Walk-On Program

[AFhusker]

Thorell was put in many bad situation by the coaches yesterday. He was stuck on some match-ups that he had no chance of winning, yet the coaches repeatedly did it. Also, our four man rush, which we again never changed, was getting no pressure on the NW QB's. You can't expect Thorell, Cassidy, Dennard, Green, or anybody on this planet to cover WR's for 20 seconds. Their QB's had all damn day! What's sad is that our defensive line doesn't even pin their ears back and heavy rush the QB. They play contain, and as you can see, they didn't contain a damn thing. We hardly blitzed and when we did, I have to say I thought they were some very poorly designed blitzes.

 

I know it's not the case, but it looked like the coaches thought we could just get by this game and didn't plan for what NW was capable of doing. Minny was the only team on our conference schedule that we could do that and get away with it and we did. The week before the Minny game we were practicing for MSU and it showed in our game plan for MSU. I don't think that happened this time, but the way they preformed it surely looked like an unprepared team.

[MLB 51]

I personally don't have any problems with the walk-on program. Right now we have several player's out with injuries and not enough schollie players to fill in, without burning more red shirt's, and putting guy's on the field that just aren't ready.

 

I don't think anyone has a problem with it per say, it's the fact that the coaches seem to rely on it when they should be putting scholarship players available to play instead. That was on of Frank's problems was that he relied on it way too much and handed out undeserving scholarships to players since they had extra because he didn't recruit enough players to fill out the roster. Now it seems as if Bo is making the same mistake and you are seeing the result of having to play those guys as it was stated above. There is nothing wrong with a kid working his tail off and earning a scholarship, but that should be the exception, not the norm.

I just don't think we have any scholarship player's available. we are pretty thin on D right now with all the injuries.

[gobiggergoredder]

Thorell was put in many bad situation by the coaches yesterday. He was stuck on some match-ups that he had no chance of winning, yet the coaches repeatedly did it. Also, our four man rush, which we again never changed, was getting no pressure on the NW QB's. You can't expect Thorell, Cassidy, Dennard, Green, or anybody on this planet to cover WR's for 20 seconds. Their QB's had all damn day! What's sad is that our defensive line doesn't even pin their ears back and heavy rush the QB. They play contain, and as you can see, they didn't contain a damn thing. We hardly blitzed and when we did, I have to say I thought they were some very poorly designed blitzes.

 

 

This is what everyone should be concerned about. Thorell has be getting better all year. He played outstanding against Sparty. He didn't duplicate that performance against NW, but he didn't play that bad. He's turning into a fairly reliable (I know he misses a few still) tackler which this defense needs desperately.

[NoLongerN]

Ya, our walk-on program is not where we would want it to be. If I understand the timetable correctly, the program took a big hit under the previous coach and it really is just starting to have some inroads with the new coach. My guess is that this program ... just as in our scholarship recruiting ... is just starting to see the impact now from the coaching change to Bo. So ya, I'm as frustrated as the next guy with the walk-on program ... but it's takes time to get the pipelines going again.

 

My bigger point is that it's a loss like Northwestern that starts a post like this. To me, we didn't lose this game because of our walk-on program.

[AFhusker]

Ya, our walk-on program is not where we would want it to be. If I understand the timetable correctly, the program took a big hit under the previous coach and it really is just starting to have some inroads with the new coach. My guess is that this program ... just as in our scholarship recruiting ... is just starting to see the impact now from the coaching change to Bo. So ya, I'm as frustrated as the next guy with the walk-on program ... but it's takes time to get the pipelines going again.

 

My bigger point is that it's a loss like Northwestern that starts a post like this. To me, we didn't lose this game because of our walk-on program.

 

The program was cut under Frank due to new rules (at the time) of limiting graduate assistants. So the resources needed were not there to support a TO style walk on program anymore. So it wasn't one coach that killed it, thank the NCAA for that one. Besides walk on's don't' win anything for you anyway. It's such an overrated program. There is a reason they are called walk ons, it's because they don't have the god given talent to get a scholarship in the first place. Some can improve with hard work and a great work ethic, but if you are relying on them to win games for you, then you are in trouble.

