Shatel: Omahans get quality time with a quality guy

[Nexus]

 

My opinion of Washington quarterback Jake Locker changed during the weekend. I now have more respect for him.

 

An hour or so after the worst game of his career, on a day when the kid's Heisman Trophy and NFL draft status took major hits, Locker showed class and sportsmanship under a different kind of pressure. The story comes from a friend of mine from Omaha, Dave Hickey, who sent me an e-mail on Sunday about an encounter he and his wife, Ann, had with Locker after the game on Saturday. Hickey also sent a photo of Locker posing with him and Ann.

 

"We met Scott Locker (Jake's dad) on the sidewalk when we were walking back to our hotel after the game,'' Hickey wrote. "We struck up a conversation with him while we were walking (not having any idea who he was). Before you knew it, he invited us to his family's tailgate party after the game, where we met Jake, his family and quite a few friends and relatives from his hometown.

 

"We spent two hours with them. Great people! Jake was a very gracious young man and had wonderful things to say about our team and fans.''

 

• It doesn't matter who voted NU No. 1 in the coaches' poll. The big news is the actual vote. The perception is changing quickly. Same with the Big 12. David Ubben, ESPN.com's Big 12 blogger, has Nebraska No. 3 in his Big 12 rankings behind Oklahoma and Texas but said he would have no problem putting NU at No. 1 in the league. The Huskers are being grouped with OU and Texas at the top, and that's the first I can remember of that in a long time.

 

• The Fiesta Bowl's "Team of the Week'' was Arizona, but the Glendale, Ariz., bowl is very bullish on Nebraska. The bowl had two reps in Seattle, and both met with Bo Pelini after the game. The sight of 20,000 Husker fans did absolutely nothing to harm NU's image in the major bowl's eyes. In this economy, bowls are looking hard for schools that travel. Husker fans still deliver in bigger ways than anyone else.

 

• The unsung star of Nebraska's game, if there is such a thing, was center Mike Caputo. Not only did he lead an old-fashioned scorched earth demonstration by the offensive line, he was impressive in executing the shotgun snap in an environment in which Caputo couldn't hear a word from Taylor Martinez. Very well done, sir. Caputo is becoming a big-time center, in the grand Nebraska tradition, before our eyes.

 

• Penn State's announcement that it is adding men's ice hockey (with an $88 million private gift!) will hasten the formation of a Big Ten hockey conference. Don't sweat it, UNO fans. The WCHA, even without Minnesota and Wisconsin, is still very good — thanks in part to the addition of the Mavs. And rivalries with North Dakota and Denver will be intact. The CCHA could be in trouble — especially if Notre Dame would consider joining Big Ten hockey. Don't know if Trev Alberts knew that this was on the horizon, but the move looks better all the time. By the way, Trev, you know anyone with $88 million?

 

• The latest poll from heismanpundit.com has Taylor Martinez rated No. 9. I'm not sure what that means, but it sounds good.

 

• Some interesting observations from ESPN football scouting guru Todd McShay:

 

1. McShay said Martinez's passing accuracy surprised him the most on Saturday and said NU's staff "is doing a nice job of limiting his reads (typically half the field or high-low) and the types of throws he makes (mostly short-to-intermediate routes), but Martinez deserves credit for making good decisions.''

 

2. He lauds Texas' secondary and says, "If there is a better secondary in college football today, I have not seen it play.'' And McShay broke down the NU-Washington tape. Guess we'll see about that in a month.

 

3. He said nine of Locker's 16 incompletions on Saturday "were a result of poor pass protection and/or his receivers' failure to get open. However, Locker was squarely to blame'' for the other misses, "which ranged from errant throws to poor field vision to terrible decisions under pressure.'' Obviously, Nebraska's secondary has some more work to do to impress McShay.

 

• The NCAA should suspend Tennessee basketball coach Bruce Pearl for a season. Former Oklahoma State receiver Dez Bryant lied to the NCAA and missed a year. The same standard should be held for coaches, if not a stronger standard. Arguably, they are the adults here.

