Cos and Co.

R

Red November

Special Teams Player
Defense is played with talent, emotion and a desire to run through brick walls for your coaches. Last year's Defense fell short of its capabilities more talent was there than what was demonstrated on the field. This year's defensive secondary and linebacking corps is very questionable at this time. The loss of Ruud,Bullocks, and washington, in that order will be very difficult to replace. The emotion and desire to run through brick walls for your coaches was lacking compared to the previous year. If we want to be on top again this must be turned around. Can Cosgrove and co. do it.

 
You are correct about having to have talent. But if you have players bitter over coaching changes (3 in 3 years) and simply don't care about playing for NU anymore, all the talent in the world won't do you a bit of good. We need kids to WANT to play for the Big Red. I think Seth Jensen, one of the 06 recruits said it best when he said "But, to be a blackshirt to, well, what else could a guy want?”. Exactly.

The defense should be improved this year. How much? Don't know yet.

 
The loss of Ruud will be felt, the other two were not playing for most of the year so I do not feel their departures will be anything but an improvement. I look for a team this year. We had a bunch of quitter cry babies last year that were suppose to guide this team. They did not get things their way so we saw the results. Things will be different this year, trust me.

 
The loss of Ruud will be felt, the other two were not playing for most of the year so I do not feel their departures will be anything but an improvement. I look for a team this year. We had a bunch of quitter cry babies last year that were suppose to guide this team. They did not get things their way so we saw the results. Things will be different this year, trust me.
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I disagree, those were three guys that were cut out of All-American timber, I dont care who is brought in, their loss will be felt.

 
ummmmm.... i would hardly say that Chad Seivers was all american talent, or Stew Bradley, or Ira Cooper, or they would have been high draft choices, instead of undrafted. Now Ruud on the other hand......

 
ummmmm.... i would hardly say that Chad Seivers was all american talent, or Stew Bradley, or Ira Cooper, or they would have been high draft choices, instead of undrafted. Now Ruud on the other hand......
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I wasnt referring to Bradley, Sievers, or Cooper. I was referring to Ruud, Washington, and Bullocks. :wacko:

 
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I agree that Ruud, Washinton, and Bullocks all have tremendous talent, but some of the things that were going around last year about practices and such lead me to believe that often the defense wasn't putting their best effort forth last year. Again this is just hearsay from some players and some players girlfriends, but apparently the last half of the season the work ethic in practice really fell apart for the defense, Washington and McPherson rarely gave a full effort and consistently got burned by our receivers in practice. I never heard much about Ruud or Bullocks and i'm not going to question their work ethic, but if you play a lot of man coverage with two corners who aren't willing to bust their butts in practice and it carries over into a game, it's no wonder the secondary fell apart.

The talk about poor attitudes and bad apples isn't just rumors and speculation. If that aspect alone can be corrected this year then look for the effort at least to be improved. I remember hearing how Jason Peters once ran across the field and tackled some dude in a no pads practice because he wasn't working hard enough. If the coaches can get the guys to feel that kind of desire to work hard enough in practices to win games on Saturdays then the blackshirts might come back after all. But we'll just have to wait and see.

 
IMHO it is the coaches who allowed the PPA to take place in practices, which probably carried over to the games. We all know the defense was horsed up from Pellini's old philosphy and Coz's different approach and the resistance that took place when Coz came in, but it is up to the coaches (Coz) to change that and make the kids believe and put out the effort. This is all "water under the bridge" and I am not trying to beat a dead horse here, but if this defense does not take hold and put out maximum effort this year, then Coz should flat be run off! We may not have as much defensive talent as we would like, but I am talking about INTENSITY AND EFFORT. If that is not displayed then it should be Coz's *## that hits the street!! The guy has a lot to prove to me as a fan......even more than Cally.

hunter

 
huskerstag, you're onto something. We need more players with the work ethic of a Jared Tomich, Grant Wistrom, the Peter Brothers, etc. Each of the past three seasons, we've had players like these guys as far as intensity goes, but there have been others who weren't as intense. And since this is a team game, everyone must carry their own weight or there will be breakdowns and weaknesses exposed. Of course, some of the failures have been due to other teams getting better and NU faltering a bit. I believe we have changed that and I look for a big change on defense this year. Coz's defense will get better.

