2 spots left...

[HominidHusker]

what’s gonna happen?

Assumptions are a QB and...
... maybe a best available?

Easy to make a case for a few positions we need, and it might depend whether we can bring a grad transfer type or a younger transfer.

A QB at this point seems more likely to be a younger, under the radar type with time left to develop, just to add to the future competition.

I can’t disagree more with how Frost has handled the QB spot (at least publicly) since season end, but this is where we seem to be at.

Maybe we’ll get lucky with a more proven option to genuinely push the 2021 competition, but I’m not seeing that right now.

 

[JaySker402]

Probably wait until after spring ball. Juco is playing this spring as well

 

[HominidHusker]

Probably wait until after spring ball. Juco is playing this spring as well

Agreed, I think it’s not real likely they take anyone before then unless there’s someone they’re real interested in.
However, I could see filling one spot before spring and then one after.

 

[Lorax64]

Didnt Nebraska bring in a bunch of walk-ons? I’d imagine one of two of those kids could earn it

 

[Harry Caray]

Didnt Nebraska bring in a bunch of walk-ons? I’d imagine one of two of those kids could earn it

I believe Frost promised Ty Hahn a scholarship if he walked-on his first year...so he will probably go on scholarship for 2021.

 

[headcard]

Didnt Nebraska bring in a bunch of walk-ons? I’d imagine one of two of those kids could earn it

Im sure some will get put on scholarship when the dust from attrition settles, but that should not impact the two we have left for this class.

 

[Husker Hambone]

More transfers after spring ball...

 

[zamzman]

I'm sure the coaches are disappointed with missing out on Dickerson, but I bet they're thrilled to have 2 open slots remaining for transfers (from 4 year schools and JUCOs both). That can provide immediate help for next season, and everyone expects there to be a LOT of action on the transfer portal after the spring semesters wrap up across the country. And yes, I'm sure a QB is one of the spots they'll look at as well as OLB, although finding quality at either of those positions will be hard.

 

[headcard]

Could also see slot WR and OG as positions to upgrade through the portal/JUCO.

 

[dinglefritz]

I'm sure the coaches are disappointed with missing out on Dickerson, but I bet they're thrilled to have 2 open slots remaining for transfers (from 4 year schools and JUCOs both). That can provide immediate help for next season, and everyone expects there to be a LOT of action on the transfer portal after the spring semesters wrap up across the country. And yes, I'm sure a QB is one of the spots they'll look at as well as OLB, although finding quality at either of those positions will be hard.

IMO, a transfer QB and edge rusher would be much more needed than a fast CB who didn't seem to like to hit a ball carrier. JMO. I have to think that we're still making it known that we're open to taking a QB and an OLB.

 

[Reditus]

I think one of the scholarships should go to a DB. My reasoning...

15 is the optimum number at DB and we have 13. (not counting Wright) 2 of those are extra season seniors, I think Cam Taylor Britt will leave after 2021 as he will have played 4 seasons and most likely will have his degree. I think he thought about going this year. Anyway, that leaves you with 10 DB's. 11 if you count Wright as a safety vs as a OLB. That's too thin. If we do nothing we will need to bring in 4-5 DB's in 2021 which makes for logjams. I'd rather reduce that number to 3-4 and insure that we have adequate depth for this year. I would also like to keep Wright at OLB. Losing Gray,Francois and Delancey hurt our numbers.

 

[zamzman]

I think one of the scholarships should go to a DB. My reasoning...

15 is the optimum number at DB and we have 13. (not counting Wright) 2 of those are extra season seniors, I think Cam Taylor Britt will leave after 2021 as he will have played 4 seasons and most likely will have his degree. I think he thought about going this year. Anyway, that leaves you with 10 DB's. 11 if you count Wright as a safety vs as a OLB. That's too thin. If we do nothing we will need to bring in 4-5 DB's in 2021 which makes for logjams. I'd rather reduce that number to 3-4 and insure that we have adequate depth for this year. I would also like to keep Wright at OLB. Losing Gray,Francois and Delancey hurt our numbers.

It's hard to tell what our roster will be like until after spring and we have our own defections. But right now, a DB might be good. If we have some unexpected (to me at least) defections after spring ball our needs may be much different. I bet right now they're tracking a number of players at all different positions from JUCOs and even possibly 4 year schools (without tampering ...).

 

[dinglefritz]

I think one of the scholarships should go to a DB. My reasoning...

15 is the optimum number at DB and we have 13. (not counting Wright) 2 of those are extra season seniors, I think Cam Taylor Britt will leave after 2021 as he will have played 4 seasons and most likely will have his degree. I think he thought about going this year. Anyway, that leaves you with 10 DB's. 11 if you count Wright as a safety vs as a OLB. That's too thin. If we do nothing we will need to bring in 4-5 DB's in 2021 which makes for logjams. I'd rather reduce that number to 3-4 and insure that we have adequate depth for this year. I would also like to keep Wright at OLB. Losing Gray,Francois and Delancey hurt our numbers.

