2012 Nebraska Cornhuskers and the 2013 Recruiting Class

[EZ-E]

Hi guys,

 

Got really busy at work and have not frequented the board as much as I need to/want to. Here is my breakdown on the 2012 season position by position and the 2013 recruiting class.

 

QB - I have heard mixed reviews on a lot of fronts. One from a guy that I trust that said Brion Carnes has done nothing to prove he is better than TMart. So TMart gets the nod here. REDSHIRT ARMSTRONG!!!!!!!!!!! I have echoed this throughout the offseason, I am not ready to give up on our sophomore QB. He made an improvement from year one to year two showing from the Wisconsin game on that he wouldn't make just awful mistakes that would hurt us terribly. I am not looking for a Heisman campaign. But I do in fact believe he will be better and all in all more explosive than we saw last season.

 

RB - NEED to have a solid number two step up. Marrow will get carries from the way it sounds and he has a tremendous work ethic from all reports. I look for Abdullah to have a solid sophomore campaign. Needs to prove he can hold onto the ball more consistantly.Unfortunate about Aaron.... Redshirt Cross.

 

WR - This will be the best group of WRs we have had in a long time. Tarriq Allen is a name to watch. This position has been recruited very well by Bo and staff. I don't know if there is a single kid that was a four star recruit coming out of high school besides Westercamp on the roster at this current point in time.

 

TE - I am not worried at all about this position. To be honest I wouldn't be surprised to hear Cotton's name come up as a possible pro ball player. Ask me about 2013 and it is a different story.

 

OL - We are awfully talented at this position but also young age-wise as well as experience-wise. Need to have some leaders step up and bring these young guys up to their level. Choi, Long, ARod, Moore, among others need to be those guys. Since 2010, this position has been recruited very well. Center is a concern to me,

 

DL - I am on the Kaz bandwagon. This is a guy that has been a part of the schemes that have allowed a program like Iowa to consistantly beat the likes of Michigan and Wisconsin. A lot of those wins were predicated on the DL being able to stay in their lanes and contain Robinson and tackle Monte Ball!!!!!! If we can get Rome and Baker to play like the players we recruited them to be it will take a ton off of our linebackers.

 

LB - Will Compton Zaire Anderson are the two that I am looking at. Compton played very well last year towards the end. Zaire is somewhat of an unknown, but we all know that Bo doesnt recruit JUCO's to sit the bench. Really hope that Santos is the other guy at this spot.

 

DB - We should have a very, very solid group back here.

 

We are so far ahead of where we have ever been as far as recruiting to this point. The only two on our commit list that shouldn't be four star kids are Natter (one could even make a case for him getting a fourth star at some point), and Hart. I am a huge fan of the job Els has done thus far. A ton has changed and I think that it is for the better. I am looking for a huge push this summer and no let up. I would like to see us be around 12 commits by the start of the season with another 7 basically in the bag. If we are sitting around 19 commits from guys that we want come November I will be a very happy camper. Speed or Paulie can correct me if I am wrong but I believe we are looking at around 25 in this class. This could be the monster class that we have all waited for. It is certainly off to that kind of a start.

 

 

Listen guys, we will have a chance in every game that we play. When you go back and watch the bowl game, or the Michigan game, or even the Wisconsin game, there was not a single time that we stepped onto the field and the other team was just so much more athletic or so much better coached than we were that we couldn't compete. Granted, we deserved to lose every game I listed off, but to claim that we were no match for our opponent in all of those games would be incorrect. Most of the time we were a play here or there. That is what I am looking for from this team this year is to make those plays that win us those big time games. That is what is going to set us over the hump. It isn't that we suck at recruiting or our coaches suck, it is that we have to make those big time plays and we have to let ourselves succeed.

[HuskerFowler]

Good breakdown, i completely agree on all points. We need to get over the hump this year. Even if we lose a few games to say OSU or Michigan, we must go down with a fight losing in the last minute on a last second field goal, and beat all the teams we should, and i mean beat the piss outta the teams that have no business being on the field with us. No more getting blown out, and we will have taken the next step.

 

When the schdule lets up a bit we should be in great shape to do some big things. This is a big year for us and we have to make the next step, will help a ton with recruiting. Recruiting the midwest for Big 10 recruits could really explode when kids see that we are not that far from home we are already seeing the new guy effect a little this year and when we start winning big, kids are going to start jumping on board, see Michigan. We have some real talent on the team and i think its all going to all come together this year. There is no reason we cant win our division and have an eye opening year. I love that Michigan is being picked to win and we are no where in the conversation, this should help keep us focused with the underdog mentality.

[RedRedJarvisRedwine]

This is a year where we absolutely need to build depth by blowing out inferior opponents. I know this point has been made several times, but with inexperience at so many key spots ie. LB CB RB etc., we need to get our younger guys game reps! We have so many guys we are all excited about! We need to get them alot of mop up time. See where they're at then incorporate whoever is ready into the game during meaningful snaps.

