Spielman, McQuitty Depart Huskers

The piece about Walters not controlling who played is actually interesting, I've been wondering about that for a while. If it's Frost saying who he wants in for given plays or if position coaches decide. Sounds like the former, at least for WR. I do feel for Williams, I think the problem was we actually had slot receivers so to see the field they put him on the boundary. 

BlitzFirst said:
None of those Tweets make Frost look good.
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I agree, but it's also one side of the story. Players might see themselves making great catches and think they're outperforming others, when the coaches see missed assignments and poor blocking. Not saying that's the case here, we have no clue. Definitely seems like anointing Wan'Dale as the chosen one rubbed some of the WRs the wrong way, and I think that's fair criticism to make. But any player comments about practice performance are tough to judge, I don't know what they or the coaches are looking for.

I'm always reminded of a Terrell Davis interview where he commented on how bizarre it was to get a bunch of media comments about his great games based on yards, when he would say he had a terrible game with multiple missed assignments and blocks. Not all players have that mindset, but again I have no clue if it's relevant to these guys. 

I think it's clear Frost has favorites, but that makes sense as they are the guys who fit his offense. What's not clear (and likely never will be) is if that favoritism kept better players off the field, or if those players aren't actually better when evaluated by what he values from the position. 

 
Husker in WI said:
The piece about Walters not controlling who played is actually interesting, I've been wondering about that for a while. If it's Frost saying who he wants in for given plays or if position coaches decide. Sounds like the former, at least for WR. I do feel for Williams, I think the problem was we actually had slot receivers so to see the field they put him on the boundary. 

I agree, but it's also one side of the story. Players might see themselves making great catches and think they're outperforming others, when the coaches see missed assignments and poor blocking. Not saying that's the case here, we have no clue. Definitely seems like anointing Wan'Dale as the chosen one rubbed some of the WRs the wrong way, and I think that's fair criticism to make. But any player comments about practice performance are tough to judge, I don't know what they or the coaches are looking for.

I'm always reminded of a Terrell Davis interview where he commented on how bizarre it was to get a bunch of media comments about his great games based on yards, when he would say he had a terrible game with multiple missed assignments and blocks. Not all players have that mindset, but again I have no clue if it's relevant to these guys. 

I think it's clear Frost has favorites, but that makes sense as they are the guys who fit his offense. What's not clear (and likely never will be) is if that favoritism kept better players off the field, or if those players aren't actually better when evaluated by what he values from the position. 
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Yes to all of this! Also, tough to know what goes into the playing time equation. A lot of coaches value off-season work, weight staff input, meeting promptness / being on time, and taking film evaluation to the field (fixing issues addressed in film) if a competition is close. Williams and McQuity may feel like they are making plays in practice but players often fail to see full picture. 

 
None of those tweets makes Frost look bad, either. He's a CEO making personnel decisions. Sometimes the personnel don't like those decisions. That doesn't make Frost a bad CEO and it doesn't make the personnel bad employees (oops - employees get paid!).

There's no doubt the guys worked hard in practice, there's no doubt whatsoever JD gave his body up for this team for three years. I never had a problem with Mike Williams and none of this makes me think he's anything other than a guy confident in his skills. Same with McQuitty.

Husker in WI said:
I think it's clear Frost has favorites, but that makes sense as they are the guys who fit his offense. What's not clear (and likely never will be) is if that favoritism kept better players off the field, or if those players aren't actually better when evaluated by what he values from the position. 
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This is exactly it. I have no idea why JD is leaving, and he's hinting that there are non-football issues at play as well. Not much to take from that.

But Frost knows what he wants, and he's going to get it. That's his job, and it's the job of the players to fit in - or leave.

Personally, I'd like to have McQuitty, Williams & JD stick around, but I have no ill will against them that they've moved on.

Sometimes there isn't a bad guy.  I know that doesn't fit with message board conversations, but that's often the case. Parties just don't mesh.

 
Husker in WI said:
The piece about Walters not controlling who played is actually interesting, I've been wondering about that for a while. If it's Frost saying who he wants in for given plays or if position coaches decide. Sounds like the former, at least for WR. I do feel for Williams, I think the problem was we actually had slot receivers so to see the field they put him on the boundary. 

I agree, but it's also one side of the story. Players might see themselves making great catches and think they're outperforming others, when the coaches see missed assignments and poor blocking. Not saying that's the case here, we have no clue. Definitely seems like anointing Wan'Dale as the chosen one rubbed some of the WRs the wrong way, and I think that's fair criticism to make. But any player comments about practice performance are tough to judge, I don't know what they or the coaches are looking for.

I'm always reminded of a Terrell Davis interview where he commented on how bizarre it was to get a bunch of media comments about his great games based on yards, when he would say he had a terrible game with multiple missed assignments and blocks. Not all players have that mindset, but again I have no clue if it's relevant to these guys. 

I think it's clear Frost has favorites, but that makes sense as they are the guys who fit his offense. What's not clear (and likely never will be) is if that favoritism kept better players off the field, or if those players aren't actually better when evaluated by what he values from the position. 
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Frost seems to be a stubborn butt head- cut your nose to spite your face type coach.  And that could actually be a good quality long term, but i believe it has cost us some of the close games. 
 

really illuminates how hard three coaches in five years can be on the players. Super sucks for them. Butt head or not- hope Frost is here for a very long time. 

 
knapplc said:
None of those tweets makes Frost look bad, either. He's a CEO making personnel decisions. Sometimes the personnel don't like those decisions. That doesn't make Frost a bad CEO and it doesn't make the personnel bad employees (oops - employees get paid!).

There's no doubt the guys worked hard in practice, there's no doubt whatsoever JD gave his body up for this team for three years. I never had a problem with Mike Williams and none of this makes me think he's anything other than a guy confident in his skills. Same with McQuitty.

This is exactly it. I have no idea why JD is leaving, and he's hinting that there are non-football issues at play as well. Not much to take from that.

But Frost knows what he wants, and he's going to get it. That's his job, and it's the job of the players to fit in - or leave.

Personally, I'd like to have McQuitty, Williams & JD stick around, but I have no ill will against them that they've moved on.

Sometimes there isn't a bad guy.  I know that doesn't fit with message board conversations, but that's often the case. Parties just don't mesh.
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Exactly. I'm sure they were good enough players but, in whatever area, they weren't exactly what Frost wanted/needed them to be. This doesn't tell us much other than the players wanted one thing and the coach wanted another. You can't flip the culture and change the team if you don't change the team and flip the culture. Frost is doing what he has to do and the players are doing what they have to. Seems like a win-win to me.

 
lo country said:
Be interesting to hear the dialogue this year as we move forward.
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I do think that the guys who are here should be all on board or not on the field.  From that standpoint, I think that's a valid statement.  There wouldn't be any *direct* effect left.

However, there would still be some *indirect* effect.  Mainly that Riley recruiting was such a failure that we only have 18 juniors and seniors left from his recruiting classes.  And it's pretty likely that 4-5 of those won't really contribute the rest of their time there.  50 of our current 80 scholarship guys are Freshmen or Sophomores who now have had most of an entire offseason disrupted.  So the lingering effects are still out there.

I expect significant progress this year.  But we're still recovering from the Riley fiasco so I don't expect a finished product.

 
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