Lavon Alston No Longer on Team

[BaytownHusker]

I have no doubt we will be fine but it won't be Reimers making the plays.

 

[ScottyIce]

Wow. Our 5 true freshman WR will play next year, if it's the 5 I'm thinking might be here.

 

[ColoradoHusk]

Wow. Our 5 true freshman WR will play next year, if it's the 5 I'm thinking might be here.

And true freshmen never make mistakes or run the wrong routes? We'll totally be fine!!!

 

[Red Five]

Going to be super inexperienced at WR next year with or without Alston. Only return 4 guys who saw snaps, and we play a lot of WRs throughout a game. And we'll only have 4 WRs on scholly that have been in Lincoln more than a year.

Sr - DPE, Rahn

Jr - Morgan, Reimers, Keyan Williams

So - nada

Fr - Spielman

recruits - KJJ, McQuity, Calvin??, Lewis??, ???

Super inexperienced? I dunno about that. DPE, Morgan, Reimers and Keyan Williams seems like a pretty good mix to me. And we're bound to have a couple other guys step up and challenge for PT.

I am not high on DPE as a receiver. He doesn't run great routes and he is inconsistent. He is a great talent, but not used very well in a traditional offense.

So after Morgan, you are counting on a former walk-on with limited career catches and a transfer from Fresno State who has never caught a pass at the collegiate level. I get optimism, but this is ridiculous. Also, there has shown a need to play 6-8 receivers in this offense, so depth is a huge issue.

This is college football, not the NFL. Every year we lose some of our best players. And new guys step up to take their place. Sure we're losing a lot of talent in Westerkamp and Reilly. But WR isn't our thinnest position. We will be fine at WR next year.

No one is saying that WR is our thinnest position, but its basically Stanley, DPE (whatever you think of him at WR, I tend to agree with Colo), and a bunch of hope.

Now TE...

 

[Mavric]

Two years ago there was much hand-wringing about the WR group. That turned out to be extremely unfounded.

We're not in exactly the same boat for next year but I'm not really worried.

If we can see a significant improvement on the front end of the pass, we'll be fine on the back end. If not, it won't matter much.

 

[Swiv3D]

Going to be super inexperienced at WR next year with or without Alston. Only return 4 guys who saw snaps, and we play a lot of WRs throughout a game. And we'll only have 4 WRs on scholly that have been in Lincoln more than a year.

Sr - DPE, Rahn

Jr - Morgan, Reimers, Keyan Williams

So - nada

Fr - Spielman

recruits - KJJ, McQuity, Calvin??, Lewis??, ???

Super inexperienced? I dunno about that. DPE, Morgan, Reimers and Keyan Williams seems like a pretty good mix to me. And we're bound to have a couple other guys step up and challenge for PT.

Reimers. Really. Come on.

Dude, go back and watch this season. He came up with some big plays for us.

Reimers has 3 catches for 49 yards for the season. Yes, the TD against Oregon was awesome, but are the other 2 catches "BIG PLAYS"? Even then, it would be three.

We were talking about next year's wr depth in regards to experience. Baytown then scoffed at Reimers being mentioned. Yeah he only had 3 catches all year, but yes imo those catches were big because they were just what we needed: Both of those catches were followed up by a touchdown the very next play. In the Indian game, he came up with a big 17 yard catch off of a poor throw on 3rd and 10. If he doesn't make that catch, we settle for a field goal (who knows if we make it) and the way our offense was going in that game, who knows if we even pull out a win without the touchdown on that drive.
He only had the 3 catches this year (I could find any stats showing he had any drops, if you do lmk), but you have to remember the guys in front of him this year were a big reason why he didn't get more playing time this year. Iirc he only came into the Oregon game because someone was injured at that point of the game, but he stepped up and made the play. Also he was hurt during the Iowa week so we couldn't use him that game (I know, he wouldn't have made a difference).

To wrap it up, my point is that even though his role wasn't big this year, he did make plays when he was called upon which is a positive sign in terms of using him as a possible weapon for next year. He probably won't be a star wr but he has the potential to at least be a similar wr as Todd Peterson.

 

[ColoradoHusk]

I understand the context you mentioned Reimers, but when you say "he made some big plays this year" with a total of 3 catches for 49 yards, I am going to question that statement.

