Voids To Fill

[walksalone]

We're only going to improve on defense in 2012. We basically have the same crew back minus David. Now that's a big minus, but with almost the entire unit (and addition by subtraction with thorell and cassidy) having another year under their belt, we should be stronger overall as a defense.

I think we could do big things this year if we just improve our consistency.

And not only on the defense

A good DL can make the rest of the D look great.

Line play is immensely important. Great line play on either side of the ball can make average RB's & LB's look like studs.

 

[RedDenver]

I thought he did very good when he was on the field and then poof, he disappared.

What makes you say that? Smith, Osborne, and Cassidy all looked essentially the same to me. They all rotated in at different points of the season, and I didn't see any difference in tackling or coverage.

 

[Hoosker]

I thought he did very good when he was on the field and then poof, he disappared.

What makes you say that? Smith, Osborne, and Cassidy all looked essentially the same to me. They all rotated in at different points of the season, and I didn't see any difference in tackling or coverage.

Speed man....speed.

 

[Hunter94]

our overall defense will struggle this season......no doubt about it.

 

[bshirt]

our overall defense will struggle this season......no doubt about it.

I don't think so. I think the overall talent and especially depth situation is much, much better this year. We'll see.....the other big variable is Bo. C'mon Bo, 2003 was a great defense too. You can have a great defense "and" rush the passer .....please?

 

[MMAHusker]

Osborne is a better athlete. He brought more power at the point of attack. His run support was better as well as his speed in coverage. This is all my opinion for sure but thats how I saw it. I also seem to remember Osborne being a blitzer, maybe Pelini had a blitz package for him. That for sure went away with Cassidy. And Osborne did not rotate in often after the 1st couple of games. He rarely played.

 

[Huskerlambs]

It seems to me that Thorell and Cassidy always got to the right spot just in time...to make tackles, but they rarely broke up plays and batted down passes.

Dennard and David will be hard to replace, but the defense as a unit can't get worse.

 

[Hunter94]

our overall defense will struggle this season......no doubt about it.

I don't think so. I think the overall talent and especially depth situation is much, much better this year. We'll see.....the other big variable is Bo. C'mon Bo, 2003 was a great defense too. You can have a great defense "and" rush the passer .....please?

containing the qb only allows plenty of time for a receiver to get open.....i hope we don't see that again.

 

[Hunter94]

It seems to me that Thorell and Cassidy always got to the right spot just in time...to make tackles, but they rarely broke up plays and batted down passes.

Dennard and David will be hard to replace, but the defense as a unit can't get worse.

having David on the field was like playing with an extra guy.....

 

[flatwaterfan]

IMO Bo's not going to try and replace David, he'll just scheme it a little differently. So, I agree big time with those that say the DL will be the difference. He's got to turn them loose a little more. Get better push on the pocket. Rome is going to be a great player, but there were times he got buried. It's not his fault as he was forced to play a lot earlier and still needs to get bigger and stronger. He'll add a little more this off season so he will be better. It will be a big help to get Williams in the mix. Also most players have a good senior yr so I expect Baker to step it up a little. RE's is where we need the most improvement though. I hope Cam & Emart lose a little weight. They didn't look good at their weights. I think Ankrah was starting to come on at the end of the season and was starting to make plays. Carter should know now what he needs to do and I hope he makes a jump. As other's have said. If this line can get pressure and are allowed to make more plays that will help out our DB's and LB's

The LB's should be better as a group. Santos, Zaire, Rose & Slaughter are in the mix at WLB. I think they could also play Fischer at WLB and have Whaley play SLB if they had too. I am hoping Fischer comes on strong this year and that last year's play was due to the leg. I am hoping his senior year brings out the best in him. Whaley was starting to come on late last year. Roach should be back from injury. Compton was doing well as the season went along to and I am hoping he has a Dillard type of senior season. Hopefully better play from the group makes up for the play of David. I think it will.

I think getting more athleticism on the field at safety will help too. They just need to get coached up. I think Bo is going to help out there this spring. I'd like to see them play more zone next year. At corner getting Mo was HUGE.

