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Just listened to the whole Whipple press conference

dinglefritz

Nebraska Legend
Jan 14, 2011
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Damn. I started out thinking this guy isn't exactly a bundle of energy. By the time it was 5 minutes in I was hanging on every word. LOVE this hire! Loved his answer when asked about his goal line philosophy and power football. He quoted Russ Grimm who said, "good teams run the ball when the defense knows they're going to run it". Then he followed with "but I'll always try to do what the defense doesn't expect". Loved the fact that they'll keep most of the terminology and that he's very familiar with Frost's offense so there hopefully won't be major terminology changes. THAT was one of my major concerns. He also mentioned Smothers and that there will be some option in there for him but that the offense will be tailored to whatever QB is in the game. I think this could be a somewhat seamless transition with an incredibly experienced and qualified guy calling the plays. Man does he love to drop names and I have to say I loved hearing them.

After watching this press conference I understand now why we landed the transfer QBs and WRs that we have.
 
I will restate what I've seen many times on this board over the past 5-6 weeks:

it appears there are finally adults in charge

and, frankly, Frost deserves credit for humbling himself and making these drastic changes, even if they were made against his will while Trev held his feet to the fire

I was very puzzled at the optimism last year, given we had zero things change from 2019/2020 to the start of the '21 season

I now have quite a few reasons (Whipp, Mickey, the QBs, the LSU guys) to actually expect a different, and hopefully much better, product in '22
 
I will restate what I've seen many times on this board over the past 5-6 weeks:

it appears there are finally adults in charge

and, frankly, Frost deserves credit for humbling himself and making these drastic changes, even if they were made against his will while Trev held his feet to the fire

I was very puzzled at the optimism last year, given we had zero things change from 2019/2020 to the start of the '21 season

I now have quite a few reasons (Whipp, Mickey, the QBs, the LSU guys) to actually expect a different, and hopefully much better, product in '22
We had basically the whole offense back with a 4th year starting QB. The bad news was we had the whole offense with that 4th year starting QB. By all metrics, last year should have been the year for Adrian to lead his team to some wins. I really don't think the play calling was as big of a problem as some think. Adrian's field vision and our OT problems killed us more than anything.

And oh yeah, nearly forgot our punters and kickers. Bad. Very very bad.
 
We had basically the whole offense back with a 4th year starting QB. The bad news was we had the whole offense with that 4th year starting QB. By all metrics, last year should have been the year for Adrian to lead his team to some wins. I really don't think the play calling was as big of a problem as some think. Adrian's field vision and our OT problems killed us more than anything.
yep

I said in August that I didn't understand starting AM for a 4th year after watching him for nearly 30 starts. he is who he is, and many people are saying I was right

now that we've finally said "anchors away!", I expect the offense to take a nice step forward where it matters most - efficiency

it's really hard to call plays for a guy who consistently hands the ball to the other team while also being incredibly inaccurate/unpredictable in the passing game

to take it a step further, I really don't think the offensive line is nearly as bad as AM made it look
 
I will restate what I've seen many times on this board over the past 5-6 weeks:

it appears there are finally adults in charge

and, frankly, Frost deserves credit for humbling himself and making these drastic changes, even if they were made against his will while Trev held his feet to the fire

I was very puzzled at the optimism last year, given we had zero things change from 2019/2020 to the start of the '21 season

I now have quite a few reasons (Whipp, Mickey, the QBs, the LSU guys) to actually expect a different, and hopefully much better, product in '22
Culture starts at the top. The head coach has to lead the way. No more Maurice Washington experiments. Set some standards and keep to them. Agree that the assistant coach hires seem like a good step forward. Trev is also throwing in his support and that can't hurt. Scott is still a young head coach in many ways. I hope he shows as much growth as I hope to see from our offensive line!
 
I was very puzzled at the optimism last year, given we had zero things change from 2019/2020 to the start of the '21 season
Me too, I bet the under and was rewarded for it. Now coming off a 3-9 season, hopefully Vegas will put you guys at 4.5 wins, and that would make a solid OVER bet.
 
Me too, I bet the under and was rewarded for it. Now coming off a 3-9 season, hopefully Vegas will put you guys at 4.5 wins, and that would make a solid OVER bet.
we're WAY too public a program for a future like that

it will be o/u 6.5, minimum
 
Will be interesting to see how things play out. Definitely an upgrade in assistants.

