Unfortunately Frost won't do any of the above except some #4, #5, hopefully he can sell #6.
10 Changes We Need To Make Before Spring Ball
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Unfortunately Frost won't do any of the above except some #4, #5, hopefully he can sell #6.
We've signed the top player from the state every year under frost. Henrich, Betts, and Teddy P. Throw in Fidone from CB too.
If you give him credit for Mills, Mo Washington, and Greg Bell, he has done a tremendous job at getting the talent here. Of course 2/3 are not here anymore and the other guys he has brought in have not flashed yet. But they are all young. We'll see what he can cook up for next season.
I'm happy with the way Devine developed. I'm happy with the way Mills developed. I'm happy with the young RBs we have on the roster. Damn man. We've got better depth at RB than we've had in years. We just have to get them healthy. Scott is a stud. Morrison is going to be a stud IMO. Thompkins I'm not going to count on because of his injury history bit IF he can play, he was one of the top RB recruits in the country. The kid we just signed is regarded by some people as the steal of our that class even more so than Fidone. Washington while worth taking a risk on, kind of screwed up our RB room for a year or so.
Has Lukes big brother committed any where? He went into the portal after he didn't win the job at Michigan.
I really like your optimism, I do. But 12-20 is the REALITY to me and change isn't going to happen until this staff changes a lot of things. Mills having 2 good games his senior year DOES not constitute "developed" to me. It's not all his fault, there's a lot of variables (play calling, injuries, etc.) but never in my life have I seen a lack of running threat from Nebraska like I've seen in 2019 and 2020. The stat numbers don't lie.
Saban runs a professional and intense coaching staff. Frost runs a buddy system and an entitled charity
Hitching the wagon to a QB who’s regressing before our eyes is likely to give us our 6th losing season in 7 years and Frost 4 losing seasons in a row. Pause on that.
I’m not even saying Martinez “can’t”, but not bringing in either a sure thing or just another competitor puts your team’s fate on the thin ice saying Martinez “will.”
He’ll likely have a much better and stable WR room, which will help.
Defense could be a question while establishing enough depth with new players at DB/LB.
Special teams has been an inexcusable liability, and whatever needs to happen there simply needs to happen.
I’m not even saying Martinez “can’t”, but not bringing in either a sure thing or just another competitor puts your team’s fate on the thin ice saying Martinez “will.”
He’ll likely have a much better and stable WR room, which will help.
Defense could be a question while establishing enough depth with new players at DB/LB.
Special teams has been an inexcusable liability, and whatever needs to happen there simply needs to happen.
1 and 2. I have also heard that Smothers is not a good passer. But tying to #2, we could do a lot with AM. Remember that Turner Gill rarely ever threw over 20 passes, but he was effective because we had such a good running game that let Gill be creative. If we let our RBs run, with some high percentage passes to Wan'Dale, AM will have more wide open receivers downfield. However, that won't solve problems with fumbles and the fact that we don't have a good stable of RBs. We also need to keep in mind that we played a depleted and beat up Rutgers defense who were on a short week.
3. Out with buddies. Time to run a business, not a club.
4. Since 17 of 18 of them were honored at senior day, I'm guessing almost all but Culp will move on with their lives.
5. Outside of Fidone, I don't see this class making much of an impact for several years.
6. You mean Devon Jackson? Yes, Jackson and Woods are a must, at least getting one of the two early.
7. Absolutely!
8. Also, figure out why our kickers get hurt so often. This isn't normal.
9. This is a must. I'd put my hopes on Martin and Brown, and maybe convince Luke to become a runner.
10. Yes.
11. Media. Interacting with the media is part of your generous compensation package - deal with it. Stop with the body language that shows you would rather be getting a root canal than answering questions. They are lobbing you criminally egregious softballs anyway, so what is the big deal? Stop complaining in the media about issues you perceive as "them against us" (clapping, TV timeouts, officiating, scheduling, etc.) And for gosh sakes, please stop telling us we are about to turn the corner and last weeks practice was wonderful before it drives me to jump off a bridge.