 

• Isn't it about time for Kansas State and Iowa State to take their backyard barbecue back to their backyards? They could draw 38,000 at home. Or more.

 

• Which one is the bigger event: the Nighthawks' opener on Friday night or the Nebraska-South Dakota State game on Saturday night?

 

• The Nighthawks are expecting well over 20,000 for their franchise debut, and that includes Nelly doing his thing at halftime. The Nighthawks' front office deserves a lot of credit for pushing the right buttons. But apparently this is not just an Omaha thing. The Hartford Colonials drew a UFL-record 14,384 for their opener against Daunte Culpepper and the Sacramento Mountain Lions last week. And coach/General Manager Chris Palmer afterward sounded disappointed.

 

And while Omaha has star power, one of the 14,384 at Hartford was Oscar-winning actor Denzel Washington, whose son John David plays for Sacramento. "Remember the Mountain Lions'' doesn't have the same ring to it.

 

LINK

[kansas husker]

• The unsung star of Nebraska's game, if there is such a thing, was center Mike Caputo. Not only did he lead an old-fashioned scorched earth demonstration by the offensive line, he was impressive in executing the shotgun snap in an environment in which Caputo couldn't hear a word from Taylor Martinez. Very well done, sir. Caputo is becoming a big-time center, in the grand Nebraska tradition, before our eyes.

This is very refreshing to hear.

[suh_fan93]

 

My opinion of Washington quarterback Jake Locker changed during the weekend. I now have more respect for him.

 

An hour or so after the worst game of his career, on a day when the kid's Heisman Trophy and NFL draft status took major hits, Locker showed class and sportsmanship under a different kind of pressure. The story comes from a friend of mine from Omaha, Dave Hickey, who sent me an e-mail on Sunday about an encounter he and his wife, Ann, had with Locker after the game on Saturday. Hickey also sent a photo of Locker posing with him and Ann.

 

"We met Scott Locker (Jake's dad) on the sidewalk when we were walking back to our hotel after the game,'' Hickey wrote. "We struck up a conversation with him while we were walking (not having any idea who he was). Before you knew it, he invited us to his family's tailgate party after the game, where we met Jake, his family and quite a few friends and relatives from his hometown.

 

"We spent two hours with them. Great people! Jake was a very gracious young man and had wonderful things to say about our team and fans.''

 

Todd McShay....

 

2. He lauds Texas' secondary and says, "If there is a better secondary in college football today, I have not seen it play.'' And McShay broke down the NU-Washington tape. Guess we'll see about that in a month.

 

3. He said nine of Locker's 16 incompletions on Saturday "were a result of poor pass protection and/or his receivers' failure to get open. However, Locker was squarely to blame'' for the other misses, "which ranged from errant throws to poor field vision to terrible decisions under pressure.'' Obviously, Nebraska's secondary has some more work to do to impress McShay.

LINK

Jake Locker sounds like a classy guy. What a great story. On the flip side Todd McShay is still a complete moron.

[Hercules]

• Some interesting observations from ESPN football scouting guru Todd McShay:

 

1. McShay said Martinez's passing accuracy surprised him the most on Saturday and said NU's staff "is doing a nice job of limiting his reads (typically half the field or high-low) and the types of throws he makes (mostly short-to-intermediate routes), but Martinez deserves credit for making good decisions.''

 

2. He lauds Texas' secondary and says, "If there is a better secondary in college football today, I have not seen it play.'' And McShay broke down the NU-Washington tape. Guess we'll see about that in a month.

3. He said nine of Locker's 16 incompletions on Saturday "were a result of poor pass protection and/or his receivers' failure to get open. However, Locker was squarely to blame'' for the other misses, "which ranged from errant throws to poor field vision to terrible decisions under pressure.'' Obviously, Nebraska's secondary has some more work to do to impress McShay.

 

LINK

 

Post this in the locker room, Bo.