Losing Wandale hurts IMO. If we had him Toure, Betts, Manning, Martin - that is a solid WR group. The problem is we tried to force him the ball way too many times, but to be fair no one else was ready to be a good WR along with him last year. I see that changing for sure now.
Addition by subtraction
- Thread starter steinek11
- Start date
Sept 28, 2019- AM throws a nice deep ball to Wandale who unfortunately cannot catch it by a mere inch or two off the finger tips, and it somehow lands in the lap of a fallen OSU defender for an INT.
Someone like Toure catches that ball at the 1 yd line and that would have given us at least a chance to only lose 48-14 instead of 48-7.
In all seriousness, losing Wandale hurts, but we’ve set ourselves up nicely to move on without him.
Someone like Toure catches that ball at the 1 yd line and that would have given us at least a chance to only lose 48-14 instead of 48-7.
In all seriousness, losing Wandale hurts, but we’ve set ourselves up nicely to move on without him.
I think Wandale was hurt by being just about our only play maker.
I'd say he clearly showed he could hang in the big 10, but maybe he'll do better if he is relied upon as much.
I'd say he clearly showed he could hang in the big 10, but maybe he'll do better if he is relied upon as much.
Robinson and Luke came in with an attitude that they should lead as freshmen. Problem was neither had the talent that made the deserve to be leaders. If Frost and Held hadn't wiffed so badly on rb Robinson would of had a hard time seeing the field. Pathetic when one of your top two RB is 5'7 and 165 lbs.
Robinson wasn't going to be a running back in 2021, so yes he wouldn't have seen the field as a RB. Agree.
Talent has nothing to do with leadership. #38 is one of, if not the best leader Nebraska has, and that dude may only see time on special teams and mop up duty.
I never understood the butt hurt some of you all hold on to for people that decided Nebraska wasn't for them. It is rarely a good luck to them, I'll follow their career and hope they do well. It is almost always Fuch him and the horse he rode in on, he sucked anyway, he was a cancer........ The level of inferiority complex runs deep.
I agree, I just don't get the addition by subtraction comments when it comes to Wandale Robinson.
I am amazed at how much some people seem to know about the inner workings of the Husker program. What a joke.
Trash Wandale and Luke all you want, it just makes you look like spoiled, know it brats and that is being nice. Wandale was an incredible representative of the program on and off the field. He was put in incredibly difficult positions to carry so much of the offense. Look at the cast around him honestly and I don't know where the hate is coming from. Ridiculous
So were all of these dudes. Outside of Trey Lance and Samori Toure, they rest are just FCS football players or guys looking to enter the 9-5 rat race.
*QB – Case Cookus, senior, 6-4, 205, Northern Arizona; Trey Lance, freshman, 6-3, 221, North Dakota State; or Kevin Thomson, junior, 6-2, 200, Sacramento State
RB – Pete Guerriero, junior, 5-10, 190, Monmouth
RB – James Robinson, senior, 5-10, 220, Illinois State
WR – Juwan Green, senior, 6-0, 187, UAlbany
WR – Aaron Parker, senior, 6-3, 208, Rhode Island
WR – Samori Toure, junior, 6-3, 190, Montana
TE – Adam Trautman, senior, 6-6, 253, Dayton
OL – P.J. Burkhalter, junior, 6-3, 330, Nicholls
OL – Liam Fornadel, junior, 6-4, 308, James Madison
OL – Drew Himmelman, junior, 6-10, 315, Illinois State
OL – Kyle Murphy, senior, 6-4, 302, Rhode Island
OL – Dillon Radunz, junior, 6-6, 298, North Dakota State
I am not necessarily saying anything bad about Toure, he may well end up being an FBS All American, but the odds are he won't. Wandale Robinson was a Freshman All American, (just like Adrian Martinez.) and honorable mention All Big Ten as a sophomore. I hope Toure can match that in 2021.
Wandale is a fine player but unless he has the ball in his hands, he is a liability. Great quickness but no real top end speed. Small catch radius. Ineffective as a blocker and doesn’t seem to know how to avoid taking big hits which at his size means he’s dinged up a lot. Still not many guys his size can play the game at that level. Sproles and Woodhead are the only examples I can think of but I’m sure there are others.
If he was so great he would have hit Wandale in space where he can use his talents best. Just like how Amart got Spielman killed on a weekly basis. You guys and your reinvention of Amart. Like, if you say it enough, he starts sucking less?
We will be better offensively without him. Several other players will step up. He was put in an impossible situation. The guy has major heart, but his lack of size without elite speed are a big drawback. That's how I call it.
“Sure, he kidnapped me and locked me in a windowless room for three years, but he’s a really nice guy. And, he even let me try some steak during the first year!”
Stockholm syndrome is real, and AM apologists have it bad.