Nothing against Reimers, but I only remember the catch against Oregon this year. He is certainly unproven going into next year.

Getting back on topic, I doubt Alston was going to ever contribute to NU, but I think there is strong reason to worry about the depth at the WR spot going into next year, especially given that I imagine Langsdorf and Riley wanting to use more 3 WR sets and pass the ball more next year.

 

[BaytownHusker]

Why do we worry about freshman so much around here. We have 4-5 maybe 1 or so more coming in next year. They are all being recruited by big schools as well that would probably play them as freshman and they could contribute. So we may have some mistakes but the guys leaving made them also. I feel like just because they are freshman they will come in and be just fine out their running routes and catching passes.

 

[ColoradoHusk]

Why do we worry about freshman so much around here. We have 4-5 maybe 1 or so more coming in next year. They are all being recruited by big schools as well that would probably play them as freshman and they could contribute. So we may have some mistakes but the guys leaving made them also. I feel like just because they are freshman they will come in and be just fine out their running routes and catching passes.

I don't think you should ever count on true freshmen being key contributors to a successful team. They can add depth if there are injuries and make a few plays during the season, but many are counting on these true freshmen to come in and be the top receivers on the team. I know they are big recruits, but there is still a big adjustment to be made at the college level.

JD Spielman is the only RS Frosh who will be playing next year who didn't play this year. Yes, he was a good recruit and could have a promising career, but it's still his first season of playing at the collegiate level.

 

[JJ Husker]

So which is it? We want freshmen contributing right away, or we don't? Seems a lot of people lament the fact we haven't had freshmen seeing the field, and they constantly point to the top programs having that happening. Now, when it looks like a possibility, it's all, well, they're inexperienced and blah blah blah.

Maybe I don't give the WR position enough credit but if the OL and QB can get the job done, the least of my worries will always be the WR corps. If the OL and QB don't perform better than this year, it wouldn't matter if we had 8 Westerkamps returning.

 

[Stumpy1]

Going to be super inexperienced at WR next year with or without Alston. Only return 4 guys who saw snaps, and we play a lot of WRs throughout a game. And we'll only have 4 WRs on scholly that have been in Lincoln more than a year.

Sr - DPE, Rahn

Jr - Morgan, Reimers, Keyan Williams

So - nada

Fr - Spielman

recruits - KJJ, McQuity, Calvin??, Lewis??, ???

Super inexperienced? I dunno about that. DPE, Morgan, Reimers and Keyan Williams seems like a pretty good mix to me. And we're bound to have a couple other guys step up and challenge for PT.

I am not high on DPE as a receiver. He doesn't run great routes and he is inconsistent. He is a great talent, but not used very well in a traditional offense.

So after Morgan, you are counting on a former walk-on with limited career catches and a transfer from Fresno State who has never caught a pass at the collegiate level. I get optimism, but this is ridiculous. Also, there has shown a need to play 6-8 receivers in this offense, so depth is a huge issue.

Williams played in 5 games as a freshman and recorded 7 catches.

 

[hskrfan4life]

I like DPE as a receiver but it baffles me how when we tried the fly sweep with him we never get much, but with others it works pretty well. I just don't understand.

 

[SuperBigFan69]

With a pro-QB I am pretty sure things will be just fine.

 

[ColoradoHusk]

I like DPE as a receiver but it baffles me how when we tried the fly sweep with him we never get much, but with others it works pretty well. I just don't understand.

DPE excels at punt returns where he can see all the defenders in front of him and can then make people miss/hit a hole and go. In a jet sweep, he is being asked to run sideways and then turn upfield at the right time, with all the defenders coming at him from more of the side. To me, those are 2 totally different skills required. Some players can do both, some can't.

 

[Red Five]

So which is it? We want freshmen contributing right away, or we don't? Seems a lot of people lament the fact we haven't had freshmen seeing the field, and they constantly point to the top programs having that happening. Now, when it looks like a possibility, it's all, well, they're inexperienced and blah blah blah.

I don't think anyone is saying that they don't want freshmen contributing, but counting on guys who have never played a college snap (be it true or rs freshmen) is not a sound strategy.