Players that aren't fulfilling their responsibilities

HuskerShark

HuskerShark

Banned
It's obvious that coaching is the #1 problem at this point, and I think that also includes choosing who they put out on the field. So here are some guys who have been mentioned by others as well, but they are not holding up their end of the bargain:

Jason Ankrah - I keep hoping and waiting for his coming-out party. The fact of the matter is, he just isn't that good. He too often is way too easy to block, and when he does occasionally get off of blocks, he doesn't show the desire to run through the ball carrier and tackle him.

Ciante Evans - By far the most overrated player on the team. He's an average coverage player, and he's terrible at tackling in the open field. Too many guys just toss him to the side or mow him over and keep rolling downfield.

Thad Randle - Never seems to get a very good push. I was hoping for a jump in production this year from Thad, but VV, Maurice, and Collins are far more impressive thus far.

For our defense, the scariest thing about this list is that these guys are all seniors. If that is the example that is being set, maybe it's time to find new guys to fill these roles.

All the DBs aside from SJB - This group is supposed to be the deepest and possibly the most talented on the entire team. It's time to start playing like it. And for the love of the game, find a place on the field for CJax.

Now for the offense:

Jake Long - I've seen him drop too many passes already this season. If there's one thing that a TE is supposed to be, it's sure-handed. To be honest, we haven't seen much out of our entire TE group so far.

The entire offense - Time to step up your game, boys. This is one of the most talented offenses in the country. It's time to show it. The lack of motivation in this offense this year is extremely troubling. It's like they expect just to walk out onto the field and put up points with ease. Sorry, but it doesn't work like that. You've gotta be locked in mentally all game long.

Now for the guys who have impressed thus far:

Nathan Gerry and Josh Banderas - Two impressive true freshmen. It's great to see a set of LBs on the field who can run and tackle in open space. I think every fan is excited about these guys.

Vincent Valentine - Big #98 has done a good job thus far. He and the next guy on my list have been a spark, and something we've been waiting for at Nebraska for a while now: DTs who can get into the backfield. Keep it up, big man.

Maliek Collins - It doesn't appear that he has had as many snaps as the other DTs, but when he gets in the game, he consistently find his way into the backfield. He's fun to watch.

Stanley Jean-Baptiste - He has become a fan favorite, and deservedly so. He's a couple of missed tackles away from being arguably the best player on the entire team.

Corey Cooper - He hasn't been the most consistent player, but he shows flashes of being a solid safety. Not to mention, he knows how and when to lay a big hit on someone.

Randy Gregory, Avery Moss, and Greg McMullen - Each has their own area of their game that they need to work on, but all 3 of these guys are stellar talents. Avery Moss may be my favorite out of all of them.

And for the offense:

Imani Cross - I love how he runs the football, and for the life of me, I can't understand the stupidity behind his lack of snaps. I love Ameer, but those two guys should have close to equal amount of snaps. Imani just brings something that the other backs can't: a punishing style of running.

Quincy Enunwa - His play speaks for itself. He's having his coming-out party this season, and all of our fans love him because of what he brings to the team.

Jamal Turner and Kenny Bell - Not much needs to be said. These guys are solid.

 
Honestly, it seems premature to me calling players out when the coaching and play calling behind them is considered suspect.

Why don't we get these kids a good and consistent game plan and some coaching...and then we can start parsing out who is and isn't living up to potential?

 
Meh.....who cares. The team isn't getting it done. It's not like the players can be fired. No player is going to get the job done with this staff. Unfortunately, the better players we have may transfer when the hammer comes down.

 
Until I watch the game again and watch certain things closer here are my observations from the stadium about certain players.

Andrew Rodriguez. Had been terrible for too long. He is NOT a tackle to slow and will hold in a heartbeat to try to cover his butt when he is usually getting put on it. He needs to see the field only on PATs.and field goals. Matt Finnen really needs to start getting looks.

Spencer Long. Yes he belongs on this list. 2ND team AA last year and he needs to start playing like it consistently. He had been worked over every game this year at times, and as the leader of that unit needs to act and perform like it.

Thad Randle. Another time for a change. Bless him for trying to fight through the knee issues, but he is a liability now. MAJOR LIABILITY. his poor play is overshadowing the strong play of VV, who is doing great against double teams and making life easier for his interior DL counterparts.

Ciante. I have never seen what others think they do Ciante. Always had been a, coverage liability. Has been. Heard first hand from a former DB that said this was the coaches belief as well. Yesterday again this was shown as well as a straight Stafford-like tackling effort.

Andrew Green. Two years ago at the end of his redshirt sophomore year, I thought he was playing the best in the secondary. But since that time hehas regressed at a frightening pace. The safety experiment should be over. Special teams its now his cup of tea. Time to get CJax involved.

Harvey Jackson. Same as above. Coverage liability and also is tackling like the safeties in the conference title game. Again, CJax??

As for the staff. Remember when Bo DCed under Frank. He ran a mean man under cover 2 and never was afraid to bring heat. I'd love to go back to this look. Allowed safeties a little more freedom and we all know how Josh Bullocks liked this. A couple of times this year he had shown this look, b but that year way back when he lived it and it confused the hell out of teams.

And I will put Ross Els in here for the special teams yesterday. I think Sam Folz is a good one but two things here. The wind obviously affected the punts in the second and third quarters, and still Sam was hanging it up in the air letting the wind knock it down. Kick it low and drive it should have been the approach. How do you still solid coverage with this punt?? The rugby style kick, I am baffled why we don't use this approach you can take the return game aspect completely out of play. Teams do it to us and we've seen it work just a couple of years ago. Secondly of the rugby kick, you can do your fake punt(which was a terrible call at a very predictable time) with a kid in Folz that was a 22 second 200m guy in high school, not a300 who in that situation needed to make a guy miss.

That is for now but after I get to see this sh#t show again there probably be more.

 
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Taylor Martinez- He seems like he's been detached from this team since he first set foot on campus. He shouldn't be a team captain, he needs a team captain.

Quincy Enunwa- Not Quincy Enunwa the player, whose talent and work ethic is unimpeachable, but Quincy Enunwa the team captain. Team Captain, in my opinion, is not an honor, it's a responsibility. I see Quincy sitting on the bench all by himself after the touchdown. Hard to lead when you are off by yourself, and we definitely didn't have any leaders in that game.

The Entire Offensive Line-I backs get 100+ yards a game, Offensive Lines get first downs on 3rd and 2. We have hundred yard backs all the time, we can't convert third downs. ONCE, I saw a running back stood up, and Nebraska's line men run over there and join the scrum to push him past the first down...and I don't know how many times our running back was stood up and left on his own. We could replace any two of them with the statues of Devaney and Osborne out on the field. They would weigh more, eat less, and show the same amount of fire and animation.

Sorry for being such a sarcastic b*st*rd this weekend, but if anyone from NU athletics ever reads this, maybe a few pin pricks to the ego supplies an outside incentive to do better, especially when that incentive doesn't seem to be self generating this year.

 
Sad, this needs to stop now. These kids are doing what they are taught, doing what they are told. Blame the reason they are playing like this. They have put in many hours to play for this team. Address the comments by other teams, about how simple our schemes are, how they never change, how they know exactly what we will be doing play after play after play.

No our players are not of the level of Bama, but we all knew that. None of these kids make millions of dollars for putting their butts on the line. The ones that make the money are responsible. Attack them, but not the kids. Nothing could be worse than this!!!

 
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