What Bo Inherited -- expectations

[robsker]

When we last saw Bo coaching the NU defense, Bo had some serious talent that he inherited. The 2003 Husker defense featured no fewer than 10 future NFL players in prominent roles: Ryon Bingham, Le Kevin Smith, Trevor Johnson, Adam Carriker, Barrett Ruud, Demorrio Williams, Fabian Washington, Josh Bullocks, Daniel Bullocks and Jerrell Pippens. And, of course, that defense did very well.

This time around, Bo has inherited a defense where, perhaps Suh, maybe Dillard, perhaps Asante --- and well, I can not think of anyone else that might have NFL futures that he inherited. Even if we are very liberal with our assessment and say Suh, Asante, Dillard, Turner and maybe someone else is NFL caliber that means instead of inheriting 10 future NFL defenders he will inherit 5 at best. So....

Do not expect miracles. Do not expect this defense to even approach the defense we had the last time Pelini coached here.

Be reasonable with the expectations. if we move from the #115 defense nationally to say the #40 that would be awesome.

 

[junior4949]

I see what you did there. You're trying to bait us all aren't you? We all know that Solich couldn't recruit his way out of a paper sack. And, Callahan was a God at recruiting. Why are you insinuating anything differently? :sarcasm

 

[cb1954]

When we last saw Bo coaching the NU defense, Bo had some serious talent that he inherited. The 2003 Husker defense featured no fewer than 10 future NFL players in prominent roles: Ryon Bingham, Le Kevin Smith, Trevor Johnson, Adam Carriker, Barrett Ruud, Demorrio Williams, Fabian Washington, Josh Bullocks, Daniel Bullocks and Jerrell Pippens. And, of course, that defense did very well.

This time around, Bo has inherited a defense where, perhaps Suh, maybe Dillard, perhaps Asante --- and well, I can not think of anyone else that might have NFL futures that he inherited. Even if we are very liberal with our assessment and say Suh, Asante, Dillard, Turner and maybe someone else is NFL caliber that means instead of inheriting 10 future NFL defenders he will inherit 5 at best. So....

Do not expect miracles. Do not expect this defense to even approach the defense we had the last time Pelini coached here.

Be reasonable with the expectations. if we move from the #115 defense nationally to say the #40 that would be awesome.

And people say Solich couldn't recruit, and Callahan was great at it. hmmmm

 

[robsker]

When we last saw Bo coaching the NU defense, Bo had some serious talent that he inherited. The 2003 Husker defense featured no fewer than 10 future NFL players in prominent roles: Ryon Bingham, Le Kevin Smith, Trevor Johnson, Adam Carriker, Barrett Ruud, Demorrio Williams, Fabian Washington, Josh Bullocks, Daniel Bullocks and Jerrell Pippens. And, of course, that defense did very well.

This time around, Bo has inherited a defense where, perhaps Suh, maybe Dillard, perhaps Asante --- and well, I can not think of anyone else that might have NFL futures that he inherited. Even if we are very liberal with our assessment and say Suh, Asante, Dillard, Turner and maybe someone else is NFL caliber that means instead of inheriting 10 future NFL defenders he will inherit 5 at best. So....

Do not expect miracles. Do not expect this defense to even approach the defense we had the last time Pelini coached here.

Be reasonable with the expectations. if we move from the #115 defense nationally to say the #40 that would be awesome.

And people say Solich couldn't recruit, and Callahan was great at it. hmmmm

View attachment 2266

Recruiting should be measured by outgoing NFL players (and other measures of on field contributions) upon the end of a recruiting classes eligibility. Ratings and rankings before the kids show up on campus are absurd and have no meaning, equating to mere hype. So, in reality it take 4-5 years to discern the quality of a recruiting class.

Anyway, the point was not so much Solich vs. Callahan --- I did not even think along those lines --- but rather that we need to cut Bo some slack and recognize that if we have even a decent defense that that would be a wonder work on his behalf.

 

[skersfan]

Well it goes both ways boys.

If he, and he did have all that talent, he sure didn't do much with it. We got spanked by anyone with a pulse. Most numbers were put up against less than stellar opponents.

Not an attack on Pelini.

Just the fact that all things are not as they seem. We have to play the games. All this climbing on board and thinking that everything is fixed is jus too soon.

We have many problems on this team I think. Coaching was part of it no question. But I don't think that was all of it.

Here is hoping that Bo is all we want him to be, but I will be the one standing here at the end of next year saying that I am happy with a bowl game and a 7-5 regurlar season. I am afraid if that happens I will be one of the very few happy ones. Not that I would not like to see more. Just think this a longer process than some think. I think Bo will get it done, but I will not be looking for the razor blade if it does not happen as some think it will this year.

 

[Cy the Cyclone]

--- and well, I can not think of anyone else that might have NFL futures that he inherited. Even if we are very liberal with our assessment and say Suh, Asante, Dillard, Turner and maybe someone else is NFL caliber that means instead of inheriting 10 future NFL defenders he will inherit 5 at best. So....

You didn't watch many Miami Dolphin games this year did you?

 

[MadcatNU]

Something that i've heard is that BC and Coz favored bigger lineman. The decision to bulk these players up made us too slow to defend the spread attacks that we see so much of now in the Big 12.

This would mean Pelini is inheriting players ill equipped to be a good defensive unit.

 

[ironmike]

Well it goes both ways boys.

If he, and he did have all that talent, he sure didn't do much with it. We got spanked by anyone with a pulse. Most numbers were put up against less than stellar opponents.

Not an attack on Pelini.

Just the fact that all things are not as they seem. We have to play the games. All this climbing on board and thinking that everything is fixed is jus too soon.