I can remember back to a time when Darlington and McBride were taking heat for some of their defensvie schemes. For the longest time, our d-backs were taught to only watch the receiver, which led to a lot of receptions over the d-back. They changed their approach and we were more successful on defense. I look for changes to be made from last year and marked improvement on that side of the ball.

 
IMHO it is the coaches who allowed the PPA to take place in practices, which probably carried over to the games. We all know the defense was horsed up from Pellini's old philosphy and Coz's different approach and the resistance that took place when Coz came in, but it is up to the coaches (Coz) to change that and make the kids believe and put out the effort. This is all "water under the bridge" and I am not trying to beat a dead horse here, but if this defense does not take hold and put out maximum effort this year, then Coz should flat be run off! We may not have as much defensive talent as we would like, but I am talking about INTENSITY AND EFFORT. If that is not displayed then it should be Coz's *## that hits the street!! The guy has a lot to prove to me as a fan......even more than Cally.

hunter
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No Hunter you have it all wrong. When the players perform well, then its great coaching (not by Pelini, however), but when they perform poorly, its because they are whining, sniveling, little cry-babies who need to leave, and good riddance to the little whiners. :sarcasm

 
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well, if you think about it, Cally turned up the intensity in spring ball, which resulted in some injuries, but it sent a message, toughen up or get the hell out.....

practices should simulate game day effort, don't you think? and maybe Coz did learn something about running a college football defense, maybe....we'll see

hunter

 
When the team plays well, who's to say it's all the players or all the coaches? Same when the team doesn't play well. But when I see players just standing around in the defensive backfield or standing next to someone who is wide open for a touch down pass and not attempt to make a play, like I saw this year, something tells me they could give a crap.

Or when seniors who were mediocre leave to play in the NFL and perform great at the combine, showing talent they didn't show their last year at NU. What prevented them from playing like that at NU? Nothing. Unless you believe the coaches told them, "hey, don't run so fast!" or "hey, don't hit so hard next time!".

 
When the team plays well, who's to say it's all the players or all the coaches? Same when the team doesn't play well. But when I see players just standing around in the defensive backfield or standing next to someone who is wide open for a touch down pass and not attempt to make a play, like I saw this year, something tells me they could give a crap.
Or when seniors who were mediocre leave to play in the NFL and perform great at the combine, showing talent they didn't show their last year at NU. What prevented them from playing like that at NU? Nothing. Unless you believe the coaches told them, "hey, don't run so fast!" or "hey, don't hit so hard next time!".
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It couldnt possibly be a bad system that doesnt showcase said talent adequately, now could it Dave?? :sarcasm

 
It couldnt possibly be a bad system that doesnt showcase said talent adequately, now could it Dave?? :sarcasm
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What defense does not try to exploit, say the speed of a CB? What defense says "Hey, when your WR that you are to stick to comes across the end zone, just let him go."?

Sorry man, you aren't going to convince me that the only reason these kids seemed to play worse last year was because of the current coaching staff. Like I have said time and time again, the jury is still out for me.

 
It couldnt possibly be a bad system that doesnt showcase said talent adequately, now could it Dave?? :sarcasm
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What defense does not try to exploit, say the speed of a CB? What defense says "Hey, when your WR that you are to stick to comes across the end zone, just let him go."?

Sorry man, you aren't going to convince me that the only reason these kids seemed to play worse last year was because of the current coaching staff. Like I have said time and time again, the jury is still out for me.
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Like has been established numerous times in the past, the dbs were good at cover 2 and cover 3, and coz chose not to runs those coverages.

 
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