I hadn't realized that we were that low on DB numbers. That said, with JUCOs and many FCS teams playing in the spring, I think there's a good chance that there will be some quality guys coming available this summer. Frost has said all along that he wanted to hold a scholarship or two for late transfers so maybe he was thinking more DB than OLB.

 

[Reditus]

It's hard to tell what our roster will be like until after spring and we have our own defections.

True. Rosters are very fluid anymore. Heck, just look at the roster movement we had at the beginning/during the 2020 season!

 

[stucknks]

what’s gonna happen?

Assumptions are a QB and...
... maybe a best available?

Easy to make a case for a few positions we need, and it might depend whether we can bring a grad transfer type or a younger transfer.

A QB at this point seems more likely to be a younger, under the radar type with time left to develop, just to add to the future competition.

I can’t disagree more with how Frost has handled the QB spot (at least publicly) since season end, but this is where we seem to be at.

Maybe we’ll get lucky with a more proven option to genuinely push the 2021 competition, but I’m not seeing that right now.

Is having 2 spots available a good or bad sign?

 

[JabroniBlvd]

OG and CB are two spots I would be looking at

 

[Reditus]

How about center? When was the last time Nebraska recruited a true center? W. farniok?

 

[headcard]

OG and CB are two spots I would be looking at

I agree. Also a slot WR and a pass rusher. I know there are only two spots left. Just get the most impactful available.

 

[John_J_Rambo]

2 QBs please

We currently have (maybe) 1 on the roster (smothers) who’s worthwhile

 

[TheBeav815]

They badly need to take a QB

 

[Reditus]

I like to put recruiting classes back to back and check for future deficiencies from a numbers perspective. The list below is not a depth chart and doesn't address immediate concerns. It's basically all of our rsFR and Fr. This is more about recruiting this year vs immediately filling spots so it's a little bit off topic but it could apply if they are satisfied with what they have after spring ball.

Sooo....Offensively we are well stocked at WR,TE and RB. QB and OL are fine except I do think we should recruit at least 2 interior OL guys that could play center/guard in this upcoming class. It seems like we have 6 tackles and 4 guards of which maybe 1 (Piper) could play center? So they need to get that covered. (I am not including Nouili or Miller as they are not on schollies yet).

Offense:
WR Betts,Houston,Neville
Nance,Nixon,Hickman
Brown,Grimes,Hardy
TE Fidone,Carnie,Rollins
RB RJ,Scott,Morrison,Ervin,Thompkins
QB Smothers,Haarberg
OL Corcoran,Teddy
Banks,Fritche
Benhart,Yager
Piper,Conn
Henry,Lynn


On defense at db's we have 7 guys for 4 spots and we should have at least 2 guys at every spot so DB has to be addressed. All other positions we are at 2 guys or more. So numbers-wise DB is short 1 for this recruiting period and the prior one. (They are also short as far as immediate depth.)

Defense:
DB Gates,Gifford
Farmer,Bretz
Lynum,Buford
Williams
OLB Gunnerson,Butler
Henrich,Wright,Kpai
ILB Snodgrass,Gbayor
Hannah,Malcolm,Houli
DL Robinson,Graham,Buckley
Hutmacker,Black
Newsome,Weaver

So all in all, not too terrible. DB is the only obvious flag and the specialty OL spot - Center also pops up as a question for me.

 

[bingo65]

I like to put recruiting classes back to back and check for future deficiencies from a numbers perspective. The list below is not a depth chart and doesn't address immediate concerns. It's basically all of our rsFR and Fr. This is more about recruiting this year vs immediately filling spots so it's a little bit off topic but it could apply if they are satisfied with what they have after spring ball.

Sooo....Offensively we are well stocked at WR,TE and RB. QB and OL are fine except I do think we should recruit at least 2 interior OL guys that could play center/guard in this upcoming class. It seems like we have 6 tackles and 4 guards of which maybe 1 (Piper) could play center? So they need to get that covered. (I am not including Nouili or Miller as they are not on schollies yet).

Offense:
WR Betts,Houston,Neville
Nance,Nixon,Hickman
Brown,Grimes,Hardy
TE Fidone,Carnie,Rollins
RB RJ,Scott,Morrison,Ervin,Thompkins
QB Smothers,Haarberg
OL Corcoran,Teddy
Banks,Fritche
Benhart,Yager
Piper,Conn
Henry,Lynn


On defense at db's we have 7 guys for 4 spots and we should have at least 2 guys at every spot so DB has to be addressed. All other positions we are at 2 guys or more. So numbers-wise DB is short 1 for this recruiting period and the prior one. (They are also short as far as immediate depth.)

