Athlon Big Ten Position Ranks

knapplc

knapplc

International Man of Mystery
Athlon's continuing preseason coverage ranks the Big Ten's units and this year the Huskers are getting varying results. The ranks so far:

Quarterback: #3 (#1 Michigan; #2 Ohio State)

Running Back: #2 (#1 Wisconsin)

Wide Receivers: #1

Offensive Line: #4 (#1 Wisconsin; #2 Michigan State; #3 Michigan)

Defensive Line: #4 (#1 Ohio State; #2 Michigan State; #3 Illinois)

Linebackers: #7 (Just about everyone)

Secondary: Not yet rated

Special Teams: Not yet rated

It's a mixed bag here. Offensively we don't have a unit lower than fourth in Athlon's estimation, but the key position (Offensive Line) is our weakest.

Defensively we haven't started out well. Our line is rated fourth and our linebackers seventh. I know everyone is expecting Bo Pelini Defensive Genius to make a silk purse out of this unit this year, but I remain as unconvinced as Athlon that this side of the ball will be a strength this year. Frankly, 2011's defense was an embarrassment for a head coach whose claim to fame is tough defense.

Some other rankings/predictions of note from Athlon:

* They picked us to finish third in the Legends behind Michigan and Michigan State.

* Rex Burkhead (#3) and Taylor Martinez (#5) are both in the top five of their Big Ten Heisman Trophy contenders this year. Clearly they think highly of our offense. On a side note, they have Denard Robinson at #1 on this list with Montee Ball at #2 - which is clearly wrong. Ball is the single most likely B1G player to get invited to New York this year, and looking at how their offense is set up, they'll lean heavily on Ball all year long.

You can find Athlon's rankings across their site, starting HERE.

 
Two problems I have so far, I think our QB's are neck and neck for #1 but should probably be #2 for now. OSU has a pretty good QB but he lacks a little too much to be ranked so highly. I won’t carry on but that’s how I see it.

Secondly, the defense is in transition. I think putting too much emphasis on 2011 and its poor results is a little silly. Going from a conference where we played a base with 1 LB almost every game to one where we need 3 or 4 in most games. Our entire recruiting structure had to do a complete 180 in terms of defensive strategy from DL and DB, to a more rounded approach. The staff doesn’t hardly even use the Peso defense that helped crush big 12 offenses and now must formulate a defense to combat what they now face. On top of that Pelini and the defensive staff have very little in the way of experience facing our 11 new opponents and their tendencies on offense. My opinion is 2012 will be a much smoother year for the defense. We have some pretty good JUCO guys coming in to fill gaps, some younger guys ready to fill spots and some older guys ready for the leadership positions. Obviously a lot is riding on development of players and our coaching staffs ability to scheme for the multiple different offenses we will face. The last piece to the 2012 puzzle on defense is Pelini is going to have a lot less stress to worry about on offense and can really work with the defensive side and try to figure out a way to put all the pieces together to fix the problems of last year.

 
I'm with Ziggy - while I think athletically Braxton is a better QB that Taylor, Taylor still has a year on him. We'll see how big of a jump Braxton makes under Urban in year 2 - Taylor's jump wasn't as large as I would have hoped, but I think his will come this year. #2a #2b.

While our LBers are a question mark, there is a lot of seniority there to make up for some of the deficiencies. I'm hoping we'll be pleasantly surprised by their performance this year, and the game plans will be more concrete each week to help as well.

 
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knapplc said:
RedRedJarvisRedwhine said:
WR- #1!!! Out-friggin-standing!! Suck it USC! chuckleshuffle We are the new WR U!
Click to expand...
Which Big Ten school goes by "USC?" :dunno
Click to expand...
:dunno
knapplc said:
RedRedJarvisRedwhine said:
WR- #1!!! Out-friggin-standing!! Suck it USC! chuckleshuffle We are the new WR U!
Click to expand...
Which Big Ten school goes by "USC?" :dunno
Click to expand...
knapplc said:
RedRedJarvisRedwhine said:
WR- #1!!! Out-friggin-standing!! Suck it USC! chuckleshuffle We are the new WR U!
Click to expand...
Which Big Ten school goes by "USC?" :dunno
Click to expand...
 
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To be fair, they provided the caveat that the Big Ten's WRs as a whole are a pretty weak group this year. We're #1 in what Athlon thinks is the weakest position group in the conference.

 
knapplc said:
To be fair, they provided the caveat that the Big Ten's WRs as a whole are a pretty weak group this year. We're #1 in what Athlon thinks is the weakest position group in the conference.
Click to expand...
these lists get heavily weighted by superstars. We're way down the list at linebacker this year, but I believe were almost at the top last year solely on David. There are 3 guys on the field and we only had 1 guy that had done much of anything and were rated top 3, but this year we have a number of senior guys coming back with a ton of experience behind them and we're #7 because we lack that star. same goes for the receivers.

 
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Ziggy said:
Two problems I have so far, I think our QB's are neck and neck for #1 but should probably be #2 for now. OSU has a pretty good QB but he lacks a little too much to be ranked so highly. I won’t carry on but that’s how I see it.

Secondly, the defense is in transition. I think putting too much emphasis on 2011 and its poor results is a little silly. Going from a conference where we played a base with 1 LB almost every game to one where we need 3 or 4 in most games. Our entire recruiting structure had to do a complete 180 in terms of defensive strategy from DL and DB, to a more rounded approach. The staff doesn’t hardly even use the Peso defense that helped crush big 12 offenses and now must formulate a defense to combat what they now face. On top of that Pelini and the defensive staff have very little in the way of experience facing our 11 new opponents and their tendencies on offense. My opinion is 2012 will be a much smoother year for the defense. We have some pretty good JUCO guys coming in to fill gaps, some younger guys ready to fill spots and some older guys ready for the leadership positions. Obviously a lot is riding on development of players and our coaching staffs ability to scheme for the multiple different offenses we will face. The last piece to the 2012 puzzle on defense is Pelini is going to have a lot less stress to worry about on offense and can really work with the defensive side and try to figure out a way to put all the pieces together to fix the problems of last year.
Click to expand...

Damn, i could not have said it better myself. +1000

 
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