Exactly. He might win us a game or two but he will cost us some games too. The notion that he’s the best we got going forward does not give me much hope for improvement.
While his numbers are a lot better, he’s improved on taking what the defense gives him. Any time he’s forced to make a great play with his arm he messes up.
My 10 ways to improve this team. These are not in order.
1) Maybe they should pare down the variable passing routes and utilize more plays with set routes. This will help get the QB and WR's on the same page. It will allow talent to get on the field faster. Only use 3 routes or three combinations and instruct our QB's to run if the 3 routes are covered.
2) Give up the play calling to Lubick.
3) Improve game time management
4) Improve special teams by allocating more time for it.
5) Fix the penalties & turnovers
6) Utilize more power plays. Helps with clock control, red zone scoring, fits midwestern recruiting. Helps you get in more 3rd&short situations which helps 3rd down conversions.
7) Don't gamble as much. Be smart! This goes back to number 3. Clock&field management!!!
8) Execution, execution execution. Instead of correcting mistakes in the film room. Do it on the field until they get it right. I say lessen film time studies and do more on the field practice to get it right.
9) Are they running enough stations to improved depth? Don't want anyone standing around.
10) Better recruiting by getting players that will stick around and not bolt right away.
1) Maybe they should pare down the variable passing routes and utilize more plays with set routes. This will help get the QB and WR's on the same page. It will allow talent to get on the field faster. Only use 3 routes or three combinations and instruct our QB's to run if the 3 routes are covered.
2) Give up the play calling to Lubick.
3) Improve game time management
4) Improve special teams by allocating more time for it.
5) Fix the penalties & turnovers
6) Utilize more power plays. Helps with clock control, red zone scoring, fits midwestern recruiting. Helps you get in more 3rd&short situations which helps 3rd down conversions.
7) Don't gamble as much. Be smart! This goes back to number 3. Clock&field management!!!
8) Execution, execution execution. Instead of correcting mistakes in the film room. Do it on the field until they get it right. I say lessen film time studies and do more on the field practice to get it right.
9) Are they running enough stations to improved depth? Don't want anyone standing around.
10) Better recruiting by getting players that will stick around and not bolt right away.
What happened to the days of “we gotta back up the Brinks truck for Held! He’s gonna get a HC offer”
. Now the same folks say “Fire him!” This board is glorious.
. Now the same folks say “Fire him!” This board is glorious.Per 24/7 interview with big brother on December 7th, Dylan is graduating from Michigan first (this term I suspect), than will enter the Portal. He simply opted out of the 2020 season previously. IMO, he won’t consider the Huskers unless Luke has decided to move to WR for the remainder of his career here. Certainly likely he plays for dad at N. Colorado too.
Martinez has some pretty damn good stats. Unfortunately he has a buttload of turnovers. He will be the starter again next year, but he has to figure out how to hold onto the ball!
I think we need to bring in a transfer qb that can at least bring depth and competition to the qb spot. I'd like to see what all of our qb's, including Martinez, can do with better coaching.
1. So Lubick, who actually has the best resume on the staff, should be fired after getting no Spring Practice with his position unit, having never recruited any of those guys, and being forced to roll the dice with Kade Warner and Levi Falck? Omar flaked out. Fleming literally didn't want to practice or even be here. Oliver Martin wasn't ruled eligible until week 5. Betts, the most talent wideout, actually did show strong development. Lubick then signs the most physically prepared group of WRs to come to Nebraska in years. Which is something that has earned him the WR recruiter of the year in the past, per Rivals. And yet, you still want to fire that dude?
2. Ryan Held is a great RB recruiter? He's signed 4 HS running backs and none of them have done anything outside of Maurice Washington, who played less total games than days served in jail. He signed 2 JUCO running backs. One lasted 3 games. The other ran for basically 1100 yards and 13 TDs in parts of 2 seasons. Held has never coordinated an offense outside of the NAIA or Juco, but you think he would be an upgrade from a coach who coordinated two championship teams in the Pac 12? Got it.
- I think Stille, Honas, and Bootle are coming back. Levi Falck will return on offense.
