Has Nick Gates and the OL regressed from last season?
- Thread starter WestCoastCornhusker2
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And...when does Cavanaugh clean out his locker too? It would appear he is now on the clock.
Maybe, just maybe, Riley was using his comments as a way to exert some motivation and sense of urgency to the team. I'm not saying we'll roll out All-Americans on the line, but I also don't think these guys are going to be crap. We might see once they get used to a QB who gets rid of the ball quickly that they get comfortable with the new system and also opens up run lanes.
"OL will suck again" has been the rally cry of Nebraska fans ever since the championship run died.
It doesn't add up. If you look at who those kids were recruited by (and in general, 'stars'), this should be (at a minimum) an average to above average OL. Something is wrong.........
Until it is proven with success on the field, they will continue the uphill battle with meeting the "standard" of Husker O-Line play. It seems in each of the scrimmage reports we see reports about the D-line getting the best of the O line. It isn't like we have a plethora of all Americans on our D-Line. It doesn't matter what kind of D we are running, D is D and we play against D's like this throughout the year and we need to block them all. It seems like they are still moving a couple people around to find the right pieces. Time will tell but the clock is clearly ticking and the pressure is on. Riley doesn't need to call anyone out - these coaches know when the job is not getting done and what the result of that is.
Just my 2 cents but Cav has not delivered as advertised. If the kids have all this talent and we are an average OL then it has to be coaching. Either that or the OL isn't as talented as many say.
Well, that simply covers all bases and would be the most important fact to really understand. When you've had an average offensive line, it is either the talent or the coaching or some combination of both.
I'm simply not a) an expert on offensive line technique nor am I b) around in practice to see or understand how Coach Cav coaches them. I do, however, trust Riley to understand these things and he had the opportunity to let Cav go when he already cut two coaches last off-season, so he must have some trust in the job being done. This team did have some decent success in the first 2/3 of the season then whether it was injury or something else, it did appear to be a different line down the stretch. Let's see if they can stay engaged throughout the whole season this year.
I am of the opinion that we as fans compare what we see to what we think we should see when judge success.
Example, if The average fan goes to a baseball game and their teams best hitter goes 0 for 3 but lines out to SS 2 times and gets robbed of a double by a diving catch, he had a bad game. But the light hitting 2Bman goes 1 for 3 with 2 Ks and with a swinging bunt single to drive in the winning run, then he was good today. Our expectation was that the best hitter would get hits and the 2B would not and even though the best hitter had much better swings he didn't meet what our expectation was going in.
I believe similar thinking goes into the OLine. We expected the OLine to be a certain level, that they haven't reached but that doesn't necessarily mean they were terrible just not as good as we expected. The same with defense, we expected the defense to struggle because the defense was new, we have all these new coaches, lost starters etc. But because the defense is out performing expectations doesn't mean they are playing awesome.
Example, if The average fan goes to a baseball game and their teams best hitter goes 0 for 3 but lines out to SS 2 times and gets robbed of a double by a diving catch, he had a bad game. But the light hitting 2Bman goes 1 for 3 with 2 Ks and with a swinging bunt single to drive in the winning run, then he was good today. Our expectation was that the best hitter would get hits and the 2B would not and even though the best hitter had much better swings he didn't meet what our expectation was going in.
I believe similar thinking goes into the OLine. We expected the OLine to be a certain level, that they haven't reached but that doesn't necessarily mean they were terrible just not as good as we expected. The same with defense, we expected the defense to struggle because the defense was new, we have all these new coaches, lost starters etc. But because the defense is out performing expectations doesn't mean they are playing awesome.
We were very average and played a bunch of crappy teams early and then went 1-4 down the stretch against any team with an actual pulse. The offensive line was average to poor all year.
Injuries and starting multiple walkons had a bunch to do with that. Gates playing hurt was an obvious weak spot. Our center play was horrible last year (again) as it has been for multiple years. It all starts on the O line with your center and we have to be better there. We pulled up a sophomore walkon Conrad to play tackle last year when he wasn't even on the radar because the only option other than a true freshman. Pelini's staff failed miserably for a couple of years on their offensive line recruiting and it bit us in the butt last year. IMO we'll be better this year barring multiple injuries again.
Cav hasn't been a poor recruiter, but from a development standpoint his unit has not been trending up at all. Starting 3 out of 5 walk-ons last season really does not help matters. We had next to no depth and I have a gut feeling that if Riley and Langs could have started Raridon and even Farniok and Michael Decker, they would have but couldn't burn their redshirts because they just needed that developmental year. I would also second the notion of saying we had a poor center in Utter.
It's obviously not good for Riley to be thinking that, though.
If you ask me, I'm just as concerned about Reggie Davis as Coach Cav.
It's obviously not good for Riley to be thinking that, though.
If you ask me, I'm just as concerned about Reggie Davis as Coach Cav.
If that were the case wouldn't Raridon, Farniok and Decker be clearly 1st string this spring?
If I were to criticize Cav for anything it would be that he seems to value playing experience too much. You won't convince me that Decker couldn't have done what Utter did last year, but Decker lacked experience so Utter gotbthe nod.
