Spring Position Battles - Defensive Line

Mavric

Mavric

Yoda
Staff member
In theory, Nebraska could start four seniors — Kevin Maurice, Kevin Williams, Greg McMullen and Ross Dzuris — across the front four. But that doesn’t seem likely if McMullen, now at 300 pounds, slides inside to tackle. New defensive line coach John Parrella will have four redshirt freshmen — Alex Davis, Carlos Davis, Khalil Davis and DaiShon Neal — and four sophomores — Freedom Akinmoladun, Mick Stoltenberg, Sedrick King and Peyton Newell — to coach up. Watch, too, for senior walk-on Logan Rath to make a move for playing time. He probably should have played more in 2015.
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OWH

 
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FIVE PLAYERS TO WATCH


Freedom Akinmoladun: The former tight end had quite the start to his redshirt freshman year. Akinmoladun’s athleticism stood out in practice. His work ethic off the field indicated that he was committed to learning all he could about his new position. But the Huskers probably didn’t expect him to get 4½ sacks in the first five games. Then a knee injury slowed his pace. Akinmoladun never seemed as explosive after surgery, but he’s had time to recover. Now he can dive deeper into the intricacies of the defensive end position. He has plenty of potential. He’ll be in better position to fulfill it this spring.
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OWH

 
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It doesn't matter who is on the d line if we don't use creative blitzes from all positions and keep their QB from standing back there for an hour picking us apart. King Friday should be aware of that by now.

 
Alex Davis is reportedly up to 250ish. If that's good weight and he has the speed he showed in high school, he could be another pass rusher we so desperately need.

 
Hayseed said:
It doesn't matter who is on the d line if we don't use creative blitzes from all positions and keep their QB from standing back there for an hour picking us apart. King Friday should be aware of that by now.
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Now that the DB's seem to have learned the new system better lets hope this can happen.

 
I think we will see faster development and greater improvement with Parrella. We may see Alex, Daishon, Freedom, Ross, and some McMullen at End this year.

 
Leader in the room: McMullen. Listen to Mike Riley. He describes McMullen as someone “getting better all the time — good worker, great leader on this team. I love that guy.”


The 6-foot-3, 285-pound McMullen, playing both end and tackle, finished with 28 tackles last season, with four sacks. He's working at tackle this spring.

“Greg's a man,” Riley said. “He's a guy you can talk to. Get a pulse on the team. He’ll tell you the truth. He gets it. He gets the big picture.”
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LJS

 
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I am excited most about this area I think. The potential is huge, we could be a truly physical and feared defense starting this year.

 
Having McMullen play inside makes me feel tons better about the DT position. Him, Maurice, and Williams is a decent group. Especially if it can be augmented with one or both of the twins.

Even more worried about DE though. Davis is a complete unknown. Hopefully Freedom can take the next step in his development.

 
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