Wan’dale move to KU reasons he was drafted

BigRedBuster said:
So, if Mathis has a really good year and is a high draft pick, does Nebraska get 100% of the credit and TCU 0%? 
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Yes maybe?

But, this is how it works, per Wandale

At the beginning of the day...  Nebraska

At lunch time...  portal to Kentucky

At the end of the day... NFL

(I stopped counting his "at the end of the day" quotes lol)

 
Watch NYG line him up in the backfield haha. In all seriousness, there were many factors as to why it didn’t work out for him here and it had a lot to do with their trust in Adrian hitting him in stride, or the hits he was going to take going up the middle. His short arms scared our staff and interceptions became a theme in practice. Tie that in with Lubick being a very detached WR coach, and you have a bad recipe. Had he come in now, it would be completely different. 

 
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Wan’dale caught 104 passes. 
the next guy caught 40

the next guy caught 21 

Their top 3 rushers accounted for 1,800yds of ground game. Top being 1,300~

the dude produced in a pretty good offense and is leaving a year of playing college for pro, as a top draft choice. Good for him, wish we had used him better here and won with him. 

 
hskrfan4life said:
You know what would be funny? If they used him as an RB in the NFL
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When a Giant exec (do not know name or title) was being interviewed, he stated Wandale playing running back at Nebraska was important.  He said it showed his versatility and they liked that.  So his time at Neb had a positive impact on him being a 2nd round pick.  Sorry wish I had a link to share. 

 
lo country said:
Wan'dale was completely misused as a RB at NU.  He even said as much when he left.  That he wouldn't play RB at the next level and NU wasn't going to showcase his talent.  Having him be our "starting" RB his last year here was just another reason our RB room has stunk for the years after Oz.  IMHO, had he stayed at NU, if drafted he'd have been far into the draft.  UK showcased his ability.  
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It's not like the coaches made him switch positions.  He willingly filled the role because of several key injuries so calling him our starting running back is a stretch.  Was he "misused" or was he given opportunities to showcase everything he could do?  Go back and listen to some of his interviews from that season - he stated on numerous occasions he wanted to do everything he could do to help the team win.  His decision to transfer likely did have some to do with how he was utilized but the elephant in the room was his mom's health and his lack of ability, due to Covid, for him to be able to go home to see his family. 

Bottom line is I agree it was a good decision.  I just disagree with playing the blame game on Frost for trying to get the ball in his hands as often as possible.  He was really all we had and he was willing to be that guy for us during that season.  

 
Hilltop said:
It's not like the coaches made him switch positions.  He willingly filled the role because of several key injuries so calling him our starting running back is a stretch.  Was he "misused" or was he given opportunities to showcase everything he could do?  Go back and listen to some of his interviews from that season - he stated on numerous occasions he wanted to do everything he could do to help the team win.  His decision to transfer likely did have some to do with how he was utilized but the elephant in the room was his mom's health and his lack of ability, due to Covid, for him to be able to go home to see his family. 

Bottom line is I agree it was a good decision.  I just disagree with playing the blame game on Frost for trying to get the ball in his hands as often as possible.  He was really all we had and he was willing to be that guy for us during that season.  
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That was because he's a solid dude and he's not going to throw the coaches under the bus in an interview. He was totally willing to do whatever it took to help the team win, but go listen/read his interviews after he transferred. He's a little vague (again, I think being charitable to our coaches), but it's at least implied that the coaches agreed multiple times the best fit for both parties was at receiver and they would exclusively (or almost exclusively) play him there. Then they'd come back and ask him to play RB again because Held apparently couldn't manage to coach up a single passable option.

If you were really good at your job and had a wonderful growth plan mapped out in your area, how many times are you going to let the company you work for ask you to do something you're not as good at, don't enjoy, and hinders your development in your actual job before you start looking somewhere else?

 
I find it weird people are acting like WanDale was our main running back during his time here and we were pummeling him into the ground or something? We used him at RB like 5-10 snaps per game to get him the ball more, and a decent percentage of those were passing plays and screens. The rest of the time he was at wide receiver. He was more successful at UK because they had the offensive line protection and quarterback play to be able to throw him the ball down the field instead of underneath constantly like we were forced to do. While I'm sure it played some role it didn't seem like there was some seismic shift in his usage when he moved to UK; they were just a better football team than NU.

If he didn't want to play any running back then that's totally his choice and I'm glad things worked out for him. But I am having a hard time pummelling our staff for trying to get our best skill player the ball as much as possible, especially if he wasn't voicing to them that he didn't want to be a ball carrier.

 
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J-MAGIC said:
I find it weird people are acting like WanDale was our main running back during his time here and we were pummeling him into the ground or something? We used him at RB like 5-10 snaps per game to get him the ball more, and a decent percentage of those were passing plays and screens. The rest of the time he was at wide receiver. He was more successful at UK because they had the offensive line protection and quarterback play to be able to throw him the ball down the field instead of underneath constantly like we were forced to do. While I'm sure it played some role it didn't seem like there was some seismic shift in his usage when he moved to UK; they were just a better football team than NU.

If he didn't want to play any running back then that's totally his choice and I'm glad things worked out for him. But I am having a hard time pummelling our staff for trying to get our best skill player the ball as much as possible, especially if he wasn't voicing to them that he didn't want to be a ball carrier.
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Wan'dale had 88 carries his first season at Nebraska, 46 in the COVID shortened season, not quite the first string running back, but way ahead of the next guy. By definition those were running plays, not passing plays, and probably too many were between the tackles plays like we call for the featured running back.

Wan'dale had 7 carries at Kentucky.

 
J-MAGIC said:
I find it weird people are acting like WanDale was our main running back during his time here and we were pummeling him into the ground or something? We used him at RB like 5-10 snaps per game to get him the ball more, and a decent percentage of those were passing plays and screens.
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In 2019 this couldn't be further from the truth.  He had the most carries in 3 of the 7 B1G games he played in.

In 2020 I think they didn't want to use him at all at RB (he got 0 carries the 1st 2 games), but he led us in carries in game 3.

2019 - 80 carries in 7 B1G games (11.4 carries/game) - 19, 9, 7, 6, 22, 14, 3 

2020 - 46 carries in 8 B1G games (5.8 carries/game) - 0, 0, 16, 7, 6, 2, 8, 7

 
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