2025 Spring Practice Notes

FrankWheeler said:
Van Poppel played in 5 games last year.  
 

A lot of what you are posting doesn’t align with reality.  
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Dude had 3 tackles all year and one was at the bowl game in his 5th game.  Wow, you are so impressed with that kind of reality.

Who do you think will be the 4 rotational interior lineman this year?  Is there a 5th guy in case one or 2 are out with injuries? 

Obviously Van Pop and Jeudy will lead the way.  As long as they stay healthy and learn. 

But they are not playing 60-75 plays for 12 games or more.  And that's kind of my point.  Who is going to be the guys we need to count on?  Why ? Do they have legit experience?  I just have concerns and questions - which is my reality - and I am not seeing answers. 

The outside Rush Ends are a different discussion where they are more valuable outside,  I love what we have there.  

 
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admo said:
Dude had 3 tackles all year and one was at the bowl game in his 5th game.  Wow, you are so impressed with that kind of reality.

Who do you think will be the 4 rotational interior lineman this year?  Is there a 5th guy in case one or 2 are out with injuries? 

Obviously Van Pop and Jeudy will lead the way.  As long as they stay healthy and learn. 

But they are not playing 60-75 plays for 12 games or more.  And that's kind of my point.  Who is going to be the guys we need to count on?  Why ? Do they have legit experience?  I just have concerns and questions - which is my reality - and I am not seeing answers. 

The outside Rush Ends are a different discussion where they are more valuable outside,  I love what we have there.  
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It's one of those years where have very little experience coming back on the d-line.  We just have to hope we are developing & someone step up.

 
- Parrots was 3rd string last yr & played in several games.  Nothing sticks out about his play.

- Coming off injuies & appear to have potential - Moore & Lefuto.

- Other - Borchers.

Got to hope we get 2 of these guys to step up!

 
admo said:
So you agree with me?  Where is the Big Ten interior beef?

12 games, and playing in the Big Ten.  You listed 4 names to solve the interior line and added a DE (in which we have plenty of) and LBs (we have plenty of as well).

Just looking at the names you dropped....

Jeudy is listed at 6-3 285, and you know how Huskers.com and the football team exaggerates their actual size.  Plus, Jeudy isn't high-motor and will rotate out as often as he can.  He's okay, but he's not holding down the fort.

Van Poppel - never played last year.  Was redshirted.  He's rusty.  Played year before as True Freshmen.  Has upside.  But can we really say Jeudy and Van Poppel are now going to handle the interior a ton of plays in the big ten, just because they are on the roster?  Please, that's not happening like it sounds.  

Cam Lenhardt is 260!  Will need to bulk or else he also will need several breathers going against Big Ten offensive linemen.

Keona Davis is 255 and has burst, a high-motor and drive, but he is still too thin and is more fitted as a Rush-End QB-rusher.

So therefor, where are the interior guys and the backups and the depth when it's blazing hot out, or freaking cold out, and teams like Michigan, USC, Penn State, Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan State are playing against us... and they know to run the ball all game with some play-action passing?

I just don't see it and I think the DLine is going to haunt the Huskers success in a bad way.  They better be getting some big heavy boys ready to play before they think "oh s#!t, we thought Lenhardt,Jeudy and Van Poppel could hold it all down for a full year". Not to mention -  playing with aches and pain and dealing with minor injuries or soreness.
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I agree it's a concern, but probably not as dramatic as it appeared at the beginning of winter conditioning.  I'm going off memory here, but I believe reports have Davis up to 285, Moore up to 290, and Hoffken up to 300.  That makes them far more viable playing 3 & 4i techniques.  Especially if they are disruptive and Davis looks like a specimen.  I won't pretend I have a clue what the team has in Lefotu, Parrot, or Borchers, but they are 300 pounders.  

 
I think Van Pops played in 4 games last year.

But it really doesn't matter.  Fans were spoiled last year with Robinson and Nash.  It will not look like that at all this year.  The defense will be taking a very big step back when it comes to stopping the run. 

 
teachercd said:
I think Van Pops played in 4 games last year.

