NamelessHusker
Banned
[SIZE=14pt]PART 1:[/SIZE]
Over the next few months, we will take a look at Nebraska's Big12 opponents and break them down position by position. That will give everyone on this board a better understanding of where our opponents strength and weaknesses are. We kickoff the breakdown with Kansas, which will visit Memorial Stadium on Sep 30th and conclude with Colorado on Nov 24th in Lincoln to end the regular season.
Keep in mind, these are breakdowns of teams with guys either graduating, have exhausted eligibility or have elected to enter the 2006 NFL draft. In no way should they be considered set in stone. Over the course of the next few months, players mentioned can transfer, be suspended and kicked off the team, sustain an injury they keeps them out for the entire year.
Kansas finished 2005 with a 7-5 overall record and 3-5 in Big12 play. They started 3-0 before going on a 4 game losing streak to Texas Tech (bowl eligible), Kansas St, Oklahoma (bowl eligible), and Colorado (bowl eligible) but finished the season strong and winning 4 of its 5 last games (loss to 2005 champion Texas) including a bowl victory over Houston in the Fort Worth Bowl.
Kansas's strength this year was it's defense. It was anchored by 8 senior starters including Big12 player of the year OLB Nick Reid who was also first team all Big12 with fellow teammate Charlton Keith. Freshman Aqib Talib earned First team All Freshman by the recruiting service Rivals.com. Junior Defensive back Charles Gordon was a semifinalist for the Jim Thorpe award (given to the nations best DB).
DE:
Kansas will lose both defensive ends in Juco Jermial Ashley and Charlton Keith (9 sacks). Replacing them will be the duty of Senior Juco's Rodney Allen (10 games/ 14 UA, 1 a$$) and Paul Como (6 games/10 UA, 2 a$$, 1 sack) who both saw action this season as backups. Charlton Keith finished with 24 tackles for a loss of 102 yards on the season to go along with his 9 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, 7 QB hurries, 1 int for a TD, and 60 tackles.
DT:
Kansas returns its starting defensive tackle in Soph James McClinton who played in all 12 games this season and saw action in 6 games his freshman year. He's backed up by Soph Eric Butler who also saw playing time this season on and off
NT:
Kansas must replace Senior nose tackle starter Tim Allen and that will fall on Juco Senior Wayne Wilder who will battle it out with incoming freshman and Juco's from the 2006 recruiting class.
LB:
Senior Nick Reid was argueably one of the best defensive players in the Big12 this year. Some LB's could be moved around to fill his shoes, but backing him up on the depth chart is Freshman Joe Mortensen who has yet to play a down.
Kansas will also lose senior LB's Banks Floodman and Kevin Kane who helped Kansas attain the 3rd best rush defense in the nation this year. Kansas will have to rely on Senior Eric Washington and Soph. Mike Riveria to fill that gap. A tall order for a unit that ranked 11th in the nation in total defense with the likes of Ohio St, Texas, LSU, and Penn St who round out the top10.
CB:
Kansas will lose 1 of 2 CB's. Starting CB Theodore Baines and backup Donnie Amadi both graduate this year. Kansas will look for some help from incoming Freshman Anthony Webb and Juco Mike McCoy. On the opposite side, KU will return Freshman all American CB Aqib Talib who showed he was no pushover this year and shined. QB's learned not to throw to his side of the ball and if they did, he was there to cover. He still made Freshman mistakes and it cost Kansas after finishing ranked 59th in the nation in pass defense. Backup Ronnie Amadi (Donnie Amadi's brother) will also graduate, leaving KU inexperienced in the CB department should Talib go down with an injury next season. One guy who has elected to go early to the NFL is Junior Charles Gordon who had 9 career interceptions, leaving KU inexperienced in the backfield
Safeties:
Kansas losses 1 of 2 this year in Senior Rodney Fowler, and returns Senior Jerome Kemp next season. Kansas will also lose backup Marcus Hicks. Freshman Raymond Brown will battle incoming recruits for strarting position, but the lack of experience should make Kansas vulnerable next season in the backfield. Can incoming Juco Blake Bueltel shore up that inexperience? That remains to be seen. Freshman Olaitan Oguntodu will also battle for a spot on the depth chart as well as Soph. Sadiq Mohammed.
