It’s Game Week! Buckle Up!

Buckle Up!

For most people in the world, this week is just another date in time on this spinning blue rock. For those of us in Husker land though….it’s a rebirth of all that is right in the world!

Nebraska is on the upswing and after a sometimes disaster fueled season in 2015, 2016 is filled with promise of a fresh start. Last season was Coach Mike Riley’s first in Lincoln and while I think he was excited about it, he probably underestimated the task in front of him. That task along with some questionable play calling led to just the third losing season in most Husker fan’s life times.

Onward and upward!

First, let’s address the naming of captains, or more specifically, the one person not named captain. Some people were a little alarmed that Tommy Armstrong wasn’t named one of the captains for the 2016 Husker football season. Some newspapers have blown the situation up, explaining that it could be another negative on a season that has not had much good news lately. Let’s review why it’s no big deal.

First, captains are voted on by the players. Most of the kids on this year’s team are young. Look at the roster that came out, not many seniors and even fewer juniors. Part of that stems from back to back recruiting classes that were lackluster and short on numbers. Whatever you think about Bo Pelini, he did not do a good job with roster management, and honestly, it will probably be another 2 years before all the kinks and depth upgrades are worked out. Why do I bring this up? Tommy is not overly close to a lot of the young players on the team. He is the quarterback, the leader on the field. Tommy is not an outgoing personality that is out to make friends. It’s hard to be voted captain when you aren’t close to a lot of players on the team. It’s a bit of a popularity contest and Tommy simply isn’t the type of kid that would pander for votes.

Second, kids know who the leaders on the field are, and let’s be clear, Tommy is a leader on the field. He came into Nebraska as a kid who takes over the huddle, even as a freshman. Nothing has changed in that respect and Tommy is as tough as any QB we have had. He has played through numerous bumps and bruises and kids respect that.

Finally, Tommie Frazier and Scott Frost. It’s not a forgone conclusion that a starting senior quarterback will be captain. Frazier and Frost weren’t voted captains. That didn’t seem to stop Nebraska from being successful. I don’t think we are a National Champion contender this season, but I also don’t think it will make a bit of difference that Dylan Utter is a captain and Tommy Armstrong is not. Tommy is the kind of kid that let’s stuff like this slide off his back. I don’t see it being any different this time around. A few notes as the season kicks off this week…

 1. Overall, when looking at Nebraska’s schedule, it has some easy stretches and one stretch (Wisconsin, Ohio State) that is simply brutal. If Nebraska gets out of the gate 3-1 or better, they should be able to cruise through the next three games and should get to Wisconsin 6-1. Anything could happen, after that, but it’s safe to say Nebraska would probably end up with three losses after that start, which would make them 9-3 and probably fall just short of the Big Ten title game. After last season, beggars can’t be choosers, I think most would take that. Nebraska is building depth, but any major injury to Armstrong and this season will be a roller coaster to stay above .500. Let’s hope for a healthy season and a competitive bowl game in Florida in January.

2. This freshman class is going to be good. Tre Bryant is going to play a major roll this year, but outside of him, Lamar Jackson at cornerback should be the only other freshman gaining significant minutes outside of special teams. Its possible Boe Wilson could play at guard as well, but I’m sure the staff would like to redshirt him. Don’t be alarmed by this though, this class of freshman has had a great fall camp and the future looks bright

3. Tanner Lee will be on scout team, but you will hear about him as the season goes on. It’s not often a scout team QB will be the talk of the team, but much like Taylor Martinez tearing up the scout teams as a redshirt, Lee will be doing the same as he sits as a transfer. The kid looks to be good and the staff is thrilled that he just earned an extra year of eligibility.

4. Nebraska’s defense should be much better. Based on familiarity with this coaching staff alone, the defense should be good enough to win at least 2 games that Nebraska didn’t win last season. From most indications, John Parella has been a great hire, Trent Bray has been a bright young star coaching linebackers and Coach Banker feels much better about where the defense is compared to last season when they couldn’t even line up correctly for certain calls.