 

[Hunter94]

IMO Bo's not going to try and replace David, he'll just scheme it a little differently. So, I agree big time with those that say the DL will be the difference. He's got to turn them loose a little more. Get better push on the pocket. Rome is going to be a great player, but there were times he got buried. It's not his fault as he was forced to play a lot earlier and still needs to get bigger and stronger. He'll add a little more this off season so he will be better. It will be a big help to get Williams in the mix. Also most players have a good senior yr so I expect Baker to step it up a little. RE's is where we need the most improvement though. I hope Cam & Emart lose a little weight. They didn't look good at their weights. I think Ankrah was starting to come on at the end of the season and was starting to make plays. Carter should know now what he needs to do and I hope he makes a jump. As other's have said. If this line can get pressure and are allowed to make more plays that will help out our DB's and LB's

The LB's should be better as a group. Santos, Zaire, Rose & Slaughter are in the mix at WLB. I think they could also play Fischer at WLB and have Whaley play SLB if they had too. I am hoping Fischer comes on strong this year and that last year's play was due to the leg. I am hoping his senior year brings out the best in him. Whaley was starting to come on late last year. Roach should be back from injury. Compton was doing well as the season went along to and I am hoping he has a Dillard type of senior season. Hopefully better play from the group makes up for the play of David. I think it will.

I think getting more athleticism on the field at safety will help too. They just need to get coached up. I think Bo is going to help out there this spring. I'd like to see them play more zone next year. At corner getting Mo was HUGE.

the biggest adjustment will be all these new faces playing together and finding a leader on the defense.....big challenge.

 

[flatwaterfan]

IMO Bo's not going to try and replace David, he'll just scheme it a little differently. So, I agree big time with those that say the DL will be the difference. He's got to turn them loose a little more. Get better push on the pocket. Rome is going to be a great player, but there were times he got buried. It's not his fault as he was forced to play a lot earlier and still needs to get bigger and stronger. He'll add a little more this off season so he will be better. It will be a big help to get Williams in the mix. Also most players have a good senior yr so I expect Baker to step it up a little. RE's is where we need the most improvement though. I hope Cam & Emart lose a little weight. They didn't look good at their weights. I think Ankrah was starting to come on at the end of the season and was starting to make plays. Carter should know now what he needs to do and I hope he makes a jump. As other's have said. If this line can get pressure and are allowed to make more plays that will help out our DB's and LB's

The LB's should be better as a group. Santos, Zaire, Rose & Slaughter are in the mix at WLB. I think they could also play Fischer at WLB and have Whaley play SLB if they had too. I am hoping Fischer comes on strong this year and that last year's play was due to the leg. I am hoping his senior year brings out the best in him. Whaley was starting to come on late last year. Roach should be back from injury. Compton was doing well as the season went along to and I am hoping he has a Dillard type of senior season. Hopefully better play from the group makes up for the play of David. I think it will.

I think getting more athleticism on the field at safety will help too. They just need to get coached up. I think Bo is going to help out there this spring. I'd like to see them play more zone next year. At corner getting Mo was HUGE.

the biggest adjustment will be all these new faces playing together and finding a leader on the defense.....big challenge.

That's a good point and something I haven't thought about. Not sure who the leader will be in the secondary.

 

[Hunter94]

IMO Bo's not going to try and replace David, he'll just scheme it a little differently. So, I agree big time with those that say the DL will be the difference. He's got to turn them loose a little more. Get better push on the pocket. Rome is going to be a great player, but there were times he got buried. It's not his fault as he was forced to play a lot earlier and still needs to get bigger and stronger. He'll add a little more this off season so he will be better. It will be a big help to get Williams in the mix. Also most players have a good senior yr so I expect Baker to step it up a little. RE's is where we need the most improvement though. I hope Cam & Emart lose a little weight. They didn't look good at their weights. I think Ankrah was starting to come on at the end of the season and was starting to make plays. Carter should know now what he needs to do and I hope he makes a jump. As other's have said. If this line can get pressure and are allowed to make more plays that will help out our DB's and LB's

The LB's should be better as a group. Santos, Zaire, Rose & Slaughter are in the mix at WLB. I think they could also play Fischer at WLB and have Whaley play SLB if they had too. I am hoping Fischer comes on strong this year and that last year's play was due to the leg. I am hoping his senior year brings out the best in him. Whaley was starting to come on late last year. Roach should be back from injury. Compton was doing well as the season went along to and I am hoping he has a Dillard type of senior season. Hopefully better play from the group makes up for the play of David. I think it will.

