Knaak is the #2 left guard. Next year shapes up to have third year players at tackle and center, with fourth and fifth year guys at guard. Gottula, Lutovsky and Evans all will have started multiple games. I’m sure they’ll kick some tires in the portal, but the guys who will start next year will have already been starters or have played in a number of games.
White plays a lot of guys and that solves depth issues year to year. A few years ago we struggled to field a competent Dline. Now the rotation includes 7 or 8 guys and there doesn’t seem to be a lot of drop off.
Simply possessing experience is a big difference
So is having a 5-star nephew QB.
Worth every penny
The kids coming in are more athletic and after another year of some game reps and the weight room, they’ll be ready to go.
Vision is a big deal. There are a lot of traits that benefit RBs, but vision and knowing what you can and cannot do well as a runner has got to be at the top of the list. Rahmir needs space. I've never seen a kid get bent back at the line of scrimmage like Rahmir does when someone meets him square at the point of attack. He's a nice backup. Dowdell needs a few steps to get going. He would be much better out of I formation with a fullback. Get Dowdell going sideways and he becomes a very average college RB. Easy to bring down, but if he gets to the edge and plants his foot it's a different story. He should use that stiff arm more often. Emmitt Johnson- tough, vision, great quickness/can make the first guy miss, with more experience he'll be excellent out of the backfield on pass routes. He's the best guy we have. I respect the coaches- obviously they know more than all of us. So there's something that we're missing. But Emmitt has emerged as our best option judging from what has happened on the field.
I think each RB brings something different to the table. Rhamir is really good in space with better straight out speed if he catches a pass in the flat. I did see him have some really tough runs in the 2 early games where he broke some tackles and had some YAC. EJ is just a nice combination of vision, wiggle and a little bit of power. I think the concern with him is that he's not the biggest guy so you probably don't want to pound him to the front seven 15 times per game. Dowdell on the other hand can take and deliver some blows. Some complain about not having a back that has it all but we've got a really nice mix of talent at RB maybe with EJ being the most complete back. When you look back to the glory years we often had that kind of blend of guys. It's been a long time where we had that big back who still had enough wiggle to make guys miss.
I think it is a good mix.
And the truth is Gabe Ervin is about as good as any of those guys. It's just not a good idea to rotate four backs. So there is some depth there. And there's a couple young kids behind them who may become pretty good players down the road.
Yess if we got serious and 500k of Nebraska fans donated $500 we'd be at NFL salary cap money. There is no limit to NIL right now. #ponyUP!
I'm not buying Gabe Ervin is just as good. I just haven't seen anything from him that equals RJ's pass catching out of the backfield, EJ's wiggle, or DD's thump. Some of it is that I haven't seen that much of him to judge him maybe.
Agreed. I said that he is about as good. I'm nitpicking here but I think he's a pretty good all around back. He's not that bad and the backs ahead of him aren't great, just pretty good. His thing has always been about staying healthy and it's hampered his development. It's also quite possible that the injuries have taken something away from him.
