player, okay, but then they also are a sign of being undisciplined as a team.

 

In all honesty, even with the flaws that they had, this was one of the best defensive backfields that Nebraska has had in some time....but they don't measure up to the line, mainly because of Crick and Suh being there...it is hard to beat them.

 

It's interesting that you only go so far back as the mid-point of this past season. Think about 2007 with that 115th ranked defense (that included Suh, Turner, and Asante) and what a turnaround was made. Are we even having this discussion if it weren't for Coaches Bo and Carl and their schemes?

 

The original post referred to this past season. But you are very correct. Bo and Carl did work their magic with this defense.

[bshirt]

Oh sure the D-lineman got all the ink this past season. (That hardly ever happens.) And Suh is all world, all everything. But look at the all-star defensive backfield we had:

 

CB: Prince is a NFL caliber lockdown corner. Heck, Gomes would start in nearly any other B12 backfield.

 

CB: Dennard was a rock solid performer. Rock solid. And only a soph. And playing opposite Prince!

 

FS: O'Hanlon. This is why we have a walk-on program in the first place. So we can find guys like Matty once in a blue moon.

 

SS: Asante. Can you remember a strong safety who can lay the wood better than Asante? Sure, maybe a couple of hits were borderline. Well, that's because ball carriers start sliding about 2 yds earlier when Asante closes in.

 

 

A great defensive backfield helps out the D-line tremendously. And vice versa. Make no mistake, our D-line was GREAT. But our DBs may have been just as good in their own right. Maybe even better. And next year our defensive backfield will be better yet. 10X better.

 

Damn, it sure is funny how times change. At the mid-point in the season, everyone was whining about how O'Hanlon couldn't cover anyone and blew assignments, and Asante was getting stupid penalties for late hits, etc. Between the penalties that Asante got late in the game that extended a drive here or there, and the blown coverages from O'Hanlon that cost us, we lost at least one or two games that we could have won. But then who is to say that anyone else wouldn't have cost us even more, nobody is perfect. I do hate the penalties though...they are a sign of an aggressive player, okay, but then they also are a sign of being undisciplined as a team.

 

In all honesty, even with the flaws that they had, this was one of the best defensive backfields that Nebraska has had in some time....but they don't measure up to the line, mainly because of Crick and Suh being there...it is hard to beat them.

 

It's interesting that you only go so far back as the mid-point of this past season. Think about 2007 with that 115th ranked defense (that included Suh, Turner, and Asante) and what a turnaround was made. Are we even having this discussion if it weren't for Coaches Bo and Carl and their schemes?

 

100% agreed.

 

In Bo we have arguably the "best" cfb DC. He's just really that good. The difference between him and Coz is the Grand Canyon to say the very least. The guy is the defensive equivelent of TO in his prime. Yes, even better than McBride.

 

The really, really amazing thing is that just as he says, our defense will improve over the vicious blackshirts we had last year. Wow!

 

The talent has always been there, it's just the difference is coaching.

 

Now, if we can just get someone 10% his caliber on the offense.....

[808Husker in KCMO]

I'm 99% sure that the effectiveness of our secondary is based on scheme and coaching. It seems to me that our secondary play is designed to stopped the offenses that we face. It has everything to do with pre-snap reads and immediate reaction. Our guys are great at that. I'm not sure that means our guys are extremely talented.

[ESPY]

I'm 99% sure that the effectiveness of our secondary is based on scheme and coaching. It seems to me that our secondary play is designed to stopped the offenses that we face. It has everything to do with pre-snap reads and immediate reaction. Our guys are great at that. I'm not sure that means our guys are extremely talented.

You're right. Our guys are extremely talented AND intelligent.

[nillie welson]

I'm 99% sure that the effectiveness of our secondary is based on scheme and coaching. It seems to me that our secondary play is designed to stopped the offenses that we face. It has everything to do with pre-snap reads and immediate reaction. Our guys are great at that. I'm not sure that means our guys are extremely talented.

 

Whoa Debbie Downer up there. Why so gloom and doom? Who poo poo'd in the coffee?

 

Prince, Dennard, Smith, Gomes - these kids are getting talked about by the league because they ARE talented. Not calling them the GOAT's, but still very talented.

 

I'm smart, but even if I studied these defenses for a year non-stop I'm not making any of these plays (and neither are 99% of us on this board).... Just saying.

[carlfense]

How great is it that 2 years removed from Cosgrove we can argue who is BETTER (as in potentially best in the country) instead of who is WORSE?

[junior4949]

I'd say that any of our defensive players that get drafted owe at least a couple rounds or more to Bo and Carl. Does anyone really believe Suh ever becomes the player he did under Cosgrove? I'd guess him to be a 3rd to 4th rounder without their coaching.

[billdozer15]

I dont think there is any doubt that the D-line is what made our secondary so good. In football everything starts up front. With a great D-line it makes everyone elses job easier. Without a good push the secondary is left out to dry because eventually someone will get open. Also with the Dline we had, we didnt have to blitz which allowed everyone else to remain in position. Suh often took on 2 lineman and in some cases 3, which made it like playing 11 on 8/9. Our DB's were good but they looked great because of Suh and Co.