Braylon Heard Transferring...

[Husker_x]

Ameer has to avoid injury in the first 3-4 games and we are fine. And get Newby/Taylor some touches to get them into the groove just in case.

 

IN RON BROWN, I TRUST.

 

Brown is great at developing these guys. He's pitiful at making more than one at a time contribute meaningfully. Out of three capable, talented backs--Abdullah, Heard, and Green--we've managed to keep one of them. Green by all reports wasn't up for earning a spot, in which case we're better off without him. Braylon looks to be a different matter. He broke his back to get on this team, shined whenever he was in the game, and then we hear that he might have been asked to play another position--that's three positions in as many seasons.

 

I like Cross but I wonder about his role in the offense. We rush off the edge a lot. To me Cross looks like a guy whose job should be driving straight up the middle, carrying bodies. Maybe Beck has designs to make that a possibility, but if they were asking Braylon to play receiver, who knows what he's thinking these days.

 

As for the freshman, I don't believe in miracles. If Ameer goes down and Cross is not exactly suited to be an every down back in this offense, we're either looking at King Frazier or a true freshman. That's not ideal. With the loss of Braylon we went from pretty loaded to praying Ameer doesn't get hurt. I think someone else said it, but there really is no bright side to this situation. It's hard to blame Braylon or make sense of how he was used during his time here.

[Count 'Bility]

We ran the most screens when we had Callahan, because that was a forte of his, and our team was well-suited for it. There are only so many different packages you can install on offense and I don't see screens as one of the team's strengths. I get a lot of disagreement about this, but two consecutive offensive coordinators haven't done it with Taylor. So is it possible that Taylor isn't much of a 'touch' passer who can make those soft throws to the RB in the face of the allowed pressure that comes on these screen plays?

 

On the other hand, the outside WR screens we have seen some of this year. I think we can work that into our game; Taylor throws with plenty of zip. He needs to be careful with the timing and placement though. One of his throws to Jamal nearly went into the defender's hands.

 

I don't know how many of Ameer's missed assignments were missed assignments or he was just misdirected. The QB has to see where the blitz is coming from and make the calls to his protection. I bring this up again just because I think that has been a known issue with Taylor, at least in the past.

Remember the OU game(year?) we came out with a WR screen to start the game and apparently the OU defense was in our huddle. I think they picked off two of them for pick 6s and forced a fumble on another.

2008. OU took the opening kick and flew down the field for a TD (Bradford and Gresham). First play of ensuing possession, we ran one of them spot pass/wr screen type plays that was jumped on and walked in for a score. I think second play of next possession, Mike McNeil I think fumbled a catch that resulted in an OU TD in a couple plays. 21-0 with less than 5 minutes gone. 35-0 after 1.

[Count 'Bility]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSwo5jPt67Y

12 minute mark is when meltdown begins. If it's any consolation, Tech was rated 1 or 2, and OU beat them just as bad. Also, Nebraska did not lose another game that year.

[Undone]

Brown is great at developing these guys. He's pitiful at making more than one at a time contribute meaningfully. Out of three capable, talented backs--Abdullah, Heard, and Green--we've managed to keep one of them.

At the risk of possibly misrepresenting your point, it sounds like you're suggesting that Ron Brown's secondary (if not primary) job is to stroke the egos of these recruits. Because is it really his fault if they willfully leave? This isn't any kind of slam against Braylon, this is just a real question.

 

He's the coach. They're his players. They're subordinate to him and what he feels is best.

 

And before too much conjecture gets thrown out as to his abilities in that department, let's keep in mind where we ranked on the rushing big board. It was really, really high.

[HuskerThor]

Loved B Heards running style! So fluid and instinctive! His running style conjures up the beauty of Ken Griffey jrs swing! Gonna be missed, was looking forward to him killin it next year.

 

Agreed couldn't have said it better myself. +1

 

I think he is a fine RB, but am I the only one who thought he ran to upright? Also, he was incredibly fast, but I didn't notice must ability to be elusive.

 

He is gonna be good, but give me Abdullah every day of the week....

I agree on his running style. He's cut and go, but if there is contact or a need for a little wiggle, he lacks a bit... He's good, but IMO he's not going to beat out Abdullah.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Heard running style reminds me of Eric Dickersons style. Not saying he will/would be the next Dickerson, but stating that, that style served Dickerson well for years. I believe he still holds the NFL rushing record for a season.

IMHO, Heard was/is the best back on our team.

[It'sNotAFakeID]

Remember when we ran screens?