The problem was, due to Wandale being only 5'5", Frost had to specially design around 15 plays/game that were designed to get him the ball. Most of these plays were shorter distance plays. Almost none were game breaker plays. It's different than having, say, a Rob Gronkowski or a Randy Moss - those guys are going to almost get the ball by default. With a guy as small as Wandale, you have to go out of your way to set up plays where a guy that small can actually get the ball.
Looking back on it, I think the negatives kind of canceled out the positives. The biggest negative is that you had 2 years of Adrian NOT looking downfield in the passing game (because he was also doing dinks and dunks to Wandale). In 2018 Adrian threw downfield quite a bit to both Stanley and JD and the TEs on occasion. Adrian has almost lost this ability in last 2 yrs. Much of it bc we haven't had good receivers...but also because Frost had to burn these 15 'Wandale' plays a game and those are not traditional passing plays, they're dinks to the flat and 5-7 yd screens & misdirection stuff, etc.
I actually think by REMOVING this burden of having to call these 15 Wandale plays every game it will actually free Adrian up to be more of a downfield passer. Remember, the best Adrian has looked at Nebraska was actually the one year he DIDN'T have Wandale (2018). The 2 years he did have Wandale, he played poorly. I don't think that's a coincidence. Having Wandale was a blessing and a curse at the same time.
we tried down the field passes. in general, we couldn't get open. i do remember wandale wide open vs minnesota deep and AM missed him by 5 yards.
That is a circular argument. I could just say, Frost had to put those alleged 15 “wandale” plays in each game because there was no one else to throw the ball to. So he had to get the ball to the only playmaker he had on his roster.
I still don’t understand the vitriol toward Robinson. He didn’t call the plays, he didn’t recruit the receivers, and he didn’t recruit the RBs.
I can agree that NU didn't have any real playmakers on offense, so they spent way too much time and energy forcing the ball to the closest thing they had to a playmaker.
The logic that escapes me is this:
Man I'm glad THAT guy's gone - problem solved!
The logic that escapes me is this:
Man I'm glad THAT guy's gone - problem solved!
I will never forget Noa running free vs purdue in 2019, no defender within 20 yards, and AM airmailing him.
Would’ve won the game had he made that extraordinarily elementary throw.
It's a team game. The prettiest girl was getting all the attention at the ball. Ends up she was kind of short, didn't have a very good catch radius and not very fast. Some of the other girls matured over the school year. The pretty girl still had a nice personality, but she was not destined to be the homecoming queen for a third year in row. She ended up transferring to a school on the wrong side of the tracks
It’s The Ewing Theory, it’s decades old and there’s absolutely something to it.
Nobody harbors vitriol for Wan’dale. Kid has tons of heart.
Ewing Theory exists because there is a real possibility we could be better without him.
All the other stuff will never come from me. I truly appreciate what Wan’dale gave us week in/week out.
I've submitted several freedom of information requests to current and former players to gather data on height, 40 times and wingspan. I think the data will confirm my theories. Very confident in this
Well, just as an FYI, basic roster information of height and weight is public information. You don't need to waste your time with a FOIA request.
Insert sarcasm emoji here
I'm not mad about it. Frost also had to do it because the deep threats were guys like Kade Warner, etc. Not good.
My point is that the offense was better in 2018 without Wandale. It was simpler: hand off go Ozigbo, QB RPO, or throw it mid or deep to Stanley & JD. Adrian was more successful with the simplicity. My argument is that this is going to return now and Adrian is going to have more success in 2021.
Again, Adrian has been here 3 seasons. Wandale was here 2 seasons. Adrian's most successful year was the season WITHOUT Wandale!
That is not the same thing. The absence of Robinson is not why the offense was better in 2018. Stupid argument.
No. Amart will be better because we got rid of that easy to take down quitter. Everyone else gets it. Why don't you?
Not sure, I guess I am a slow learner.
Martinez was worse in 2019 because we had JD and Wandale, and even worse in 2020 because it was Wandale. Apparently it had nothing at all to do with losing Morgan, then not having Morgan, or a suitable replacement, and not having JD or a suitable replacement. It was the 15 plays per game designed for Wandale.
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Wandale was a gritty kid full of heart but lacked the ability to lay the wood on anyone. Watching him hit a defender was like watching someone running full blast into a wall. He appeared to be our top guy because there was nobody else. Had he stayed, imagine the film he might have had with the defense having to focus on more than just him.
Claims don't equal on the field performance. He clearly lacked top end speed with pads on. He's extremely quick and elusive but it didn't appear he had that extra gear. Some of that could have been the wear and tear of what we asked of him too.
We were a play or two away by our QB from winning a lot more games over the past 2 years IMO. Pretty simple. QB is the most important position on the field and Frost didn't have a feasible plan B after Gebbia transferred.
We crowning Toure already before he gets on the field? Of course, this happens every season with atleast one player on the team.
Let’s hope ole offensive genius actually utilizes him if he’s the next greatest.
Let’s hope ole offensive genius actually utilizes him if he’s the next greatest.
No matter who the players are, we need, in general, better coaching (I'm not talking personnel change), and particularly, much better play-calling.