No more excuses for Cav please. His entire career @ NU has been an excuse of why he hasn't had a good unit yet. No mas. The guy is on the hot seat.
But In my mind, he has a clean slate for this year. I'm going into the year hoping he turns it around. But if he doesn't prove himself this year, he never will and then time to say bye bye.
No more excuses of needing to play walk-ons. If a walk-on beats out a scholarship players it's either a) the walk-on is very good & was over looked in HS or b) scholarship players haven't been developed & thats coaching as fault. You don't get a ton of time with kids in college to develope them. 5 years. Cavs in year 3. Can't wait until a kids a RS Senior until he develops. But again, let's hope it turns around this seasonx
But In my mind, he has a clean slate for this year. I'm going into the year hoping he turns it around. But if he doesn't prove himself this year, he never will and then time to say bye bye.
No more excuses of needing to play walk-ons. If a walk-on beats out a scholarship players it's either a) the walk-on is very good & was over looked in HS or b) scholarship players haven't been developed & thats coaching as fault. You don't get a ton of time with kids in college to develope them. 5 years. Cavs in year 3. Can't wait until a kids a RS Senior until he develops. But again, let's hope it turns around this seasonx
I would have thought at least Raridon got some PT but I guess not. I was reaching with Farniok and was just trying to make a point about redshirting. Really hope they figure out the best 5 OL because it seems like there is a disconnect between Riley and Cav sometimes.
And that's the exact criticism I was going after. I think he plays the experience card too. I have no inside info or binoculars scouting practice or reading the coach's mouths, but I do know that Utter did not perform at a Big Ten type level, especially down the stretch at the end of last season.
It seems like all coaches on deck to help with the o-line this year. I caught heat for defending Cav at one point, then heat for questioning some specific things I and others were seeing on the field. Cav seems to be pretty involved on several levels with the players and recruits; maybe he was falling prey to his own " hardening of the attitudes " on how to do things. Its amazing how many categories we have been ranked in the 100's as far as relative success ( and some coaches are gone ). HCMR is obviously on this issue, so it may work out with the group we have - if we aren't getting to the level of top 20 success in an area, imo they make changes now; we are results driven ( you know, like real jobs ). GBR
Think you have it with the Verbal. And it gives some comfort to ( internet hacks ) me
Gbr
Seems odd that with all the talent coming to the Spring Game, not one of them is a running back as far as I know.
I'd also say it's amazing how much better a healthy, mobile quarterback can make an offensive line look. There were missed assignments and bad beats in pass protection throughout the year, but half the time Armstrong could make a guy miss. I hope this year that a taller, better passer will do a better job getting a quick, accurate, catchable ball out when there is a blitz, and I hope that makes up for the lack of QB mobility. But that does little to account for just missing an assignment on a four man rush. Towards the end of last year, we had the worst of both worlds: a sub-average passer who was too injured (in Armstrong's case) or too slow (in Fyfe's case) to punish a team for not accounting for the QB run.
Yes-people often try to read the most negative thing in short comments that don't really describe what they mean. Why it seems like people go out of their way to find stuff to be concerned about I will never understand.
Could very well not as talented as we think. Really need an above average left tackle with the type of offense Riley plans to run. Does not appear we have one
We haven't had an above-average center for over a decade. Maybe well over a decade.
I'd say since Garrison in 2002-2003... and he was only slightly above average
Maybe Sewell he was drafted atleast
Eh, Lee (or whomever) is going to need better blocking than last year or they'll never make it past their first read. Without improvement, things will be worse than last year. However, they'll have something this year that they didn't have last year. Depth. With all that youth they need to get better as the season goes on. If not, it will be all on Cav. Sink or swim. Show improvement this year or get shown the door.
Having a QB that can make the reads and get the ball out quickly would be a huge help to the OL. We still haven't determined whether or not we have a QB that can do that.
He wouldn`t be the first player RSS posters have missed the mark on.
Benning has been consistently saying that Gates should be a guard and basically NU doesn't have a real LT. For that matter, they don't seem to have a real RT.
Yes, the offensive line is a huge concern. In the bowl game our line was relatively healthy. Yet we could not run at all against what was a historically awful Tennessee rush defense. I can excuse Gates not playing well against a great, great DE. But our inability to run the ball was a huge red flag. I had hoped that getting rid of Utter and the infusion of good young talent would improve things. But apparently it hasn't.
If I was coach Cav I would freshen up that resume and get it ready.
If I was coach Cav I would freshen up that resume and get it ready.
Exactly. To add to your point, I would argue that Cav and Davis' futures work hand in hand. Because the offense is more suited now for the pro-style offense, it's inevitable that the running backs won't get as many carries with the ball in their hands. However, it's not being wiped out completely like some fans are worried about, as there will be many dumped balls to the backs by Lee or POB. It will go down as a QB pass completion but it's still a RB with the ball.
I believe that Riley is 1000% serious about turning the corner again with Nebraska. Just look at our defensive staff—it's absolutely loaded with talented coaches and recruiters. Will the defensive staff carry the team so the offense doesn't have to score a ton of points? I don't know that yet. What I do know is that Cav and Davis have got to pull their weight this year or MR will need to make some serious decisions so his expectations meet reality.
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