ESPN Previews RB, OG and DE Position Battles

[Mavric]

I-back: Among the most difficult tasks thrust before new coach Mike Riley and his staff is finding a replacement for three-time 1,000-yard rusher Ameer Abdullah. Many options exist....

 

Offensive guard: Starters Mike Moudy and Jake Cotton are gone, leaving a competitive situation to assess in spring practice. No one appears locked into a starting spot, though Chongo Kondolo owns an experience edge after playing a key backup role as a sophomore in 2014...

 

Defensive end: An already thin position took offseason hits as Randy Gregory declared for the NFL draft and Avery Moss’ expulsion from school was upheld. It leaves the Huskers with juniorGreg McMullen as a returning starter and a scramble to win the other spot in Mark Banker’s 4-3 alignment....

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[True2tRA]

What do some of you know about Foster, Farmer and Hannon? If I remember right, I just remember hearing how really strong and physical they are, especially Farmer and Foster.

 

Based off what you know of them, does anyone actually have a good feeling about the guard position? I guess I'm not sure what to expect. I think we may have some talent ready to make an impact with the proper coaching.

 

As far as center goes, Reeves should have been playing Center for quite some time now. I hope he locks it up this season. He seemed to do pretty well when given the chance.

[SouthLincoln Husker]

Farmer was also a state wresting champ, so he probably has good balance & strength.

[LumberJackSker]

Cotton and Moudy were pretty bad at the guard spots the last couple years so replacing them should equal a upgrade. I'm interested to see what Natter does after not play much last season also what a player like Sedrick King brings to the table.

[SouthLincoln Husker]

We had coaches that were bias and kids that were not getting any better. I think we will see some surprise starters this year. Nothing like a fresh start for players & fans!

[Hunter94]

We had coaches that were bias and kids that were not getting any better. I think we will see some surprise starters this year. Nothing like a fresh start for players & fans!

i quite agree, i think there was probably little coaching for the future development of players going on.....just my hunch.

[The King]

What do some of you know about Foster, Farmer and Hannon? If I remember right, I just remember hearing how really strong and physical they are, especially Farmer and Foster.

Based off what you know of them, does anyone actually have a good feeling about the guard position? I guess I'm not sure what to expect. I think we may have some talent ready to make an impact with the proper coaching.

As far as center goes, Reeves should have been playing Center for quite some time now. I hope he locks it up this season. He seemed to do pretty well when given the chance.

Foster would've been in the two deep if they didn't yank him around with DT by midseason or so. Not bad to redshirt him anyway - not that he, or Farmer, for that matter, needed it physically.

 

Curious to see what happens with Nick Gates, the third member of last year's GREAT OL haul with that trio..

 

Still don't like Cross as a starter.. Wilbon, Taylor, Newby.. I don't know, curious to see how they use our deep back field. Taylor or Ameer Jr. (Wilbon).. I also think we might see Demornay in the back field..

 

Don't forget about Mick Stoltenberg at DE.

[corncraze]

From listening to Ganz, it sounds like Foster has the edge at G.

[girlknowsfootball]

Ganz said he would be surprised if Foster doesn't end up an all american at guard by the time he graduates. The reason they moved him to DT to experiment is because he was athletic and strong enough to play it. He actually did really well over there. He will be in the two deep at OG this year. As for farmer, he came in squatting 650 and benching 440. Teammates said he could be the strongest guy on the team. Plus, like someone stated above, he was a wrestler in high school with great balance and footwork. Nick Gates is going to be a good tackle, he just needed to put on some weight last year because he was at 270-280. He should emerge this fall. The real question I have at OL is what happened to David Knevel? He was suppose to be this all american tackle that was the best true tackle Nebraska had seen in a decade. You'd have to think he would emerge at Tackle this year. We have a lot of talent at the OL, it's going to be fun to see what Cavanaugh does with it.

 

I really feel Adam Taylor will be our starter at RB or Newby if he is up to 200+, which I think he is. I don't think cross is going to be that great as an every down back. He doesn't have the speed. He can't gain 5-6yds per carry like Burkhead could. Taylor is the size and speed and versatility Riley is looking for and has the talent and maturity. He has 4.5 speed and is 6'2" 210-220 now. He played at the highest level of competition in Texas in high school, won a state title, ran for almost 3000 yds as a senior, He was the houston offensive player of the year and MVP of class 5A football. Alabama offered him. He also won Scout Team MVP at Nebraska his redshirt year and had to sit out all of last year with an ankle injury. He is a high GPA Business major and very involved in all the community outreach and life skills stuff. I just see Adam really thriving in this new system and I'm calling him as the starter.

 

A far as DE, we have talent there it was just hidden. You'll be surprised this spring how much is there that we never knew about.

[True2tRA]

Yes that makes sense.

 

You have a future all American at guard in your eyes, so you move him to DT.

 

The logic of the former staff is mind numbing.

 

I also get a little bit tired of hearing how so and so player does "really well" in practice yet they never see the field on game day? What the hell were those coaches waiting for? I don't get it.

