What's the deal with Dillard?

[huskertim]

IMO this is a unit that despartely needs vetern leadership right now. I agree that the best guy plays period, but I hope like hell he pulls a 180 and gets his a$$ in gear.

 

[Enhance]

Well I would like to see Dillard step-up, however I am glad that this coaching staff does not gaurantee a starting role to someone simply because they are a senior....

Oh you mean like Callahan?

<_<

I say give the job to Koehler.

i say give it to the best player at that position.

:yeah I think this may go back to last year as well. Dillard was supposedly cleared to play towards the end of the season, many seemed to think then that the coaches were underselling the extent of his injury but I am not so sure now. I think when he came back to practices he got beat out for playing time plain and simple. He probably didn't help himself in the offseason either, but I think he may of seen the writing on the wall since the Gator Bowl prep.

The coaches have made it pretty obvious that if you want to play you have to the best guy we have at that position, otherwise you are going to have to work hard to try and get playing time. I simply said Koehler because I know the guy :nanalama

I'm more intrigued by the LB battle than I am with the QB battle.

 

[huskers1]

You must have been listening to Sipple on 1620 the other day....Ya I think this is a case of Dillard not having the speed that a lot of our other linebackers have. I have always wondered why he doesnt move to BUCK, or he could be a guy that is playing at the DE spot on third down. I also dont think that Dillard has the athleticism that our other linebackers have, just speculating on that since I havent seen them play yet. Even if he doesnt start I think he'll find his spot either getting about 15 snaps as a reserve MIKE and maybe some plays from a rush end, that is if he doesnt tranfer.

 

[caveman99]

You must have been listening to Sipple on 1620 the other day....Ya I think this is a case of Dillard not having the speed that a lot of our other linebackers have. I have always wondered why he doesnt move to BUCK, or he could be a guy that is playing at the DE spot on third down. I also dont think that Dillard has the athleticism that our other linebackers have, just speculating on that since I havent seen them play yet. Even if he doesnt start I think he'll find his spot either getting about 15 snaps as a reserve MIKE and maybe some plays from a rush end, that is if he doesnt tranfer.

Actually I haven't listened to that show in about a week or so. I live in NY so I have to listed to it online, if they talked about it though then I feel good about not being the only thinking it.

 

[Huskers Forever]

Sounds to me like the coaches are trying to light a fire under his a$$ or he didn't report to camp in shape.

Being out of shape will get you in any coach's doghouse in a big hurry.

I'd like to thnk your right. But guys coming off injuries are a crap shoot after they return. Matt Herian is one I can think of off hand that never got going again.

Didn't Dillard just have an ankle sprain last year? Herian had a devestating leg fracture, so that is not a very good comparison. Injury is not what is holding Dillard back, its lack of speed.

 

[Enhance]

Sounds to me like the coaches are trying to light a fire under his a$$ or he didn't report to camp in shape.

Being out of shape will get you in any coach's doghouse in a big hurry.

I'd like to thnk your right. But guys coming off injuries are a crap shoot after they return. Matt Herian is one I can think of off hand that never got going again.

Didn't Dillard just have an ankle sprain last year? Herian had a devestating leg fracture, so that is not a very good comparison. Injury is not what is holding Dillard back, its lack of speed.

Dillard might be in the same boat that Lucky was at the beginning of the 2008 season. Even though Lucky wasn't injured, the coaches (without specifics) said he had some things that they need to work through with him, and they hinted towards his lack of interest in practice and that he wasn't practicing/playing to his full potential. From reading and hearing about Dillard, I'd assume he might be in the same boat.

One other thing though is probably just his overall athleticism. He's a pretty big guy and he doesn't really seem to fit the mold of a Bo Pelini linebacker.

 

[zoogs]

At 238 pounds? For a MLB?

 

[junior4949]

The deal with P. Dillard is there are better players in front of him plain and simple. He is just too slow to play LB at the D1 level.

Stoops and Co. were right, given his frame and propensity to gain weight, he should've been redshirted and bulked up to play DT in college. Chalk this one up for Boo Blake wooing Dillard to play LB.

As for the big name rumor a month or so back that people were floating around about quitting the team, this was my guess.

Yep, he is too damn slow. Bo wants speed, speed and more speed.

Hopefully Mr. Compton is ready to play a big load in his first year on the field for us.

What is Compton's 40? From the video I've seen on him, he hits like a train but he really doesn't show much for blazing speed either.

Well I would like to see Dillard step-up, however I am glad that this coaching staff does not gaurantee a starting role to someone simply because they are a senior....

Oh you mean like Callahan?

<_<

I say give the job to Koehler.

i say give it to the best player at that position.

:yeah I think this may go back to last year as well. Dillard was supposedly cleared to play towards the end of the season, many seemed to think then that the coaches were underselling the extent of his injury but I am not so sure now. I think when he came back to practices he got beat out for playing time plain and simple. He probably didn't help himself in the offseason either, but I think he may of seen the writing on the wall since the Gator Bowl prep.

The coaches have made it pretty obvious that if you want to play you have to the best guy we have at that position, otherwise you are going to have to work hard to try and get playing time. I simply said Koehler because I know the guy :nanalama

I'm more intrigued by the LB battle than I am with the QB battle.