If we can get this accomplished watch! GBR

[bshirt]

Damn fine post, EZ-E.

 

Surely agree the talent and quantity of big uglies has us where we've been trying to get for many years. It's a going to be a very, very fun year. We won't be a push-over, that's for sure.

[Decked]

My area of concern is the TEs not to much depth or proven talent after Cotton and Reed leave this year. I know we have some walk ons but not much else. Hopefully Wisnieski lands here to.

[Blackshirts007]

Good stuff, i guess the only thing i might argue with is the db's. They have an opportunity to be great this year, but showed some inconsistency last year. Andrew Green was a hell of a lot better toward the end of year. Ciante also played better toward the end, but all of them can improve. The safety's seem pretty good with Stafford and P.J Smith again.

[Decked]

Good stuff, i guess the only thing i might argue with is the db's. They have an opportunity to be great this year, but showed some inconsistency last year. Andrew Green was a hell of a lot better toward the end of year. Ciante also played better toward the end, but all of them can improve. The safety's seem pretty good with Stafford and P.J Smith again.

Green worked his ass off at the end of the year leaning the defense and putting extra effort into it. Ciante was decent at the end of the year and could benefit with another year of learning the defense. Also I wouldnt put Smith as the starter for safety right now.

[Hunter94]

lots of inexperience, that will be a factor.........depends on how fast these guys come along, especially on the O line.

[Foppa]

Like the post, EZ-E. The one thing I wonder with being in the B1G is...is it better to be fast...or strong? And then...if you make it to the title game against, of course, an SEC team..what then? The league just seems to be all about size. It reminds me of the 5-2 back in the early 80's. NU struggled mightly against faster teams because of what we had to do with our offense and the conference. Do we really want to go back to that just for the sake of the B1G?

[It'sNotAFakeID]

Like the post, EZ-E. The one thing I wonder with being in the B1G is...is it better to be fast...or strong? And then...if you make it to the title game against, of course, an SEC team..what then? The league just seems to be all about size. It reminds me of the 5-2 back in the early 80's. NU struggled mightly against faster teams because of what we had to do with our offense and the conference. Do we really want to go back to that just for the sake of the B1G?

 

I'm not EZ-E by any stretch of the imagination, but I don't necessarily think we need to dramatically shift the way we play offense to match the way offense is generally played in the B1G. If we can just get a little bit stronger up front, then I think we will be a force on the offensive and defensive side of the ball.

 

Speed wins more than strength, at least it does to me. But I don't think we're strong enough up front to utilize our speed to the best of its ability. We get just a tad bit stronger and a tad bit bigger, watch out.

 

That's what the SEC has going for them. They are big, but they're not freakishly big, unless you want to count Mount Cody (dude's bigger than a bus), who played for Alabama a couple of season's back. But they couple that combination of size with a combination of speed that is tremendous and the results are...well, 6 MNCs in the last 6 years.

[wiby_NU]

I would take speed over power any day. Look at what the SEC is recruiting now, its very similar to what was happening in the 80's and 90's (thanks for pointing that out Foppa). All those Florida power house teams with speed and every single skill position, combined with giant d-tackles/o-lineman and middle linebackers. Now mix in extremely fast and agile d-ends (Our biggest concern - Im looking at you Ankrah and Meredith), cornerbacks, OLB'ers, WR's, and the occasional mobile QB Its the perfect balance of speed where you need it, and size used sparingly but in all the right positions. The B1G is getting lost in in regards to size everywhere on the field, which is putting us a step behind the SEC. Im no fan of Urban Meyer, but the way he is recruiting at tOSU, I cant help but see them competing with the SEC in the next few years.

[bshirt]

Geesh.....if "speed" was the only factor then why doesn't every team have nothing but little, skinny track stars playing?

 

Duh. It's because power, strength & football instincts are absolutely critical also. Thank God our coaches aren't stupid enough to field a team of track stars that would get horribly slaughtered every single week by "any" Div1 program. The list of college and NFL greatest players who weren't track stars is endless.

[wiby_NU]

Football speed is completely different than track speed. Watch the mid 90's Nebraska defenses, thats football speed.

[bshirt]

Football speed is completely different than track speed. Watch the mid 90's Nebraska defenses, thats football speed.

 

 

Well duh!

[kchusker_chris]

TE's will definitely be a concern next year. Missing out on Harper a while back hurts us. Even going the JUCO route likely can't plug this hole for 13'. I look for the offense to change in 13' to accommodate this. It will have to. While we might go power with Marrow/Rex/Cotton this year - I look for a more finesse (Jayhawk 07') style of offense in 13'. We'll put more speed on the field, open things up for Martinez in his senior year. The WRs will be all over the field. Look for us to get much closer to a 50/50 balance. 12' however will be all about the run.