Team Speed
- Thread starter HominidHusker
- Start date
I think on paper we are faster, but that also has to translate to the field. I feel like we've been a bust in this area a little bit. There is hope with the younger guys, but still waiting to see it. At UCF, his guys were visibly faster than even some power schools, but that isn't the case at NU. Right now I'd actually argue we aren't as fast as a lot of teams. Still a long way to go.
I’m anxious to really see the speed show itself and come to fruition in a way that’s “noticeable on the field,” like you said.
Defense is where we’ve seemed too slow for too long. That’s also where I think we might see the biggest jump with some of our options we’ve recruited.... at least I hope. Some of that speed though is still young and inexperienced, needing to prove they can get the job done as well or better than more experienced players.
Agreed on the D. They seem to be stuck in second gear. Part of playing fast is knowing the D, but some of it is we just lack speed. Greene is a hell of an upgrade in this department, but we need to definitely get better. It'll be nice when we get a D that can fly around a little bit and make up for things with their speed. Offense is getting better, but I still want to see it on the field. I think it is being addressed, but our S&C might need a few tweaks to make these kids faster.
We are slow as far as team speed goes. There are individuals who are speedy or quick, maybe even both. But as a team, we are slow. That may be the #1 reason the team has won 13 games in three seasons.
More notably, Nebraska has been slow at LB and safety, especially after Deontai Williams went down game one.
Greene, Mauga, and Heinrich can all really run. The same can be said for the young secondary. But they all need time.
If you wear white cleets you are 6.9420% faster primarily due the placebo affect. This was proven in a double blind study at Stanford, ever heard of it?
Thanks!
Dr. BDN Hood, PhD, JD, MBA
Hot Take Specialist
Thanks!
Dr. BDN Hood, PhD, JD, MBA
Hot Take Specialist
IMO, when a team truly has “team speed”, it shows itself in the front 7. Nebraska has a ways to go here...at least with the guys who seem slated to be on the field as of now.
With the increase in able body's, there's a good chance we can actually run plays quickly in addition to having faster players
They have the speed guys on offense. They are just all young. This year we should see a huge influx of speed. Guys like Nance and Houston RS last year. While Mo Washington left team and Wandale being hurt really hurt our team. This year should be much different. With Wandale,Nance and Houston all a go this year added to the 5 guys we have in the incoming class. Added to Rahmir Johnson and incoming Morrison and Scott speed on offense should see a HUGE jump.
On defense I'm not so sure. Our LBs should be faster with the influx of RS Heinrich and Hannah. As well as incoming Greene and Muyta (JC LB). Now how much the play who knows. At OLB not sure what we will do. Hopefully Dawson coaches up Tannor and JoJo and the JC guy and Nelson can be a factor. I love Butler but true frosh OLB are hard to count on.
Secondary should be fine and hopefully a strength. Speed wise I'd guess it's pretty average in the BIG though it I'm being honest.
Defensive line worries me. Gotta lot of bodies but not much production. Counting on JCs as well RS Robinson Stille and Thomas to take huge step up.
As a whole we will have much better speed.than n the past couple years BUT the majority of that will be on offense.
Holla
Frost has darn near turned the roster completely over now.. and he has recruited speed first, second, and third in importance from what I can tell. I think Frost recruits speed to a fault. There is no way the team can be considered slow by any stretch of the imagination.
The reason the team has only won 13 games in the first two years is because his system relies heavily on the QB. He has stated many times how it is the single most important position in his entire scheme, and how the QB does, dictates how the rest of it goes. You can draw whatever conclusions from that as you like, but speed is not the reason for losing games, and it won't be the reason for winning games either.
Defensively i would consider us slow. Offensively not so much THIS year. But think about last years offense AFTER Mo left....and Wandale got hurt.
We were definitely not a fast team last year. At least not on the field.
Holla
I tend to fall along this line of thinking. However, I also believe that recruiting and winning in the AAC is a little easier than the Big Ten. What wins there, may or not win here week in and week out. The QB play is important, but if I put Martinez at Memphis under Norvell or UCF under Heupel, he looks much different than he did at Nebraska the last two years. That isn't a shot at Frost, that is a shot at the AAC.
I think this is a very salient point. I also think the point made about the loss of Maurice and how that hurts the RB's was very good. I also think they overloaded Martinez last year and he was more indecisive than he was as a freshmen. I think that should be better this year. Plus you may see more of McCaffrey which raises the bar. So offensively - Yes! We should be faster.
Defensively - I think our DB's are average in speed. We have a few fast guys in Noa, Bootle and Washington but overall our DB's seemed to be better defined as length and physicalness.
ILB's - I think we will be faster. Honas and Miller are probably average but Reimers,Heinrich,Green and Clements are an upgrade in speed. Honas and Miller may be more decisive due to experience which would also help.
OLB's - IMO Kind of a mess. Would like to see either Wright or Farmer become a dog OLB. Our cover OLB's outside of Domann,Otte are who? I think they have to switch to nickel or dime if Domann isn't in. Our rush LB's are adequate but on whole not fast?
