All 3 will play a ton and have blackshirts in practice
Let's talk depth chart
- Thread starter Big10domination
- Start date
Our team will go as far as Adrian takes them. Stop the dumb turnovers and win 7 or 8. If it's old Adrian. We win 4 again. Just don't give away games. Talking to you AM and Frost!!
Gotta throw special teams and play-calling in there as well.
Well you can both be correct at the same time.
There are two stark truths about Nebraska football in 2021:
1. Nebraska's talent, depth, and experience in the program is as strong as its been in the last 7 to 8 seasons.
2. And Nebraska football has demonstrated enough poor discipline, terrible special teams execution, dumb mistakes, and poor game management under Coach Frost for anyone to be skeptical about the direction of the program.
I like how you come over here and act like you know about Nebraska football despite being the resident Notre Dame fan.
- Stepp actually never practiced in the Spring. He had surgery on his foot.
- Stepp is full go right now. He will be on the field in game one. Will he be healthy by play 2 or 5 or carry #10? Maybe.. maybe not.
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I will keep this one shorter than some I have posted
1. Defense - It has continued to trend up since the staff took over the statisically worst defense in the conference in 2017. In 2020 the staff had slowly moved this up to 6th in YPG and 7th in PPG. Given the number of players back and who returned I think the trend of improving a couple spots will continue and we will be in the 4th range for both PPG and YPG in 2021.
I particularly believe that improvement from Ty Robinson (who go pushed around a lot but was also playing a year before he was ready) along with Kolarevic/Reimers/Henrich will allow us to take that next step against power running teams like Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconson. If we can force those teams to throw into our secondary, I like our chances.
2. Offensive line
In 2019 we started year with 6 scholarship lineman and then converted 270 Jurgens and gave one to walkon Hixson, both of which started. The combination of Wilson, Hixson and Jurgens was the worst interion line in big ten that year. The people that throw out that we have talent every year crap apparently didn't watch the 2019 line against South Alabama. Moving into 2020 Jurgens developed and gained weight and Freshman forced Hixson and Wilson out but I believe Piper, Jurgens and Benhart were all probably still playing at least a year before they would for a team with and established Oline room.
2021 we now have 14 scholorship plus Noudini and Miller. Our starting line included the 6.0 top 50 RR Corcoran, a filled out 5.9 RR Benhart, 5.8 RR Jurgens now around 300 along with Piper (in state home run) and Sichtermann. The average RR of 5.76 for this group is near four star and near a full star higher than any recent line and I believe all these guys are fully game ready are close enough to be competitive. I don't see a truly week link in the group like we have had each of last three years with Frost. We also have at least 3 backups that are now legit power 5 level players and have had plenty of development time. This is an athletic line that now has the strength necessary to compete. I expect these guys to be able to hold point of attack and to get out in space and get a hat on people. There are definitely going to opportunities for the young backs and for Martinez.
3. Wide Receiver
Wide receiver group has been a train wreck last couple years culminating with the the starting three of Warner, Faulk and Robinson (1/2 RB and 1/2 WR) against OSU to start the season last year. This was the worst group of starting WRs in the big even with Robinson being above average when he played WR. Robinsons lack of size and speed paired with Warner and Faulk simply wasn't competitive.
Replace that with the 6'4 225 5.9 RR Manning, 5.8 RR Martin and Transfer 6'3" 190 Toure and we may be witnessing the single largest position group upgrade in Husker football history. Throw in 6.0 RR Betts, 5.7 Brown and 5.6 Nixon as key backups along with Faulk who I am completely happy with as a key reserve much the same way I feel about Hixson as a reserve .
I think the gem of this group may be Toure who I believe is the best WR that Frost has had at Nebraska excluding Manning's potential. Not a stretch at all to think Toure could have 1000 yards like Morgan did in 2018. Morgan did it with 1 years in Frosts system, I expect equal or more from Toure. Just in case you think this is my Kool Aid here is an exerpt from pro football network before the season that was cancelled for them. The only real negative in article was competition he was facing so true ceiling may even be higher than what is noted.
https://www.profootballnetwork.com/...ver-samori-toure-underrated-gem-2021-wr-class
"Toure has a lot going for him. His dominant stretch of games certainly put him on NFL radars. You don’t just break a record set by Randy Moss by being another guy. Toure is an outstanding football player who I think is a prime candidate to head to Mobile for the Senior Bowl in 2021. If he has a strong season and process, we could be looking at a day two selection."
One other note about WR is we have been really small in 2019 and 2020 and not very good at perimeter blocking. I expect a large improvement in that area as well with additional size. Swing passed are going to be a bit more effective when we are not throwing the ball down field to Manning and Toure.
Briefly touching on RB I think if you have 3 four stars and 2 5.7 three stars you probably have at least a Mills level back on your team and you might have something much better.
Briefly touching on TE's general consensus is Allen/Vokalek are well above big ten average even with Fidone out. Assuming we can run the ball more effectively, they should have a lot of opportunities.
That leaves Martinez. If the line is good and we can run the ball and get to 2nd/3rd and short and If these receivers are truly the upgrade some think they are it is very likely we see a career year or about 20-25% improvement from his freshman year which would put him at 3200 yards and 20 TD's with 6 interceptions. That wouldn't be great, by any stretch, but would allow the team to hover around that 8 win mark which would provide some momentum for the program and truly set some expectations up for 2022 when OSU comes of the cross over schedule and we get OU at home.
