Brion Carnes Signs with Omaha Beef

[RunMickeyRun02]

 

The OWH wrote a really good article on their history towards the beginning of the season, I would link it here but I've seen the big scary sticky about linking to articles, you should be able to still find in on the Beefs site though.

Please link it! Just don't paste the entire article here, even in quotes. Either do one paragraph, or if you're extra safe, nothing but the link.

 

Cool update on Cory Ross, by the way. Weird to see him as a "Callahan Disciple", but it makes sense.

 

Okay, here goes:

 

http://www.omaha.com/sports/shatel-omaha-beef-still-cooking-entering-th-season/article_1afa6fec-a113-56b1-9a1c-8c395d6488bb.html

 

I can't find the article but when Coach Ross was the head coach for the now defunct Lincoln Haymakers he even bragged about the size of his playbook and talked about his relationship with Callahan and his belief in that offense.

 

The video in the article is new to me since I first read the article, kind of sad now because it was filmed before the season went down the toilet.

[The Dude]

Omaha Beef? That sounds made up. Or a competitor of Omaha Steaks.

[Guy Chamberlin]

Also kind of wonder what '09 could have been if they let him go at it As a true frosh.

 

 

I was more inclined to wonder what '09 coulda been if Joe Ganz had another year of eligibility.

 

And what 2011 - 2013 coulda been if the defense hadn't gone into freefall. Previous Nebraska offenses could afford to be patient and wear the other team down because our defense held more often than not. If Scott Frost, Eric Crouch and Tommie Frazier played with the 2012 Nebraska defense, we wouldn't still be talking about them.

 

It wasn't exactly a golden era for sure-handed receivers, either.

[RunMickeyRun02]

Let me start this off by saying that I really, really, REALLY wanted to see Carnes tear it up Friday, not just as a Beef fan but just as a fan of any former Husker.

 

Also, I came to the realization that no matter what happened it wasn't going to sway my opinion either way about what happened to him while he was here. Water under the bridge.

 

I make all these prefaces because looking back over my notes, it sounds like I'm bashing the poor kid. I'm not, just sharing what I saw.

 

First some overall observations:

He does have a cannon, he can really sling it. But it comes with a bad case of what I call "option QB arm". Everything is a bullet, a fast ball, no touch. Like you can read their minds "I don't get to throw it very much so when I do I'm gonna throw the s*** out of the ball".

 

The only long passes were a rb screen that went house (or near house) I can't remember. And a long bomb where some air did actually get under the ball, but it was a duck, under thrown, late, and if either of the DBs who were double covering Brandon Kinne had turned around it would have been an easy pick. Brandon did a good job of stopping short and scoping up a low ball as he fell backwards into the end zone. Not really how you want a fly route to end but 6 points is 6 points.

 

He flashed at times, reminded me of the spring game of his that had everyone buzzing. Some of my notes had quite a few exclamation points, but for the most part it was pretty ugly. This to me is a perfect microcosum of his NU career. A lot of flash, promise and excitement mixed with the burning memory of him chasing a dropped snap around in the backfield on one of his few snaps.

 

Not all of this was Carnes fault either, the game itself was a train wreck especially early. From the team not making it out in time for the line up announcement, to the roughed kicker that wasn't called and resulted in an injury and having going for two the entire game to a defense that had no answer for the other teams offense. Carnes and the offense struggled with things like delays of games, the routes getting mixed up, motion penalties, offensive time outs etc. The kinds of things you would expect when you put in a QB with less than a week to learn pretty much an entirely new game, let alone an offense.

 

Also to his defense, his much heralded debut was delayed greatly, so much so he only had three plays in the first quarter and only two throws. Dodge City started the game with a long clock eating drive resulting in a touchdown, followed by a kick return for a TD by Omaha and then another long TD drive by Dodge City. So by the time he was finally in the game he had to have been pretty "cold".

 

I actually charted all of the plays for the first half but I won't bore you guys any more than I already have. I'll just share some highlights and try and keep the rest of this as short as I can. I wish I would have brought my sketchbook instead of my tablet as some of the plays were pretty cool,...but I am rambling.

 

First play was a quick WR bubble screen, thrown so fast and hard I'm not sure where the ball ended up.

