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# 2 JUCO safety. 3 to play
Great news! Our team needs some fresh blood on D. We need players that are ready to hit someone then help them up just so they can hit them again.
We're going to have a lot of safeties on the roster next year. Hopefully 1 or 2 of them can play corner.
Looking at speed and athletic guys. Thinking this defense will be fast and light on the back end. Will need some big nasties up front to protect the guys on the edges. We have them on campus I think. Will need to keep adding but this looks very promising
The only issue with the smaller athletic guys on the back end might be the size of the RBs in the B1G and trying to bring them down, but as long as they know how to tackle, there won't be that many issues, IMO.
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Twins I agree. Need the big boys up front which can help slow those guys.
Ideally I'd take 5lb lighter for 0.1-0.13 faster guys to the ball. Speed that hits can be great to see.
Ideally I'd take 5lb lighter for 0.1-0.13 faster guys to the ball. Speed that hits can be great to see.
Article
JUCO safety Williams excited to being his Husker career next month
Nebraska is loading up on players that can sign as part of the early signing period and enroll for the spring semester. The Huskers added another one this weekend when Ellisville (Miss.) Jones County J.C. defensive back, Deontai Williams, committed to the Huskers.
"It's the tradition here," Williams said. "I want to be part of that tradition. I want to be a Nebraska Blackshirt, get back to winning conference championships and win a national championship at Nebraska."
The future Husker says that the Nebraska staff sees him filling multiple spots in their secondary. While Williams can play multiple positions in the secondary, he remains a physical presence on the football field regardless of where he is playing.
"The Nebraska staff loves my versatility. I play both safety and cornerback," Williams said. "I am going to do both at Nebraska. I am physical. I love to hit. It's a great fit for me in the Nebraska defense."
I’m thankful for all the opportunity God place in front of me but as of right now I will love to say Im committed to the University of the Nebraska Cornhuskers
The official visitors this weekend got a glimpse of the passion that their fans have when they attended the basketball game. Williams said that he is looking forward to seeing that passion in Memorial Stadium.
"I really love the fans at Nebraska," Williams said. "They have a lot of love for their teams. I was at their basketball game on Saturday, and that was crazy."
Nebraska will be receiving Williams' letter of intent on Wednesday, and he will be moving up to Nebraska in the coming weeks.
"I will be signing on Wednesday," Williams said. "I will sign on Wednesday, and I will be back here in a few weeks to enroll. I have three years to play three. The Nebraska staff loves that about me."
JUCO safety Williams excited to being his Husker career next month
Nebraska is loading up on players that can sign as part of the early signing period and enroll for the spring semester. The Huskers added another one this weekend when Ellisville (Miss.) Jones County J.C. defensive back, Deontai Williams, committed to the Huskers.
"It's the tradition here," Williams said. "I want to be part of that tradition. I want to be a Nebraska Blackshirt, get back to winning conference championships and win a national championship at Nebraska."
The future Husker says that the Nebraska staff sees him filling multiple spots in their secondary. While Williams can play multiple positions in the secondary, he remains a physical presence on the football field regardless of where he is playing.
"The Nebraska staff loves my versatility. I play both safety and cornerback," Williams said. "I am going to do both at Nebraska. I am physical. I love to hit. It's a great fit for me in the Nebraska defense."
I’m thankful for all the opportunity God place in front of me but as of right now I will love to say Im committed to the University of the Nebraska Cornhuskers
The official visitors this weekend got a glimpse of the passion that their fans have when they attended the basketball game. Williams said that he is looking forward to seeing that passion in Memorial Stadium.
"I really love the fans at Nebraska," Williams said. "They have a lot of love for their teams. I was at their basketball game on Saturday, and that was crazy."
Nebraska will be receiving Williams' letter of intent on Wednesday, and he will be moving up to Nebraska in the coming weeks.
"I will be signing on Wednesday," Williams said. "I will sign on Wednesday, and I will be back here in a few weeks to enroll. I have three years to play three. The Nebraska staff loves that about me."
Another article
Huskers land three-star junior college defensive back Deontai Williams
A strange thought went through Deontai Williams' mind Saturday night as he sat in Pinnacle Bank Arena watching a Nebraska men's basketball game and seeing volleyball updates on the scoreboard.
He would love to play football at this school.
So on Sunday afternoon, the junior-college player and consensus three-star defensive back prospect made it official by tweeting out the news he had committed to the Huskers. He becomes the 12th known member of NU's Class of 2018. He's the first to pledge among the six uncommitted official visitors from this weekend and the fifth overall under new coach Scott Frost.
