Jailen Weaver question

Jamsand88

Sophomore
Jan 14, 2004
847
177
43
Haven’t heard or read much about him.. looks like he’s been in 1 game in his Husker career?
6’-8” at 320lb.. big fella! Hopefully he’s had some good development this spring!
 

zamzman

Junior
Jul 1, 2004
2,638
213
0
In the spring game, he looked pretty awful to me. He stands out because of his size. Got knocked backwards almost every play I watched, and it wasn't a double-team. Our backups on OL were killing him. A few plays it looked like he was barely even trying. If there was development, I didn't spot it.
Best case is that with a man that big, it may take him a while to grow into a player. I think he still has potential. Not sure though if he'll ever realize it. I too had hope he'd be ready to play. Heard good things about his athleticism. I just don't see him as a contributor for a long time if ever.
 

PCastro

Redshirt
Jul 20, 2019
1,299
1
0
Haven’t heard or read much about him.. looks like he’s been in 1 game in his Husker career?
6’-8” at 320lb.. big fella! Hopefully he’s had some good development this spring!
I have never seen a DL stand up straight so fast- It was really odd leverage approach
 

oldjar07

All-Conference
Oct 25, 2009
9,465
2,006
113
In the spring game, he looked pretty awful to me. He stands out because of his size. Got knocked backwards almost every play I watched, and it wasn't a double-team. Our backups on OL were killing him. A few plays it looked like he was barely even trying. If there was development, I didn't spot it.
Best case is that with a man that big, it may take him a while to grow into a player. I think he still has potential. Not sure though if he'll ever realize it. I too had hope he'd be ready to play. Heard good things about his athleticism. I just don't see him as a contributor for a long time if ever.
I noticed the same thing. He played really slow. Not sure if that's effort, not developed yet, or just not any good. He has a long ways to go if he ever sees the field.
 

HUSKERFAN66

All-Conference
Dec 8, 2004
21,223
3,567
113
In the spring game, he looked pretty awful to me. He stands out because of his size. Got knocked backwards almost every play I watched, and it wasn't a double-team. Our backups on OL were killing him. A few plays it looked like he was barely even trying. If there was development, I didn't spot it.
Best case is that with a man that big, it may take him a while to grow into a player. I think he still has potential. Not sure though if he'll ever realize it. I too had hope he'd be ready to play. Heard good things about his athleticism. I just don't see him as a contributor for a long time if ever.
Pretty much echo this. At times he looked like he got a little push but for the most part the OL was able to get under him and stand him up. Understandable with that height
 

Reditus

Redshirt
Jun 20, 2019
865
4
0
I thought the first 2 plays he did well, but then it looked like he ran out of gas on the 3rd play and started standing up. I think it's like a Damon Daniels situation. They need to get his weight down and tune up the condition and like you all have pointed out he will need to work on maintaining leverage. Hopefully, the light bulb turns on because I think he has talent, just too out of shape. Probably take a couple of years yet.
 

oldjar07

All-Conference
Oct 25, 2009
9,465
2,006
113
I thought the first 2 plays he did well, but then it looked like he ran out of gas on the 3rd play and started standing up. I think it's like a Damon Daniels situation. They need to get his weight down and tune up the condition and like you all have pointed out he will need to work on maintaining leverage. Hopefully, the light bulb turns on because I think he has talent, just too out of shape. Probably take a couple of years yet.
I don't see Damion Daniels at all to be honest. Daniels came in right away and showed he could handle DI speed from a capability standpoint, though he did tire quickly. If the spring game performance is all we have to go by, I'd say Weaver doesn't belong at the DI level.
 

IrvingFryarFan

All-Conference
Sep 20, 2020
1,217
2,418
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probably a reason a 6'8 320lb HS kid from SoCal is willing to come to a 3 win program. He's not that talented of a FB player.
 

Rhule Szn

All-American
Nov 22, 2020
5,865
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It's not hard to see from the limited amount of snaps we've seen from Jailen that he isn't close to playing meaningful snaps for us. As pretty much everyone in this thread has said. Here's my take...as much as we need help, do you hope the light bulb turns on for the young man, or do you encourage him to hit the portal? As much as I hope he develops for us, my guess is that if we weren't low numbers at the position, he would likely be entering the portal.
 

inWV

All-Conference
Sep 22, 2007
14,188
4,837
91
It's not hard to see from the limited amount of snaps we've seen from Jailen that he isn't close to playing meaningful snaps for us. As pretty much everyone in this thread has said. Here's my take...as much as we need help, do you hope the light bulb turns on for the young man, or do you encourage him to hit the portal? As much as I hope he develops for us, my guess is that if we weren't low numbers at the position, he would likely be entering the portal.
He's a second year player who I suspect was brought in to become a massive DE in a 3-4 alignment. He hasn't even had a chance to see what he can become.
 