5. This wide receiver group is fantastic. And it shouldn’t matter, Nebraska will need to run the ball to be effective in the conference, for a variety of reasons, not the least is Tommy Armstrong’s sometimes erratic throws. Throw in the occasional horrible weather like they faced in Illinois last season and if Nebraska wants to be successful, even with this great talent at receiver, Nebraska will go as far as the running game can take them. They don’t have to run it 60 times a game, they just need to be efficient when the do run, to take pressure off the passing game.

6. Buckle up and enjoy the ride! After all that has happened this off season, including the loss of a very popular and beloved teammate, it will be good to get some games started. This team cares a lot and wants to play well for themselves, Sam Foltz and not least of all the fans. This team wants to win, so let’s go support them as much as we can and enjoy the season! GBR!!!

We're Talking About Husker Practice!

Revving Up the Big Red Engines! 

So through some great fortune and dumb luck, I was able to go to a Husker practice last week. It was the first of two major scrimmages for the Huskers. Since that scrimmage the Huskers had a second practice with more scrimmaging that kind of settled the dust on player position battles. I’ll go on with a few things that I noticed and add some updates to some of the positions since.

Tommy Armstrong is still Tommy, some throws are great, and others are really sketchy. When he runs though...look out. He looks like a LB out there and if they choose to let him run he will be really dangerous. He looks like a fourth year player that has spent a lot of time in the weight room. As Tommy goes, so go the Huskers, so let us hope we see the good Tommy a lot this year and not the Tommy that looks like he is playing a game of 500 out there.

On the flip side we better hope Tommy doesn't get hurt. Ryker Fyfe looked really rough at the first scrimmage, but seemed to bounce back the next week. Say what you will about Armstrong, but Fyfe just isn’t the dynamic play maker with his legs that Tommy can be and he doesn’t have near the arm strength. That being said, he should be an adequate backup, as long as he isn’t asked to carry the load.

Patrick O’Brien looks like he is going to be good down the line, but right now, he looks like a freshman. Hopefully he will be able to redshirt, because if he has to play a lot this season, it will be a long year.

And on the hyperbole train of the year, we will be playoff contenders next year if Tanner Lee plays anywhere near like he did when I was able to watch him. So much more accurate than anything we have ever had here. He was with the 3rd string and 2nd string guys, but every ball was catchable and on the money. Not going to lie, he would make Tommy sweat if he was eligible this year.

So on to the running backs... I have to eat my words on Tre Bryant, (full disclosure, I thought he would need to have a redshirt year) that kid is good. He is small, but he gets in the hole and moves the pile. Honestly I'd like to see some film, but the closest comparison I could give is Derek Brown. We just haven't had anyone quite like this kid in a while. He runs good inside and has a nice burst to get to the edge. If he continues to look like this, not only will he not redshirt he will steal carries from Terrell Newby.

Newby ran really good outside when I watched, but like always, he struggles inside. I don't know if he can put it together in time to do anything meaningful this year, but he ran with purpose today so that is encouraging.

Devine Ozigbo isn't the number one, he isn't flashy, but he does everything pretty well. He and Armstrong seem to work well on option and zone read. Could continue to be a nice weapon this season, hopefully taking off from his UCLA game last year.

Mikale Wilbon has some sparks, but nothing stood out when I watched him. He was just 4th string in my opinion, but he also didn't get any carries where he was given much of a chance to shine. If he is your fourth string running back, you are sitting in good shape. He would play a lot at about half the schools in the Big Ten.

The offensive line looked pretty rough the day I watched. They hadn’t really gelled when I watched them. Then to top it off, DJ Foster was hurt and will miss the season. His backup, Corey Whitaker also was banged up and will likely miss playing until the conference season starts. That means Boe Wilson a true freshman may start. That always gives me some hesitation, but he was recruited as a junk yard dog type and hopefully that’s what he is. The tackle position on the flip side is set up really well. Nick Gates and David Knevel look great. Their backups have little experience, but if these two can stay healthy, I really look for them to keep Armstrong upright and hopefully plow running lanes a lot this year.

