Rome to transfer

[BigRedBuster]

I didn't say "we are fine". What I said is that Rome obviously isn't the answer and if he is a cancer on the team, then he needs to go.

 

Now, it is time for some of these younger kids to step up and I am excited to see what they can do.

[True2tRA]

Well, the way I'm going to look at this is in a positive light. Rome must have seen the badass dudes we got chomping at the bit to get their shot to play, and he saw the writing on the wall. I like the young talent we have, and although I wish they wouldn't have rode the bench all year last year, it surely should mean that this year they are absolutely f'ing' ready to bust some heads! Rome must have known his time was up, best wishes to him in the future.

[ADS]

Sucks to see him leave, losing depth is never good. But, sometimes it's best when something isn't really working out.

[The King]

Jokes aside, this isn't good. We're laughably inexperienced across the defensive line, have little depth as it is and lost two starters from last year's line that wasn't very good to begin with.

 

Curry, Guy, Okuyemi, Randle, Uher, Valentine, Williams, and now with Collins and Maurice, I think we are fine on depth. This isn't even counting the Walk-ons who may emerge as legitimate threats.

 

All people Rome was playing ahead of, for the most part. I think the depth is better this year, but who knows what will translate onto the field.

 

Anytime you lose a proven rotation player its a sting, thankfully we've hit the DL hard the last couple years.

[Count 'Bility]

I didn't say "we are fine". What I said is that Rome obviously isn't the answer and if he is a cancer on the team, then he needs to go.

 

Now, it is time for some of these younger kids to step up and I am excited to see what they can do.

I didnt say you said we are fine. Good grief. Easy does'er tiger. HuskerNationNick said he thinks we are fine depth wize. I made the remark about proven depth. I was responding to him, not you. You implicated yourself and then made the comment about Rome, which it wasnt, it was about the depth we have post-Rome. Then you made me basically retype the exact same things that were already mentioned because you cant read, and now i'm gonna go piss and moan like a little bitch about it. Good day sir.

 

I'm kiddin around by the way.

[Dagerow]

I, for one, am not happy he is trasnferring and disagree with most of the posts. He was one of our best d-linemen, and apart from him quiting, I don't know anything about him being a cancer on the team other then speculation and rumor. There are tons of stories like this about players on any team. indeed, some people like thier lineman to have an edge.

 

I do know he was get more playing time then most everyone else that is still here (taking away the drop due to him quiting) and that in itself says enough. People always talk about people on the bench as if they where better. Well guess what? The coaches, that watch them everyday in practice, disagree. He was injuried throughout the year as well, and likely, would have improved. Big loss.

 

[Husker_x]

He wasn't exactly a bust but I was counting the days until someone took over his slot. Now I can stop counting.

[GBR #1]

Hard to believe he is leaving us again. Sounds like he is going to get a free semester of education though. Hope things work out for him in life. I wish he would have stuck with the program. I am thinking he would have got plenty of playing time. Oh well.

[The Dude]

Jokes aside, this isn't good. We're laughably inexperienced across the defensive line, have little depth as it is and lost two starters from last year's line that wasn't very good to begin with.

 

Curry, Guy, Okuyemi, Randle, Uher, Valentine, Williams, and now with Collins and Maurice, I think we are fine on depth. This isn't even counting the Walk-ons who may emerge as legitimate threats.

But proven depth?

 

Curry, Guy, Okuyemi, Randle, Uher, Valentine, Williams, and now with Collins and Maurice,

We didn't have "proven" depth last year. We had some experience at the position. But other than Stein, nobody proved anything noteworthy.

Including Stein, nobody proved anything noteworthy.

[Count 'Bility]

I think Randle showed a lot for a guy who was apparently on one leg all year.

[NUinID]

Very interesting reactions. On huskermax it is basically don't let the door hit you in the ars on the way out. On bighuskerfan the sky is falling. Here the view of Rome leaving is mixed. As a person who coached HS football for 20 years in my opinion experience can be very overated, Its nice to have, but if a team was 3-9 the year before, but returns 17 starters that doesn't automatically make the team good the next year. Talent is way more important than experience. If the guys coming up are talented than it won't really matter. If the talent and the moter is there experience isn't all that important.

