Early expectations for this year.

[Hunter94]

Bo has always been very involved with the Defense. Until last year, Carl's hands had been tied with what he could do... if you remember right, there was a time before last season when Bo "re-organized" Carl's duty's. He basically was letting Carl call plays and make decisions for the first time. So the great defenses we've had under Bo have been Bo defenses not Carl defenses. I am very confident that Bo will do the same this year... thus we have nothing to worry about. JP will do what he can do and what he can't Bo will take over and make it happen.

and you know all this to be a fact?

I can't say it's fact. But I've heard similar info on other boards.

interesting concept, i guess we learn more this fall after we watch the defense play?...we know Bo will have a huge hand in this year's D, that's for sure.

 

[The Dude]

Carl doesn't duck the next question, but he hedges a bit when we ask who exactly makes the final decision of what to call - him or his younger brother, the head coach?

"I do the hand signals, but it's based on a lean towards Bo," Carl said.

Carl said the premise has been to make that decision together, but Bo has indicated it might change this season. "He's giving me a lot more of the responsibilities," Carl said.

http://www.huskers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=100&ATCLID=205134209

 

[Mierin]

Bo has always been very involved with the Defense. Until last year, Carl's hands had been tied with what he could do... if you remember right, there was a time before last season when Bo "re-organized" Carl's duty's. He basically was letting Carl call plays and make decisions for the first time. So the great defenses we've had under Bo have been Bo defenses not Carl defenses. I am very confident that Bo will do the same this year... thus we have nothing to worry about. JP will do what he can do and what he can't Bo will take over and make it happen.

and you know all this to be a fact?

Carl actually said much the same in some of the Fall practice interviews (the one The Dude posted is from April 2011, so I know it was said more than once). I'm not going to look them up and find the quotes, but I distinctly remember him talking in August about how he used to be solely in charge of the defensive line and now he was going to have more input into the entire defense than ever before. I was under the impression that this was because Bo was spending more time with Beck and the offense. Maybe it's just wishful thinking but I'm hoping that was at least a part of the reason things weren't great last year and that Bo won't need to spend as much time with the offense this year.

Edit: It also might have been one of the defensive line players that mentioned the part about him working more on the overall defense instead of focusing on the DL. I realize this doesn't sound concrete but if it helps, I rarely ever post "I remember hearing in an interview but I don't remember when/what it was." But I'm sure about this one

 

[True2tRA]

Bo is not god, some need to understand that. Bo is doing the best he can, still learning, along with darned near every coach on the team. I think we have a lot of problems this year, OL DL LB's and depth in all of those areas. Plus this is the first year that most of Bo's players hit the field, we will soon see what kind of recruting job has been done.

Not sure I totally agree with that, but one thing nobody can debate is the fact that Bo's best defenses since he's been HC were in his first couple years with mostly somebody else's recruits. So I don't know where things will go from here.

 

[knapplc]

The whole idea of "Bo's first recruits take the field as seniors" is a bit misleading. Bo was not an incompetent recruiter, as some feared, but he didn't put together a solid class that first year - or the second, honestly. There were some scholarships offered that shouldn't have been offered. But we needed bodies, and decisions were made.

It's only this year, 2012, that Bo and Co. figured out that we can't make do with all three-star guys. We're still a year or two off from a WOW set of guys taking the field.

Everyone needs to calm down. Be patient. Let it happen as it happens, don't get carried away with the "Let's get on to the next coach if this guy can't get it done" mentality.

We have some really good people on this team. People that we can be proud wear our colors, represent our school. Not just the Rex Burkheads and Kenny Bells, but the fifth-string walk-on linemen, too. We've got a team with guys like Austin Cassidy, who may not be the world's greatest Safety but he's a HELL of a guy, a hell of a Husker.

It's going to happen. Bo may not get us a National Championship, but he'll get us a conference championship or two, and he'll be an OK coach at worst. At best he's going to stock that locker room full of kids you'll be proud to call your team.

We've got 80 days until kickoff. Chill.

 

[RedDenver]

The whole idea of "Bo's first recruits take the field as seniors" is a bit misleading. Bo was not an incompetent recruiter, as some feared, but he didn't put together a solid class that first year - or the second, honestly. There were some scholarships offered that shouldn't have been offered. But we needed bodies, and decisions were made.

It's only this year, 2012, that Bo and Co. figured out that we can't make do with all three-star guys. We're still a year or two off from a WOW set of guys taking the field.

Everyone needs to calm down. Be patient. Let it happen as it happens, don't get carried away with the "Let's get on to the next coach if this guy can't get it done" mentality.

We have some really good people on this team. People that we can be proud wear our colors, represent our school. Not just the Rex Burkheads and Kenny Bells, but the fifth-string walk-on linemen, too. We've got a team with guys like Austin Cassidy, who may not be the world's greatest Safety but he's a HELL of a guy, a hell of a Husker.