I think getting more athleticism on the field at safety will help too. They just need to get coached up. I think Bo is going to help out there this spring. I'd like to see them play more zone next year. At corner getting Mo was HUGE.

the biggest adjustment will be all these new faces playing together and finding a leader on the defense.....big challenge.

That's a good point and something I haven't thought about. Not sure who the leader will be in the secondary.

Compton will have to run the D......i hope he improves even more, he was a pleasant surprise last year, my guess is when they cut him loose a little more he played with more instinct, than hard core technique....whatever he changed, it sure helped his production.

 

[HuskerShark]

IMO Bo's not going to try and replace David, he'll just scheme it a little differently. So, I agree big time with those that say the DL will be the difference. He's got to turn them loose a little more. Get better push on the pocket. Rome is going to be a great player, but there were times he got buried. It's not his fault as he was forced to play a lot earlier and still needs to get bigger and stronger. He'll add a little more this off season so he will be better. It will be a big help to get Williams in the mix. Also most players have a good senior yr so I expect Baker to step it up a little. RE's is where we need the most improvement though. I hope Cam & Emart lose a little weight. They didn't look good at their weights. I think Ankrah was starting to come on at the end of the season and was starting to make plays. Carter should know now what he needs to do and I hope he makes a jump. As other's have said. If this line can get pressure and are allowed to make more plays that will help out our DB's and LB's

The LB's should be better as a group. Santos, Zaire, Rose & Slaughter are in the mix at WLB. I think they could also play Fischer at WLB and have Whaley play SLB if they had too. I am hoping Fischer comes on strong this year and that last year's play was due to the leg. I am hoping his senior year brings out the best in him. Whaley was starting to come on late last year. Roach should be back from injury. Compton was doing well as the season went along to and I am hoping he has a Dillard type of senior season. Hopefully better play from the group makes up for the play of David. I think it will.

I think getting more athleticism on the field at safety will help too. They just need to get coached up. I think Bo is going to help out there this spring. I'd like to see them play more zone next year. At corner getting Mo was HUGE.

the biggest adjustment will be all these new faces playing together and finding a leader on the defense.....big challenge.

Even with that adjustment, I don't see the defense being worse than it was in 2011. If it is, there will be a lot of unhappy people, and I will be one of them. I've given Bo and Co. a pass for the defensive struggles this past year because we lost soooo many guys in the secondary from the year before, so I've called it a rebuilding year on D. But the idea of a rebuilding year is to have a better defense the following year, so that had better be what we see.

 

[Hunter94]

IMO Bo's not going to try and replace David, he'll just scheme it a little differently. So, I agree big time with those that say the DL will be the difference. He's got to turn them loose a little more. Get better push on the pocket. Rome is going to be a great player, but there were times he got buried. It's not his fault as he was forced to play a lot earlier and still needs to get bigger and stronger. He'll add a little more this off season so he will be better. It will be a big help to get Williams in the mix. Also most players have a good senior yr so I expect Baker to step it up a little. RE's is where we need the most improvement though. I hope Cam & Emart lose a little weight. They didn't look good at their weights. I think Ankrah was starting to come on at the end of the season and was starting to make plays. Carter should know now what he needs to do and I hope he makes a jump. As other's have said. If this line can get pressure and are allowed to make more plays that will help out our DB's and LB's

The LB's should be better as a group. Santos, Zaire, Rose & Slaughter are in the mix at WLB. I think they could also play Fischer at WLB and have Whaley play SLB if they had too. I am hoping Fischer comes on strong this year and that last year's play was due to the leg. I am hoping his senior year brings out the best in him. Whaley was starting to come on late last year. Roach should be back from injury. Compton was doing well as the season went along to and I am hoping he has a Dillard type of senior season. Hopefully better play from the group makes up for the play of David. I think it will.

I think getting more athleticism on the field at safety will help too. They just need to get coached up. I think Bo is going to help out there this spring. I'd like to see them play more zone next year. At corner getting Mo was HUGE.

the biggest adjustment will be all these new faces playing together and finding a leader on the defense.....big challenge.

Even with that adjustment, I don't see the defense being worse than it was in 2011. If it is, there will be a lot of unhappy people, and I will be one of them. I've given Bo and Co. a pass for the defensive struggles this past year because we lost soooo many guys in the secondary from the year before, so I've called it a rebuilding year on D. But the idea of a rebuilding year is to have a better defense the following year, so that had better be what we see.

i hope you are correct, but i am sure nervous about this year's D.