Team dynamics with regards to head coach, assistants and players will be interesting. The players know that the AD basically had to step in and tell their head coach he was taking a million dollar pay cut, was being relieved of most of his day to day coaching duties and would need to hire assistants and stay out of their way. This certainly has the potential to create some doubt amongst the players regarding who is really in charge of the team and credibility issues for Frost.
 
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Will be interesting to see how things play out. Definitely a huge upgrade in assistants.

Team dynamics with regards to head coach, assistants and players will be interesting. The players know that the AD basically had to step in and tell their head coach he was taking a million dollar pay cut, was being relieved of most of his day to day coaching duties and would need to hire assistants and stay out of their way. This certainly has the potential to create some doubt amongst the players regarding who is really on charge of the team.
based on the players' own statements about practicing harder when Trev is around, I'm glad he's left little doubt with regards to who's in charge
 
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Meh. Not drinking the kool aid or taking the bait. We still lack talent in the trenches on both sides of the ball. The lack of talent on the defensive line is glaring. We will get pushed around on defense this year by any team with a decent offensive line. And still no pass rushers at all. On offense I will just say… Hixson at center? Corcoran and Benhart? 😂😂😂
I see 6-6 or 5-7 next year as our ceiling. If 5-7, then Frost and this entire exciting new staff will be toast. New coaches cannot make up for four years of awful recruiting to OL and DL. Dawson clearly swung and missed for DL portal transfers. I am still not sold on Chinander either. We were better last year on defense, but still folded like a tent when it mattered. He has NEVER in his entire career fielded a dominant defense.
 
Coaching matters. For those that think having 4 star players are enough I beg to differ. You take a look at a coach like Fleck and I by no means care for the guy but I admire how his players play for him and his assistants. We've had some assistant coaches here under Frost who were just not very good at coaching college players. You now have some coaches who are very good coaches who I believe the players will play hard for.

You win when your players trust what coaches are teaching them and trust they will help you succeed and lead you to victory.
 
Coaching matters. For those that think having 4 star players are enough I beg to differ. You take a look at a coach like Fleck and I by no means care for the guy but I admire how his players play for him and his assistants. We've had some assistant coaches here under Frost who were just not very good at coaching college players. You now have some coaches who are very good coaches who I believe the players will play hard for.

You win when your players trust what coaches are teaching them and trust they will help you succeed and lead you to victory.
Of course coaching matters. And I know of not one person who says all you need are good athletes. But at some point good coaching only matters if the talent is there to be coached. I think we hired some good new coaches. But now all of a sudden folks are having kool aid parties. The new coaches will be hard pressed to overcome four years of overrated recruiting (in reality, our recruiting, once you factored in busts, wasn’t great at all) and four years of player and roster mismanagement. The fact is, we need another three years to truly see how effective these new coaches will be. How well they can recruit, retain, and develop players. Will they get that time if Frost lays another turd next year? Nope.

I think people are really buying into the hype train. Last year really was the year of our most talented team under Frost. Result? 3-9. Our defense will be less talented this season. And it was only marginally talented last season. We got two relatively mediocre offensive lineman from the portal. Add them to the shit offensive lineman we now have and you don’t get much hope that our new skill position dudes that have everyone excited will get an inch of space or protection from our line. Last year we had the WORST two offensive tackles in the B1G. And that is who we have back.

You don’t fix four years of ugly overnight. This season will be in my opinion a huge disappointment for the kool aid drinkers on here.
 
Of course coaching matters. And I know of not one person who says all you need are good athletes. But at some point good coaching only matters if the talent is there to be coached. I think we hired some good new coaches. But now all of a sudden folks are having kool aid parties. The new coaches will be hard pressed to overcome four years of overrated recruiting (in reality, our recruiting, once you factored in busts, wasn’t great at all) and four years of player and roster mismanagement. The fact is, we need another three years to truly see how effective these new coaches will be. How well they can recruit, retain, and develop players. Will they get that time if Frost lays another turd next year? Nope.

I think people are really buying into the hype train. Last year really was the year of our most talented team under Frost. Result? 3-9. Our defense will be less talented this season. And it was only marginally talented last season. We got two relatively mediocre offensive lineman from the portal. Add them to the shit offensive lineman we now have and you don’t get much hope that our new skill position dudes that have everyone excited will get an inch of space or protection from our line. Last year we had the WORST two offensive tackles in the B1G. And that is who we have back.