[lo country]

Let's see, no experience depth on DL, LB's or safety. Should make for an interesting off season. I hope that this and Heard and other "depth issues" makes Bo and Co realize that getting experience for the guys you have is much better than hoping to "get better guys"........... Bo and Co will really get the chance with this incredibly young D to show they can really develop guys.

 

If guys don't want to be here then leave. Best of luck. For me personally, I don't really buy into the "he saw the guys were better" crap though. He has his reasons and I am sure we will never really know the truth.

[Creighton Duke]

2 predictions that I'm fairly confident of: 1. we make a late push to pick up a JUCO d-lineman who has not signed yet 2. we see A LOT of 3-4 next year.

[Nebula]

I don't know enough about Rome's personality to say whether his loss is good for the psyche of the team. The airport paper towel dispenser incident is confirmed, and there's been mention of others. A close friend of mine says she's friends with his girlfriend, and that he explosively yells at her (his girlfriend) and is very over-bearing a la anger management issues.

 

Regardless, you're probably right. Maybe his transferring will benefit the team from a psychological standpoint. It's just a really difficult situation when you consider the fact that we're losing two starters, Eric Martin, and now Rome to transfer. It leaves us even thinner in a unit where we couldn't afford to be any thinner.

 

Hopefully it's for the better, because there's not much else to say about it. I'll just be very disappointed if another relatively successful offensive performance is wasted away next year because our defensive line is a sieve.

Yeah, although (reiterating myself I guess,) you're not off base about the importance of line depth...by any means. There are a lot of positions that you can plug in an uber-athletic but completely green kid and get immediate, positive results. QB obviously is generally not one of those positions, but I'd argue that it's even HARDER to put in a first or second year kid at a line posiiton on either side of the ball, and not see a detrimental effect. The line is different from EVERY other position in two crucial ways (especially at the college level): One, a 21 or 22 year old kid is physically more mature than an 18 or 19 year old. The relevance of that is obvious. Two, line play is FAR more complicated than a lot of people think it is. I'll never forget listening to Pelini talk about how many mistakes Lavonte made in a game, and the stat sheet showed him with 20 tackles and a sack. But that's the thing about every position other than the lines: instincts and raw talent can carry you over mental mistakes. Lavonte could blow his assignment, but use his incredible combination of elite athleticism, steel eyed determination, and natural instincts to make a hell of a play when he really should have been made to look awful.

 

That just doesn't happen on the line. If you are supposed to run contain to the weak side but you plunge forward and in on a bull rush, you have effectively conceded five yards already at a minimum. No quickness or instinct will negate the error and the damage.

 

The bolded is basically a verbatim representation of my feelings for 2013. I suspect maybe we differ in that I had already hitched my wagon about midway through LAST season to guys like Valentine and Curry and that DE from Ohio (2012 recruit) who's name escapes me at the moment...and we landed Gregory as well. Jucos are dice rolls, but we really need that kid to provide an immediate impact. And we need markedly better tackle and LB play. I think we've got a higher caliber of athlete at the LB spot than we've had in a long time. (Although, granted, they are really young.) It really comes down the ends and especially the tackles for me. We need a youngster to play big for us. Actually, we need two, if we're honest. No disrespect to the upperclassmen, but we've seen what they've got. It's not at the level I would say we need to be at, and I'd bet I'm not alone on that.

[HuskerNationNick]

What kind of experience does it take to play defensive line?? I mean seriously... This is one position where you don't have to worry about experience like you do with our LB, DB and Safety positions. All we need is someone who can do their job. I know there is more to it, but this is one position where "college experience" doesn't play the biggest factor. Valentine has proven himself that he can start. Rome knew this, and he WOULD have been our starter last year, if it wasn't due to his injury. Rome was not good. His performance and numbers prove this. Its not something I just came and made up. Randle has proved he can be a quality DT, and he wasn't even close to being healthy. I say he was 55%. Your starting 4, EVEN if Rome would have stayed, would be Gregory, Valentine, Randle and Ankrah. Rome was just a body this year, and not a very quality one. I am just stating my opinion, but the coaches have been raving over Guy, Valentine, Randle and Curry. Curry showed he can be good with the little playing time he got before he became injured. Same goes for Williams.