The LB thread(2012)

[BLEED4BLACKSHIRTS]

Whaley, Compton, and Fisher will start the first game.

Anderson, Roach, and Santos are the first subs.

 

If Fisher starts next year I'll eat my hat

He might. He could be this year's version of Thorellford.

 

The thought makes me sick to my stomach

Perhaps you need a tastier & more digestible hat?

 

http://www.coveryour...cheese-hat.jpeg

 

That might be a lil better

[1HuskrFan]

Whaley, Compton, and Fisher will start the first game.

Anderson, Roach, and Santos are the first subs.

There is a huge gap in LB between next year's seniors and our recruits. Almost nobody on the roster except Santos and a couple of walkons. Maybe not the best planning on our part to be short-handed like that.

 

If Fisher starts, then our backers are really weak, Fish showed great promise, but since the injury he hasn't been the same. It happens sometimes to great athletes. It's just gone

 

Compton in the middle,

Anderson/Santos on the edges,that's my story and I'm sticking to it. GBR

[robsker]

Whaley, Compton, and Fisher will start the first game.

Anderson, Roach, and Santos are the first subs.

There is a huge gap in LB between next year's seniors and our recruits. Almost nobody on the roster except Santos and a couple of walkons. Maybe not the best planning on our part to be short-handed like that.

 

If Fisher starts, then our backers are really weak, Fish showed great promise, but since the injury he hasn't been the same. It happens sometimes to great athletes. It's just gone

 

Compton in the middle,

Anderson/Santos on the edges,that's my story and I'm sticking to it. GBR

 

 

I would agree... though I do wonder how Corey Cooper will do as an OLB --- he could make an impact too. Thoughts? Do you think he can contribute there?

 

Cooper at LB and Heard at CB are the "athlete" moves to new positions. This being a LB thread, how about the odds of Cooper making an impact?

[zoogs]

I'm not worried about the gap. LB is one position I feel really good about. Whaley, Compton, Fisher -- none of them have proved a lot. Fisher has had it tough as a 'tweener and with a bad injury. Compton is solid, and Whaley has been growing into his role. I'm really excited about the incomers and what they will do this year and beyond -- Santos, Anderson, Rose. I think we've recruited really well here and have extra bodies on top of the quality.

[HuskerShark]

Starting 3: Compton, Whaley, and Santos.

 

Hopefully we get a couple of the new recruits to step in to backup roles.

[True2tRA]

Whaley, Compton, and Fisher will start the first game.

Anderson, Roach, and Santos are the first subs.

 

If Fisher starts next year I'll eat my hat

I'm cheering Fisher on even harder now. Standard baseball cap or stocking cap? Please post the vid for all to see. If nobody else has a problem with it, I think some A1 or Heinz 57 sauce would be fair to help you out a bit.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtH9fvGMPQM

[Nexus]

J. Williams wasn't very big either but was a sensational LB for us. Hard to believe we had him "and" Farley at the same time. Wow....those two were terrific.

Good points. Some of our greatest LBs over the years have basically been converted safeties. Size-wise, anyway.

 

To give this some context, those guys were recruited around the time after Osborne & McBride spent a weekend in Tallahassee with Bobby Bowden & Mickey Andrews in early 90s. Their advice prompted them to recruit speedy athletic types on defense. Hence the smaller size.

[Huskerlambs]

I still think that the three seniors will start the first game, but if Anderson or Santos take over during the season, great - just as long as we redshirt the true freshmen, so as to not waste a year, like we did with Tyler Moore.

[1HuskrFan]

Who do you guys and girls see filling into the spot left by Lavonte? Not just his play making abilities, but his leadership and production.

 

Who will suprise us all and grab a starting job? Whaley,Anderson, Santos, one of the freshmen?

 

http://huskerextra.c...f5944e6280.html

"But what we look for is that special kid who has that flash across the screen where all of a sudden you go, 'Oh, my goodness, who was that?' Or that kid that when the offensive lineman climbs to block him he's unblockable because he just has such good feet and such good instincts."

David certainly had that special combination. Listed at 6-foot-1 and 225 pounds last season, he recorded 133 tackles, and was the Big Ten linebacker of the year and a Butkus Award finalist.

Good luck replacing him, right?

There's no denying that No. 4, who merged ability with want-to as well as about any Husker defender has, will be missed.

Yet ask Els what he thinks about the year that awaits him as Nebraska linebackers coach.

"I can't wait, to be honest with you."

Els said he's excited about Will Compton, the senior-to-be who came on strong the second half of last season, and is now a veteran at running the show at middle linebacker.