Rhule Szn

All-American
Nov 22, 2020
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He's a second year player who I suspect was brought in to become a massive DE in a 3-4 alignment. He hasn't even had a chance to see what he can become.
Respectfully, I don't know if I agree that he hasn't had a chance. That being said, we all hope he utilizes his opportunities. If nothing changes numbers wise, he's going to need to be counted on for snaps. As others in this thread have said, he looks ok for a few snaps, then he is standing straight up and is easily beaten.

We have to land some quality DL in the portal. Mathis is a must get. I know it's going to be tough there to pull him away from Texas, but the one thing I do like is this staff keeps lining up portal prospects. They aren't giving up even if they don't get Mathis.
 

HominidHusker

Senior
Jun 25, 2018
3,727
743
0
He's a second year player who I suspect was brought in to become a massive DE in a 3-4 alignment. He hasn't even had a chance to see what he can become.
Agreed. If you’re having raw athletic talent busts in year one, then your evaluation and recruiting really is awful.
While it’s a fast moving game nowadays, we still need to have patience to let some kids develop, especially in the trenches where you ideally don’t want to see any underclassmen playing major roles.
 

Rhule Szn

All-American
Nov 22, 2020
5,865
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I sure hope not
 

Anegada1

Redshirt
Dec 2, 2019
826
22
18
C
In the spring game, he looked pretty awful to me. He stands out because of his size. Got knocked backwards almost every play I watched, and it wasn't a double-team. Our backups on OL were killing him. A few plays it looked like he was barely even trying. If there was development, I didn't spot it.
Best case is that with a man that big, it may take him a while to grow into a player. I think he still has potential. Not sure though if he'll ever realize it. I too had hope he'd be ready to play. Heard good things about his athleticism. I just don't see him as a contributor for a long time if ever.
Couldn't agree more. When he came out I thought " Holy Sh1+ , he's a monster " . Then he proceeded to show nothing ...
 

BugsAreQualityProtein

All-Conference
Sep 14, 2021
2,582
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I’m not sure getting Mathis is a must get. I think a must get is two or three more reliable bodies on DL. Mathis alone will not fix DL problems.
 

Kakdawg

Heisman
Sep 8, 2004
35,387
15,528
113
In the spring game, he looked pretty awful to me. He stands out because of his size. Got knocked backwards almost every play I watched, and it wasn't a double-team. Our backups on OL were killing him. A few plays it looked like he was barely even trying. If there was development, I didn't spot it.
Best case is that with a man that big, it may take him a while to grow into a player. I think he still has potential. Not sure though if he'll ever realize it. I too had hope he'd be ready to play. Heard good things about his athleticism. I just don't see him as a contributor for a long time if ever.


Watching his HS film to how he has looked since he's been here is night and day. If you didn't know any better you wouldn't even recognize him. He's gotten way to big and is basically ineffective.

Him at 6'8 265 is athletic, quick and fast. Him at 370+ is just a big body who likely won't ever play any meaningful snaps at Nebraska.



Holla
 

inWV

All-Conference
Sep 22, 2007
14,188
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Watching his HS film to how he has looked since he's been here is night and day. If you didn't know any better you wouldn't even recognize him. He's gotten way to big and is basically ineffective.

Him at 6'8 265 is athletic, quick and fast. Him at 370+ is just a big body who likely won't ever play any meaningful snaps at Nebraska.



Holla
Weaver is listed at 320 on NU's roster and on his HS Rivals page. I wonder if they took him as a big DE option for a 3 man alignment. I'm not going to draw conclusions on his worth from viewing a few snaps of a spring game, but the metric on recruits actually contributing is 50% or less, so he could easily be in the wrong half. They should try him out at OT.
 

Kakdawg

Heisman
Sep 8, 2004
35,387
15,528
113
Weaver is listed at 320 on NU's roster and on his HS Rivals page. I wonder if they took him as a big DE option for a 3 man alignment. I'm not going to draw conclusions on his worth from viewing a few snaps of a spring game, but the metric on recruits actually contributing is 50% or less, so he could easily be in the wrong half. They should try him out at OT.


