Riley expects to play at least seven true freshmen

[BigRedBuster]

Put me in the camp of not being a fan of having different packages of plays for each running back. If that's the case, once we get into a few games, every DC is going to know what running plays are going to be called depending on what RB is in the game. The one exception is if you have one guy (Cross) that is a big bruiser that you pretty much know he is going to come in in short yardage plays and pound it up the middle for a few yards.

 

Now, you might slant the play calling one way a little if a certain player is in. But, you can't all of a sudden not run inside because Newby is in, or, you can't all of a sudden not throw any screen passes because Wilbon is in...etc.

[wiuhusker]

Put me in the camp of not being a fan of having different packages of plays for each running back. If that's the case, once we get into a few games, every DC is going to know what running plays are going to be called depending on what RB is in the game. The one exception is if you have one guy (Cross) that is a big bruiser that you pretty much know he is going to come in in short yardage plays and pound it up the middle for a few yards.

 

Now, you might slant the play calling one way a little if a certain player is in. But, you can't all of a sudden not run inside because Newby is in, or, you can't all of a sudden not throw any screen passes because Wilbon is in...etc.

I agree with you on not being a huge fan of it. Banning did mention that all backs were capable of doing the things asked its just that each back excels in a different area. He also didn't rule out the possibility of Newby being the jet sweep guy while another RB was in getting the regular carries.

[Mavric]

I'm not sure it's a lot different than what we've seen recently. There were a couple years when we could have played a couple more (2012 I believe) but two years ago T. Newby, Carter, Collins, Maurice, Banderas, Gerry and Gabe Miller all played as true freshmen. Last year wasn't quite as many but it was still five - DPE, C. Jones, Kalu, Williams and Brown.

 

And we're still likely sitting several of our "most talented" freshmen - except for Young and Morgan - because they happen to be at our deepest positions. The Davis twins, Eric Lee, Avery Anderson would be in that group and probably Barnett and Stevenson as well.

[Enhance]

The mentality around playing time in the past centered around schematic knowledge, at least, that was the impression one would take from the surface. There's a lot that could go into that, of course, but it generally seemed like there wasn't much of a trust factor with some younger guys. I think what we're seeing now is just the necessity to fill a need and perhaps the schemes are a bit more lenient to the younger and inexperienced.

 

I'm very interested to see how they perform and what their roles will be. It also adds just a little extra pressure to the veterans or more experienced guys to know there's a young guy just itching to take their spot.

[BigRedBuster]

I'm not sure it's a lot different than what we've seen recently. There were a couple years when we could have played a couple more (2012 I believe) but two years ago T. Newby, Carter, Collins, Maurice, Banderas, Gerry and Gabe Miller all played as true freshmen. Last year wasn't quite as many but it was still five - DPE, C. Jones, Kalu, Williams and Brown.

 

And we're still likely sitting several of our "most talented" freshmen - except for Young and Morgan - because they happen to be at our deepest positions. The Davis twins, Eric Lee, Avery Anderson would be in that group and probably Barnett and Stevenson as well.

I agree. Bo played young players when he felt it was beneficial or needed.

 

And...probably not much different than this year.

[zoogs]

I don't think 7 is an unusual number, especially out of a class of 20-something -- it's about 1/3.

 

However, a head coach announcing names of all the true freshmen he expects to play before the season seems a bit new. I felt the last HC was definitely a lot more in the category of "don't anoint 'em", which isn't an objectively worse thing to do, just a different style. I happen to like this one.

 

I think the amount of buzz this staff puts forth around some of these guys, especially those likely to play extensively, is very nice and encouraging. It also makes it extremely clear to recruits: the coaches are really searching for guys to trust to play right away. They've been talking about playing true freshmen LBs forever. And it sounds like some of these guys are going to play a lot, so that's cool.

[MichiganDad3]

I am hoping to see many youngsters playing in the 3rd and 4th quarter after NU has put games out of reach. Keep the starters healthy, and let the young players learn on the job. Now all we have to do is put games out of reach

[alwayshusking]

Hoping the simpler defensive scheme allows the young bucks a chance to play well. Being able to play your young but talented players allows you more depth.

 

I think we might have been up sh#t creek with Bo and such a young defense in spots.

[NebraskaShellback]

3-7 frosh he said to the media.

[okaive]

If some of these are due to injuries, could you imagine if our Commish had his way about sitting freshmen. Would be ugly.

[NUance]

I don't think 7 is an unusual number, especially out of a class of 20-something -- it's about 1/3.

 

However, a head coach announcing names of all the true freshmen he expects to play before the season seems a bit new. I felt the last HC was definitely a lot more in the category of "don't anoint 'em", which isn't an objectively worse thing to do, just a different style. I happen to like this one.

 

I think the amount of buzz this staff puts forth around some of these guys, especially those likely to play extensively, is very nice and encouraging. It also makes it extremely clear to recruits: the coaches are really searching for guys to trust to play right away. They've been talking about playing true freshmen LBs forever. And it sounds like some of these guys are going to play a lot, so that's cool.

 

I don't have the numbers, but we seem to be trending upwards on the number of true frosh we play. Osborne and Solich seldom played true freshmen. Callahan played some. Pelini seemed to play even more. And now Riley is a bit higher than Pelini.

 

I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing. In fact, I can see a couple of decent advantages from this. Telling a recruit about the possibility of early play time probly sounds great in the living room during recruiting season. Also, playing more freshmen would give us larger recruiting classes. And this staff seems a lot more on the ball when it comes to recruiting.

[DomiNUs]

I haven't personally done the research, but I hear that teams like Bama and Ohio St. play a large number of true freshman as well. Maybe that is the way to go nowadays.

[zoogs]

Typically, we'll have a class of ~20-25 guys, give or take. I don't have the hard numbers, but, roughly in the 65-75% range of freshmen redshirting seems to be where we're at now. It still sounds like most of the freshman class will be redshirting. I don't think we are really seeing much difference in the last two regimes, and I think practically the numbers are always going to be relatively similar.

 

But, you may be right that this number was even higher in the Osborne and Solich years. I remember Jim Grobe once at Wake Forest redshirting an entire class on principle!

 

If there's a difference made, I think it falls into how freshman playing time is handled. How many freshmen burn shirts is one thing; how this is approached is something that can make a world of difference.

[alwayshusking]

I haven't personally done the research, but I hear that teams like Bama and Ohio St. play a large number of true freshman as well. Maybe that is the way to go nowadays.

 

Every program/coach has their own philosophy but I do think it's a sign of the times. With 85 scholarships you need to play some young guys for depth purposes otherwise you only have 60-65 scholarship players available. Allows teams to get more athletic players on special teams as well. More kids are advanced with their strength and conditioning at the high school level now and can compete physically right away.