You don’t fix four years of ugly overnight. This season will be in my opinion a huge disappointment for the kool aid drinkers on here.
Not everyone who is an optimist drinks kool-aid they just see things that line up for a good shot at a turn around. I understand people are still affected emotionally by nearly two decades of disappointment with Nebraska football but I think we are on the verge of finally getting this thing going in the right direction.

We've had an assistant coach who was a golf instructor and one who worked in at Canvas credit union family (Lubick), Papuchis was named as Bo Pelini's defensive defensive coordinator never having been a defensive coordinator. We finally have coaches who have a solid resume and that's why all the optimism. You look at all the good teams in college football they have one thing in common, they have solid assistants who know what they're doing.

 
Damn. I started out thinking this guy isn't exactly a bundle of energy. By the time it was 5 minutes in I was hanging on every word. LOVE this hire! Loved his answer when asked about his goal line philosophy and power football. He quoted Russ Grimm who said, "good teams run the ball when the defense knows they're going to run it". Then he followed with "but I'll always try to do what the defense doesn't expect". Loved the fact that they'll keep most of the terminology and that he's very familiar with Frost's offense so there hopefully won't be major terminology changes. THAT was one of my major concerns. He also mentioned Smothers and that there will be some option in there for him but that the offense will be tailored to whatever QB is in the game. I think this could be a somewhat seamless transition with an incredibly experienced and qualified guy calling the plays. Man does he love to drop names and I have to say I loved hearing them.

After watching this press conference I understand now why we landed the transfer QBs and WRs that we have.
I have referred to him as Mr. Namedropper.
 
We still lack talent in the trenches on both sides of the ball. The lack of talent on the defensive line is glaring. We will get pushed around on defense this year by any team with a decent offensive line. And still no pass rushers at all.
^This is what our season may hinge on. We only have 2 DL players with very solid/proven experience. Neither of them have been dominant either. That’s a problem.
OL will at least have options, but we’re also entrusting a coach who has not proven much. And “options” isn’t the same as “good options.”
More OL upperclassmen across the board will be beneficial, and a QB making quicker decisions will help.

Every team wants the rare elite pass rusher, but we’ve not been lucky enough to score one of those unicorns.

While I see the potential upside, I would argue there’s just too many unproven variables that all have to pan out. It’s a tall order.
 
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Not everyone who is an optimist drinks kool-aid they just see things that line up for a good shot at a turn around. I understand people are still affected emotionally by nearly two decades of disappointment with Nebraska football but I think we are on the verge of finally getting this thing going in the right direction.

We've had an assistant coach who was a golf instructor and one who worked in at Canvas credit union family (Lubick), Papuchis was named as Bo Pelini's defensive defensive coordinator never having been a defensive coordinator. We finally have coaches who have a solid resume and that's why all the optimism. You look at all the good teams in college football they have one thing in common, they have solid assistants who know what they're doing.

Correction. Good teams have two things in common: good coaching AND good athletes, especially in the trenches. We lack good athletes in the trenches. So yeah… I see a lot of kool aid drinking and not evidence based optimism.
 
Meh. Not drinking the kool aid or taking the bait. We still lack talent in the trenches on both sides of the ball. The lack of talent on the defensive line is glaring. We will get pushed around on defense this year by any team with a decent offensive line. And still no pass rushers at all. On offense I will just say… Hixson at center? Corcoran and Benhart? 😂😂😂
I see 6-6 or 5-7 next year as our ceiling. If 5-7, then Frost and this entire exciting new staff will be toast. New coaches cannot make up for four years of awful recruiting to OL and DL. Dawson clearly swung and missed for DL portal transfers. I am still not sold on Chinander either. We were better last year on defense, but still folded like a tent when it mattered. He has NEVER in his entire career fielded a dominant defense.
I saw Nebraska getting shoved around when we had the Davis twins as seniors and future NFL draft picks. I just haven't figured out why we get pushed around by the physical teams. It isn't all due to talent on our DL. Whether it's scheme. Linebackers. Some combination of all the above.
But I wholeheartedly agree with you about the pass rushers. That's been about as glaring a problem in Frost's tenure as special teams.
 