It's going to happen. Bo may not get us a National Championship, but he'll get us a conference championship or two, and he'll be an OK coach at worst. At best he's going to stock that locker room full of kids you'll be proud to call your team.

We've got 80 days until kickoff. Chill.

Great post.

 

[ladyhawke]

The whole idea of "Bo's first recruits take the field as seniors" is a bit misleading. Bo was not an incompetent recruiter, as some feared, but he didn't put together a solid class that first year - or the second, honestly. There were some scholarships offered that shouldn't have been offered. But we needed bodies, and decisions were made.

It's only this year, 2012, that Bo and Co. figured out that we can't make do with all three-star guys. We're still a year or two off from a WOW set of guys taking the field.

Everyone needs to calm down. Be patient. Let it happen as it happens, don't get carried away with the "Let's get on to the next coach if this guy can't get it done" mentality.

We have some really good people on this team. People that we can be proud wear our colors, represent our school. Not just the Rex Burkheads and Kenny Bells, but the fifth-string walk-on linemen, too. We've got a team with guys like Austin Cassidy, who may not be the world's greatest Safety but he's a HELL of a guy, a hell of a Husker.

It's going to happen. Bo may not get us a National Championship, but he'll get us a conference championship or two, and he'll be an OK coach at worst. At best he's going to stock that locker room full of kids you'll be proud to call your team.

We've got 80 days until kickoff. Chill.

The other plus we have this year is that those kids who Bo recruited and have been with him these past two years know the defense now. They can be mentors to the new kids-encourage them-help them learn the plays-give them the 'inside scoop' on how to learn from Bo because they've been there.

I agree Knappic. I think this is going to be a really good year. Now having said that, I'm sure all of the other teams in the B1G think the same thing but that's what makes football exciting-everyone trying their best to win. Isn't that what we want to see? I always loved it when Nebraska played THE best teams in the nation because when we beat them soundly it made us look so good! I think the other teams know we have the potential to beat them and that none of them are going to take playing against us lightly (if they even though that) We can't take any team lightly either or we'll get beat (Can you spell Northwestern!?)

So here's to a fabulous year! GO BIG RED!!!

 

[kchusker_chris]

The other plus we have this year is that those kids who Bo recruited and have been with him these past two years know the defense now. They can be mentors to the new kids-encourage them-help them learn the plays-give them the 'inside scoop' on how to learn from Bo because they've been there.

This is a really good point. These guys may have been in the program 5 years - but those first couple of years they were learning with everyone else and it's not as though they had upper classmen to run to. They may be 5th year seniors, but mentally many of them are a year or two behind where our current fresh/sophomores will be when they are 5th year seniors.

 

[bshirt]

The other plus we have this year is that those kids who Bo recruited and have been with him these past two years know the defense now. They can be mentors to the new kids-encourage them-help them learn the plays-give them the 'inside scoop' on how to learn from Bo because they've been there.

This is a really good point. These guys may have been in the program 5 years - but those first couple of years they were learning with everyone else and it's not as though they had upper classmen to run to. They may be 5th year seniors, but mentally many of them are a year or two behind where our current fresh/sophomores will be when they are 5th year seniors.

Hmmm.....you might be right about that. Good post Chris.

 

[AFhusker]

Bo has always been very involved with the Defense. Until last year, Carl's hands had been tied with what he could do... if you remember right, there was a time before last season when Bo "re-organized" Carl's duty's. He basically was letting Carl call plays and make decisions for the first time. So the great defenses we've had under Bo have been Bo defenses not Carl defenses. I am very confident that Bo will do the same this year... thus we have nothing to worry about. JP will do what he can do and what he can't Bo will take over and make it happen.

and you know all this to be a fact?

Carl actually said much the same in some of the Fall practice interviews (the one The Dude posted is from April 2011, so I know it was said more than once). I'm not going to look them up and find the quotes, but I distinctly remember him talking in August about how he used to be solely in charge of the defensive line and now he was going to have more input into the entire defense than ever before. I was under the impression that this was because Bo was spending more time with Beck and the offense. Maybe it's just wishful thinking but I'm hoping that was at least a part of the reason things weren't great last year and that Bo won't need to spend as much time with the offense this year.

Edit: It also might have been one of the defensive line players that mentioned the part about him working more on the overall defense instead of focusing on the DL. I realize this doesn't sound concrete but if it helps, I rarely ever post "I remember hearing in an interview but I don't remember when/what it was." But I'm sure about this one

You are correct about Bo running the defense. Carl was just here to take care of details that Bo didn't want or have time to deal with. Carl is not a loss and is actually a positive that he's gone. Bo is also coaching the DB's this year as Joseph is mainly here to recruit, but that is fine since that is where they needed the help the most and it seems to be working.