We have many problems on this team I think. Coaching was part of it no question. But I don't think that was all of it.

Here is hoping that Bo is all we want him to be, but I will be the one standing here at the end of next year saying that I am happy with a bowl game and a 7-5 regurlar season. I am afraid if that happens I will be one of the very few happy ones. Not that I would not like to see more. Just think this a longer process than some think. I think Bo will get it done, but I will not be looking for the razor blade if it does not happen as some think it will this year.

Good balancing comment. While the Defense in 2003 had its moments, the overall team wasn't very good at all. Similarly, the 2007 Offense had its moments, but like the 2003 D "got spanked by anyone with a pulse"...and obviously the overall team in 2007 sucked.

I think you hit the nail on the head when you said that we have many problems on this team. While I hope we win 'em all next year, I think the best we can expect (even with a little luck) is 9-3 and 7-5 is fairly likely.

I think we have a great coach in Bo, but it is going to take a couple years at least to get this thing turned around.

 

[Huskerballz]

Pelini has made it quite clear that he's looking for speed, speed and more speed. Something that the defense and offense (albeit a few players) was lacking greatly.

Pelini did a good job at recruiting the speed necessary to fulfill his dream defense. But the transition won't happen overnight.

We'll have a mediocre defense next year, and then in '09, after Pelini gets in his full class and the strength and conditioning program takes off, I see us in the Top 25. Bank it.

But Robsker is right, these lofty expectations, while understandable since this is Nebraska, are a little too premature. Let Bo do his thing and the results will happen.

 

[Blackshirt316]

Really?

Suh, Dillard, Asante, Turner, Amukamara, Blue, Culbert, Washington, Thenarse...

These are all guys on defense that under the right coach COULD be NFL worthy and there are possibly more.

I'm not saying they will, but they haven't exactly had the coaching to see what their potential actually is either. For most of the defense it is simply too soon to tell, did you really see Carriker breaking out into a beast in 2004 based on his role in 2003 where he never played a down against the run?

How bout Jay Moore who came off his redshirt year overweight and didn't play a game before being the most improved player the next spring and turning into a very good player?

Or Brett Byford who played in one cupcake game his freshman year, didn't see the field his sophomore year and became one of the best linemen we had when Mann went down in 2006?

THe fact is we don't know what these guys are truly capable of until we see what they can do with a competent coach and a little passion. Not one of them deserved to be NFL worthy last year, but give them a chance this year under Bo and many of them may surprise a lot of us.

 

[DJR313]

I think a defense ranked in the top 40 would be an achievement in itself. Bo had lots of talent to work with in 2003, he may have that much this year, we do not know yet. Could be Suh, Asante, Dillard, Murillo, Thenarse, Culbert, Turner, Lawrence, Stafford, etc. There are lots of unknowns.

 

[junior4949]

Really?

Suh, Dillard, Asante, Potter, Amukamara, Blue, Culbert, Washington, Thenarse...

These are all guys on defense that under the right coach COULD be NFL worthy and there are possibly more.

I'm not saying they will, but they haven't exactly had the coaching to see what their potential actually is either. For most of the defense it is simply too soon to tell, did you really see Carriker breaking out into a beast in 2004 based on his role in 2003 where he never played a down against the run?

How bout Jay Moore who came off his redshirt year overweight and didn't play a game before being the most improved player the next spring and turning into a very good player?

Or Brett Byford who played in one cupcake game his freshman year, didn't see the field his sophomore year and became one of the best linemen we had when Mann went down in 2006?

THe fact is we don't know what these guys are truly capable of until we see what they can do with a competent coach and a little passion. Not one of them deserved to be NFL worthy last year, but give them a chance this year under Bo and many of them may surprise a lot of us.

I think you hit the nail on the head. I didn't see many/any players play up to their potential last year. We have no idea who will emerge and become the next best thing for us. Stating that stars don't mean anything in terms of recruiting is absurd. A 5 star player simply means they have the ability to be amongst the greatest players. I've seen people who had photographic memories never get better than C's and D's. It doesn't mean they don't have the ability to be some of the smartest people in the World, it means quite simply they aren't living up to their potential. We had some highly ranked recruiting classes. I believe there is some outstanding talent in there. Bo's biggest challenge will be to get these players to believe in themselves again and become the players they were ranked by Rivals at becoming.

Football is probably over 50% mental. The first objective is to get everyone on the same page. The second is to get them to believe again. The attitude of this team is what is going to determine the outcome of next season, not talent.

 

[REDSTEEL]

I would say Callahan came into a better situtation then BO is coming into. Let's hope Bo can instill some confidence into the team (mainly the defense) I expect a 7 win season but expect no more then that.

 

[REDSTEEL]

I see what you did there. You're trying to bait us all aren't you? We all know that Solich couldn't recruit his way out of a paper sack. And, Callahan was a God at recruiting. Why are you insinuating anything differently? :sarcasm

Thats foolish no way could you compare SOLICHS All Americans to Callahans ALL AMERICANS and future NFL players. Just let it go Solich was no Callahan in recruiting. :koolaid2:

Long live SAM KELLER the next future Kansas City Chiefs QB in the mode of Steve Deburg and Joe Montana. :koolaid2:

 

[BIGREDFAN_in_OMAHA]

Off season conditioning will be a key. I expect an examination of the roster this fall will see quite a few players lighter so they will be quicker. I think the talent is there. Callahan threw plenty of NFL pixie dust into recruits eyes and got plenty of them to come to Nebraska. Too bad for them he and staff couldn't coach and develop them to ensure the path to the next level.