Husker WR Renaissance?

[knapplc]

More than X's, O's for Husker receivers

By Sam McKewon

 

LINCOLN — Johnny Rodgers and Irving Fryar aside, receiver has been a relatively thankless job in Nebraska football history. More grit than glory. More blocks than big plays. But, to the casual Husker fan, it's also been a pretty blameless role.

 

Until 2009, when Menelik Holt couldn't secure a sure touchdown pass in a 16-15 loss at Virginia Tech. And two bizarre fumbles by Niles Paul hurt the Huskers in losses to Texas Tech and Iowa State.

 

Or 2010, when drops by just about every guy in red helped Texas pull a 20-13 upset.

 

"The receivers have always been on the butt-end of things," said Brandon Kinnie, entering his third year at NU. "It's always been like it's the fault of the receivers. I ... took that to heart."

 

Said junior slot receiver Tim Marlowe: "We haven't been the strongest crew. We've had some good players, but we haven't shown up in some of the bigger games. We're taking it upon ourselves to be the difference-makers."

 

So is new receivers coach Rich Fisher, who drills this mantra into his troops: Don't be the reason we lose. Be the reason we win. Make plays.

 

Lots more at the link, including who's been lining up where, and some of the difficulties of transitioning between Watson's vision of the passing game and Beck's.

[BIG ERN]

Good to hear. I expect big things out of Kinnie & the crew.

[Hunter94]

Kinnie and Reed are the only pass catchers we have at the moment, hopefully Turner can step up right away......but we got to get the ball to them first with some consistency.

[HuskerInLostWages]

It sounds nice in theory, but until a receiver can step up and consistently catch the god damn mother friggin ball, i'm not buying into it. Hopefully we can get some consistency out of our receivers this year because we haven't had any of that since Swift and Purify left. If we can't catch the ball the defenses will key in on the run and we'll have a lovely bunch of 3 and outs.

[The Dude]

Man, I forgot about all about Menelik Holt... already.

[Husker_x]

Unfortunately my impression of the receiving corps from last year is guys who bitch about never getting their hands on the ball, but in clutch moments against big teams, they dropped it all over the turf. Along with the O-line, this position needs an upgrade in productivity fast.

[Hunter94]

Unfortunately my impression of the receiving corps from last year is guys who bitch about never getting their hands on the ball, but in clutch moments against big teams, they dropped it all over the turf. Along with the O-line, this position needs an upgrade in productivity fast.

 

 

agreed and if the receivers and O line repeat last year's inconsistency, it's going to turn out ugly. how quick we forget....

[n.e.husker]

In coordinator Tim Beck's offense, there should be many open wide receivers, too. But a quarterback must see what the receiver sees, anticipate the route adjustment and throw accordingly.

 

This will show taylors progression from last year.

 

Edit... and i continued reading

But Fisher — at least in pre-practice drills — teaches receivers how to adjust their routes based on a defense's alignment and drops. It's easier for receivers. But it's only easier for quarterbacks if they can intuit what the receivers are doing.

[okaive]

That last quote scares me.

[Husker Richard]

That last quote scares me.

 

 

Ya.... sounds like the chances of interceptions will greatly increase.

[gbr93]

I have a feeling that SJB is gonna step up big time this year and we will have a nice three-some (pun intended) with him Kinnie and Turner.

[Husker from Kansas]

the thing i like about all this is the attitude that the coaches are instilling in these kids,and that they are taking the time to really teach the players the offense and how to give themselves the best oppurtunities to make plays. i think that if the qb and wrs can get on the same page the passing game will be alot more dangerous then it has been in sometime

[mnhusker]

I hope Taylor and the recievers have good chemestry but I also hope we have a kick a$$ running game so when the D does cheat we have a QB good enough to exploit a defense keying on the run.

[Haspula]

We definitely need a better receiving crew than last year.

[Hercules]

That last quote scares me.

 

 

Ya.... sounds like the chances of interceptions will greatly increase.

 

It should decrease. Receivers will have more freedom to get open, their routes will be less predictable and harder to read for DBs, and Taylor doesn't have to worry about precision-timing throws, which he was never great at.