Front 3 - The new front is slower than last year. I do think Stille, Thomas, Rogers, Newsome, Payne have some speed. The question is are they strong enough. Roll in bigger guys like Robinson, Riley, Daniels and Green to help hold the fort but you sacrifice some of that quickness. So it will be a combination of folks and the key is to push the right combinations at the right times. Personally I think we will get good DL play this year even though we may be a touch slower and less experienced to start. I think we have good blend of depth(options) and talent along with some experience.
Offensive speed = slow last year. Adrian last year? Slow. Mills? Average at best. Noa? Slow. Spielman? Average. Stoll? Average at best. Wandale? Fast.
This offense will look vastly different if one of the speedy wide receivers pan out. A speedster alongside wandale and/or manning and betts would look much different and probably result in much different play calling.
This offense will look vastly different if one of the speedy wide receivers pan out. A speedster alongside wandale and/or manning and betts would look much different and probably result in much different play calling.
I would agree with that. Not sure why we seem to have issues. I do think it probably comes down to conference. AAC top level speed needed to beat opponents vs BIG10 speed needed are a big difference. The speed needed at UCF to beat other AAC teams will leave you equal or behind what we face most weeks in the BIG10. Would be interesting to see and compare the average 40 speeds from Frosts 2 UCF teams to Frost last 2 Neb teams.
Agree what hurt us last year was no team respected our WRs to beat them deep or if they could they didn't respect Martinez to be able to hit them. So basically they played to stop the run and short passes 100% of the time. If we can get a couple wr that can make plays deep this will make teams respect it and will loosen up the run Ds.
With great speed comes the need for great timing. NU didn't have the latter in 2019.
We've beaten the snap issue to death, but that adds a tick or two on the QB side before he's able to set and throw. Timing blown.
Martinez being hurt led to serious accuracy issues, and that takes your swing/flare/screen game and throws it right in the garbage. Ball being behind or high or low, timing blown.
It surprised me that they didn't compensate by running more jet sweep action to stretch the defense laterally without having to make a 20 yard touch pass out to the sidelines. I kinda thought that was most of the point of the Duck-R position. Maybe they felt they couldn't block it.
And if you dig into that, JD was trying to basically be a #1 WR which is not his type, couldn't slide him to the slot/Duck role with Warner out and other injury issues at WR. Wan'dale had to get moved to RB because of the injury situation there.
Everywhere you look on the offensive side of the ball in 2019 one problem led to another.
We've beaten the snap issue to death, but that adds a tick or two on the QB side before he's able to set and throw. Timing blown.
Martinez being hurt led to serious accuracy issues, and that takes your swing/flare/screen game and throws it right in the garbage. Ball being behind or high or low, timing blown.
It surprised me that they didn't compensate by running more jet sweep action to stretch the defense laterally without having to make a 20 yard touch pass out to the sidelines. I kinda thought that was most of the point of the Duck-R position. Maybe they felt they couldn't block it.
And if you dig into that, JD was trying to basically be a #1 WR which is not his type, couldn't slide him to the slot/Duck role with Warner out and other injury issues at WR. Wan'dale had to get moved to RB because of the injury situation there.
Everywhere you look on the offensive side of the ball in 2019 one problem led to another.
It’s been said, but I think speed combined with knowing assignments at LB will be one of the defining factors for the season. We should have both in isolation, but need them to show up combined on the field.
Beyond “speed” specifically:
QB/WR chemistry and RB depth will be next (imagine a Mills injury). The offense needs to start scoring points.
TE needs to be used more.
Vokolek is a big fella and I’m looking forward to seeing how he can block the edge for us. I’m not a Stoll hater, but he seemed to get beat too often setting the edge.
DL is intriguing- there’s some options there to piece it together. Can’t say I’m confident about the group yet, but hopeful.
Beyond “speed” specifically:
QB/WR chemistry and RB depth will be next (imagine a Mills injury). The offense needs to start scoring points.
TE needs to be used more.
Vokolek is a big fella and I’m looking forward to seeing how he can block the edge for us. I’m not a Stoll hater, but he seemed to get beat too often setting the edge.
DL is intriguing- there’s some options there to piece it together. Can’t say I’m confident about the group yet, but hopeful.
I think we will start seeing the overall team speed improving the next year or 2. We haven’t even started year 3 yet and Frost first REAL class just redshirted and will be RS Freshmen. We will see it soon enough, believe that.
Wandale is quick, but is he fast? I remember him getting run down last year with at least a 5 yard head start. I know he had some injuries, so maybe not 100 percent?
Not to mention he was putting a juke move on a defender a head of him. That helped the other guy catch him. He’s a 4.4 guy, I BELIEVE. But his real skill set is the stops and his and being up to full speed in a blink of an eye.
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Ran a 4.22 at the Best of the Midwest combine. I'm guessing a consistent 4.38 to 4.41 when healthy.
This is what’s intriguing. To see how Frost has recruited and watching the guys come of age in the system with some time to develop. A lot of attrition has happened but hopefully it tapers as the culture is a little more stable.