"The reason why I committed was because of the new coaching staff," Williams told The World-Herald. "They are so for real; they ain't going to lie to you. I heard the fan base is crazy, then when I went to the basketball game (Saturday) night, it proved to me that it's the greatest fan base. Those people really take care of their athletes."
The 6-foot, 175-pound Williams was a late addition to the visitor list this weekend and came at the request of new NU defensive backs coach Travis Fisher. The invitation held more weight to Williams considering Fisher and his father, Roe Williams, have been longtime friends since the two former cornerbacks were taken eight spots apart in the 2002 NFL Draft.
A highly-recruited defensive back out of high school in Jacksonville, Florida, Deontai Williams pledged and decommitted from both Florida and Georgia and drew interest from most of the top programs in the SEC. But he didn't meet academic requirements for the conference and signed with Frank Solich's Ohio team in 2015. He didn't qualify there, either, and ended up at Jones County in Ellisville Mississippi, where he was listed as a redshirt freshman this fall.
The No. 2 juco safety in the class and No. 34 juco prospect overall according to the 247 Sports composite withdrew his verbal pledge to Florida for a second time earlier this month after the Gators made a coaching change.
Until the last few days – and now with his grades in order – Williams said he hadn't narrowed his options much at all, adding, "You might as well put everyone on the list, to be honest with you."
"I felt like juco helped me," Williams said. "I was in my own world and wasn't trying to listen to nobody before. It humbled me and helped me grow as a person because I wasn't used to going all the way to Mississippi playing football."
Williams called himself a "versatile" player and said coaches told him he would have a chance to earn a spot at safety or corner. He plans to be in Lincoln in January ready to compete.
Williams said he knows fellow Jacksonville native and recent Nebraska cornerback grad Chris Jones but otherwise will join his new team with faith in the coaching staff and hope for how he can contribute to a Big Red revival. But did he ever expect even a month ago that this is where he would play in 2018?
"Oh my, no," Williams laughed. "God works in mysterious ways. I never felt like I'd be playing in Nebraska. But I feel relieved, to be honest with you. I have my college. I don't have no more stress. I can't wait to be at Nebraska in a few weeks."
Huskers land three-star junior college defensive back Deontai Williams
A strange thought went through Deontai Williams' mind Saturday night as he sat in Pinnacle Bank Arena watching a Nebraska men's basketball game and seeing volleyball updates on the scoreboard.
He would love to play football at this school.
So on Sunday afternoon, the junior-college player and consensus three-star defensive back prospect made it official by tweeting out the news he had committed to the Huskers. He becomes the 12th known member of NU's Class of 2018. He's the first to pledge among the six uncommitted official visitors from this weekend and the fifth overall under new coach Scott Frost.
"The reason why I committed was because of the new coaching staff," Williams told The World-Herald. "They are so for real; they ain't going to lie to you. I heard the fan base is crazy, then when I went to the basketball game (Saturday) night, it proved to me that it's the greatest fan base. Those people really take care of their athletes."
The 6-foot, 175-pound Williams was a late addition to the visitor list this weekend and came at the request of new NU defensive backs coach Travis Fisher. The invitation held more weight to Williams considering Fisher and his father, Roe Williams, have been longtime friends since the two former cornerbacks were taken eight spots apart in the 2002 NFL Draft.
A highly-recruited defensive back out of high school in Jacksonville, Florida, Deontai Williams pledged and decommitted from both Florida and Georgia and drew interest from most of the top programs in the SEC. But he didn't meet academic requirements for the conference and signed with Frank Solich's Ohio team in 2015. He didn't qualify there, either, and ended up at Jones County in Ellisville Mississippi, where he was listed as a redshirt freshman this fall.
The No. 2 juco safety in the class and No. 34 juco prospect overall according to the 247 Sports composite withdrew his verbal pledge to Florida for a second time earlier this month after the Gators made a coaching change.
Until the last few days – and now with his grades in order – Williams said he hadn't narrowed his options much at all, adding, "You might as well put everyone on the list, to be honest with you."
"I felt like juco helped me," Williams said. "I was in my own world and wasn't trying to listen to nobody before. It humbled me and helped me grow as a person because I wasn't used to going all the way to Mississippi playing football."
Williams called himself a "versatile" player and said coaches told him he would have a chance to earn a spot at safety or corner. He plans to be in Lincoln in January ready to compete.
Williams said he knows fellow Jacksonville native and recent Nebraska cornerback grad Chris Jones but otherwise will join his new team with faith in the coaching staff and hope for how he can contribute to a Big Red revival. But did he ever expect even a month ago that this is where he would play in 2018?
