Players leaving rumor
- Thread starter schestev
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Count 'Bility
Banned
The problems with Imani Cross in my opinion are due to us trying to turn our slamback into a frickin scatback. You can see it in his approach on the field. Beck's comment "we can run the full offense with Imani" is such a crock of crap, because it's just not true. Yes, Imani could be our every down back if our offense was tailored to standford's or Michigan St's, but since we're trying to copy Oregon for whatever reason, he's nothing more than a situational back. I love how we slam Abdullah into the line for a couple plays and then bring imani in to run a stretch, toss, or even read option. It's funny.
GSG
Active member
Harrison Beck is the one whose mommy was mad that he wasn't getting playing time.
Witt transferred to Yale and was up for Rhodes Scholar before they found out he was accused of sexual assault.
kchusker_chris
New member
When Cross was given the ball, he did fine. He averaged 5.3 YPC. That's pretty damn good when you're the short yardage back. When he got his carries, he had solid games. Hard to gain "vision" when you're only seeing the ball 3 times a game. I am fully confident in his ability to take over if Ameer goes down. I'm not as confident in Newby's ability. Losing Cross would be big in 2014, but it would really be felt in 2015 when we could have a solid 1-2 punch with either Taylor/Newby and Cross. I find it humorous how people brush off the loss of RB, yet whine about not running the ball more. We've got a lot of unproven depth - at least we knew what we had with Cross. And he showed he can be more than a short yardage back more than once this season.
Moss, opposite Gregory was the future. Those two in at the same time was the most disruptive our DL was all season. Throw in an improved Valentine and who knows how good this DL could have been. Again, unproven depth behind him...but at least we knew what were were getting with Moss. I find it humorous how people brush off the loss of a DL, yet whine about how we don't have a lot of proven depth on the DL.
Alfalava had better closing speed than any LBer we had. I'm not sure which game it was, I think it was Illionois. The week before we'd watched South Dakota run all over us. No linebacker stepped up, every tackle was made 6 yards past the line of scrimmage. Enter Alfalava the following week. He looked more athletic than anything we'd seen thus far. I have no idea what's going on behind the scenes - but he was as close to David (athletically) as we had on the team. No one could hold down the starting spot at LBer this season, so I don't see how losing one of the better athletes isn't an issue. No one else was much better. Alfalava played in 3 games. If he could figure out how to play a full season, I think he'd be one of our better LBers. But again, we have a ton of unproven depth at LBer, so I'm sure we'll be fine. (sarcasm)
Bottom line, if you listed the top 25-30 players on this team...all 3 of these guys would make that list. Sucks to lose that much talent.
Moss, opposite Gregory was the future. Those two in at the same time was the most disruptive our DL was all season. Throw in an improved Valentine and who knows how good this DL could have been. Again, unproven depth behind him...but at least we knew what were were getting with Moss. I find it humorous how people brush off the loss of a DL, yet whine about how we don't have a lot of proven depth on the DL.
Alfalava had better closing speed than any LBer we had. I'm not sure which game it was, I think it was Illionois. The week before we'd watched South Dakota run all over us. No linebacker stepped up, every tackle was made 6 yards past the line of scrimmage. Enter Alfalava the following week. He looked more athletic than anything we'd seen thus far. I have no idea what's going on behind the scenes - but he was as close to David (athletically) as we had on the team. No one could hold down the starting spot at LBer this season, so I don't see how losing one of the better athletes isn't an issue. No one else was much better. Alfalava played in 3 games. If he could figure out how to play a full season, I think he'd be one of our better LBers. But again, we have a ton of unproven depth at LBer, so I'm sure we'll be fine. (sarcasm)
Bottom line, if you listed the top 25-30 players on this team...all 3 of these guys would make that list. Sucks to lose that much talent.
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Junior
Banned
I would agree with a lot of this. The way we utilize our skill position players is maddening.
QMany
New member
Are these people you are laughing at the same person or just straw men?
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Warrior10
New member
I disagree 100%. Alfalava was manhandled in the Illinois game. Bo ripped him out on the sideline on camera then Jared made ONE play the next play and the commentators went crazy because it was a minor "story" in a boring blowout. Even Jay Moore, former great blackshirt, said that Alfalava was "soft as hell". And maybe unfairly by the little we got to see him play (due to grades, his fault...no one elses) I agreed with him. He 1.5 good plays and one very dumb personal foul penalty. If you get a chance go watch the game again, just focus on him. And I would say Gerry and from what we have heard Newby are just as gifted athletically.
Moss would be a big loss, but it was already known he wouldn't be available for the bowl game. Losing Afalava would hurt our LB depth, but he was not a starter. Our redshirt LBs made some noise on scout team. Let's not make Afalava into an All American because he may transfer. Same with Cross. Heard and Green left because they got beat out. We've had no issues with talent and depth at the IB spot in Pelini's tenure. We still don't.
I like Cross and don't want to lose him. But this is overstated. The games where he got his carries were mostly against the worst teams on our schedule so I hope he would look good in those games. And, for being a power back, he was fairly boom or bust. 30% of his yards for the year came on four carries. On the other 80 carries, he averaged 3.9 yards. We know what we have in Cross: he doesn't bring as much to the table as our other backs.
Afalava most definitely does not have better closing speed than the rest of our LBs. Go back and rewatch the Minnesota game. He gets himself out of position and can't recover. There are a couple times when the play is to his side but he gets outflanked and even Santos - no burner himself - outruns Afalava to chase the back down. There may be other reasons that he didn't play since that game but the performance he put out there played no small part.
Moss would definitely be in our top 25 but I think his name being included in this list is an overreaction. I don't think Cross was in our top 30 this year and Afalava definitely wasn't.
HuskerShark
Banned
I hope you're right, but it would hurt big time to have the only RB who saw any meaningful carries aside from Ameer transfer out of the program. People said the same thing when Heard left last year, but that added depth would have made a difference this year IMO.
hskerholic
New member
@HuskerExtraSip: Jared Afalava, Richard Wynn and Ishmail Jackson not in Jacksonville because of "violation of team rules," Pelini says.
@HuskerExtraBC: Avery Moss is back home "dealing with a personal issue in Arizona," Pelini said. #Huskers
@HuskerExtraBC: Avery Moss is back home "dealing with a personal issue in Arizona," Pelini said. #Huskers
Count 'Bility
Banned
What's Cross's average drop to when you eliminate the fluke gift 51-yard TD run against michigan St?