Coach Bray Interview

[chamrocck]

https://nebraska.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1724888

Gaining some insight to Coach Bray...I like this:

What do you look for out of a linebacker recruit?
"No. 1 is speed. We need athletes and guys that can run, especially with the offenses we face now. So that's the first thing. Then, how are they as a football player? How are they as a teammate? You've got to gather a lot of information about who they are.

"Character is important and it's always been important for us because bad character people will let you down in big games. I think that's why we won a lot of big games at Oregon State against teams that we shouldn't have because we had good character guys that you could rely on to be in the right spots when it mattered. So that's a big part of recruiting for us."

 

[Eric the Red]

https://nebraska.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1724888

Gaining some insight to Coach Bray...I like this:

What do you look for out of a linebacker recruit?

"No. 1 is speed. We need athletes and guys that can run, especially with the offenses we face now. So that's the first thing. Then, how are they as a football player? How are they as a teammate? You've got to gather a lot of information about who they are.

"Character is important and it's always been important for us because bad character people will let you down in big games. I think that's why we won a lot of big games at Oregon State against teams that we shouldn't have because we had good character guys that you could rely on to be in the right spots when it mattered. So that's a big part of recruiting for us."

Interesting he says we need speed when he was a very good LB and wasn't very fast, but smart.

 

[Hunter94]

i think he really means coachable players, guys that will stick to your scheme.....Gerry is a great athlete, but you could see him failing to stay home and getting burned for it...your kids got to believe first!

 

[Lunchbucket]

https://nebraska.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1724888

Gaining some insight to Coach Bray...I like this:

What do you look for out of a linebacker recruit?"No. 1 is speed. We need athletes and guys that can run, especially with the offenses we face now. So that's the first thing. Then, how are they as a football player? How are they as a teammate? You've got to gather a lot of information about who they are.

"Character is important and it's always been important for us because bad character people will let you down in big games. I think that's why we won a lot of big games at Oregon State against teams that we shouldn't have because we had good character guys that you could rely on to be in the right spots when it mattered. So that's a big part of recruiting for us."

Interesting he says we need speed when he was a very good LB and wasn't very fast, but smart.

Times have changed some and it's about impossible to coach speed. But you can coach some other things. I feel linebacker you have it or you don't. You can improve yes but it's more instinct like you mentioned with Bray. You have it or you don't and you are constantly trying but out of position a lot

 

[lo country]

Meh. This guy sounds like some other wanna be coach......

We recruited runners and hitters and the third thing was size. If the kid couldnt run, we didnt recruit him. I think that showed up. One year one of our linebackers ran a 10.4 100 meters and the other one ran a 10.6. Those guys could play defensive back in the NFL, and they did. Our only big linebacker was our middle linebacker, and we had some good ones, but the speed factor was really the thing.

The other guy happens to be Charlie McBride......

I like Brays ideas. Good stuff and a definitive step in the right direction. Runners, hitters and size......gave us 3 mnc's. Good enough for McBride, good enough for me. Maybe Bray will become our McBray.....

 

[Count 'Bility]

I've always been a fan of speed over size. Ok. So that 210 pound backer might have trouble tackling that 220 back one on one, but the real issue is, can that 220 pound back handle 3 of them 210 pound backers that will all be there. I like Banker's spill philosophy. Penetrate. Disrupt. Spill, and let the safeties and backer pursue freely. Rally to the ball. Get there. Enough of this diagnosing on the fly and thinking about all the technical run fits. Yeah, we're gonna give up some big plays. It happens. But the consistent butt whoopins and pickin apart are hopefully done.

The name LaVonte David is enough for me to say that size isnt everything in a linebacker.

 

[Joe_5700]

I've always been a fan of speed over size. Ok. So that 210 pound backer might have trouble tackling that 220 back one on one, but the real issue is, can that 220 pound back handle 3 of them 210 pound backers that will all be there. I like Banker's spill philosophy. Penetrate. Disrupt. Spill, and let the safeties and backer pursue freely. Rally to the ball. Get there. Enough of this diagnosing on the fly and thinking about all the technical run fits. Yeah, we're gonna give up some big plays. It happens. But the consistent butt whoopins and pickin apart are hopefully done.

The name LaVonte David is enough for me to say that size isnt everything in a linebacker.

I remember Octavious McFarlin who started out at DB and was a pretty good LB at the end of his career at ~200 pounds.

 

[Mavric]

I remember Octavious McFarlin who started out at DB and was a pretty good LB at the end of his career at ~200 pounds.

Octavious McFarlin threatened to kill me once. That was fun.

I absolutely love speed. Nothing can replace it. But I find it a little interesting that it doesn't really fit the mold of the best LBs in the B1G over the last several years. MSU and Wiscy have all-conference and pro prospect LBs who weren't very fast. And most of the better conference opponents we face don't run spread offenses.

Will be interesting going forward.

 

[Count 'Bility]

I've always been a fan of speed over size. Ok. So that 210 pound backer might have trouble tackling that 220 back one on one, but the real issue is, can that 220 pound back handle 3 of them 210 pound backers that will all be there. I like Banker's spill philosophy. Penetrate. Disrupt. Spill, and let the safeties and backer pursue freely. Rally to the ball. Get there. Enough of this diagnosing on the fly and thinking about all the technical run fits. Yeah, we're gonna give up some big plays. It happens. But the consistent butt whoopins and pickin apart are hopefully done.

The name LaVonte David is enough for me to say that size isnt everything in a linebacker.

I remember Octavious McFarlin who started out at DB and was a pretty good LB at the end of his career at ~200 pounds.

That's how all our linebackers started out in the 90's. Literally. We were cruitin Corners to play safety, safeties to play backer, and backers to play Rush end. Now a days of course, speed is such an automatic part of the game, that revolutionary concepts like that arent done anymore, cuz guys are just fast at all those positions now to anyway.

 

[admo]

https://nebraska.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1724888

Gaining some insight to Coach Bray...I like this:

What do you look for out of a linebacker recruit?"No. 1 is speed. We need athletes and guys that can run, especially with the offenses we face now. So that's the first thing. Then, how are they as a football player? How are they as a teammate? You've got to gather a lot of information about who they are.

"Character is important and it's always been important for us because bad character people will let you down in big games. I think that's why we won a lot of big games at Oregon State against teams that we shouldn't have because we had good character guys that you could rely on to be in the right spots when it mattered. So that's a big part of recruiting for us."

Interesting he says we need speed when he was a very good LB and wasn't very fast, but smart.

Times have changed some and it's about impossible to coach speed. But you can coach some other things. I feel linebacker you have it or you don't. You can improve yes but it's more instinct like you mentioned with Bray. You have it or you don't and you are constantly trying but out of position a lot

I strongly feel the same with the bolded part. And I believe the linebackers are the central part of a great blackshirt defense. We could use some improvement in this area. It's been just average since the Sean Fischer / Will Compton era began.