[AFhusker]

Thorell was put in many bad situation by the coaches yesterday. He was stuck on some match-ups that he had no chance of winning, yet the coaches repeatedly did it. Also, our four man rush, which we again never changed, was getting no pressure on the NW QB's. You can't expect Thorell, Cassidy, Dennard, Green, or anybody on this planet to cover WR's for 20 seconds. Their QB's had all damn day! What's sad is that our defensive line doesn't even pin their ears back and heavy rush the QB. They play contain, and as you can see, they didn't contain a damn thing. We hardly blitzed and when we did, I have to say I thought they were some very poorly designed blitzes.

 

 

This is what everyone should be concerned about. Thorell has be getting better all year. He played outstanding against Sparty. He didn't duplicate that performance against NW, but he didn't play that bad. He's turning into a fairly reliable (I know he misses a few still) tackler which this defense needs desperately.

 

This just goes to show how bad our recruiting has been and you are right about how this further proves why everyone should be concerned.

[Peoriahusker]

I personally don't have any problems with the walk-on program. Right now we have several player's out with injuries and not enough schollie players to fill in, without burning more red shirt's, and putting guy's on the field that just aren't ready.

 

I don't think anyone has a problem with it per say, it's the fact that the coaches seem to rely on it when they should be putting scholarship players available to play instead. That was on of Frank's problems was that he relied on it way too much and handed out undeserving scholarships to players since they had extra because he didn't recruit enough players to fill out the roster. Now it seems as if Bo is making the same mistake and you are seeing the result of having to play those guys as it was stated above. There is nothing wrong with a kid working his tail off and earning a scholarship, but that should be the exception, not the norm.

I just don't think we have any scholarship player's available. we are pretty thin on D right now with all the injuries.

 

 

Didn't I hear before the season that this was the deepest we've been on d?

[truhusker85]

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[Husker Richard]

I hate to single guys out but players like Thorell and Blatchford have no business starting for a division 1 defense. -

 

This is fine, its your opinion. Yet I fail to see the connection between them not performing on the field and them being a walkon the reason for it. How many star recruits have we brought to Lincoln in the last few years only to see them turn out to be a flop?? Your thinking is reminiscent of the Callahan days where he looked at walkons as the lowly scum on the team that gets in the way. It seems everyone needs a scapegoat when times are bad, and walkons make an easy target. There was a man who lived in Germany in the 1940s that thought this way......

 

-They are walk-ons. They obviously have less talent than scholarship players, otherwise they'd have a scholarship. Pretty obvious there.

 

 

Take a look at those top defenses and let me know how many small-town Nebraska guys are starting in their secondary. Heck, forget being from Nebraska, how many walk-ons are starting period?-

 

EVERY TEAM HAS A WALK-ON PROGRAM!!! Do you watch any CFB games on Saturdays other than Neb? We arent the only team with walkons playing. Do we have more than others? Sure. Though we are one of the smallest Div1 schools in the country, and I believe it is due to the walkons that we have been able to compete at this level so successfully.

 

-Find me one in the top 25 with 2-3 walk-ons starting on their defense.

 

I've noticed that Bo likes to throw some of the walk-ons on special teams just to get them playing time.- I seriously doubt this. If theyre playing on the field, theyve earned my respect and Im confident they earned Bos and thats why they are where they are. You care to point out the players on special teams that are bringing the team down for the fact they are walkons? I need names with accusations, or the accusation is baseless.

 

-Jim Ebke

 

We have to adjust to the new landscape of college football- So this has more to do with the status of a player and how he got there, than it has to do with systems and styles, coaching, and the plays called?? Teams have always found athletes in unconventional ways such as through JUCOs and the use of walkons. Talent is talent, no matter where the coaches find it.

 

-I agree talent is talent regardless of where it's from. Thorell and Blatchford have no talent.