- I disagree about the signing class. Grimes and Hardy are physically prepared to play right away. And I also don't expect them to "flake out," like some recruits in the past as they are both high character dudes. Outside of injury, I think they both factor into the WR discussion right away. Lubick is a proven commodity as a WR recruiter. And while he technically wasn't a signee, but a transfer, Nebraska picked up a tremendous ringer in ILB Chris Kolarevic from Northern Iowa.
The other luxury about this recruiting class is they don't need to rely on the line of scrimmage players to come in and be instant contributors. That has been a problem at Nebraska for too long. Physical development is key at those spots.
- Kickers haven't really been getting hurt. Barrett Pickering got drunk while golfing and jacked up his quad on his kicking leg. Frost basically kicked him off the team at that point. The Australian Punter, Daniel Cerni, suffered a physical contact injury because you can take the Big Aussie out of Australian Rules football, but you can't take the game out of him. He will need to learn that he doesn't have to hit dudes in practice for fun.
- Alante needs a Spring Practice. Oliver Martin need a full off season and fall to build rapport and chemistry with the offense. Don't forget about Nixon as well. He will be a full contributor this spring. I think the WRs will look like the following next Fall:
Z - Betts, Hardy, Brown
X- Wandale, Nixon
Y - Falck, Martin, Grimes
The other luxury about this recruiting class is they don't need to rely on the line of scrimmage players to come in and be instant contributors. That has been a problem at Nebraska for too long. Physical development is key at those spots.
A very good post sir & well stated.
Held is a great coach and recruiter. I hope he sticks around for our sake, but he could easily get offered and walk away from this mess here.What happened to the days of “we gotta back up the Brinks truck for Held! He’s gonna get a HC offer”
Can’t do that in todays world. Im friends of the parents of a couple former Iowa players. They said that Iowa was basically a hybrid military/football type of program and a lot of what they did was deemed “racist” by many black athletes. You can’t do that in today’s world without enlisting in the military itself. You need to let kids “be themselves” apparently in today’s world. And you better be careful with rules as it better not conform to a certain group of people over another.
The jury is still out on Lubick. Not having spring practice was definitely a handicap for him. But there’s no denying that he was the coordinator of an offense that was pathetic for most of the year. I’ve got a feeling that he would be let go by most big time schools after that performance regardless of the fact that there was no spring practice. Your analysis of the running back situation is sad but true.
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The jury is only out on Lubick if you lack the ability to hold rational thought.
And if he was at a program like LSU and brought in to coach defense for an offensive minded coach, then yes, he would get canned.
But he is an offensive coach brought in to coordinate Scott Frost's offense. Frost called the plays. Frost made all the decisions.
All we gotta do is fire half our assistants every year according to this board.
A QB coach doesn't take bad QBs and make them great. Turner Fill didn't turn Scott Frost into Peyton Manning. They have gotten a 4* QB every cycle, I dunno who you're going to get to be better.
Likewise OL and RB. I'm not at all impressed with RB development under Held but he's widely known as an excellent recruiter. We have a bunch of freshman and soph RBs and then Mills who was hurt half the year.
Thompkins looks like a wasted scholarship to this point. It's noble to not quit on a kid who blows his knees but the ROI ain't there yet. Scott was ok. Sevion didn't play. There's a jillion walk ons at RB and yet we couldn't manage anything better than running Wan'dale into 310 lb DL. They need to start doing the obvious in the run game and stop overthinking it.
OL hasn't been good enough but hasn't been as bad as we suggest. The run game needs to be a point of focus and it hasn't been.
Above posters are correct, we pass too much. Until you have a TD-INT ratio that doesn't suck I'm not real interested in completion %.
A QB coach doesn't take bad QBs and make them great. Turner Fill didn't turn Scott Frost into Peyton Manning. They have gotten a 4* QB every cycle, I dunno who you're going to get to be better.
Likewise OL and RB. I'm not at all impressed with RB development under Held but he's widely known as an excellent recruiter. We have a bunch of freshman and soph RBs and then Mills who was hurt half the year.
