I haven’t heard any hype on the kid. He does look like a kid that can play OG or OT, could compete and provide depth. Same with the Williams kid. I think they both make us better/deeper, but we really could have used a plug and play stud.
Better or worse
- Thread starter konaki
- Start date
I haven’t heard any hype on the kid. He does look like a kid that can play OG or OT, could compete and provide depth. Same with the Williams kid. I think they both make us better/deeper, but we really could have used a plug and play stud.
While I agree with your assessment until our OL isn’t manhandled in every game it will be difficult to get a winning season. Hopefully Raiola is the answer.
No, it takes the right coaching and players willing to do the right things to push a program in the right direction starting on day one. Nowhere did I say we were going to play in any championship but I do believe with the improvement in our coaching staff we will see a winning season starting this year. By the way there's a reason Frost was forced to take a cut in pay and have his contract restructured. Frost knows he has to let his assistants do their job in order for him to keep his and the new staff assembled is definitely an upgrade and knows how to coach.
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I don't think they were manhandled. Sure, some guys get beat some of the time. The bigger issue is what are they being asked to do and is that the appropriate way to block? I think Raiola will show a marked difference in aggressiveness and technique. He's played at a high level and he's been around high level o-line coaching. We don't need to complicate this. They want to get out and brawl. Turn em loose.
Get so tired of the posts on here crying that we don't have talent. We have decent talent. Utilize it.
Agree to disagree. An OL that has guys grading out in the forties and fifties is either getting manhandled or something else is going on. If the talent is there as you opine then Raiola should have them performing at a much higher level. Here’s hoping he can get it done.
the tackles are the big one.
Corcoran somehow earned a season-long pass blocking grade of zero from PFF? like, how is that possible?
The change in mentality will make a huge difference. Austin was just a **** coach, I'm much more confident in Raiola even if he doesn't have a lot of experience.
I was just going off what the sunshine pumpers have been pushing the last four years…
Thanks for posting, those that defended the job that Austin was doing really need to look at the grades our OL got once the season was done we were one of the worst in college football. I know we had a young OL but even youngsters can perform with solid coaching, I'm glad we have a new man in charge it's time to charge up the troops Donovan.
Again agreeing with you. I think we get to a bowl game simply with the ease of the schedule. I think the staff and players are an upgrade but not a wow type of upgrade, LSU and Texas are our 2 big contributors at this point. LSU fired their coach and Texas would have fired theirs also had it not been for him being in year 1. So it’s not like we are raiding bama and Georgia.
I also think an offense upgrade will expose how bad the defense was. Would have liked to seen a couple defense coaches replaced. Also not sure promoting an analyst who is already on the team does anything other than raise payroll. Kind of a lazy way to fill a position of need in my opinion.
If you ignore usage, Ezra Miller is by far our best returning lineman. It's not even debatably close and there is almost zero possibility he isn't starting at left tackle opening day.
If usage matters then Nouili is our best lineman. He's the only guaranteed starting interior lineman.
Aside from those two; We have to replace two guys in Jergens and Sichterman who were better than anyone else on the roster. While our two returning starting tackles, Corcoran and Benhart are two of the worst players at their position in the entire country not just in the P5, but all of D1. Corcoran had a grade of 0 from pff as a pass blocker. That's atrocious.
Those two guys are responsible for 99 of the 159 pressures by the OL nebraska gave up last year. So the OL not named Corcoran and Benhart gave up a combined 60 pressures. Those two gave up 99. (when you add in the 5 pressures not attributed to the OL Nebraska gave up 164 pressures last year. Not good but not the worst either. )
They also gave up 11 of the 29 sacks and had 12 of the 37 offrensive penalties..
They were also our two most decorated and highly recruited linemen.If Raiola can fix those two guys things will be looking a lot better everywhere.
Imo.
LT. LG. C. RG. RT
Miller Niuili Hixon Piper Prochazka/Anthony/Benhart/Corcoran
Will probably be the starting lineup to open this spring. RT will be a battle though as will most backup spots.
Though I would probably move Piper to start at center and let Hixon, Bando and Williams fight for Right Guard.
If they start there and we have no major injuries to our top guys ie. Miller, Piper and Niuili. We should be better than last year. How much better depends on injuries, development at center and how the battle for RT goes.
If Raiola gets center sorted out and can just get a few of those tackles who have been terribly underachieving to actually play like their recruiting profile says they are capable they could actually be really, really good.
If usage matters then Nouili is our best lineman. He's the only guaranteed starting interior lineman.
Aside from those two; We have to replace two guys in Jergens and Sichterman who were better than anyone else on the roster. While our two returning starting tackles, Corcoran and Benhart are two of the worst players at their position in the entire country not just in the P5, but all of D1. Corcoran had a grade of 0 from pff as a pass blocker. That's atrocious.