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I think we have some pretty good DL players right now in Robinson, Rogers, Riley, Hutmacher and Page who is more of a DE specialist. We have some young players who will get to prove themselves this spring and who really knows how they will pan out.

I feel we will see an addition to our DL through the portal after schools go through their spring camps so I doubt our staff is finished adding to the DL.

It's so easy to say we are going to be bad again when no one really knows one way or the other. Yes It's also easy to say we're going to be fantastic but who really knows. I feel somewhere in the middle lies the truth about Nebraska football this year, and with the new coaches who are really good coaches I put my hope and faith in a good season.

Will our defense take a step back in 2022 possibly but will it be a disaster as some seem to feel it will I'm on the side of optimism and feel they will do OK.
 
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Will be interesting to see how things play out. Definitely an upgrade in assistants.

Team dynamics with regards to head coach, assistants and players will be interesting. The players know that the AD basically had to step in and tell their head coach he was taking a million dollar pay cut, was being relieved of most of his day to day coaching duties and would need to hire assistants and stay out of their way. This certainly has the potential to create some doubt amongst the players regarding who is really in charge of the team and credibility issues for Frost.
I’m pooping
 
We had basically the whole offense back with a 4th year starting QB. The bad news was we had the whole offense with that 4th year starting QB. By all metrics, last year should have been the year for Adrian to lead his team to some wins. I really don't think the play calling was as big of a problem as some think. Adrian's field vision and our OT problems killed us more than anything.

And oh yeah, nearly forgot our punters and kickers. Bad. Very very bad.
I think the main problem was the O line as a whole. AM didn't help hide the issues for sure.
 
Good OP

Our players, sadly, don’t know how to win. When the situation presents itself, they take the easy route and lose. Winning is tough to do or everyone would do it. This falls on our beleaguered past coaching staff. They were the losers and it trickles down to our kids.

I don’t know what this new staff will be but we needed a new offensive approach, got that. The defense seemed well enough but we will miss Daniels and Doman, bigly. Hard to replace.

What we really need is for our OL to be coached up and play with attitude. That will change our season.

I’m like others in that I’ve been punished enough for being too optimistic to get all excited again. But I’ve said this before, Scott is in the corner now. He’s gone if he doesn’t respond this year. Let’s see what he’s made of
 
yep

I said in August that I didn't understand starting AM for a 4th year after watching him for nearly 30 starts. he is who he is, and many people are saying I was right

now that we've finally said "anchors away!", I expect the offense to take a nice step forward where it matters most - efficiency

it's really hard to call plays for a guy who consistently hands the ball to the other team while also being incredibly inaccurate/unpredictable in the passing game

to take it a step further, I really don't think the offensive line is nearly as bad as AM made it look
AM held the ball WAAAAAY too long which resulted in many of the pressures and sacks IMO. I don't know how we'll look on offense because of the inevitable adjustment period there will be with the coaching changes. Regardless if we don't change up the terminology, there is going to be some learning curve for Thompson if he's the starter.

I loved Adrian's physical tools. I think he's a great kid. He played through some bad injuries for a QB. I just don't think he saw the field very well and at times made bad decisions. I like to call it football IQ but it's more than that. Some RBs see the crease other guys don't. Some blockers see that blitzer that other guys don't. Some guys are almost able to see what a defender is going to do before he does it. The ability to see things out of your peripheral vision and then get your brain to tell your body to do something about it quickly is a talent that can't be measured but is vital to RBs and QBs IMO.
 
^This is what our season may hinge on. We only have 2 DL players with very solid/proven experience. Neither of them have been dominant either. That’s a problem.
OL will at least have options, but we’re also entrusting a coach who has not proven much. And “options” isn’t the same as “good options.”
More OL upperclassmen across the board will be beneficial, and a QB making quicker decisions will help.

Every team wants the rare elite pass rusher, but we’ve not been lucky enough to score one of those unicorns.

While I see the potential upside, I would argue there’s just too many unproven variables that all have to pan out. It’s a tall order.
Our defense was put in some very bad spots game after game last year due to turnovers and bad special teams mistakes (punter mostly). I am concerned mostly about our ability to stop the run. We'll see if knowing they are going to be playing big minutes next fall motivates our next up D linemen to take the next step in the weight room. I still look back to how small some of our DTs and DEs were who played for Pelini. Good heavens we had 260 lb DEs playing DT at times because of how short of bodies we were. Surely Chins can coach these guys up enough and scheme to make his D effective.
 