Thompkins looks like a wasted scholarship to this point. It's noble to not quit on a kid who blows his knees but the ROI ain't there yet. Scott was ok. Sevion didn't play. There's a jillion walk ons at RB and yet we couldn't manage anything better than running Wan'dale into 310 lb DL. They need to start doing the obvious in the run game and stop overthinking it.
OL hasn't been good enough but hasn't been as bad as we suggest. The run game needs to be a point of focus and it hasn't been.
Above posters are correct, we pass too much. Until you have a TD-INT ratio that doesn't suck I'm not real interested in completion %.
Devine. yes. Mills when he can stay healthy yes. Washington was a stud until he lost his mind. Scott looks great. We need to stabilize the room and keep guys healthy. I think we're on our way to doing that. Held took over a room that returned Devine and that was it. Zero quality depth. That's why we too a JUCO. That's why the scramble to find backs. That's why we took so many guys last year. I think we're done scrambling there and this last addition to the room appears to confirm that.
I think the play of our RBs when healthy AND when they have someplace to run TO, has been pretty damned good. IMO, Held is one of our best recruiters AND coaches. He took a guy in Devine from nothing to getting signed by the NFL. Might have done the same for Mills. Very good coach IMO. Tremendous recruiter.
Special Teams: What are we trying to do here? Not sure with the athletes that I see on that team why we can't cover kicks, but maybe put some starters on there? I watched a few teams this weekend that had starters on that side of the ball. Same thing goes for returns and the punt team.
Offense - I'd say commit to the zone-read game with Smothers or Luke or go find a passer in the portal. We are not playing to our strengths with the personnel we have. I actually think our WR's would look a lot better either way. Re-watching a lot of games right now and we've got dudes open all over the place, but our QB's can't find them in this offense.
Defense - Elite Pass Rusher - I think this is the biggest thing missing from our D. Our secondary plays alright when they aren't having to guard for 10 seconds. Our DL held up fine and our LB's looked better. We had a lot of 3rd and longs that got picked up just for the fact we couldn't get home. I think our D is getting better and if we can get pressure on the QB it will progress that much more.
Strength & Conditioning - I think Duval needs to look in the mirror and start changing the way we do things. We need to become explosive and not just dudes that can throw around a bunch of weight. There is a reason Alabama went and got the strength coach from Indiana. He has a good philosophy and it doesn't revolve around squatting 1000 pounds. Everything is very functional, no maxing and creating speed and explosiveness. As much as Duval is pumped up I think he is behind the times in the S&C world. I think we do some good things, but some small tweaks would go a long ways. Part of the reason Oregon, Alabama and others are good is just the flat out speed they possess. We've got some dudes that came in fast and need to up that speed.
Offense - I'd say commit to the zone-read game with Smothers or Luke or go find a passer in the portal. We are not playing to our strengths with the personnel we have. I actually think our WR's would look a lot better either way. Re-watching a lot of games right now and we've got dudes open all over the place, but our QB's can't find them in this offense.
Defense - Elite Pass Rusher - I think this is the biggest thing missing from our D. Our secondary plays alright when they aren't having to guard for 10 seconds. Our DL held up fine and our LB's looked better. We had a lot of 3rd and longs that got picked up just for the fact we couldn't get home. I think our D is getting better and if we can get pressure on the QB it will progress that much more.
Strength & Conditioning - I think Duval needs to look in the mirror and start changing the way we do things. We need to become explosive and not just dudes that can throw around a bunch of weight. There is a reason Alabama went and got the strength coach from Indiana. He has a good philosophy and it doesn't revolve around squatting 1000 pounds. Everything is very functional, no maxing and creating speed and explosiveness. As much as Duval is pumped up I think he is behind the times in the S&C world. I think we do some good things, but some small tweaks would go a long ways. Part of the reason Oregon, Alabama and others are good is just the flat out speed they possess. We've got some dudes that came in fast and need to up that speed.
Great, the dude was a bank teller because no one else was stupid enough to hire him.
Lubbick didn't have his position group ready to play to start the year. There's no excuse for that. Route running, blocking, and even just lining up properly were horrible for much of the year. A guy with that much experience shouldn't have had the problems he did.