Then there's the competition at the other linebacker spots. It figures to be wide-open, involving everyone from seniors such as Sean Fisher and Alonzo Whaley to incoming recruits such as Zaire Anderson, Michael Rose, Jared Afalava and Thomas Brown. (Note the listed sizes on all of those recruits: Rose the biggest at 230 pounds, then Anderson at 220, Afalava at 215 and Brown at 210).

 

I know its early and we dont have them all on campus yet, but it is the offseason and its fun to share our opinions and always agree with eachother

 

 

many of our backers are too small.......they will get pushed around.

 

Funny thing happened on the way to the office, I just realized the 94 NC were to small to play LB and got pushed around. Listed below is the 94 rosters including all LB and a few that played different positions.

I wouldn't mind having a repeat of that year, It's not the LB's as much as the DE that have fallen short. We have a great stable of young fast LB's If we can develop of couple of great DE's to go along with the talent in the Secondary and LB, we could approach that nasty D everyone wants, Be sure you know what your talking about before entering your opinions. It only makes you appear foolish. Talking without thinking. GBR

Alexander, Leonard MLB 6-1 235 Detroit, MI

 

Arnold, Larry OLB 6-4 220 Copley, OH

Brown, Clint SLB 6-1 215 Arlington, NE

Brummond, Darren LB 6-2 210 Englewood, CO

Colman, Doug MLB 6-3 240 Ventnor, NJ

Dumas, Troy SLB 6-4 220 Cheyenne, WY

Ellis, Phil MLB 6-2 225 Grand Island, NE

Fisher, Jason SLB 6-1 220 Antioch, TN

Foreman, Jay DB/Rec. 6-3 195 Eden Prairie, MN (LB)

Gard, Sean OLB 5-11 205 Omaha, NE

Hardin, Luther OLB 6-2 230 O'Fallon, IL

Harris, Dwayne OLB 6-2 225 Bessemer, AL

Hesse, Jon MLB 6-4 225 Lincoln, NE

Higman, Jerad OLB 6-1 230 Akron, IA

Hogrefe, Quint LB 5-1 185 Auburn, NE

Hunting, Matt WLB 6-3 210 Cozad, NE

Jones, Donta OLB 6-2 220 LaPlata, MD

Leece, Charlie LB 6-0 210 Grand Island, NE

Macken, Casey LB 6-0 205 Cozad, NE

Martin, John OLB 6-2 245 Wahoo, NE

Miller, Bryce OLB 6-5 210 Elmwood, NE

Mitchell, Ian WLB 5-11 190 Lincoln, NE

Morrow, Ed OLB 6-4 230 Ferguson, MO

Noster, Sean SLB 6-3 215 San Antonio, TX

Olsen, Jeff OLB 6-2 210 Grant, NE

Penland, Aaron WLB 6-1 215 Jacksonville, FL

Rucker, Mike LB 6-6 225 St. Joseph, MO (DE)

Sakalosky, Jeff MLB 5-11 210 Omaha, NE

Skoda, Adam MLB 6-1 225 Lincoln, NE

Stephens, Justin MLB 6-1 230 Palmetto, FL

Stewart, Ed WLB 6-1 215 Chicago, IL

Terwilliger, Ryan WLB 6-5 220 Grant, NE

Tessendorf, Ross OL/LB 6-3 235 Columbus, NE

 

 

 

 

Toline, Travis LB 6-4 220 Wahoo, NE

Tomich, Jared OLB 6-2 250 St. John, IN (DE)

Winder, Shalis OLB 6-4 220 Scottsbluff, NE

Winstrom, Grant LB 6-5 230 Webb City, MO (DE)

[Danny Bateman]

Five bucks if B4BS eats a fedora like the Bobfather is rockin above ^^^^^

 

Our LB class this year was just outstanding. I know they haven't even played a down yet and a lot of recruits never pan out but come on:

 

Rose: Without a question our most vocal recruit this year and already a leader for his peers. Leadership is a big attribute for any player, but especially at LB, which is the QB of the defense. Specifically if he's going to be playing MIKE and calling plays. Beyond the off the field stuff, his onfield play was ridiculous. Tip that led to a pick and a pick himself in the UA all-american game. Haven't watched his film yet, but will probably go do that soon. But he was wanted by about every major institution in the nation and ended up turning away some big names-- USC and OSU IIRC.

 

Anderson: Had one hell of a year out west for his JUCO. Was reportedly a team leader and if you watch the tape just a play-making machine. Our last JUCO LB turned out ok... We shall see how this one turns out. If he's somehow finds a way to duplicate David's early insertion into a starting role and be half as productive-- we'll take it.

 

Afalava: Was so pleasently surprised to pull him in. For a long time it looked like we weren't really showing interest in the kid, and then got a visit set up and our recruitment took off. Was absolutely raved about during his the Semper-Fi Bowl week practices by those in attendence. The one quote that I still remember was someone that said Jared was the closest you could get to "strapping a helmet on a missle." Somebody also said he runs like a deer and is nasty. Great, great combo of attitude and athleticism.

