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Martinez has to be firing on all cylinders the next 5 months...

Suhrreal

Defensive Coordinator
Jun 1, 2009
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First of all, Martinez looked solid today. Seemed quicker, didn't look fat, delivered some nice balls, INT was end-of-half scenario in the wind so not a big deal. He had some drops from Manning on good balls. Both should have been TDs.

BUT

Haarberg is coming on like Luke McCaffrey with a bionic arm attached to his shoulder and an East German from Western Russia growth regimen. 6'5" 245 pounds of jacked muscle. Size 20 feet. Size 20 balls. He is going to be hot on Martinez's tail for the rest of Adrian's tenure here.

Other thoughts:

- Thought the "fumble" by Martinez was actually a forward pass. Didn't get a good second look. Maybe they wanted to simulate Big 10 reffing today.

- Manning has all the tools, but we got a glimpse of what his potential issue is: performance anxiety. Seems to prefer catching the ball with his body instead of his hands. Had no problem getting separation. They should be working with him nonstop until fall. Legalized marijuana in the state of Nebraska might just be the fix for this young man and if the current government in the state can't get it done they need to go.

- The young white defender from Creighton Prep Bullock or Burdock could be someone to watch. Was out there making plays.

- Marvin Scott appeared to be up to about 195-198 pounds. That's a good weight for him. We have enough bigger backs we need some speed and quickness to complement them.

- Hard to gauge the backs with a thud period. Morrison seemed to show some flashes but against lower units. Yant as well. He might be the Imani Cross option for us. You can throw Thompkins in there as well they all seem to be decent backs. Hard to separate them. Ervin Jr. showed maybe the most juice on outside plays but had some issues in the receiving game.

- You could give Toby Wright some pads and he'll go out there and punish some people today.

- Can't remember which WR it was, maybe Nixon or Nance, but they made a nice catch on the sideline and put on a Dante Hall-esque move to shake two defenders out of their shoes.

- Betts was locked up by a white CB today.
 
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First of all, Martinez looked solid today. Seemed quicker, didn't look fat, delivered some nice balls, INT was end-of-half scenario in the wind so not a big deal. He had some drops from Manning on good balls. Both should have been TDs.

BUT

Haarberg is coming on like Luke McCaffrey with a bionic arm attached to his shoulder and an East German from Western Russia growth regimen. 6'5" 245 pounds of jacked muscle. Size 20 feet. Size 20 balls. He is going to be hot on Martinez's tail for the rest of Adrian's tenure here.

Other thoughts:

- Thought the "fumble" by Martinez was actually a forward pass. Didn't get a good second look. Maybe they wanted to simulate Big 10 reffing today.

- Manning has all the tools, but we got a glimpse of what his potential issue is: performance anxiety. Seems to prefer catching the ball with his body instead of his hands. Had no problem getting separation. They should be working with him nonstop until fall. Legalized marijuana in the state of Nebraska might just be the fix for this young man and if the current government in the state can't get it done they need to go.

- The young white defender from Creighton Prep Bullock or Burdock could be someone to watch. Was out there making plays.

- Marvin Scott appeared to be up to about 195-198 pounds. That's a good weight for him. We have enough bigger backs we need some speed and quickness to complement them.

- Hard to gauge the backs with a thud period. Morrison seemed to show some flashes but against lower units. Yant as well. He might be the Imani Cross option for us. You can throw Thompkins in there as well they all seem to be decent backs. Hard to separate them. Ervin Jr. showed maybe the most juice on outside plays but had some issues in the receiving game.

- You could give Toby Wright some pads and he'll go out there and punish some people today.

- Can't remember which WR it was, maybe Nixon or Nance, but they made a nice catch on the sideline and put on a Dante Hall-esque move to shake two defenders out of their shoes.

- Betts was locked up by a white CB today.
Not sure why the race of these kids matter.
 
Martinez did look good on the hoof today. I wouldn't expect a big change in his decision making at this point though. Best case is he has more weapons around him to make plays.
 
First of all, Martinez looked solid today. Seemed quicker, didn't look fat, delivered some nice balls, INT was end-of-half scenario in the wind so not a big deal. He had some drops from Manning on good balls. Both should have been TDs.

BUT

Haarberg is coming on like Luke McCaffrey with a bionic arm attached to his shoulder and an East German from Western Russia growth regimen. 6'5" 245 pounds of jacked muscle. Size 20 feet. Size 20 balls. He is going to be hot on Martinez's tail for the rest of Adrian's tenure here.

Other thoughts:

- Thought the "fumble" by Martinez was actually a forward pass. Didn't get a good second look. Maybe they wanted to simulate Big 10 reffing today.

- Manning has all the tools, but we got a glimpse of what his potential issue is: performance anxiety. Seems to prefer catching the ball with his body instead of his hands. Had no problem getting separation. They should be working with him nonstop until fall. Legalized marijuana in the state of Nebraska might just be the fix for this young man and if the current government in the state can't get it done they need to go.

- The young white defender from Creighton Prep Bullock or Burdock could be someone to watch. Was out there making plays.

- Marvin Scott appeared to be up to about 195-198 pounds. That's a good weight for him. We have enough bigger backs we need some speed and quickness to complement them.