Those two guys are responsible for 99 of the 159 pressures by the OL nebraska gave up last year. So the OL not named Corcoran and Benhart gave up a combined 60 pressures. Those two gave up 99. (when you add in the 5 pressures not attributed to the OL Nebraska gave up 164 pressures last year. Not good but not the worst either. )
They also gave up 11 of the 29 sacks and had 12 of the 37 offrensive penalties..
They were also our two most decorated and highly recruited linemen.If Raiola can fix those two guys things will be looking a lot better everywhere.
Imo.
LT. LG. C. RG. RT
Miller Niuili Hixon Piper Prochazka/Anthony/Benhart/Corcoran
Will probably be the starting lineup to open this spring. RT will be a battle though as will most backup spots.
Though I would probably move Piper to start at center and let Hixon, Bando and Williams fight for Right Guard.
If they start there and we have no major injuries to our top guys ie. Miller, Piper and Niuili. We should be better than last year. How much better depends on injuries, development at center and how the battle for RT goes.
If Raiola gets center sorted out and can just get a few of those tackles who have been terribly underachieving to actually play like their recruiting profile says they are capable they could actually be really, really good.
I wouldn't call any of them great right now so I am speaking in comparison to the other guys on the roster and not nessisarily in terms of college football as a whole but yes. Piper is the 2nd best returning guard and probably lineman period on the roster behind Nouili. He's a better pass blocker than a run stopper though and needs a little more power andconsistencywithhis pad level. He was a little rough at times but I love his footwork and I definitely see him starting and it looks like he will stay at RG. Expecially Considering it seems like the staff really likes the Anthony kid from OSU and look to possibly moving Corcoran to center. Which probably is best for him.
I got the impression early on Frost wanted to promote the walkons and would see 20 plus a year. I see dramatically less this year. Things have changed looking for instant success with the transfer portal. Frost knows he doesn't have multiple years to develop players. Attrition will happen more after spring and fall camp. All Frost has to say is they will not travel or dress for games and players with pride don't want to be where not welcomed. Most walkons you don't expect to take the field. You hope their work ethic in practice pushes the regular players. Rudy is the big example of a walkon that motivated others.
Please Rudy is Hollywood fantasy that would have been much better served by highlighting someone who actually dealt with hardship and actually achieved real success instead of having to make up most of that entire movie. Nebraska had dozens of Rudy's but unlike Notre Dame also had guys like John Parella, Jeff Mackovicka. Adam Treu and my personal favorite, Jared Tomich. Guys who were not only walkons but all Americans and NFL players. And that's just a few I could think of. There are many many more with much better and actually real stories than Rudy.
Here's a list of the real walkon legends https://sites.google.com/site/nebraskafootballhistory/all-time-walk-on-team
According to Joe Montana who was the Notre Dame QB when Rudy was there, The biggest moment of Ruettiger's life was just a joke to the rest of the team. Montana claims the three players carried “Rudy” off the field sarcastically, not in celebration. The jersey scene was fabricated, the chanting never happened, and the ending wasn't even accurate. The only accurate thing about the entire movie besides his name and the team was that he did make the sack. - in a game that Notre Dame was winning 24-3 with 30 seconds left.
Please Rudy is Hollywood fantasy that would have been much better served by highlighting someone who actually dealt with hardship and actually achieved real success instead of having to make up most of that entire movie. Nebraska had dozens of Rudy's but unlike Notre Dame also had guys like John Parella, Jeff Mackovicka. Adam Treu and my personal favorite, Jared Tomich. Guys who were not only walkons but all Americans and NFL players. And that's just a few I could think of. There are many many more with much better and actually real stories than Rudy.
Here's a list of the real walkon legends https://sites.google.com/site/nebraskafootballhistory/all-time-walk-on-team
According to Joe Montana who was the Notre Dame QB when Rudy was there, The biggest moment of Ruettiger's life was just a joke to the rest of the team. Montana claims the three players carried “Rudy” off the field sarcastically, not in celebration. The jersey scene was fabricated, the chanting never happened, and the ending wasn't even accurate. The only accurate thing about the entire movie besides his name and the team was that he did make the sack. - in a game that Notre Dame was winning 24-3 with 30 seconds left.
Hollywood always takes liberties with movies about true life otherwise these movies would be boring as hell. I liked what they did with the movie Rudy it was entertaining for a sports movie. If I remember correctly Ruettiger once came to Nebraska to give a motivational speech to our players in the nineties. Not trying to take away anything from your post it was a good read.
After reading this, I feel like we may be in for a long season….again
Not only was our line awful, we lost Toure who made most of our big plays last year. And we lost pretty much all of our best defensive players. Frankly if we win 8 games or more I’ll be impressed