Adam Carriker

[BigRedBuster]

There are true leaders on the team now with Janovich, Weber, Gangwish, Gerry.

I made one substitution. Armstrong may be the quarterback and a fierce competitor, but I think we have better leadership material...who was the player who grabbed Alex Lewis and pulled him away from taunting the fans at the Illinois game?

We will disagree on Armstrong.
Just because you may be frustrated with some of his play on the field doesn't mean he isn't a leader.

I think an issue with the "leaders" of the team that are posted above is that 3 of those guys are walk-ons. Nothing against those guys, but the guys who make the best leaders are also among the most talented on the team. In the past, NU had leaders like the Peter brothers, Wistrom, Frazier, Ed Stewart, Mike Minter, Ameer Abdullah, the countless number of stud linemen that NU has had.

It's tough to count on guys who aren't the "best players" as the leaders of the team. Yeah, Gangwish is the "leader of the defensive line", and despite all of his effort, he's not dominating on the field. On offense, the leadership needs to come from an o-linemen or two who are all-conference worthy.

I have absolutely no problem with walk-ons being leaders on the team. How their college is being paid for has nothing to do with where their mind and heart is as a player and team mate. Their work ethic is and effort is what counts. Two of the players I listed were scholarship players and two were walk ons.

Now, like you, I am very very disappointed that there are not more of our highly recruited players as leaders. Honestly, I don't understand it. I think that gets back to Bo not fostering those players to be leaders. It is very possible that his ego got in the way of someone like Collins or Valentine becoming that leader. Now, maybe he is a leader but me not being on the team, I just don't know it.

As for O linemen, I agree that I would love for that to happen. Lewis tried to be that leader but his own stupidity has gotten in the way of that being effective. On offense, I believe there needs to be leaders on the line and then also leaders in the back field. I believe we have it in the back field. We also have a leader in Westerkamp. I think DPE could have been that leader but injuries prevented him from being on the field leading the team.

Anyway, I believe we are on the way to developing those players to be the team mates we need them to be.

 

[ColoradoHusk]

I don't have an issue with walk-ons stepping up to be leaders of the team, when there is a leadership void. However, the fact there is a leadership void among the most talented and best athletes on the team is a huge concern. That's the point I am trying to make.

 

[BigRedBuster]

I don't have an issue with walk-ons stepping up to be leaders of the team, when there is a leadership void. However, the fact there is a leadership void among the most talented and best athletes on the team is a huge concern. That's the point I am trying to make.

Maybe the walk-ons are the best football players on the team.

 

[ColoradoHusk]

I don't have an issue with walk-ons stepping up to be leaders of the team, when there is a leadership void. However, the fact there is a leadership void among the most talented and best athletes on the team is a huge concern. That's the point I am trying to make.

Maybe the walk-ons are the best football players on the team.

If the walk-ons are the best football players on the team, then the staff has completely whiffed on recruiting and player development. In this case, it could be the fault of Bo and his staff.

As I have stated numerous times, walk-ons can be a great supplement to the talent level of the team, but recruiting stud players and developing those studs are the lifeblood of the program. They make the difference of a top 10 team, and where NU has finished the past 15 years.

 

[BigRedBuster]

I don't have an issue with walk-ons stepping up to be leaders of the team, when there is a leadership void. However, the fact there is a leadership void among the most talented and best athletes on the team is a huge concern. That's the point I am trying to make.

Maybe the walk-ons are the best football players on the team.

If the walk-ons are the best football players on the team, then the staff has completely whiffed on recruiting and player development. In this case, it could be the fault of Bo and his staff.

As I have stated numerous times, walk-ons can be a great supplement to the talent level of the team, but recruiting stud players and developing those studs are the lifeblood of the program. They make the difference of a top 10 team, and where NU has finished the past 15 years.

There is another option.

Maybe they did recruit extremely talented scholarship players and did what they could to develop them but the attitude amongst the scholarship players is that of entitlement and not willing to put the effort into the program that the walk-ons are willing to do.

IF....(and I say if because I'm not in that locker room)...that is the case, that attitude is going to take longer to get out of the team than what we have given this staff.

 

[junior4949]

I don't have an issue with walk-ons stepping up to be leaders of the team, when there is a leadership void. However, the fact there is a leadership void among the most talented and best athletes on the team is a huge concern. That's the point I am trying to make.

Maybe the walk-ons are the best football players on the team.

If the walk-ons are the best football players on the team, then the staff has completely whiffed on recruiting and player development. In this case, it could be the fault of Bo and his staff.

As I have stated numerous times, walk-ons can be a great supplement to the talent level of the team, but recruiting stud players and developing those studs are the lifeblood of the program. They make the difference of a top 10 team, and where NU has finished the past 15 years.

There is another option.

Maybe they did recruit extremely talented scholarship players and did what they could to develop them but the attitude amongst the scholarship players is that of entitlement and not willing to put the effort into the program that the walk-ons are willing to do.

IF....(and I say if because I'm not in that locker room)...that is the case, that attitude is going to take longer to get out of the team than what we have given this staff.

Bo may very well be a lot of things, but what over his tenure here at Nebraska has led you to believe he would accept this sort of behavior from those he recruited? Take Abdullah for example. He came in with two other RBs. If Bo did what you are insinuating, Abdullah probably wouldn't have ever seen the field.

 

[Stumpy1]

I don't have an issue with walk-ons stepping up to be leaders of the team, when there is a leadership void. However, the fact there is a leadership void among the most talented and best athletes on the team is a huge concern. That's the point I am trying to make.