 

Peppridge Farm remembers

[JJ Husker]

Your doom and argument is kinda shot by the fact that this was the #8 rushing team in the nation. I'll agree that losing Heard isn't great, Hell, he was one of my favorite "what if?" guys. But him not getting enough carries to keep his panties unwadded was not the reason Nebraska lost 4 games last year. Who knows? Maybe if he would have embraced his position switch last year, he's a starter. It's not unheard of in this program to take a guy with raw speed and talent at RB and make him an all-world DB. Prince Amukamara is a New York Giant because of that reason. That falls on Bo Pelini too. Ultimately, he either didn't want to be here or didn't work enough to merit more playing time. This theory that this coaching staff conspires to keep the real talent off the field is really getting old.

 

This is where I am at with these player issues. It seems to me that the simplest and most logical explanation should be the default position. So, what is simplest and most logical when it comes to an issue like this Braylon Heard deal?

 

1- The coaching staff doesn't want the best players on the field.

2- A bunch of message board commentators know more about the players performance, skill level, and work ethic, based on the little bit they see in a few games, than the coaches do.

3- Some players, no matter how many stars or what their perceived potential is, either won't or don't want to work hard enough to earn the playing time they, or others, think is deserved.

 

I don't know about some of ya'll but I'm going with number 3.

This is big time D1 football. We either trust Bo & Co. to do their jobs and know what they're doing or we don't. There should be no middle ground. Either accept the fact that Bo & Co. know more about it than you and can coach better than you or continue raising illogical assumptions about why these types of things happen. I'm no sunshine pumper (far from it) but it really gets old seeing the constant questioning of Bo by people who probably aren't qualified to manage and coach an 8 year old midget league team.

[zoogs]

JJ I do think there's middle ground and room for criticism for this staff. This staff has a history of riding starters and rarely, rarely, rarely going to the backups. They find guys they trust and don't give the backups much time at all. On the one hand, it's not wrong for players to have to earn coaches' trust. On the other, it's something that left us with a very green and untested secondary in 2011 after all the other guys graduated. And here, I think it's fair to say it was strange that after Rex went down, Ameer became the absolute feature back without Heard complementing him to the same degree Ameer complemented Rex.

 

I think this staff has shown it's very reluctant to give its bench players time and that's a fair criticism in the roster management area.

[NUance]

JJ I do think there's middle ground and room for criticism for this staff. This staff has a history of riding starters and rarely, rarely, rarely going to the backups. They find guys they trust and don't give the backups much time at all. On the one hand, it's not wrong for players to have to earn coaches' trust. On the other, it's something that left us with a very green and untested secondary in 2011 after all the other guys graduated. And here, I think it's fair to say it was strange that after Rex went down, Ameer became the absolute feature back without Heard complementing him to the same degree Ameer complemented Rex.

 

I think this staff has shown it's very reluctant to give its bench players time and that's a fair criticism in the roster management area.

I'd agree with this--the younger guys not getting reps--at nearly any position on the team *except* RB. At RB it seems like we'd routinely get carries from two or three guys. Heard had 350 yds this year as the #3 guy on the depth chart. Not all of it in mop up duty either.

[zoogs]

Well, Braylon had 350 yards partly because he was averaging nearly 7 a carry. He had 52 carries, with 44% of them (23) coming in the non-conference slate, mostly against ASU and Idaho State. In four games where we didn't have Rex later in the season he had 10 carries -- including none for two of those games. Ameer had 95 in those four games, and 226 on the year.

 

When Rex was down and Braylon was the #2, he was often nowhere to be found. It wasn't very much of a rotation. Ameer was a clear #2, but without Rex, he was a feature-back #1 who didn't give way. I think it's an indication of the difference in level of trust the coaching staff had.

[True2tRA]

Ameer has to avoid injury in the first 3-4 games and we are fine. And get Newby/Taylor some touches to get them into the groove just in case.

 

IN RON BROWN, I TRUST.

 

Brown is great at developing these guys. He's pitiful at making more than one at a time contribute meaningfully. Out of three capable, talented backs--Abdullah, Heard, and Green--we've managed to keep one of them. Green by all reports wasn't up for earning a spot, in which case we're better off without him. Braylon looks to be a different matter. He broke his back to get on this team, shined whenever he was in the game, and then we hear that he might have been asked to play another position--that's three positions in as many seasons.

 

I like Cross but I wonder about his role in the offense. We rush off the edge a lot. To me Cross looks like a guy whose job should be driving straight up the middle, carrying bodies. Maybe Beck has designs to make that a possibility, but if they were asking Braylon to play receiver, who knows what he's thinking these days.

 

As for the freshman, I don't believe in miracles. If Ameer goes down and Cross is not exactly suited to be an every down back in this offense, we're either looking at King Frazier or a true freshman. That's not ideal. With the loss of Braylon we went from pretty loaded to praying Ameer doesn't get hurt. I think someone else said it, but there really is no bright side to this situation. It's hard to blame Braylon or make sense of how he was used during his time here.

You summed it up perfectly. We are in full agreement. What kind of message are we sending?