But it really doesn't matter.  Fans were spoiled last year with Robinson and Nash.  It will not look like that at all this year.  The defense will be taking a very big step back when it comes to stopping the run. 
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Unfortunately I think you may be right. However our LB core should be really solid, hopefully our inside DTs can just keep an OL off the LBs. We wont have and really dont need them to be our main run stoppers

 
teachercd said:
I think Van Pops played in 4 games last year.

But it really doesn't matter.  Fans were spoiled last year with Robinson and Nash.  It will not look like that at all this year.  The defense will be taking a very big step back when it comes to stopping the run. 
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I remember people thinking Nash and Robinson weren't that special earlier in their careers only to now claim we are going to really miss them.  

Fact is, we don't know what the current guys can do yet.  Maybe the D line is going to take a big step back. OR....they have matured enough to now be ready to step into these rolls and be pretty good.

Guys like Nash, Robinson and Jergens were all ridiculed early in their careers.  Now look at them.  The problem really was that they were needed to be out there before they really were ready to shine. The vast majority of linemen need that time to mature and develop.  Hopefully, this year's guys have had time to develop and can produce.

 
BigRedBuster said:
I remember people thinking Nash and Robinson weren't that special earlier in their careers only to now claim we are going to really miss them.  

Fact is, we don't know what the current guys can do yet.  Maybe the D line is going to take a big step back. OR....they have matured enough to now be ready to step into these rolls and be pretty good.

Guys like Nash, Robinson and Jergens were all ridiculed early in their careers.  Now look at them.  The problem really was that they were needed to be out there before they really were ready to shine. The vast majority of linemen need that time to mature and develop.  Hopefully, this year's guys have had time to develop and can produce.
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I thought Nash would be horrible, as usual, I was wrong.  

The 3 man front helped Ty out so much.

But in the end, "get old and stay old" is how the portal should be used and losing two guys that were 5th or 6th year D-lineman is going to be really hard to replace.  Just their size and "old man strength" will be hard to replace.  

It doesn't mean the DL will be bad but it won't be like last year where basically running against the NU DL in 3rd and short or 4th and short was impossible.  

 
teachercd said:
I thought Nash would be horrible, as usual, I was wrong.  

The 3 man front helped Ty out so much.

But in the end, "get old and stay old" is how the portal should be used and losing two guys that were 5th or 6th year D-lineman is going to be really hard to replace.  Just their size and "old man strength" will be hard to replace.  

It doesn't mean the DL will be bad but it won't be like last year where basically running against the NU DL in 3rd and short or 4th and short was impossible.  
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And, I'm not saying you're ultimately going to be proven wrong.  You could be right.  I'm saying these guys were stuck behind Nash and Robinson so much that we just haven't really seen them when they are the main guys out there and expected to produce.  This year, now we have Van Pop who has been in his 3rd year, Jeudy who is a senior and Lenhardt who is a Junior.  When you say, "get old and stay old".  This is really what we want.  We want really good players to be leaving the program and getting drafted and younger (old) players ready to step in and we aren't going to really know how they can do until we see them this year.

 
is it true that a good offense can help an average defense?  Special teams as well? 
field position, maybe actually having a 10 point lead in a game? Limited turnovers and bad/untimely penalties can help a defense…

all the things that have plagued  us for 15 yrs can be overcome.  I’d like a really fast defense that capitalizes on down and distance, momentum and being rested because our offense doesn’t s#!t the bed. Combine that w special teams that actually flip the field and help out 

 
I am I said:
is it true that a good offense can help an average defense?  Special teams as well? 
field position, maybe actually having a 10 point lead in a game? Limited turnovers and bad/untimely penalties can help a defense…

all the things that have plagued  us for 15 yrs can be overcome.  I’d like a really fast defense that capitalizes on down and distance, momentum and being rested because our offense doesn’t s#!t the bed. Combine that w special teams that actually flip the field and help out 
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We’ve absolutely been destroyed by field position for over a decade.  A lot of it is offense, but you still can’t give up big plays and then lock down on the other side of the field.

 
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