Maybe the walk-ons are the best football players on the team.

If the walk-ons are the best football players on the team, then the staff has completely whiffed on recruiting and player development. In this case, it could be the fault of Bo and his staff.

As I have stated numerous times, walk-ons can be a great supplement to the talent level of the team, but recruiting stud players and developing those studs are the lifeblood of the program. They make the difference of a top 10 team, and where NU has finished the past 15 years.

There is another option.

Maybe they did recruit extremely talented scholarship players and did what they could to develop them but the attitude amongst the scholarship players is that of entitlement and not willing to put the effort into the program that the walk-ons are willing to do.

IF....(and I say if because I'm not in that locker room)...that is the case, that attitude is going to take longer to get out of the team than what we have given this staff.

Bo may very well be a lot of things, but what over his tenure here at Nebraska has led you to believe he would accept this sort of behavior from those he recruited? Take Abdullah for example. He came in with two other RBs. If Bo did what you are insinuating, Abdullah probably wouldn't have ever seen the field.

I think you have it backwards. The 2 other RBs were higher ranked and had some entitlement issues, hence the reason they left the program. Abdullah just put his head down and went to work. Green and Heard were all pissy because they weren't handed the job instead of earning it.

 

[BigRedBuster]

I don't have an issue with walk-ons stepping up to be leaders of the team, when there is a leadership void. However, the fact there is a leadership void among the most talented and best athletes on the team is a huge concern. That's the point I am trying to make.

Maybe the walk-ons are the best football players on the team.

If the walk-ons are the best football players on the team, then the staff has completely whiffed on recruiting and player development. In this case, it could be the fault of Bo and his staff.

As I have stated numerous times, walk-ons can be a great supplement to the talent level of the team, but recruiting stud players and developing those studs are the lifeblood of the program. They make the difference of a top 10 team, and where NU has finished the past 15 years.

There is another option.

Maybe they did recruit extremely talented scholarship players and did what they could to develop them but the attitude amongst the scholarship players is that of entitlement and not willing to put the effort into the program that the walk-ons are willing to do.

IF....(and I say if because I'm not in that locker room)...that is the case, that attitude is going to take longer to get out of the team than what we have given this staff.

Bo may very well be a lot of things, but what over his tenure here at Nebraska has led you to believe he would accept this sort of behavior from those he recruited? Take Abdullah for example. He came in with two other RBs. If Bo did what you are insinuating, Abdullah probably wouldn't have ever seen the field.

I think you have it backwards. The 2 other RBs were higher ranked and had some entitlement issues, hence the reason they left the program. Abdullah just put his head down and went to work. Green and Heard were all pissy because they weren't handed the job instead of earning it.

Exactly. Thanks Junior for giving an example that proves my point. Green and Heard came in very highly recruited and on top of the world. Ameer came in with people claiming he can only be a "scat back". I think Auburn only wanted him as a DB. He had something to prove. He outworked the other two. Green and Heard came in and cried and whined because they weren't getting playing time and ultimately left.

Also, maybe Bo didn't put up with it. Maybe he knew this attitude was there amongst the scholarship players and wanted to change it but never could.

 

[junior4949]

I don't have an issue with walk-ons stepping up to be leaders of the team, when there is a leadership void. However, the fact there is a leadership void among the most talented and best athletes on the team is a huge concern. That's the point I am trying to make.

Maybe the walk-ons are the best football players on the team.

If the walk-ons are the best football players on the team, then the staff has completely whiffed on recruiting and player development. In this case, it could be the fault of Bo and his staff.

As I have stated numerous times, walk-ons can be a great supplement to the talent level of the team, but recruiting stud players and developing those studs are the lifeblood of the program. They make the difference of a top 10 team, and where NU has finished the past 15 years.

There is another option.

Maybe they did recruit extremely talented scholarship players and did what they could to develop them but the attitude amongst the scholarship players is that of entitlement and not willing to put the effort into the program that the walk-ons are willing to do.

IF....(and I say if because I'm not in that locker room)...that is the case, that attitude is going to take longer to get out of the team than what we have given this staff.

Bo may very well be a lot of things, but what over his tenure here at Nebraska has led you to believe he would accept this sort of behavior from those he recruited? Take Abdullah for example. He came in with two other RBs. If Bo did what you are insinuating, Abdullah probably wouldn't have ever seen the field.

I think you have it backwards. The 2 other RBs were higher ranked and had some entitlement issues, hence the reason they left the program. Abdullah just put his head down and went to work. Green and Heard were all pissy because they weren't handed the job instead of earning it.

This was exactly the point. Bo didn't put up with entitlement issues. Hence, the other two RBs transferred. Therefore, it's pretty tough to assume the scholarship players still on this team have entitlement issues because the coach who coached them most of their college career didn't put up with it.

The biggest issue to me with regards to our recruiting under Bo was talent evaluation. Take the QB position for example. We handed out a lot of scholarships to QBs under Bo. In almost each and every case they recruited an athlete who was raw at best in terms of being a QB. A lot of these recruits eventually faded away either transferring or being moved to another position. We recruited a lot of DL that didn't pan out. Bo's best recruiting seemed to be at the JuCo level when he brought in Lavonte David and RG3. The staff seemed to whiff a lot when recruiting high school players.

 

[T_GBR_FAN]

Wow this thread changed from what I posted. I was suggesting that maybe MR hire a former husker player to help and was hoping for more thoughts about that.