 

Brown: The wild card of the group. Obviously the least hyped of the group... we don't really know much about him, other than the fact his commitment seemed waffley for a while. I do remember a couple interesting things about him-- remember reading somewhere he reminded someone of "Alabama's" LB's. I don't remember who or where I read this... thought it was interesting though. Also, I think it was Sipp who was all over his jock on signing day, saying he really liked this kid.

Watching the little bit of film in his thread-- less than 3 minutes worth-- he seems to be solid. Scored on a fb dive where he looped around and outran the defense on the weak side. Also blocked 3 punts-- good to see that kind of athleticism. On the LB side, seemed to have a penchant for knocking the ballcarrier back. Love to see that... doesn't get dragged 3 yards downfield making a tackle. Laid the wood on a couple occaisions. Plays downhill well-- maybed that was the Alabama reference? Hightower's a very downhill LB.. he's 270 lbs for crying out loud. After a RS year I will look for big things from him.

[Hunter94]

i hope Santos bulks up, playing LB at 205 is asking a lot in the B1G..........even Davd understood he had to bulk up to 225 last season to survive.

[Husker 93]

The size of our LB's were not the problem for our defense last year, David was a Stud. The issues.....The secondary was way behind the previous senior laden secondary......We had two inexperienced CB, and one talented, albeit gimpy CB, who only played at 100% or close to it, late in the season. Green came along great, and SJB showed excellent promise, but replacing Gomes, Haag, and Amukumara was not going to be an easy task and it wasn't.

 

Having said that...... Fischer, is NOT the answer at LB.....I was and will continue to be one of his biggest critics, he looked bad last spring and he looked equally bad this past season. I was ecstatic to see Whaley FINALLY see playing time. At LB I also really like Compton, and I feel an average LB could come in and outperform Fischer on his best day. I am hoping Pelini is not too stubborn to let us see the best athletes see the field at LB this season, if they do we won't miss David as much as we missed the trio of secondary guys we lost the year before...if Bo goes with the safe senior route at WILL his seat gets much, much hotter.

 

The Biggest issue was the defensive line ..................This group was EASILY the biggest letdown of 2011, and injuries played a role.....but what a letdown it was, as I watched Fresno State manhandle Crick play after play I realized he probably was injured more severely than led on in the Fall....and later he was out for the season on an injury that probably occurred before the season started IMO. The DE play was so subpar for a Nebraska defense that it absolutely provided no threat at ALL for a pass rush or any sort of containment. The Two Gap is great when you have dominant players...in 2011 our best lineman and only potential dominating lineman was not 100%, while others were good (Stein, Meredith), alas not great. IMO if we don't see a BIG improvement in our pass rush in 2012 you can bet on 5 losses. The good news is IMO it can't get much worse.

 

Lastly down the road I would like to see some 3-4 being employed with three Big Lineman, two David type OLB, and two Compton type Middle backers. Either that or we need to get back to going with smaller DE's who can actually run down a QB.

[PaulCrewe]

 

The Biggest issue was the defensive line ..................This group was EASILY the biggest letdown of 2011, and injuries played a role.....but what a letdown it was, as I watched Fresno State manhandle Crick play after play I realized he probably was injured more severely than led on in the Fall....and later he was out for the season on an injury that probably occurred before the season started IMO. The DE play was so subpar for a Nebraska defense that it absolutely provided no threat at ALL for a pass rush or any sort of containment. The Two Gap is great when you have dominant players...in 2011 our best lineman and only potential dominating lineman was not 100%, while others were good (Stein, Meredith), alas not great. IMO if we don't see a BIG improvement in our pass rush in 2012 you can bet on 5 losses. The good news is IMO it can't get much worse.

.

I'll +1 this part for ya. Anyone that thinks that the LB corp "struggled" needs to look no further than right here. This group also gets a large assist for the struggles of the secondary(as do the coaches). Any QB can look great with all day to throw.

[n.e.husker]

Sipples article on Alonzo Whaley's struggle

 

http://huskerextra.com/sports/huskers/football/article_1a88c8b0-b493-517f-bee1-4159a647856d.html

He'll never forget that phone call.

That drive from Omaha to Lincoln.

The feelings of anger, confusion and hurt.

"I'm on the passenger side," Alonzo Whaley recalls. "I'm screaming, I'm cussing."

It was last July. Whaley had just returned to Nebraska from his hometown of Madisonville, Texas. He had just left the Omaha airport. He thinks it was a Saturday, because the 105 Husker football players designated for preseason drills were scheduled to meet the next day

.

[Hunter94]

and now we know why there was so much made of his receiving his Blackshirt last December........good for him!