2nd play was a run, and 3rd and long was a bad overthrow on a fly route, WR had a chance but no air under the ball. What bothered me most was Carnes really didn't seem to care, maybe he was just trying to stay composed but he just simply seemed to walk off the field like 'meh'. Not even a "darn it" clap or anything.

 

I did like seeing the back up QB #7 (and I'm pretty sure the QB that started the season) coaching up Carnes on the sidelines, ending with a pat on the back, and it's cool #7 is still a captain and was out for the coin toss. I don't know much about the guy be he seems like a class act.

 

A couple of drives later and I should have mentioned this earlier but most of the first two quarters the O was in 3 and 4 WR sets with Carnes in the shotgun, I may be mistaken but an even deeper shotgun than I've seen before. And 4 WRs is a lot considering that's HALF the players on offense...Anyway, Carnes was cut loose on a QB draw out of the gun, it was DAZZLING, prob. my favorite play of the game, about a 20+ yard gain if I remember correctly.

 

Another highlight: a deep out route to the corner of the end zone where the ball was thrown way before the WR made his cut, also a thing of beauty.

 

I count at least 5 instances of near picks, but he never got picked off. Most of his other throws were the same story, to hot, and either dirt balls or sailed on him.

 

The team looked better in the second have and battled to within a couple scores but the safety of Carnes and the TD afterwards early in the 4th put the nail in the coffin.

 

Coincidentally I did finally figure out why they are struggling this year, I talked to one of the players wives/girlfriends whatever, she said this is the first year they aren't housing players, so that explains the talent gap.

 

Thanks everyone for reading.

[zoogs]

Cool notes, Mickey! I forgot Kinney was on the team, too. Glad to see some interest in their play.

[Bigred_inSD]

Great notes Mickey. I loved indoor ball when it was here in Rapid. It seems the game has changed a lot with " clock eating drives" which is probably for the better.

 

I remember when Brandon Everage former OU db played for the Rapid City Flying Aces, he was on a whole new level of any other guy to play.

[RunMickeyRun02]

Cool notes, Mickey! I forgot Kinney was on the team, too. Glad to see some interest in their play.

Thanks man!

 

Great notes Mickey. I loved indoor ball when it was here in Rapid. It seems the game has changed a lot with " clock eating drives" which is probably for the better.

 

I remember when Brandon Everage former OU db played for the Rapid City Flying Aces, he was on a whole new level of any other guy to play.

Yah, Dodge City has this jitter-bugging little running back, if he didnt' play for the wrong team he'd be a lot of fun to watch.

 

I don't think those first two drives were intentionally clock eating, just took forever, sometimes all 4 downs to get a first, lots of penalties etc, but they always got in the end zone. I think if they would have had their preference they would have wanted to bury Omaha and keep the pressure on their struggling O.

 

The rest of the game they had quite a few painfully short drives.

[RunMickeyRun02]

Should have included this to begin with...some final stats:

 

Carnes

Passing: 11/30 199 yards 3 Touchdowns

Rushing: 6 rushes for 13 yards and a TD

 

Kinnie:

4 Catches 86 yards and a TD.

[RunMickeyRun02]

Last post here unless someone else can dig up more accurate info. But after an 0-5, 1 INT start Carnes spent the rest of the last game of the Beef season on the bench.

 

I'm not 100% sure if it was his performance, as the QB I mentioned in my previous post was retiring after 10 seasons with the Beef (mostly of which he spent as a back up).

......I did like seeing the back up QB #7 (and I'm pretty sure the QB that started the season) coaching up Carnes on the sidelines, ending with a pat on the back, and it's cool #7 is still a captain and was out for the coin toss. I don't know much about the guy be he seems like a class act.....

 

A good article about him here:

 

So I'm not sure if it was a send off to him or Carnes performance, or a little of both. It wasn't something I felt comfortable asking the players after the game.

 

I'm inclined to guess if it was a send off you'd only keep in him for a series or something and not finish the entire game.

 

In any case #7 finished the game 10/23 for 123 yards, 5 TDs and 2 picks. I have to admit the Offense was a lot better with him in the game.

 

But this thread is about Carnes, so his final numbers for the year:

 

Passing: 11/35 199 yards 3 Touchdowns, 1 int

Rushing: 10 rushes for 42 yards and a TD

Oh and I almost forgot, after getting benched he did come in and attempt a "FG" in quotes because there is no punting in the indoor game and it wasn't a true "attempt" just a field position thing.