OWH: Top Five Storylines Going Into Spring Practice

[QMany]

I'm not holding my breath for renewed RB development/production moving forward under Landsdorf + Lee, O'Brien, Gebbia, etc.

[BigRedBuster]

I'm not holding my breath for renewed RB development/production moving forward under Landsdorf + Lee, O'Brien, Gebbia, etc.

So.....because we have QBs who can hopefully be more consistent in being able to complete important passes........we now won't have RB development?

[Guy Chamberlin]

A confident, accurate passer who turns the dual threat duties over to the RBs can be the running game's best friend.

 

Also, a lot of running backs love a QB who can get them into open field with a nice little touch pass. Especially the RBs who want to go on to NFL careers.

 

When Riley had good RBs at Oregon State, he ran them hard and successfully.

[Mavric]

 

I'm not holding my breath for renewed RB development/production moving forward under Landsdorf + Lee, O'Brien, Gebbia, etc.

So.....because we have QBs who can hopefully be more consistent in being able to complete important passes........we now won't have RB development?

 

No. Because we have an OC who'd rather throw the ball and has a running game that gives the RBs precious little chance to create big plays who will now have a QB who can actually throw it.

[BigRedBuster]

Yeah....because good RBs never get developed in an offense that is ran by a guy who believes a good passing game is important.

[Stumpy1]

The starting RBs at OSU under Riley and Langs averaged 1200 yds. per year. They know how to use RBs and use them a lot.

[Saunders]

Yeah....because good RBs never get developed in an offense that is ran by a guy who believes a good passing game is important.

That's kind of a strawman argument. Mav's point is that our running game under Danny has been lackluster and boring. And he's not wrong. Other's have noted it as well, even guys like McKewon.

 

Our current scheme for running the ball is the not creative, at all. The first time we used a toss play under Langsdorf was last year against Ohio State, with the slowest RB we have. We did attempt to run some zone read stuff, but they were simple end reads, and nothing as creative as Beck or even Watson (I miss the inverted Veer).

 

Do we even have a counter? It's all IZ, OZ, and the occasional lead play.

[MyBloodIsRed16]

I thought I read before that Langs wanted to run some different stuff in the run game but Cav said he couldn't have plays with pullers because we didn't have anyone who could pull

[Mavric]

Yeah....because good RBs never get developed in an offense that is ran by a guy who believes a good passing game is important.

 

The fact that you keep having to argue against things that I haven't said should tell you something.

[BigRedBuster]

 

Yeah....because good RBs never get developed in an offense that is ran by a guy who believes a good passing game is important.

 

The fact that you keep having to argue against things that I haven't said should tell you something.

 

You weren't the one I originally quoted.

[Mavric]

Good deflection.

 

Yes, I should have said "others" instead of "I".

[BigRedBuster]

Good deflection.

 

Yes, I should have said "others" instead of "I".

The original quote implied that because we have Langsdorf and three QBs who have been built up to be really good passers....then therefore we won't have any good RB development.

 

That's just plain a ridiculous claim. Riley had some very good RBs when he was at OSU. There are passing offenses all over with good passing QBs that also have good RBs.

 

You're judging this based on watching Langsdorf call plays with a QB that had an extremely difficult time throwing short screen passes.....and an O Line that was documented to not be able to pull linemen due to injury.

 

The entire premise of the comment is jumping the gun.

[Mavric]

Riley had some very good RBs when he was at OSU.

Yes. Do we have a Steven Jackson or Jaquizz Rodgers on the roster right now? I'm not sure.

 

Also, Riley was calling the plays at Oregon State. He is not calling the plays at Nebraska.

 

There are passing offenses all over with good passing QBs that also have good RBs.

Yes. But I don't care what other teams are doing. I care about what I see us doing.

 

You're judging this based on watching Langsdorf call plays with a QB that had an extremely difficult time throwing short screen passes.....and an O Line that was documented to not be able to pull linemen due to injury.

Exactly. It concerns me that even with a QB that completed only 55% of his passes and nearly led the country in interceptions that we still insisted on throwing it 35 times per game (2015). Better last year after Riley seemed to have given him an ultimatum that he had to run the ball more (30 attempts per game). But you couple that with Langs insisting that we're an inside zone team - which doesn't lend itself to big running plays - and the fact that he tends to get impatient with the running game and I'm not convinced that having a QB that is a much better passer will suddenly convince him to invest more in the running game.

[QMany]

The debate seems to have started here:

 

"In Riley’s two seasons, Nebraska rushed for fewer than 100 yards five times; from 2011-2014, it happened twice."

 

I hope we have a better offense, but I don't see our RB production getting magically better. If we were going to emphasize running the ball, you think we would have done it with Tommy Armstrong under center (55% completion and leading country in interceptions). I think we will be airing it out even more now, giving the stable of RB even less opportunity. That seems to be Landsdorf's preference.

 

"Riley didn't have the luxury of Helu, Abdullah, or Burkhead neither. "

• 0.8368 247 Composite
• 0.8653
• 0.8708

These were solid 3* talents that were developed. Riley has inherited/recruited an good amount of talent at RB.

• 0.9404 Terrell Newby
• 0.9160 Jordan Stevenson
• 0.9065 Imani Cross
• 0.9058 Adam Taylor
• 0.8822 Mikale Wilbon
• 0.8638 Tre Bryant
• 0.8560 Devine Ozigbo

It is fair to say the development and production have been lacking so far. I hope it improves.