 

Think about this. Braylon was an instant Husker. He committed to us and stuck with it only to find out he was academically ineligible. So what does he do? He sits a year out, works his tail off and earns his way into this program. He WANTED TO BE HERE. He comes in and instantly goes to work. His role is limited only to find out the coaches need him at another spot. Braylon says alright, I'll do whats best for the team because I want to be here. He switches positions for THE TEAM. He is shortly there after moved back to RB, where only a blind man couldn't see that he is naturally one of the most talented backs around the Big Ten. He moves back to RB, Burkhead goes down, and instead of splitting carries with Abdullah, he takes a back seat, and ends up with about 52 touches. 3 touches less than a true freshman named Imani Cross. How does that happen? Then a real slap in the face, as if the kid hasn't been pushed around enough, the coaches go out and recruit 2 more of the countries top RB prospects. Now trust me, I love depth at running back, but what kind of message are we sending with that? To me Braylon couldn't have done more to prove he wanted to be here. This whole situation is a mess in my opinion.

 

No, I'm not melting down. This is my opinion. I hate seeing talent like this walk away. Bo has recruited 5 top 100 players in his five years at Nebraska. 2 of those highly touted players have now left this program. This is troubling to me. I would love to know why this is happening.

[True2tRA]

Criticizing how this staff manage playing time is absolutely legitimate. Anyone saying otherwise is lost.

[sd'sker]

Criticizing how this staff manage playing time is absolutely legitimate. Anyone saying otherwise is lost.

ameer did have a lot of carries. would it have been 50/50 if burkhead stayed healthy or would ameer have been relegated to heard's no. of carries?

 

burkhead's injury was an opportunity to get two talented younger players some experience without much drop off from either.

[Amac3309]

Ameer has to avoid injury in the first 3-4 games and we are fine. And get Newby/Taylor some touches to get them into the groove just in case.

 

IN RON BROWN, I TRUST.

 

Brown is great at developing these guys. He's pitiful at making more than one at a time contribute meaningfully. Out of three capable, talented backs--Abdullah, Heard, and Green--we've managed to keep one of them. Green by all reports wasn't up for earning a spot, in which case we're better off without him. Braylon looks to be a different matter. He broke his back to get on this team, shined whenever he was in the game, and then we hear that he might have been asked to play another position--that's three positions in as many seasons.

 

I like Cross but I wonder about his role in the offense. We rush off the edge a lot. To me Cross looks like a guy whose job should be driving straight up the middle, carrying bodies. Maybe Beck has designs to make that a possibility, but if they were asking Braylon to play receiver, who knows what he's thinking these days.

 

As for the freshman, I don't believe in miracles. If Ameer goes down and Cross is not exactly suited to be an every down back in this offense, we're either looking at King Frazier or a true freshman. That's not ideal. With the loss of Braylon we went from pretty loaded to praying Ameer doesn't get hurt. I think someone else said it, but there really is no bright side to this situation. It's hard to blame Braylon or make sense of how he was used during his time here.

 

moves back to RB, Burkhead goes down, and instead of splitting carries with Abdullah, he takes a back seat, and ends up with about 52 touches. 3 touches less than a true freshman named Imani Cross. How does that happen? Then a real slap in the face, as if the kid hasn't been pushed around enough, the coaches go out and recruit 2 more of the countries top RB prospects.

 

 

People need to stop comparing the carries that Cross got to Braylon's, they are completly different backs, no matter what Braylon would not have gotten those touches, they needed to go to Cross with Rex being out! I agree that he should have taken more carries from Aameer but if all the reports are true he would have had he been 100% healthy.

As far as it being a slap in the face to recruit guys? That's crazy, your telling me we should turn down talented kids because we don't want to offend someone, hell with that give me all the talent we can get regardless of the position!!

[Count 'Bility]

Criticizing how this staff manage playing time is absolutely legitimate. Anyone saying otherwise is lost.

It's legitimate. I just dont agree because none of us understand the full facts of exactly why his carries were lacking. I referred to his lack of passpro ability. That was the exact words of one of the coaches on the call-in show one night in response to the question of why does Braylon Heard not get more carries. It was along the lines of he's still struggling with the pass blocking scheme of things. Abdullah may get run over but at least he's picking them up. Usually all it takes is a chip. It's just my opinion on the matter based on what I heard from a coaches mouth, that's all.

 

As a sunshine pumping Bo supporter, I'm really actually coming around and trying to understand the concerns of those that have them, and am starting to see more and more of why those concerns exist. I just dont see this as one of those instances. I honestly Braylon is ready to move on to somewhere where he can get time and carries. He probably just sees the writing on the wall as mentioned earlier. He probably will wind up at an Ohio or Bowling Green/Kent St type place and be a star for them, and they will be flattered to have him.