Defense:
DB Gates,Gifford
Farmer,Bretz
Lynum,Buford
Williams
OLB Gunnerson,Butler
Henrich,Wright,Kpai
ILB Snodgrass,Gbayor
Hannah,Malcolm,Houli
DL Robinson,Graham,Buckley
Hutmacker,Black
Newsome,Weaver

So all in all, not too terrible. DB is the only obvious flag and the specialty OL spot - Center also pops up as a question for me.

didn't realize how many young WRs are on the roster. all i've heard is how many have left. Wow 9 WRs in the freshman/soph classes? a couple of those guys are going to be sorely disappointed that they signed on with that many other WRs in the same class. 9 WRs are not all going to get to play. In his zest for numbers it looks like Frost likely over recruited that position along with the OL at least in terms of individual class sizes. when you throw that many kids into just 1-2 classes it will lead to transfers. wont hurt NEB much because they will have the benefit of keeping the ones who rise above the rest but it sucks for the kids who probably should have done somewhere with a better odds of playing time. it will sort itself out

 

[Mack In Motion]

Have to have a QB as one of the two. One that could start next season.

 

[Reditus]

Is having 2 spots available a good or bad sign?

IMO you could look at this different ways.

The fact that they are going to wait until after spring ball to fill them could be a sign that they are happy with the young talent that they have but they want to see how they perform. So that would be a good sign.

You could also take a view that they fizzled on filling out the class.

I guess you could even say it's not good or bad but that pocketing 2 spots gives you some future flexibility in case a game changer or 2 comes along. Never know.

You could also go through spring practice and if a walk-on looks like he will win a starting spot then you can reward them. That keeps the walkon program breathing. Nouli,Falke and Martin are guys that could possibly win starting jobs and I think are on the 2 deep. Hahn has been mentioned a couple times as having something promised to him. I think if we have attrition after spring ball. Miller and Liewer are other walkons that might get consideration.

 

[zamzman]

You could also go through spring practice and if a walk-on looks like he will win a starting spot then you can reward them. That keeps the walkon program breathing. Nouli,Falke and Martin are guys that could possibly win starting jobs and I think are on the 2 deep. Hahn has been mentioned a couple times as having something promised to him. I think if we have attrition after spring ball. Miller and Liewer are other walkons that might get consideration.

I don't believe any walk-on scholarships rewarded will count against the 25 yearly scholarship. They would count against the 85+covid numbers allowed for next years class, and I think there'll be spots available. I imagine some of the players you mentioned will get scholarships.
The 2 scholarship spots will probably go to transfers.

 

[phoenix4nu]

Have to have a QB as one of the two. One that could start next season.

You're dreaming, lol.

 

[kerpal_68]

He originally signed with Oregon and I'm guessing Frost was recruiting him out of high school.

 

[stucknks]

IMO you could look at this different ways.

The fact that they are going to wait until after spring ball to fill them could be a sign that they are happy with the young talent that they have but they want to see how they perform. So that would be a good sign.

You could also take a view that they fizzled on filling out the class.

I guess you could even say it's not good or bad but that pocketing 2 spots gives you some future flexibility in case a game changer or 2 comes along. Never know.

You could also go through spring practice and if a walk-on looks like he will win a starting spot then you can reward them. That keeps the walkon program breathing. Nouli,Falke and Martin are guys that could possibly win starting jobs and I think are on the 2 deep. Hahn has been mentioned a couple times as having something promised to him. I think if we have attrition after spring ball. Miller and Liewer are other walkons that might get consideration.

I just think we couldn't fill the spots w great talent so we held off

 

[headcard]

View embedded media

He originally signed with Oregon and I'm guessing Frost was recruiting him out of high school.

Verbaled to Nebraska.
Frost flipped him to Oregon
Left Oregon for a JUCO (GCCC)
Went to Kentucky.
Now back in the portal

Won some games as the starting QB at Kentucky, but had very average stats.

 

[HominidHusker]

Verbaled to Nebraska.
Frost flipped him to Oregon
Left Oregon for a JUCO (GCCC)
Went to Kentucky.
Now back in the portal

Won some games as the starting QB at Kentucky, but had very average stats.

Wilson with limited eligibility left may not be able to unseat AM, so not sure we’d be very appealing. At the same time, how many options will Wilson have?
If there’s no one better we can land, I certainly wouldn’t mind taking him to boost the competition and depth.
I heard recent rumor there was mutual interest.

 

[headcard]

Wilson with limited eligibility left may not be able to unseat AM, so not sure we’d be very appealing. At the same time, how many options will Wilson have?
If there’s no one better we can land, I certainly wouldn’t mind taking him to boost the competition and depth.
I heard recent rumor there was mutual interest.