I saw Nebraska getting shoved around when we had the Davis twins as seniors and future NFL draft picks. I just haven't figured out why we get pushed around by the physical teams. It isn't all due to talent on our DL. Whether it's scheme. Linebackers. Some combination of all the above.
But I wholeheartedly agree with you about the pass rushers. That's been about as glaring a problem in Frost's tenure as special teams.
Some of it was a tentativeness created by complicated job descriptions. Some of it was trying to run a 2 gap scheme with guys who maybe weren't all that well suited to that. Some of it during both Bo's and Riley's tenure was a problem with our S$C program. Some it was just the fact that we played against some tremendous college O linemen. Have you looked at all of the B1G O linemen from the past 10 years playing in the NFL? Hindsight is always a good indicator of why some things happened. People wonder why we lost to Miami (83?)that time or why we got our ass kicked by that ASU team Frost's first year at QB. All you have to do is look back at how many guys from those teams ended up in the pro bowl.
 
Of course coaching matters. And I know of not one person who says all you need are good athletes. But at some point good coaching only matters if the talent is there to be coached. I think we hired some good new coaches. But now all of a sudden folks are having kool aid parties. The new coaches will be hard pressed to overcome four years of overrated recruiting (in reality, our recruiting, once you factored in busts, wasn’t great at all) and four years of player and roster mismanagement. The fact is, we need another three years to truly see how effective these new coaches will be. How well they can recruit, retain, and develop players. Will they get that time if Frost lays another turd next year? Nope.

I think people are really buying into the hype train. Last year really was the year of our most talented team under Frost. Result? 3-9. Our defense will be less talented this season. And it was only marginally talented last season. We got two relatively mediocre offensive lineman from the portal. Add them to the shit offensive lineman we now have and you don’t get much hope that our new skill position dudes that have everyone excited will get an inch of space or protection from our line. Last year we had the WORST two offensive tackles in the B1G. And that is who we have back.

You don’t fix four years of ugly overnight. This season will be in my opinion a huge disappointment for the kool aid drinkers on here.
Nobody expects a conference championship type of turn around. The NUMBER ONE thing I looked at when we made this hire was Pittsburgh's redzone success. Pittsburgh scored TDs on roughly 70% of their redzone possessions. What was ours? 20%? That ONE factor would have won most of our games last year. Throw in the obvious upgrades we made at punter and kicker and I think we have the recipe to pretty easily improve our record this year. The wild cards IMO will be what Raiola can do with the O line and what Whipple can do with a new QB.

The exciting things is that we hired an OC with big time proven success at multiple levels. I don't expect miracles this fall but I feel a whole bunch better about where this is headed now that I have a better handle on who Whipple is, what he's done and what he says he will do with our offense. It's fine to be a little skeptical until they prove it, but I'm excited about the potential.
 
I have referred to him as Mr. Namedropper.
I have a friend who could do that just on his social contacts. Last night we were having a drink and he said something about hanging out with Klecko and something that happened at a bar. No big deal to him and about a minute later it hit me. I asked, who the hell is Klecko? He says, you know, played for the Jets. Turns out he was working in New York and had worked for a guy Joe Klecko owned a bar with. I just added him to the list of nationally and internationally famous figures he's called friends over the years. Forrest Gump has nothing on him.
 
Someone with better knowledge about defensive schemes than me answer me this. What does it say about your team when you have to run a 3-4 scheme vs a 4-3. I prefer the traditional 4-3 with good DE's.
 
Someone with better knowledge about defensive schemes than me answer me this. What does it say about your team when you have to run a 3-4 scheme vs a 4-3. I prefer the traditional 4-3 with good DE's.
We don't "have to" run a 3-4 and in fact we came out in 4 man fronts a bunch last year. There are advantages to both schemes. One for the 3-4 is that if you are going to send 4 out of a 3 man front, they don't know where the guy is coming from.
 
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We don't "have to" run a 3-4 and in fact we came out in 4 man fronts a bunch last year. There are advantages to both schemes. One for the 3-4 is that if you are going to send 4 out of a 3 man front, they don't know where the guy is coming from.
Nelson, Payne, Gunnerson and Butler all were listed as weakside DEs as recruits. All have the size to play that position.
 
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