 

There's a reason these guys have to walk-on-

 

Do you know how fiercely competitive it is to get an athletic scholarship? Not just Div1, but to play for any team? And alot of walkons DID get offers, just to other schools. Matt OHanlon had an offer to play for South Dakota, but he decided to walkon to Nebraska instead. Why? Because hes a Nebraska boy who didnt want to play anywhere else. You also fail to understand how much of the walkon talent comes from the smaller schools in the state. We have 8man football and C-level schools that house some of the biggest farmboys Ive ever seen, real tough suckers. Chock full of talent and ability, the only reason you dont see them touted on Rivals is lack of exposure. Mackovicka walked on from a small school in Brainard. Nobody is about to badmouth what that guy did for our team. Alex Henery was a soccer player who turned down a scholarship to Creighton University to try out for Nebraska and became arguably the best kicker our team has ever seen. Such selfless acts, all of them . These are the guys that make our walkon program so special, we have such a love for our team that other states cant even begin to compare.

 

-Once again, someone comes up with the exception, Makovicka, that was the 90's. I already said that times have changed. For every great, amazing walk-on, there's 10 that suck. Currently, we are relying on those that suck to play defense for us. O'hanlon's scholarship to USD just proves my point. The talent level at a school like that is far below the level we should be getting.

 

 

Are there walkons who suck and cant play? Absolutely. Are there 4 star recruits that turn out to be duds? You bet. Im ticked off still from yesterday and I understand everyone trying to figure out what the heck is going wrong. There are BIG issues with our program and a ton of holes to be filled. There is an obvious lack of talent at several positions. But what I seen yesterday was not lack of talent - Our team just didnt show up to play. Period. End of story.

 

-Problem is, the walk-ons who suck are the ones that are starting.

 

 

 

 

Whoever said that Thorell was put into bad situations by the coaches is partly right, partly wrong. Any matchup he's in is a bad situation.

[truhusker85]

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[The Dude]

Where was this thread when our walk-ons were helping mush Michigan State into the dirt?

[Husker Richard]

Where was this thread when our walk-ons were helping mush Michigan State into the dirt?

 

Thorell had an INT. Good for him. Did they do anything else?

 

Where was this thread when Blatchford was the worst player on the field?

[Husker Richard]

truhusker, please indicate where I stated (other than special teams, which was speculative) that Bo starts walk-ons because they are walk-ons?

 

You didn't see heart or leadership from Martinez yesterday? I certainly did. He was about the only one displaying either.

 

I'm not badmouthing walk-ons. I'm just frustrated because IMO we should be fielding elite units on both sides of the ball. We are a big name program and we should have no problem recruiting the type of talent that will allow us to compete with the best of the best. Whether walk-ons fit into that picture remains to be seen, but currently they are some of the worst players we have on the field.

[HuskerCarter]

I personally don't have any problems with the walk-on program. Right now we have several player's out with injuries and not enough schollie players to fill in, without burning more red shirt's, and putting guy's on the field that just aren't ready.

 

I don't think anyone has a problem with it per say, it's the fact that the coaches seem to rely on it when they should be putting scholarship players available to play instead. That was on of Frank's problems was that he relied on it way too much and handed out undeserving scholarships to players since they had extra because he didn't recruit enough players to fill out the roster. Now it seems as if Bo is making the same mistake and you are seeing the result of having to play those guys as it was stated above. There is nothing wrong with a kid working his tail off and earning a scholarship, but that should be the exception, not the norm.

I just don't think we have any scholarship player's available. we are pretty thin on D right now with all the injuries.

 

 

Didn't I hear before the season that this was the deepest we've been on d?

Doesn'y help when you have 4 DT injured. Crick, Rome, Randle, and Moore.

[SECHusker]

I don't think we make it to the next level with the current walk-on program. Thorell, Blatchford, or Cassidy would not be able to compete against LSU, Bama, Oregon, and a host of other programs. I admire them for courage and participation, but its time we start developing the talent we recruited.

 

We have a host of scholarship players that don't see the field or see the field only on special teams.

 

-D.Washington

-A. Bell

-B. Thompson

-the Osbournes'

-E. Martin (until this season)

-M. Kreikmeier

-C. Okafor

-A. Whaley

-N. Ash

-J.T Kerr

-C.J Zimmerer

 

Something needs to be said as to why these guys don't see the field, and cannot beat out walk-ons.