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| Cowboy Up Ryker, the Huskers head to Nashville! |
Normally when a new staff takes over, there is an acclimation period that players and coaches alike have to account for. That happened in 2015, as Nebraska struggled through one of the three worst seasons in fifty years and finished 6-7, but won their bowl game against the UCLA Bruins. That started off a hot off-season that included a big finish to recruiting in February and snowballed into a 7-0 start in 2016. Heading into Madison Wisconsin things looked like they were finally headed in Nebraska’s favor for a change.
Something was happening along the way though, that if you looked closely, you could probably see it, but to the standard look, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Nebraska was suffering injuries along the way, as most teams do. However, as the injuries started to pile up, Nebraska’s depth was exposed along the way and by the time they played Iowa, the depth issue was a gash that was torn open and inoperable. Under Bo Pelini, Nebraska always under recruited. It was going to show in time, probably last season showed it, but we didn’t truly understand it until 2016.
Nebraska has had one scholarship quarterback work out in 5 years. One. That’s not only poor recruiting, it was poor development once the players stepped foot on campus. AJ Bush, Zach Darlington, and Johnny Stanton littered the sidelines as appendages that just don’t fit on a normal roster. Tommy Armstrong has played basically every game since his redshirt freshman year, with no development behind him. Ryker Fife has been his back up for two years. Prior to that, Ron Kellogg, another walk on was a backup. You simply can’t have a major college football team that has success if your lifeline of backups are walk-ons. And that is just part of the story.
When Coach Riley arrived at Nebraska, the offensive line looked stocked with some really big upper classmen, some of who you would think would have been able to step in and play and be successful. They did alright in 2015, but when they left, there were hardly any seniors and juniors to replace them. Players like Zach Hannon and Dwayne Johnson should be playing every game as upper class leaders. Neither of them sees the field.
And when was the last time we had a scholarship center on the roster. Coach Pelini has played more walk-ons (Mike Caputo, Mark Pelini and now Dylan Utter, a Pelini recruit and Riley player) at center than I can remember playing for the 30 years prior to that. I’m not saying the walk on tradition doesn’t help, but it can’t be the skeletal support of your entire offensive line. Thank goodness those guys could play or who knows where Nebraska would be.
Throw in a lack of upper class tackles and you have a recipe for disaster should injury strike. Well injury did strike and it hit with authority. Tanner Farmer, Gerald Foster, Nick Gates, David Knevel, Dylan Utter and Corey Whitaker all suffered injuries this season that cost them multiple games or even just bits of important games. There were barely any live bodies to play some days. You could argue that the four redshirting offensive lineman probably should have played this year, at least a couple of them, but when you are trying to build depth, you sacrifice a lot if you can’t redshirt an offensive lineman.
The point I’m trying to make is, whatever your thoughts on Bo Pelini are, he did a terrible job recruiting quarterback and offensive line during his time at Nebraska. If you want to win in any conference, especially the Big Ten, you need offensive line depth and quarterback depth. Hell, you need depth everywhere. There were times under Pelini’s tenure that we were using less than 80 scholarships out of 85 available and wound up giving them to walk-on players, even if they were just special teams stalwarts. Basically it’s like putting yourself on probation. Only Pelini did it to himself and it snowballed on Coach Riley. Imagine if Nebraska had used those ‘ships on a backup quarterback or a few lineman that panned out. The Iowa game probably has a completely different outcome.
This type of system is hard to overcome. Redshirting Patrick O’Brien and the entire offensive line class should be a start. Throw in Tulane transfer quarterback Tanner Lee and spring semester enrolling freshman Tristian Gebbia and the quarterback position should start to shape up in 2017. Another line class of four to five lineman to redshirt next fall will finally get the numbers where they need to be for 2018. Yeah, 2018.
So remember while watching this bowl game and seeing all these underclassmen playing vital roles for the Huskers, including key positions like quarterback and running back, it didn’t just happen overnight. It’s been on the come for nearly five years, it’s just that this time, you are seeing it without a magnifying glass.
Next year’s team will look a lot different. A new starting quarterback, new wide receivers and new tight ends will have to step up big time next year. Tanner Lee probably has the inside job to lead the offense at QB, but it will be a lot of young guys playing wideout and tight end next year. Names like JD Spielman, David Engelhaupt, Matt Snyder and Jaevon McQuitty that you have probably not even heard of will have prominent roles on offense. That’s a heavy dose of change for next year. Those players that are on campus have had a lot of extra practice during the bowl prep. They are going to need it.
Finally a committment. Nebraska went over three months without a verbal commitment for their 2017 class. During that time there were two de-commitments and it felt like the wheel had come to a stop. A third linebacker added to the class finally broke the ice on Christmas Day. I expect Husker fans to get a couple more jolts at high school all-star games in January, but the really big fish might not commit until signing day in February. It’s a different strategy for recruiting than the prior staff had, but if you want to truly get the type of players needed to win big, sometimes you have to wait until the end. Let’s hope Nebraska finishes as well as they started. I would tell you the 2018 class is one to watch, Nebraska is already on some pretty big name kids. It could be the best in a dozen years. Things are pointing up for the Huskers in that respect.
Tennessee will probably play really well. Tennessee has had a disappointing season. The Volunteers were supposed to be in contention for the SEC east title this year. They did manage to beat Florida for the first time in eons, but the rest of their season fell flat. Tennessee has really underachieved this season, but for some reason I think they will come ready to play the Huskers. A semi-home game in Nashville will probably have the natives fired up. I expect this team to come out with a chip on their shoulder.
Out of all of my picks this year, the only games I felt uneasy with were Ohio State and Iowa. I thought and still feel like Nebraska should have beat Wisconsin. I picked the Huskers in each game, even though I probably knew in my head they weren’t going to beat the Buckeyes and I didn’t think that the Huskers were healthy enough to steal a game in Iowa City. I generally pick with my heart as well, which doesn’t always make you look very smart. I’m not going to pick the Huskers on Friday. There are just too many things that have happened since Madison, some of which I wrote above to make me think playing a road game against a team loaded with great athletes is going to get us a win. I want the Huskers to close out well, but I just don’t see it, Tennessee 31 Nebraska 20. I really hope I’m wrong. As always, GBR!!
Editor’s note: For any of you that have read this blog, I want to say thank you! We wanted to add a feature to a great Facebook page and when I was asked to write the blog, I was excited, if not a little intimidated. Cornhusker Memes does great work making us all laugh with their clever quips and funny takes on Husker football and all things bashing Iowa. ☺ I told them I would probably chase away followers, but they told me to do it anyway and I’m glad they did. I hope all of you have a great Holiday season and thank you for a fun 2016 Husker Football Season!
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