Bo was also paying way too much attention to the offense by micromanaging both Watson and Beck and hopefully the reports are correct that he trusts Beck and allows him to do the job that he's paid to do. I do think that it did hurt the defense a little, but realistically between a few injuries and flat out not having the talent needed, it wasn't going to ever be a great defense last year anyway.

 

[Hunter94]

Bo has always been very involved with the Defense. Until last year, Carl's hands had been tied with what he could do... if you remember right, there was a time before last season when Bo "re-organized" Carl's duty's. He basically was letting Carl call plays and make decisions for the first time. So the great defenses we've had under Bo have been Bo defenses not Carl defenses. I am very confident that Bo will do the same this year... thus we have nothing to worry about. JP will do what he can do and what he can't Bo will take over and make it happen.

and you know all this to be a fact?

Carl actually said much the same in some of the Fall practice interviews (the one The Dude posted is from April 2011, so I know it was said more than once). I'm not going to look them up and find the quotes, but I distinctly remember him talking in August about how he used to be solely in charge of the defensive line and now he was going to have more input into the entire defense than ever before. I was under the impression that this was because Bo was spending more time with Beck and the offense. Maybe it's just wishful thinking but I'm hoping that was at least a part of the reason things weren't great last year and that Bo won't need to spend as much time with the offense this year.

Edit: It also might have been one of the defensive line players that mentioned the part about him working more on the overall defense instead of focusing on the DL. I realize this doesn't sound concrete but if it helps, I rarely ever post "I remember hearing in an interview but I don't remember when/what it was." But I'm sure about this one

You are correct about Bo running the defense. Carl was just here to take care of details that Bo didn't want or have time to deal with. Carl is not a loss and is actually a positive that he's gone. Bo is also coaching the DB's this year as Joseph is mainly here to recruit, but that is fine since that is where they needed the help the most and it seems to be working.

Bo was also paying way too much attention to the offense by micromanaging both Watson and Beck and hopefully the reports are correct that he trusts Beck and allows him to do the job that he's paid to do. I do think that it did hurt the defense a little, but realistically between a few injuries and flat out not having the talent needed, it wasn't going to ever be a great defense last year anyway.

i hope you are correct in all this. i think Beck needs to show us more this season. he has some good tools, he just needs to show us he can scheme the offense to utilize what he has.....this O needs to show some ball control and put some points on the board.

 

[BoPelinisNose]

hard to say how we'll do. michigan could be bcs title game material, and urban's gonna have miller running by everyone. wisconsin will still be tough, as will msu, iowa. penn state won't be easy, and I hear ucla has a stud at QB. 9-3, and maybe a win in the bowl game. more of the same, but I will always be happy with 9+ wins a year

Iowa is a joke, Penn State has a worse QB than we do, a new head coach, lost some key pieces, MSU lost a bit on D and senior starter at QB, amongst all top recievers. Wisconsin will be big, but is having quite the QB troubles as I hear.

Michigan will be tough - although I think we will be in a much better place to compete with them. Ohio State? Still lack of depth, new offense, Braxton isn't tebow.

Yes they are, I have a lot of family from Iowa but they are all Cyclone fans. I'm just glad we are in the BIG instead of the Big 12 though so I'd rather play Iowa than the Cyclones.

 

[True2tRA]

Always fun to look back huh?

 

[knapplc]

Always fun to look back huh?

Yes, it is. The below is a post I'll gladly stand behind seven games into the season.

The whole idea of "Bo's first recruits take the field as seniors" is a bit misleading. Bo was not an incompetent recruiter, as some feared, but he didn't put together a solid class that first year - or the second, honestly. There were some scholarships offered that shouldn't have been offered. But we needed bodies, and decisions were made.

It's only this year, 2012, that Bo and Co. figured out that we can't make do with all three-star guys. We're still a year or two off from a WOW set of guys taking the field.

Everyone needs to calm down. Be patient. Let it happen as it happens, don't get carried away with the "Let's get on to the next coach if this guy can't get it done" mentality.

We have some really good people on this team. People that we can be proud wear our colors, represent our school. Not just the Rex Burkheads and Kenny Bells, but the fifth-string walk-on linemen, too. We've got a team with guys like Austin Cassidy, who may not be the world's greatest Safety but he's a HELL of a guy, a hell of a Husker.

It's going to happen. Bo may not get us a National Championship, but he'll get us a conference championship or two, and he'll be an OK coach at worst. At best he's going to stock that locker room full of kids you'll be proud to call your team.

We've got 80 days until kickoff. Chill.

 

[True2tRA]

Interesting Knapp. I was actually reading that one a second ago and was specifically going to ask you if this this what your truly think we are seeing unfolding? I guess the question is answered.