Kansas plays a 4-3 defense with some Nickle D mixed into it. KU will return 3 starters on D next season.
[SIZE=14pt]DEFENSIVE LINE:[/SIZE]
Left DE:
Jermial Ashley Sr.
Rodney Allen Jr.
Right DE:
Charlton Keith Sr.
Paul Como Jr.
John Larson Fr.
DT:
James McClinton Soph.
Eric Butler Soph.
NT:
Tim Allen Sr.
Wayne Wilder Jr.
[SIZE=14pt]LINEBACKERS:[/SIZE]
Will (OLB)
Nick Reid Sr.
Joe Mortensen Fr.
Mike (Middle Linebacker)
Kevin Kane Sr.
Mike Rivera Fr.
Sam (OLB):
Banks Floorman Sr.
Brandon Perkins Sr.
Eric Washington Jr.
[SIZE=14pt]DEFENSIVE BACKS:[/SIZE]
Left CB:
Charles Gordon Sr.
Donnie Amadi Sr.
Marcus Hicks Sr.
Right CB:
Aqib Talib Fr.
Ronnie Amadi Sr.
Theodore Baines Sr.
Strong Safety:
Jerome Kemp Jr.
*Sadiq Mohammed Soph.
Free Safety:
Rodney Fowler Sr.
Raymond Brown Fr.
*Sadiq Mohammed Soph.
players in bold will no longer on the roster next year
*DE John McCoy who has missed the last 2 seasons while on tour in Iraq and DB Rodney Harris who missed 2005 for personal reasons will return to the KU lineup for 1 more year.
Next week, we examine KU's offense, so stay tuned.
Over the next few months, we will take a look at Nebraska's Big12 opponents and break them down position by position. That will give everyone on this board a better understanding of where our opponents strength and weaknesses are. We kickoff the breakdown with Kansas, which will visit Memorial Stadium on Sep 30th and conclude with Colorado on Nov 24th in Lincoln to end the regular season.
Keep in mind, these are breakdowns of teams with guys either graduating, have exhausted eligibility or have elected to enter the 2006 NFL draft. In no way should they be considered set in stone. Over the course of the next few months, players mentioned can transfer, be suspended and kicked off the team, sustain an injury they keeps them out for the entire year.
Kansas finished 2005 with a 7-5 overall record and 3-5 in Big12 play. They started 3-0 before going on a 4 game losing streak to Texas Tech (bowl eligible), Kansas St, Oklahoma (bowl eligible), and Colorado (bowl eligible) but finished the season strong and winning 4 of its 5 last games (loss to 2005 champion Texas) including a bowl victory over Houston in the Fort Worth Bowl.
Kansas's strength this year was it's defense. It was anchored by 8 senior starters including Big12 player of the year OLB Nick Reid who was also first team all Big12 with fellow teammate Charlton Keith. Freshman Aqib Talib earned First team All Freshman by the recruiting service Rivals.com. Junior Defensive back Charles Gordon was a semifinalist for the Jim Thorpe award (given to the nations best DB).
DE:
Kansas will lose both defensive ends in Juco Jermial Ashley and Charlton Keith (9 sacks). Replacing them will be the duty of Senior Juco's Rodney Allen (10 games/ 14 UA, 1 a$$) and Paul Como (6 games/10 UA, 2 a$$, 1 sack) who both saw action this season as backups. Charlton Keith finished with 24 tackles for a loss of 102 yards on the season to go along with his 9 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, 7 QB hurries, 1 int for a TD, and 60 tackles.