I’ve heard it to. Wouldn’t be my preference.

 

[Oldie but goodie]

Have to have a QB as one of the two. One that could start next season.

I think there could be issues with a QB not arriving till summer if he is expected to compete next year.

 

[John_J_Rambo]

Wilson with limited eligibility left may not be able to unseat AM, so not sure we’d be very appealing. At the same time, how many options will Wilson have?
If there’s no one better we can land, I certainly wouldn’t mind taking him to boost the competition and depth.
I heard recent rumor there was mutual interest.

a tough guy who plays with heart >>>>>>>>> what we have now

all things being equal (neither can pass)

 

[HominidHusker]

2 QBs please

We currently have (maybe) 1 on the roster (smothers) who’s worthwhile

QB is so important, and we’re struggling, so I would not oppose taking 3 QBs in our next class.

I’m not opposed to using our final 2 this year on QB’s as long as they are legitimate options to at minimum push the competition.

We need to load up until we find an answer. Gambling on 1-2 players panning out is not working.

 

[HominidHusker]

a tough guy who plays with heart >>>>>>>>> what we have now

all things being equal (neither can pass)

I’m definitely not claiming Wilson is any upgrade, but if it’s Wilson or zero QB, I take Wilson as a short term gap for competition/depth.

My hope is if we’d take Wilson, we’d also discover that Smothers is ready to be #1 over AM and TW.

I’m pissed that the “optics” are we didn’t fight hard for a transfer when there were a few legit options out there. Hope we can land an upgrade post-spring, but they’ll be behind by not being here for spring ball.... as oft-discussed, it looks like AM can get comfortable being the incumbent.

 

[John_J_Rambo]

I’m definitely not claiming Wilson is any upgrade, but if it’s Wilson or zero QB, I take Wilson as a short term gap for competition/depth.

My hope is if we’d take Wilson, we’d also discover that Smothers is ready to be #1 over AM and TW.

I’m pissed that the “optics” are we didn’t fight hard for a transfer when there were a few legit options out there. Hope we can land an upgrade post-spring, but they’ll be behind by not being here for spring ball.... as oft-discussed, it looks like AM can get comfortable being the incumbent.

I am claiming any warm body is an upgrade over the losingest QB in Husker (& very well could be all of college football) history

AM is essentially the anti-Tim Tebow (loses constantly, no leadership, no anything from a personality standpoint, deer-in-headlights), except the passing also sucks with AM.

 

[dinglefritz]

didn't realize how many young WRs are on the roster. all i've heard is how many have left. Wow 9 WRs in the freshman/soph classes? a couple of those guys are going to be sorely disappointed that they signed on with that many other WRs in the same class. 9 WRs are not all going to get to play. In his zest for numbers it looks like Frost likely over recruited that position along with the OL at least in terms of individual class sizes. when you throw that many kids into just 1-2 classes it will lead to transfers. wont hurt NEB much because they will have the benefit of keeping the ones who rise above the rest but it sucks for the kids who probably should have done somewhere with a better odds of playing time. it will sort itself out

With the offense and the number of WRs that Frost plays, 9 is not too many scholarship guys to have on the roster. He often has 3 WRs on the field at the same time. A couple of those nine back in the Osborne days would have been considered wingbacks and basically Frost uses some of his WRS like Tom used his wingbacks. We played a bunch of WRs this past season. It's the same with any position. If you want to play you need to win your spot.

 

[dinglefritz]

I’m definitely not claiming Wilson is any upgrade, but if it’s Wilson or zero QB, I take Wilson as a short term gap for competition/depth.

My hope is if we’d take Wilson, we’d also discover that Smothers is ready to be #1 over AM and TW.

I’m pissed that the “optics” are we didn’t fight hard for a transfer when there were a few legit options out there. Hope we can land an upgrade post-spring, but they’ll be behind by not being here for spring ball.... as oft-discussed, it looks like AM can get comfortable being the incumbent.

You're assuming that Wilson would have wanted to come to NU to sit behind Adrian. That said, frankly I would rather roll with Masker who has been in Frost's offense for 3 years than a crappy passer like Wilson.

 

[HominidHusker]

You're assuming that Wilson would have wanted to come to NU to sit behind Adrian. That said, frankly I would rather roll with Masker who has been in Frost's offense for 3 years than a crappy passer like Wilson.

Yeah I think the only way Wilson comes is if he has no other better options. Better = better chance at being a clear starter. There may not be many of those out there for him.
He’d have at least a reasonable chance to outperform Adrian, but I wouldn’t count on it.
He’d have to come willing to accept backup duty.

I’m dreaming for Smothers to emerge, surpassing the pretty low bar we’ve set at QB. Time to move into the future and raise that standard.