 

This staff supposedly had learned their lesson after that 2012 season when they said there were a lot of guys they should have played.

 

We needed help at guard badly last year. You had Ameer Abdullah in your backfield being crushed and eventually being injured. You have a future all American at guard who sits on the bench and watches the offensive line suck. This kid had to sit and watch Cotton all season long?

 

Anyways. I truly hope this is not the way the next staff approaches things. I don't think they will.

 

The best players should be playing and they should be playing at the position they are best at. PERIOD.

 

As coaches, it is your job to determine who those guys are and develop their skills at that position.

 

Damn I got a deep lack of respect for that former staff. Bunch of morons.

[Red Five]

Foster had strong reviews in the "season-end" articles. Pretty sure he was the lowest rated between Farmer and Gates out of HS. Hopefully the other 2 can live up to their potential.

 

As for Knevel, I'm not sure anyone anointed him as an all-american. He does have the prototypical OT size, but he was rally raw coming from Canada. A good sign was that Saban was after him late in the recruiting process.

[Red Five]

The most worrisome positions to me are DE and LB. We need 1 or 2 guys at each spot to step up in a huge way.

[onlyHskrfaninIL]

I will be trying out so I will likely be filling a DE spot.

[whateveritis1224]

Yes that makes sense.

 

You have a future all American at guard in your eyes, so you move him to DT.

 

The logic of the former staff is mind numbing.

 

I also get a little bit tired of hearing how so and so player does "really well" in practice yet they never see the field on game day? What the hell were those coaches waiting for? I don't get it.

 

This staff supposedly had learned their lesson after that 2012 season when they said there were a lot of guys they should have played.

 

We needed help at guard badly last year. You had Ameer Abdullah in your backfield being crushed and eventually being injured. You have a future all American at guard who sits on the bench and watches the offensive line suck. This kid had to sit and watch Cotton all season long?

 

Anyways. I truly hope this is not the way the next staff approaches things. I don't think they will.

 

The best players should be playing and they should be playing at the position they are best at. PERIOD.

 

As coaches, it is your job to determine who those guys are and develop their skills at that position.

 

Damn I got a deep lack of respect for that former staff. Bunch of morons.

Foster was at DT for like 2 weeks when only Collins, Valentine, and Maurice were available to play (Williams rolled his ankle and missed the first couple of weeks). Everyone thought we were fine at Guard until the Michigan State game, and even then we attributed it to running into an MSU team that was ready to play when we weren't (something that happened a lot in the Pelini era). Foster might have been physically ready, but might not have been able to learn the playbook or by the time he had learned the playbook the coaches decided it was late enough in the year that they didn't want to burn his redshirt.

[True2tRA]

 

Yes that makes sense.

You have a future all American at guard in your eyes, so you move him to DT.

The logic of the former staff is mind numbing.

I also get a little bit tired of hearing how so and so player does "really well" in practice yet they never see the field on game day? What the hell were those coaches waiting for? I don't get it.

This staff supposedly had learned their lesson after that 2012 season when they said there were a lot of guys they should have played.

We needed help at guard badly last year. You had Ameer Abdullah in your backfield being crushed and eventually being injured. You have a future all American at guard who sits on the bench and watches the offensive line suck. This kid had to sit and watch Cotton all season long?

Anyways. I truly hope this is not the way the next staff approaches things. I don't think they will.

The best players should be playing and they should be playing at the position they are best at. PERIOD.

As coaches, it is your job to determine who those guys are and develop their skills at that position.

Damn I got a deep lack of respect for that former staff. Bunch of morons.

 

Foster was at DT for like 2 weeks when only Collins, Valentine, and Maurice were available to play (Williams rolled his ankle and missed the first couple of weeks). Everyone thought we were fine at Guard until the Michigan State game, and even then we attributed it to running into an MSU team that was ready to play when we weren't (something that happened a lot in the Pelini era). Foster might have been physically ready, but might not have been able to learn the playbook or by the time he had learned the playbook the coaches decided it was late enough in the year that they didn't want to burn his redshirt.

Okay.

 

So we needed depth at DT. So we moved Foster there and you have a coach saying he did really well there. Then the next step in any natural order is 1: you need a player at a position 2: you have a player that does really well there - the next logical step? 3: PLAY THE FREAKING GUY THEN.

 

As to your other point, there was never a time anyone felt good about the guard position. Cotton played almost non-stop at LG with no depth behind him and RG was a musical chairs. There was no clear solution at RG.

 

So if I know that, the whole world knows that, then the coaches know that. So here you have a former coach saying that Foster is a possible future All American at guard by the time he's done here. That's fine, by the time he's done. Development obviously takes a while at that position. But the reason development usually takes awhile at offensive line, the reason a lot of guys red shirt their first year on the offensive line, is because they usually need to build up physically.

 

Well this coach and others say Foster was all there physically. Other players I believe even said Foster was a physical beast. So what you're telling me is that former staff was not capable of coaching a kid enough to come in and make at least some sort of impact, provide even a touch of depth, at a position that as I said, was in dire need of help?

 

That's ridiculous. It shouldn't be that complicated.