"Oh my, no," Williams laughed. "God works in mysterious ways. I never felt like I'd be playing in Nebraska. But I feel relieved, to be honest with you. I have my college. I don't have no more stress. I can't wait to be at Nebraska in a few weeks."
Nice that this kid will be here for Spring Ball. Hoping this team really takes shape in the Spring.
Donte Williams out the door and Deontai Williams in the door.
Love loading up on safeties. Back in the early 2000s, Miami would load up on safeties and convert some of them to linebacker and have speed all over the field. I would love if that was ultimately the goal defensively to get the ones that could put on weight and move them to LB as they get older.
Didn't Pelini also load up on safety/LB hybrids with his "peso" defense? Only to find out that didn't work too well against Wisconsin?
I like defensive speed, especially against spread offenses. But you're not going to beat the Badgers without a lot of big boys up front.
I like defensive speed, especially against spread offenses. But you're not going to beat the Badgers without a lot of big boys up front.
No matter what, in the B1G, you have to be able to stop the run.
Pelini's peso worked great in a passing league and would probably still work great in both the PAC12 and Big12.
Like who?
His true peso recruit was Dejon Gomes and he played in the B12. All other DB recruits after our B1G announcement, I don't recall any that were peso types.
Thank goodness we’re back hitting the JUCO ranks. Love this pickup.
No. Pelini's issues against Wisconsin and other running teams had next to nothing to do with too much speed and not enough size. In fact, I think he made a big mistake trying to be just like everyone else in the Big 10. To me the issues were:
1) A huge athletic downgrade. When we moved to the Big 10 all the talk was about how our defensive speed, and overall team athleticism, would be too much for the conference. But we immediately tried to matchup with the rest of the league. We went from a defense featuring Gomes, Haag and David on the middle line, to one with Compton, Whaley and Fisher. David was still there in 2011, when we won the division, but after that, not alot of athleticism, especially at LB.
2) Two gap and two high. We were determined to keep two safties high to prevent big plays. The only way to do that is to play two-gap up front. This asked alot of a front that wasn't very talented (especially after Crick's injury in 2011, until basically today) and teams like Wisconsin could consistently grind it out. By keeping two safties high, we also struggled big-time with the QB run game, as we are all painfully aware.
3) Complex defense asking too much of the safties. In Pelini's defense the safties were asked to fly up and support the run on sweeps and counters and to play over the top on pass plays. Teams like Wisconsin, we able to pair jet sweep and counter looks with double moves and go routes on the outside, putting our safties in no-man's land. Which led to poor angles and record numbers for backs like Bell and Gordon.
Compton is no Levonte, but he is having a good NFL career. But #1 is definitely on point. Compare the following defensive depth charts
Depth Chart Big XII title game, 2010 - http://www.huskers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=204785759
- Pros include Crick, Levonte, Will, Hagg, Prince, Gomes, Dennard.
Depth chart B1G title game, 2012 - http://www.huskers.com/pdf8/1005791.pdf
- Pros include Will, Emart, SJB (as a backup) and Stafford
Depth Chart 2016 Bowl Game - https://www.huskermax.com/games/2016/files/13depth.html
Gerry still listed on the DC, only guy who caught on in the NFL (I think)
My Xs and Os are pretty rudimentary, so I can't really weigh in on 2 and 3. My question would be how will Chin's D be different? Will it allow our existing talent to play a little freer and faster?
Exactly, the games where we got blown out were mostly scheming issues where we didn't have smart enough players to run the schemes, the schemes were poorly taught, poorly designed, etc. It was not because our players were too small and got ran over by Wisconsin like the other poster suggested.
Come on man. There’s a serious talent gap from OSU, PSU. If you’re just talking Wis - if they had a QB they’d beat us by 30. I still can’t figure out why they can’t recruit a QB or WR for that matter.
One third of our current recruits are 5.5 guys. The lowest 3* recruit. We need athletes. I get we don’t have the luxury and never will like others, but dang. Safety’s weight 167 don’t excite me. I get they might pan out in their 4th or 5th year. I see us winning the West every 4 or 5 years.
Look at my posted he was responding to. The athletic downgrade was #1. We lost guys like Suh, David, Dennard, Prince, Haag, etc and replaced them with guys who had much less ability. But the schematic issues were real too. Combine both and you see blowouts to teams with much more talent like OSU and even teams without superior talent like Wisconsin. We didn’t lose to those teams because we were too small.
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