Epley's comments on Talent

[Guy Chamberlin]

Makes it sound much more like Jimmy and Joe's then coaching.

You know, I have never heard a WINNING coach or anyone connected to a WINNING program ever use the "Jimmies and Joes" excuse explanation...probably because winners don't need any excuses. That, and the WINNING programs think they win because they outwork and outperform everybody. Vince Lombardi's Packers, Osborne's Cornhuskers, Walsh's '49ers, Bear Bryant's Crimson Tide, etc., etc.

Tom Osborne said many times that they had to get faster players on defense to be able to match the Florida teams. Once he got them, you didn't hear him talk

Good point. It was widely believed that Tom Osborne had reached his ceiling as a coach after being blown out by elite teams in 1990.

Tom didn't make his team work harder. He changed his recruiting philosophy, focusing on speedier defensive players and targeting faraway football hotbeds like New Jersey.

Does that mean Tom Osborne didn't think he could compete at the highest levels with the talent he had?

Yes.

 

[StPaulHusker]

Epley said that the football team needed more players that required less development and coaching time. That's coach speak for "Jimmys and Joes"

True. Better jimmies and joes can make up for some coaching deficits.

Yep. Suh, Lavonte David, Ameer, Rex, Helu, etc. definitely proved that.

You're trying too hard.

So are you

 

[BigRedBuster]

Epley said that the football team needed more players that required less development and coaching time. That's coach speak for "Jimmys and Joes"

True. Better jimmies and joes can make up for some coaching deficits.

Yep. Suh, Lavonte David, Ameer, Rex, Helu, etc. definitely proved that.

You're trying too hard.

Pot meet kettle.

 

[Bowfin]

Anyone who doesn't think it's about Jimmy and Joe's are crazy. Look at Ameer for example, prolly won 3 games by himself last year. If he was on this team they might have only lost 1-2 games.

Hmmm, you put a lot of stock in "Jimmies and Joes"...what is the record of your team again?

Anyhow, then you bring up Ameer Abduallah, of all people. He is probably the prime example of "success is made, not born". He came in as a 172 lb. freshman that nobody wanted as a running back and left as a guy who could squat lift 500 lbs. and a future in the NFL. That was work done, not talent gifted.

 

[StPaulHusker]

Anyone who doesn't think it's about Jimmy and Joe's are crazy. Look at Ameer for example, prolly won 3 games by himself last year. If he was on this team they might have only lost 1-2 games.

Hmmm, you put a lot of stock in "Jimmies and Joes"...what is the record of your team again?

Anyhow, then you bring up Ameer Abduallah, of all people. He is probably the prime example of "success is made, not born". He came in as a 172 lb. freshman that nobody wanted as a running back and left as a guy who could squat lift 500 lbs. and a future in the NFL. That was work done, not talent gifted.

Ameer also came in and contributed right away ahead of 2 highly touted RB's. let's not act like he was some meek and mild player buried on the depth chart

 

[BigRedBuster]

Anyone who doesn't think it's about Jimmy and Joe's are crazy. Look at Ameer for example, prolly won 3 games by himself last year. If he was on this team they might have only lost 1-2 games.

Hmmm, you put a lot of stock in "Jimmies and Joes"...what is the record of your team again?

Anyhow, then you bring up Ameer Abduallah, of all people. He is probably the prime example of "success is made, not born". He came in as a 172 lb. freshman that nobody wanted as a running back and left as a guy who could squat lift 500 lbs. and a future in the NFL. That was work done, not talent gifted.

It's an example of both.

 

[teachercd]

Anyone who doesn't think it's about Jimmy and Joe's are crazy. Look at Ameer for example, prolly won 3 games by himself last year. If he was on this team they might have only lost 1-2 games.

True...but they also rushed it 150 more times last year...and didn't AA miss 1 or 2 games?

So, how does the team end up with 150 more rushing attempts?

If we didn't have Ameer I wonder how effective our rushing attack would have been in 2014? I wonder if we would have rushed the same number of times?

I don't know...some RB's need to get "lathered" up a bit...some are just always great and some are just average. I mean, I don't think it would have COST the team any games if they ran it 150 more times...Maybe MSU? I don't remember how they did rushing in that game.

 

[Bowfin]

Tom didn't make his team work harder. He changed his recruiting philosophy, focusing on speedier defensive players and targeting faraway football hotbeds like New Jersey.

So...were those guys born fast, or did they run until they were the fastest? Because speed can be practiced and coached, although it rarely is in football, and universally is in track.

I know of two players who were on the Huskers team who sped up because they practiced and conditioned to get faster. One tactic being to lengthen their stride.

I apologize for sounding like a broken record, but hard work trumps all in almost every human endeavor. That dictum doesn't magically disappear because of chalk lines drawn on a playing field. Paul Hornung said that it was harder to go through a Green Bay practice than an NFL game, and that is what made them a great team.

But hey, 5-7, so "Jimmies and Joes", Am I right?

 

[Bowfin]

It's an example of both.

Expound, please. What physical talent vaulted Ameer over so many other players? I say he outworked them and outlearned them.