Considering we just moved a LB to QB, I'm scared as hell about the QB battle. While LB's are extremely important to the D, we do have a very good front line in front of them. I can't think of any more important position offensively besides the QB.

 

[Alex 4.0]

I am guessing this is a just a wake up call for Dillard, a little motivational tactic by our coaches. If he rises up, he will be a better player and we will see a better team. If he falls flat, somebody else will be better than him, and it's better for the team.

You have to love the fact that these coaches aren't out there messing around. They are serious about getting the most out of their team and if that means breaking in a fresh linebacker for the first couple of games so be it.

With all that being said. I think that we are going to have more db's and faster linebackers on the field this year, so Dillard (who would have been a good linebacker 15 years ago) might not fit with the times. Should be interesting to see how this all plays out, but I am in NO way worried our linebacking depth or talent.

 

[Huskers Forever]

The deal with P. Dillard is there are better players in front of him plain and simple. He is just too slow to play LB at the D1 level.

Stoops and Co. were right, given his frame and propensity to gain weight, he should've been redshirted and bulked up to play DT in college. Chalk this one up for Boo Blake wooing Dillard to play LB.

As for the big name rumor a month or so back that people were floating around about quitting the team, this was my guess.

Yep, he is too damn slow. Bo wants speed, speed and more speed.

Hopefully Mr. Compton is ready to play a big load in his first year on the field for us.

What is Compton's 40? From the video I've seen on him, he hits like a train but he really doesn't show much for blazing speed either.

Well I would like to see Dillard step-up, however I am glad that this coaching staff does not gaurantee a starting role to someone simply because they are a senior....

Oh you mean like Callahan?

<_<

I say give the job to Koehler.

i say give it to the best player at that position.

:yeah I think this may go back to last year as well. Dillard was supposedly cleared to play towards the end of the season, many seemed to think then that the coaches were underselling the extent of his injury but I am not so sure now. I think when he came back to practices he got beat out for playing time plain and simple. He probably didn't help himself in the offseason either, but I think he may of seen the writing on the wall since the Gator Bowl prep.

The coaches have made it pretty obvious that if you want to play you have to the best guy we have at that position, otherwise you are going to have to work hard to try and get playing time. I simply said Koehler because I know the guy :nanalama

I'm more intrigued by the LB battle than I am with the QB battle.

Considering we just moved a LB to QB, I'm scared as hell about the QB battle. While LB's are extremely important to the D, we do have a very good front line in front of them. I can't think of any more important position offensively besides the QB.

Why are you scared? We are 4 deep at the position, and they were all highly ranked comming in. Yeah, its a little scary breaking in a brand new QB, but I love how Watson adjusts the system to fit his QB's strength. I think there is a chance that Washington could beat out Green in the future.

 

[junior4949]

What do you have to go on other than high school footage and one year of JuCo with regards to our QB's? At least last year, Ganz had started some games the year before. None of these guys have any D1 gametime under their belt with the exception of Lee who had what like one series of downs last year. This is scary as hell to me. What even concerns me more is the fact that we take a LB and have him come over to now take snaps as a QB. There's really only 2 conclusions that can come from taking a LB and making him a QB now: 1) Green's injury is worse than what we're being told or 2) the staff doesn't feel comfortable with any of the QB's. Considering QB is the most important position on the team, I'm a little concerned. I hope I'm worrying about nothing.

 

[caveman99]

What do you have to go on other than high school footage and one year of JuCo with regards to our QB's? At least last year, Ganz had started some games the year before. None of these guys have any D1 gametime under their belt with the exception of Lee who had what like one series of downs last year. This is scary as hell to me. What even concerns me more is the fact that we take a LB and have him come over to now take snaps as a QB. There's really only 2 conclusions that can come from taking a LB and making him a QB now: 1) Green's injury is worse than what we're being told or 2) the staff doesn't feel comfortable with any of the QB's. Considering QB is the most important position on the team, I'm a little concerned. I hope I'm worrying about nothing.

Or perhaps a 3rd conclussion that the coaches have already stated. Witt leaving means there is a hole in the Sophomore class. You have a Jr and 2 freshmen. They would like to have 4 quarterbacks and idealy a QB in each class for depth. That is why they considered Marve. Washington will most likely have to RS a year to fully grasp the Offense just like Marve would have. I think you are reading WAAYYY too much into this junior.

 

[junior4949]

I hope I am reading way too much into it, but it seems very strange to me that we take a player entering into his junior year and push him over to QB. To me, this means he will never have a shot at playing LB and we're just filling space with him or the coaches don't feel comfortable with the QB's we have. Even in the NC years, we really didn't have 4 QB's. When Frazier went down to injury and Berringer got banged up, we brought in lowly walk on Matt Turman. You can't tell me we don't have a walk on QB on the roster.

 

[huskerfan500]

Sipple said he thought that Koehler beat him out for the Gator bowl, and they he still wasnt injured as it was reported

 

[zoogs]

Former, not the latter, IMO. Sounds like a desperation move for LaTravis because nothing is happening for him on D.