Just throwing this in, besides Wilson, the freshman class looks really good. Nebraska fans expect the pipeline to be stocked with great players and it seems like this coaching staff is finally getting Nebraska back up to speed.

The tight ends start and end with Cethan Carter. Carter has NFL type potential. His backups, Sam Cotton and Trey Foster are okay, but neither is on par with Carter. The young backups have a long way to go as well. Carter needs to stay healthy for Nebraska to have a chance to win their division, but when he plays, wow, he is really good.

Sometimes at practice, you know some guys are going to have good days and others won’t, just the way practice works. Players that really stood out to me were Alonzo Moore, Derion Grim, and Stanley Morgan. You may ask why Brandon Reilly or Jordan Westerkamp didn’t stick out, but Jordan sat out and Reilly wasn’t featured. I wouldn’t worry about those two, they will still be the belles of the ball, but it was nice to see other featured players make plays and get after it!

Overall, the offense has some great pieces and I would tell you that this year will have some big ups, but again, depending on Armstrong, could have some valleys as well. We are as stacked at wide receiver as we have ever been and the running back position is very well stocked. A lack of experienced depth on the offensive line and a thin group of tight ends could be the Achilles heel. Either way, Nebraska’s offense should be in the top half of the conference. That will be better than it was last year, and that is all we can hope for at this time of year.

I will hit on the defense in my next blog. Until then, Go Big Red!

Ok, I'm not going save the best for last, because I wanted to share this, but Mick Stoltenberg was a monster yesterday. He gets off the ball so well, and he is so strong he was killing our 1s on the O line. Quite honestly he was the best player on the field yesterday out of everyone. He and Kevin Maurice were men out there and if we can spell them and keep them healthy all year, it gives me a lot of hope that we will be a good defense.

On the flip side of that, the DEs really weren't very good yesterday. It was more of a hold your ground kind of attack, just try and keep the lineman off the linebackers. Part of that could be that Gates and Knevel are pretty good, but I'm afraid we are going to have to dial up pressure from elsewhere again this year to get the QB.

Carlos Davis was on the 2nd team and his effort is so good. Bright future for that kid. I made a note of Logan Rath playing with the 2nd team. He played really well, good addition to the rotation.

Other backup lineman didn't really stand out. Neal and Alex Davis look so good physically, I have hope that Coach Parella can coach them up, but there is a long road ahead for the young'ns.

At linebacker there was really good stuff. Banderas made a great tackle on Ozighbo at the start of the scrimmage and he seemed to be around the ball a lot. I spent so much time watching the line, it was a little more difficult to keep up on the linebackers but they all seemed to cover very well in pass coverage.

Ty Ferguson had a good day and I thought that Marcus Newby played well too. They all shut down the inside runs, but as I said earlier it may have been the OLine as much as anything but you can tell the depth at LB is much better.

Luke Gifford is playing well too. Bray is fun to watch, he gets after his players on the sidelines and seems like a guy they all want to play for. All in all this should be a good group.

Finally the DBs. The starting corners were really aggressive, right at the point of PI on a lot of throws. To me, that's great though. You want to make the refs make the decision and Kalu and Jones are really good at pushing the envelope. Boaz Joseph and Eric Lee have really improved. It's a deep group, getting deeper. Bootle and Dismuke both ran well and you can tell they are going to be solid. 

Lamar Jackson didn't stick out yesterday, but he also didn't look bad either. I will chalk this one up to just a single scrimmage. He got trucked pretty good by Tre Bryant, I bet he learns from that!

Safety play was good in the fact that they were awesome in run support and played the pass well. Not a lot of deep throws to judge from, at least for Gerry or Williams. Antonio Reed just seems to fly around out there, I love that kid.

Younger guys didn't stick out either, but I think we have some great athletes back there, and that gives me a lot of hope.