 

[NUance]

Anyone who doesn't think it's about Jimmy and Joe's are crazy. Look at Ameer for example, prolly won 3 games by himself last year. If he was on this team they might have only lost 1-2 games.

True...but they also rushed it 150 more times last year...and didn't AA miss 1 or 2 games?

So, how does the team end up with 150 more rushing attempts?

If we didn't have Ameer I wonder how effective our rushing attack would have been in 2014? I wonder if we would have rushed the same number of times?

I don't know...some RB's need to get "lathered" up a bit...some are just always great and some are just average. I mean, I don't think it would have COST the team any games if they ran it 150 more times...Maybe MSU? I don't remember how they did rushing in that game.

Even though we don't have an Ameer on the team I actually think our RBs are adequate this year. What we really needed to have a better running attack is a couple of offensive lineman. Just think how much better our running game would be if we had a couple of OL from the mid 90s pipeline? Wouldn't need the whole line. Just a couple of them to plug in. Oh well. One can dream, I guess.

 

[StPaulHusker]

Tom didn't make his team work harder. He changed his recruiting philosophy, focusing on speedier defensive players and targeting faraway football hotbeds like New Jersey.

So...were those guys born fast, or did they run until they were the fastest? Because speed can be practiced and coached, although it rarely is in football, and universally is in track.

I know of two players who were on the Huskers team who sped up because they practiced and conditioned to get faster. One tactic being to lengthen their stride.

I apologize for sounding like a broken record, but hard work trumps all in almost every human endeavor. That dictum doesn't magically disappear because of chalk lines drawn on a playing field. Paul Hornung said that it was harder to go through a Green Bay practice than an NFL game, and that is what made them a great team.

But hey, 5-7, so "Jimmies and Joes", Am I right?

You're right that hard work does overcome a lot of things. But if you have 2 players that work equally hard at playing a position but one is more physically gifted or talented than the other, the talents are going to win out.

 

[StPaulHusker]

Anyone who doesn't think it's about Jimmy and Joe's are crazy. Look at Ameer for example, prolly won 3 games by himself last year. If he was on this team they might have only lost 1-2 games.

True...but they also rushed it 150 more times last year...and didn't AA miss 1 or 2 games?

So, how does the team end up with 150 more rushing attempts?

If we didn't have Ameer I wonder how effective our rushing attack would have been in 2014? I wonder if we would have rushed the same number of times?

I don't know...some RB's need to get "lathered" up a bit...some are just always great and some are just average. I mean, I don't think it would have COST the team any games if they ran it 150 more times...Maybe MSU? I don't remember how they did rushing in that game.

Well if we would have ran it just one more time vs Illinois, we might be looking at a W instead of an L

 

[flfmrredfan]

Tom didn't make his team work harder. He changed his recruiting philosophy, focusing on speedier defensive players and targeting faraway football hotbeds like New Jersey.

Some of that is just revisionist history. Nebraska, under Osborne, and even Devaney before him, were always recruiting NJ. Rich Glover and Mike Rozier are just two of the recruits from NJ, that come to mind, and there are lots more.

It was Florida and Texas where NU wanted to make inroads to in order to get some of their talent. Much like many of the major D1A schools were trying to do.

NU has always recruited speed. NU's rise in the '90s was partly due to the defensive changes made under Kevin Steele's influence. They put safeties at linebacker postions and linebackers at defensive end positions to upgrade the speed, and switched to a 4-3 defense. Exactly what the Florida schools like Miami, and FSU were doing at the time.

 

[BigRedBuster]

It's an example of both.

Expound, please. What physical talent vaulted Ameer over so many other players? I say he outworked them and outlearned them.

You can't do what he did without physical talent. At 18, I couldn't walk into the training facility in Lincoln and work as hard or harder than Ameer and expect the same results.

When he hit Lincoln, I would say the three RBs probably had roughly the same talent. Much more talent to do what RBs do than most other people in the world. That is when the work ethic comes in and heart. He had that rare situation where he had all three. He was one fast SOB when he started here and that's why he excelled at kick off return. That's talent that can't be taught. That got him on the field. His body also probably matured the first couple years here that allowed him to pile on the muscle the way he did with the amazing work ethic he had.

The other two saw what was happening and gave up and left.

Talent, heart and work ethic is what made Ameer what he is. You take any of the three out and he isn't the same person or player.

 

[Husker Psycho]

Anyone who doesn't think it's about Jimmy and Joe's are crazy. Look at Ameer for example, prolly won 3 games by himself last year. If he was on this team they might have only lost 1-2 games.

Hmmm, you put a lot of stock in "Jimmies and Joes"...what is the record of your team again?

Anyhow, then you bring up Ameer Abduallah, of all people. He is probably the prime example of "success is made, not born". He came in as a 172 lb. freshman that nobody wanted as a running back and left as a guy who could squat lift 500 lbs. and a future in the NFL. That was work done, not talent gifted.

You may want to go back and look at his high school highlight reel before you say that.

The knock on him coming out of high school was his size... not the level of his "gift".

There is no doubt Ameer was given an amazing gift early on. The gift was his to develop and he did exactly that.