I am excited about the upcoming Husker football season. Ironically, I'm not a big football fan otherwise, but I love the Huskers. So, to keep myself pacified, I've been on YouTube a lot, watching a lot of Huskers from the 80s and 90s.
I'd forgotten how often we attacked the middle offensively with traps and counterplays. We dominated the line of scrimmage. It's a lot of fun to watch our backs and quarterbacks light it up behind a pulled tackle and a fullback who eats linebackers for lunch. Then TO would reward the fullback and run a trap play. Very few defenses could stop us for very long.
Rozier and Green were unique backs. But Lawrence Phillips was at a different level than any back we've ever had. Had he not messed up, he was a shoo-in for the Heisman. He and Terrell Farley are perhaps the saddest stories in the history of Husker football. Phillips was strong, fast, and had great, if not elite, speed. He didn't hesitate to run over someone, including big defensive linemen. He also had incredible vision. I'd also forgotten how naturally Farley played his position and how he had such a strong instinct for the ball.
Another thing that stands out for me watching those teams is that they never doubted they would win. They never panicked or departed from the game plan. Was there any coach better than Osborne at making half-time adjustments? In some games, we struggled with what the defenses were doing in the first half, but almost always, those issues weren't a problem in the second half.
I'm hopeful. I understand that Frost hasn't had a lot of wins. I think that's about to change. I appreciate Frost's hard work to get our players to have the mentality with which he and his 90s teammates played. When I look back at last season and how we were in nearly every game up to the final whistle with some outstanding teams, I realize, or at least I think, that team was closer to that mentality than any team we've had since Solich got canned except for a few players here and there like Ameer Abdullah. Despite disappointment after disappointment, last year's team came out and often outperformed better teams. Sadly, they continued to kill themselves with costly mistakes. Last year I think the only team that beat us was us. Although I appreciate Martinez's athletic ability and talent, his decision-making killed us. He never seemed to overcome his instincts to try to make something happen that just wasn't there. Part of that could be on Verduzco.
I'm genuinely excited about some of the new additions we have to this ball team for this year, including new assistants who seem to know how to recruit and coach. Whipple, Joseph, Applewhite, and Bush stand out for me. They all seem to be no-nonsense guys with proven track records. I also like Raiola. He's got the same mentality as those players from the nineties.
I'm not certain who's going to emerge at quarterback. It seems to be Thompson's to lose. Purdy's going to be nipping at his heels, and I won't be one giving up on Smothers. We're in much better shape at running back and receiver. I don't believe there will be a significant drop-off at tight end if any.
Finally, I think our defense has been improving every year since Frost arrived, and I fully expect it to have a better term, for lack of a better term, Peter, Wistrom, Tomich, Foreman, Mike Brown, Ralph Brown, Minter attitude. I believe we're going to play hard and fast. I predict big things for Nelson and Mathis in particular. IMHO, they will be the best combo at outside linebacker since Tomich and Wistrom.
Bring it on!
I'd forgotten how often we attacked the middle offensively with traps and counterplays. We dominated the line of scrimmage. It's a lot of fun to watch our backs and quarterbacks light it up behind a pulled tackle and a fullback who eats linebackers for lunch. Then TO would reward the fullback and run a trap play. Very few defenses could stop us for very long.
Rozier and Green were unique backs. But Lawrence Phillips was at a different level than any back we've ever had. Had he not messed up, he was a shoo-in for the Heisman. He and Terrell Farley are perhaps the saddest stories in the history of Husker football. Phillips was strong, fast, and had great, if not elite, speed. He didn't hesitate to run over someone, including big defensive linemen. He also had incredible vision. I'd also forgotten how naturally Farley played his position and how he had such a strong instinct for the ball.
Another thing that stands out for me watching those teams is that they never doubted they would win. They never panicked or departed from the game plan. Was there any coach better than Osborne at making half-time adjustments? In some games, we struggled with what the defenses were doing in the first half, but almost always, those issues weren't a problem in the second half.
I'm hopeful. I understand that Frost hasn't had a lot of wins. I think that's about to change. I appreciate Frost's hard work to get our players to have the mentality with which he and his 90s teammates played. When I look back at last season and how we were in nearly every game up to the final whistle with some outstanding teams, I realize, or at least I think, that team was closer to that mentality than any team we've had since Solich got canned except for a few players here and there like Ameer Abdullah. Despite disappointment after disappointment, last year's team came out and often outperformed better teams. Sadly, they continued to kill themselves with costly mistakes. Last year I think the only team that beat us was us. Although I appreciate Martinez's athletic ability and talent, his decision-making killed us. He never seemed to overcome his instincts to try to make something happen that just wasn't there. Part of that could be on Verduzco.
I'm genuinely excited about some of the new additions we have to this ball team for this year, including new assistants who seem to know how to recruit and coach. Whipple, Joseph, Applewhite, and Bush stand out for me. They all seem to be no-nonsense guys with proven track records. I also like Raiola. He's got the same mentality as those players from the nineties.
I'm not certain who's going to emerge at quarterback. It seems to be Thompson's to lose. Purdy's going to be nipping at his heels, and I won't be one giving up on Smothers. We're in much better shape at running back and receiver. I don't believe there will be a significant drop-off at tight end if any.
Finally, I think our defense has been improving every year since Frost arrived, and I fully expect it to have a better term, for lack of a better term, Peter, Wistrom, Tomich, Foreman, Mike Brown, Ralph Brown, Minter attitude. I believe we're going to play hard and fast. I predict big things for Nelson and Mathis in particular. IMHO, they will be the best combo at outside linebacker since Tomich and Wistrom.
Bring it on!