DT:
Kansas returns its starting defensive tackle in Soph James McClinton who played in all 12 games this season and saw action in 6 games his freshman year. He's backed up by Soph Eric Butler who also saw playing time this season on and off
NT:
Kansas must replace Senior nose tackle starter Tim Allen and that will fall on Juco Senior Wayne Wilder who will battle it out with incoming freshman and Juco's from the 2006 recruiting class.
LB:
Senior Nick Reid was argueably one of the best defensive players in the Big12 this year. Some LB's could be moved around to fill his shoes, but backing him up on the depth chart is Freshman Joe Mortensen who has yet to play a down.
Kansas will also lose senior LB's Banks Floodman and Kevin Kane who helped Kansas attain the 3rd best rush defense in the nation this year. Kansas will have to rely on Senior Eric Washington and Soph. Mike Riveria to fill that gap. A tall order for a unit that ranked 11th in the nation in total defense with the likes of Ohio St, Texas, LSU, and Penn St who round out the top10.
CB:
Kansas will lose 1 of 2 CB's. Starting CB Theodore Baines and backup Donnie Amadi both graduate this year. Kansas will look for some help from incoming Freshman Anthony Webb and Juco Mike McCoy. On the opposite side, KU will return Freshman all American CB Aqib Talib who showed he was no pushover this year and shined. QB's learned not to throw to his side of the ball and if they did, he was there to cover. He still made Freshman mistakes and it cost Kansas after finishing ranked 59th in the nation in pass defense. Backup Ronnie Amadi (Donnie Amadi's brother) will also graduate, leaving KU inexperienced in the CB department should Talib go down with an injury next season. One guy who has elected to go early to the NFL is Junior Charles Gordon who had 9 career interceptions, leaving KU inexperienced in the backfield
Safeties:
Kansas losses 1 of 2 this year in Senior Rodney Fowler, and returns Senior Jerome Kemp next season. Kansas will also lose backup Marcus Hicks. Freshman Raymond Brown will battle incoming recruits for strarting position, but the lack of experience should make Kansas vulnerable next season in the backfield. Can incoming Juco Blake Bueltel shore up that inexperience? That remains to be seen. Freshman Olaitan Oguntodu will also battle for a spot on the depth chart as well as Soph. Sadiq Mohammed.
Kansas plays a 4-3 defense with some Nickle D mixed into it. KU will return 3 starters on D next season.
[SIZE=14pt]DEFENSIVE LINE:[/SIZE]
Left DE:
Jermial Ashley Sr.
Rodney Allen Jr.
Right DE:
Charlton Keith Sr.
Paul Como Jr.
John Larson Fr.
DT:
James McClinton Soph.
Eric Butler Soph.
NT:
Tim Allen Sr.
Wayne Wilder Jr.
[SIZE=14pt]LINEBACKERS:[/SIZE]
Will (OLB)
Nick Reid Sr.
Joe Mortensen Fr.
Mike (Middle Linebacker)
Kevin Kane Sr.
Mike Rivera Fr.
Sam (OLB):
Banks Floorman Sr.
Brandon Perkins Sr.
Eric Washington Jr.
[SIZE=14pt]DEFENSIVE BACKS:[/SIZE]
Left CB:
Charles Gordon Sr.
Donnie Amadi Sr.
Marcus Hicks Sr.
Right CB:
Aqib Talib Fr.
Ronnie Amadi Sr.
Theodore Baines Sr.
Strong Safety:
Jerome Kemp Jr.
*Sadiq Mohammed Soph.
Free Safety:
Rodney Fowler Sr.
Raymond Brown Fr.
*Sadiq Mohammed Soph.
players in bold will no longer on the roster next year
*DE John McCoy who has missed the last 2 seasons while on tour in Iraq and DB Rodney Harris who missed 2005 for personal reasons will return to the KU lineup for 1 more year.
Next week, we examine KU's offense, so stay tuned.
Last edited by a moderator:
