Big Red Breakfast with Coach Brown

[lo country]

I copied the whole article as it really highlights NU's issues. The bolded parts are what stood out to me.

 

For the second time this season, Ron Brown was called upon to speak at the Big Red Breakfast. After spending his first 20 minutes providing his brand of perspective on football and where it fits in life, the crowd seemed to have decided that bringing him in again was the right choice.

 

Whether or not the downed state of mind from Minnesota and Wisconsin carries over to Friday will be a major factor in the game, Brown said, urging the fans not to cling to the loss at home as the Huskers head to Iowa.

“If your spirit is down, they’re going to kick you in the face,” he said. “That’s true Friday — the most physical football team maybe that we’ll play all year is that team. They are physical. They will come up and smack you.”

Brown said Hawkeye safeties Jordan Lomax and John Lowdermilk remind him of Cliff Harris and Charlie Waters, whom he played with in Dallas with the Cowboys. “Two nasty, tough, hard-hitting safeties that came out of the sky and rocked your world,” he said.

Tuesday night, Tommy Armstrong Jr. said Iowa’s defense might be the most “traditional” the Huskers will have seen all year. Brown said essentially the same thing in regards to the front seven as well.

“They lost three outstanding linebackers from a year ago, arguably the best linebacker tandem in the country a year ago. They have three guys that are a little more inexperienced but they’re Big Ten-tough, downhill linebackers,” Brown said. The defensive line has always seemed to be outstanding for the Hawkeyes, he added, singling out tackles Louis Trinca-Pasat and Carl Davis. Davis, he said, could be a first-round NFL draft pick.

The Hawkeyes take the same approach on offense too, he said.

“Offensively, you know who they are. They haven’t deviated much over the years,” Brown said. “Running the ball, play-action passes. Their quarterback I think has really given them their edge.”

In a close 26-24 loss to Wisconsin, quarterback Jake Rudock completed 20-of-30 passes for more than 200 yards and two touchdowns when the Badgers kept their running game in check.

Brown spent plenty of time talking about the future of Nebraska’s offensive line when posed with a question about the apparent lack of depth. Brown, as you could imagine, did not seem too concerned.

“Zach Hannon, for example, is a guy that maybe is a potential center down the road,” he said, adding that Hannon starts on the punt shield. “He’s a talented guy and looks like he has a good future ahead of him.”

Brown talked about D.J. Foster, an interesting prospect who looked as though he might play as a true freshman this season during fall camp — on the defensive line. There’s also true freshmen Nick Gates and Tanner Farmer.

“He could be a special player inside for us,” Brown said. “We’ll be counting on D.J. Foster over the next fews years. I think Nick Gates is going to be a good player over time. Tanner Farmer is a big, big, strong guy, a thick big guy. Wisconsin plays with guys like that.”

For the younger linemen, developing agility will be key for most. “Now, D.J. Foster’s got it. He’s a really athletic guy. He could play on the defensive line or he could play on the offensive line.”

Another interesting prospect is 6-foot-8 David Knevel from Canada, currently a reserve left tackle for the Huskers. “He’s still learning the game of football,” Brown said. “He played hockey as a kid and had some limited football kinds of things. He didn’t play in extremely competitive situations and he’s still learning the game.”

When asked about the Huskers defensive ends seeming to lose contain on Minnesota’s run game, Brown reiterated that the Huskers weren’t expecting as much quarterback run game as they saw.

“Every second down it seemed like they ran the read zone,” he said. “The quarterback was gonna ride the back in with the ball and decide.”

Nebraska’s tacklers “squeezed” so much (shuffled inside) that Leidner was often able to pull the ball and run free, Brown said. “At times we lost support outside,” he added.

I really wish that we could be described as the above. Big Ten tough, downhill LB's, Safeties who will rock you etc......Then Farmer, a big guy like Wisky has....

We didn't expect their QB to run as much....

They know who they are.....

Their QB gives them the edge.....

Their D smacks you in the mouth....

The most physical and toughest team will win....

Man, I wish people thought of us like this.....

[JTrain]

I remember when Ron Brown said "we don't run out of bounds at Nebraska." Well, we do now. It's just a symptom. We usually aren't the toughest team, mentally or physically, when we face quality teams.

[lo country]

Tried to clean up the font and paragraphs...

[TGHusker]

Thanks Lo. What Ron Brown described was the old Huskers. It is funny how Wisc, Minn, Iowa have run towards what we use to be and we have run away from it. I wonder if in Bo's desire to strike his own legacy and finger print on the program that he ran from the very identity that would have made him a success here.