Good news is in about 2 weeks we should have a pretty good feel for whether my optimism is misplaced and it wouldn't be the first time I am wrong. If we lose or struggle against Illinois, I think it probably is a good indication that we haven't improved and the criticism's of this staff are legit. If we go out and win this game by 20+ and look good on offense then I think we can start to get truly excited about 2021. Something in the middle and we are all probably wait and see until OU.
I think you are going to see Will Nixon a lot. I think he is better than we are giving him credit for.
Let’s keep some perspective. RB and WR production have been sorely needed for two years, and this coaching staff thus far has been unable to develop a single player at either position. Not a single one.
Back in the day, when someone got out of line, the whole group would yell at them to STFU. That usually handled it. But now we're all spouting off online at all hours of the day. But when among actual people in social settings, most people clam up.
Ozigbo would be the only exception to what you said. (I guess that was 3 years ago)
But your point stands about the development of players.. we need to see more of that across the board.
1. If Banks doesn't start, he'll be the #1 backup and all OG and OT positions.
2. Ervin and Stepp will be co-#1s at RB.
3. Kolarevic is a starter. Henrich is the swing sub. These 2 and Reimer will play similar snaps.
4. T Johnson will be on the field a lot, so will Farmer.
5. Punter is up in the air.
6. I got to believe that there's room for R. Johnson as a hybird receiver/RB and kickoff returner.
he's much better & has probably the highest upside of any single player on offense
Howard Griffith mentioned Alante on Severe and Benning this AM. Said he has been banged up last year, but looked explosive during their visit because he is healthy.
Agree with both.
I definitely see Banks getting meaningful snaps if he doesn't beat out Sichtermann.
Hoping you are right on Number 2.
Obviously both are going to play but I prefer Manning start based on current physical maturity. At 6"4 225 pounds he simply gives us a presence we haven't had at receiver since Morgan and is much more physically mature at this point. Type of guy that can be "covered" and still convert the third down. There was a clip in spring of a DB hitting him about half second early on a little slant and literally bouncing of him a fly while Manning made the catch. I also expect him to be a well above average blocker as he should dominate DB's in 1-1 situations.
That being said Betts is one of only three really high end athletes at WR and has the highest upside like you said. If he know the playback (he didn't last year) he is going to play as many snaps as anyone in 2021 and don't see anyway he is not the starter next year as a Sophmore.
Frost has alot of materials to work with this year on offense including the uber talented Betts. There can be no more excuses if this is not a good offense.
so, opinions from someone that doesnt get to see anything. got it.
Griffith has also been friends with Alante's family for a while. I would be pretty shocked if he's even a 2nd teamer in week one.
I saw Betts as the most explosive player on the team last year.
I saw Manning unable to see the field, brick one horribly in the spring game & get owned in the scrimmage vid you posted from yesterday.
Betts is an NFL guy. Manning just looks like one in his uniform.
by the way, what's your opinion based on?
Manning strikes me as the classic plays smaller than he is type.
He also seems to struggle catching the ball, which I've heard is important at the WR position.
see: the 38-second mark in this vid, in which he doesn't use his physicality at all en route to having what looks to be a decent ball, though under thrown (probably by AM, very wobbly) fall incomplete courtesy of the *checks depth chart* 2nd team corner.
Betts is a legit all-conference player. I understand people being distracted by things like size & not knowing an all-conference WR when they see one, simply because we've basically never seen one, but if Betts isn't 2nd on the team in targets this year (behind Toure), it will either be because our offensive coaches are incapable or our quarterback is incapable of stretching the field (both very possible).
I'm not sure Betts is a legit all conference player. Yes, he looks the part and I liked his reverse he took to the house, but watching him sometimes he has trouble catching the ball as well or getting his body in the right position to catch the ball. I'm not sold on Manning either because he has never played a game for us so for both of these guys they need to produce in game situations in order to really say who they are.
Purdue was the only game he was featured (lord knows why), he caught 5 balls & drew 2 separate 15-yard penalties on our final scoring drive (one on 2nd and 21 deep in our own territory) to put the game away
he was the reason AM & the offense didn't blow the game in the 4th quarter with typical ineptitude, having just allowed 14 unanswered to bring purdue within a touchdown
without those 30 yards in penalties, there's a real chance we cough that one up
my opinion? I didnt give one. That was you. I just asked why you said Betts should start.
I don't get to caught up in a single drop in a practice. That practice is no different than the 3-4 other scrimmage we don't see or the clip of him catching a slant while being hit a half second early in another practice which is an incredible demonstration of is physical maturity. Overall teammates talk very highly of both Manning and Betts and I would be more than happy with either starting and we are in a vastly better situation if some Combination of Toure, Manning, Martin and Betts are getting singicant targets
I will wait to start questing coaching until Faulk and Liewers are taking targets from those guys and we are losing.
More practice clips below with multiple plays after :56 second showing his strength and physicality
you sure got defensive for someone without an opinion on the matter.
Betts is our highest upside offensive player, and, therefore, should start.
I actually like Faulk, and wouldn't be at all surprised if he ended the year with more catches than Manning.
I think Ervin is our workhorse. Stepp gets his turn, but injuries, you know. After that? No idea.
The kid shows up to play. He's reliable af. Not a number one, but a solid #3.
Faulk is definitely much better than Warner and I am fine with him in two deep but by Big Ten standards he is not even average. You need athletes that are threats and he is not. Just another guy.
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