I'd bet you dollars to donuts that guy who played in the spring game was closer to 400lbs than 300 lbs. If I'm going by what they have done with most of our DL they probably envisioned him at 300-310. With his long frame that may not be too much weight. He still would have to learn to play lower but that's something that can be coached into him.

That 5 tech in the 3-4 front is what those guys were recruited for. Guys like Ty as well.

Many thought he was an OL to begin with. Personally I liked his ability as a 3-4 DE. All of this contingent upon him developing properly and adding "GOOD" weight thru S&C. Unfortunately it seems that the guy guy arrived close to 400 pounds. Which was over a 120 pounds above what his listed playing weight was.

Potentially I'd guess he could play DE OR OT if properly conditioned and in shape. But currently I don't think it even matters where you put him at. He isn't gonna thrive until he gets himself in better shape. It's a shame to because we could really use a guy like him or the other DE out of Michigan in his class to step up this year.

But watching the spring game and looking at body shapes Weaver, Black, and Nash didn't look the best. Either way we gonna need some guys to step up somehow. Hopefully the portal is good to us.


Holla
 

inWV

All-Conference
Sep 22, 2007
14,188
4,837
91
I'd bet you dollars to donuts that guy who played in the spring game was closer to 400lbs than 300 lbs. If I'm going by what they have done with most of our DL they probably envisioned him at 300-310. With his long frame that may not be too much weight. He still would have to learn to play lower but that's something that can be coached into him.

That 5 tech in the 3-4 front is what those guys were recruited for. Guys like Ty as well.

Many thought he was an OL to begin with. Personally I liked his ability as a 3-4 DE. All of this contingent upon him developing properly and adding "GOOD" weight thru S&C. Unfortunately it seems that the guy guy arrived close to 400 pounds. Which was over a 120 pounds above what his listed playing weight was.

Potentially I'd guess he could play DE OR OT if properly conditioned and in shape. But currently I don't think it even matters where you put him at. He isn't gonna thrive until he gets himself in better shape. It's a shame to because we could really use a guy like him or the other DE out of Michigan in his class to step up this year.

But watching the spring game and looking at body shapes Weaver, Black, and Nash didn't look the best. Either way we gonna need some guys to step up somehow. Hopefully the portal is good to us.


Holla
I think Chins wasn’t able to get the depth of personnel to run a 3-4 consistently and a guy like Jojo gave them flexibility to be successful in a four man front. If you think about it, NU never had the talent to run a 3-4 from the day Riley fired Banker and announced the switch. Davis twins were 4-3 tackles. If they were to get Mathis and the DT from Tech, Chins would have the flexibility on the line to continue what he’s doing. But those young guys aren’t ready to play.
Had Riley not canned Banker, maybe that D plays well enough to save Riley’s job.
 

trooper141

Redshirt
Feb 3, 2017
2,123
7
0
Weaver is listed at 320 on NU's roster and on his HS Rivals page. I wonder if they took him as a big DE option for a 3 man alignment. I'm not going to draw conclusions on his worth from viewing a few snaps of a spring game, but the metric on recruits actually contributing is 50% or less, so he could easily be in the wrong half. They should try him out at OT.

I understand your logic here. But he has no footwork. Not athletic at his weight. Can’t play more than a series without being completely gassed.

Maybe if he could lose about 70 lbs ( he seems much heavier than listed)

I really hope we can get him in shape and he can be a valuable player on defense.
 
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Kakdawg

Heisman
Sep 8, 2004
35,387
15,528
113
I think Chins wasn’t able to get the depth of personnel to run a 3-4 consistently and a guy like Jojo gave them flexibility to be successful in a four man front. If you think about it, NU never had the talent to run a 3-4 from the day Riley fired Banker and announced the switch. Davis twins were 4-3 tackles. If they were to get Mathis and the DT from Tech, Chins would have the flexibility on the line to continue what he’s doing. But those young guys aren’t ready to play.
Had Riley not canned Banker, maybe that D plays well enough to save Riley’s job.

Will have to pay attention to how they will recruit this year going forward along the defensive front. I've always been more of a 4-3 guy for college. Just wonder about playing the 4-3 predominantly with a coach who has made his living as a 3-4 guy. I know guys flip and play both all the time. But most guys have a specialty which they are undoubtedly more versed and are better at.


Holla