- Hard to gauge the backs with a thud period. Morrison seemed to show some flashes but against lower units. Yant as well. He might be the Imani Cross option for us. You can throw Thompkins in there as well they all seem to be decent backs. Hard to separate them. Ervin Jr. showed maybe the most juice on outside plays but had some issues in the receiving game.

- You could give Toby Wright some pads and he'll go out there and punish some people today.

- Can't remember which WR it was, maybe Nixon or Nance, but they made a nice catch on the sideline and put on a Dante Hall-esque move to shake two defenders out of their shoes.

- Betts was locked up by a white CB today.

Fairly certain the one he threw out of bounds was forward. Also fairly certain that the one the rb dropped in the flat (called incomplete) was backward.

Still baffled that we regularly throw checkdowns backward when they could be thrown a yard forward and remove the risk. Can't tell if it's intentional, or if not supposed to happen and they don't care/are unable to fix it. Maybe the backs need to get slightly farther upfield while waiting for the checkdown?
 
Didn't see enough from any of the backups to make me think Martinez's job is in jeopardy at all. He does look quicker and more decisive running the ball. Had his typical few good throws mixed in with a handful of bad decisions. I did not come away from the spring game feeling encouraged. Running backs room looks pretty good and receivers for the most part, but the passing game overall is not good and the line did not hold up well
 
Fairly certain the one he threw out of bounds was forward. Also fairly certain that the one the rb dropped in the flat (called incomplete) was backward.

Still baffled that we regularly throw checkdowns backward when they could be thrown a yard forward and remove the risk. Can't tell if it's intentional, or if not supposed to happen and they don't care/are unable to fix it. Maybe the backs need to get slightly farther upfield while waiting for the checkdown?
Thought the one to the rb should have been called a fumble as well but they called incomplete. 1 bad throw 2 rb gotta jump in it wtf was rb doing. 3 why is rb looping 18 yds.behind scrimmage. That play was one big cringe moment
 
Didn't see enough from any of the backups to make me think Martinez's job is in jeopardy at all. He does look quicker and more decisive running the ball. Had his typical few good throws mixed in with a handful of bad decisions. I did not come away from the spring game feeling encouraged. Running backs room looks pretty good and receivers for the most part, but the passing game overall is not good and the line did not hold up well

I agree - Haarberg was swimming in it a bit. Which I would expect from an 18 year old playing in front of 40k - I would be in the fetal position under the players bench...


I'll point out the following caveats that i noticed:
1. The wind was blowing like a mo-fo
2. Adrian had a few drops (the long one to Omar) and a few penalties on pass plays
3. Haarberg put a few passes in the dirt
4. I won't anoint Haarberg the next coming of Christ but I do think he's got a neat upside. - The fact that he moved the ball against the 1's was impressive. And the end of game pass definitely gets me drinking more kool-aid this summer...

I need to rewatch the spring game - I'm looking forward to it.
 
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After watching the tape and sleeping on it my take is DL is now talented and deep, the linebacker room is deep and in good shape even with losing Honus and the DBs are the strength of the team. Unfortunately, unless a pass rusher or two materializes with the OLBs it will be another year of opposing freshman and backup QBs standing back for 10 seconds and picking the defense apart. The DBs can only cover for so long. On offense the line looks lean, focused and nasty and the snapping problem looks fixed. The RB room looks talented and deep for the first time in Frost's tenure. We now seem to have an adequate receiver corps and the TEs can be lethal if they are used as they should. The problem on offense is I fear 2AM will still make head-scratching decisions (backward pass, giving up on finding a receiver and running for 8 on a 3rd and 12, etc.), he will run too much and get hurt, and he still takes WAY too long to scan the field and make passing decisions. And despite the playcalling being vanilla and Thud in the first half making evaluating the running game difficult, I still had suspicions the playcalling was odd at times (the first play for instance).

While the snaps were good, penalties were under control, turnovers in check, and talent and depth is seemingly vastly improved, possible inability to pass rush, marginal QB play and little improvement in playcalling could make for another disappointing year. And oh yeah, I'll believe special teams are significantly improved when I see it. Bottom line, team looked pretty good, but I'm worried we might see more of the same in the fall.
 
it looks to me like the white team - primarily composed of players buried on the depth chart chart - beat the red team primarily composed of starters

the red team with a 4th year starter generated a grand total of 1 TD

the red team, clinging to an embarrassing 6 point lead - lets a walkon receiver get behind them for a TD on the last play from scrimmage and loses on a extra point


if this staff is on the sidelines to open the season against Illinois then Neb has officially given up
 
I agree - Haarberg was swimming in it a bit. Which I would expect from an 18 year old playing in front of 40k - I would be in the fetal position under the players bench...


I'll point out the following caveats that i noticed:
1. The wind was blowing like a mo-fo
2. Adrian had a few drops (the long one to Omar) and a few penalties on pass plays
3. Haarberg put a few passes in the dirt
4. I won't anoint Haarberg the next coming of Christ but I do think he's got a neat upside. - The fact that he moved the ball against the 1's was impressive. And the end of game pass definitely gets me drinking more kool-aid this summer...

I need to rewatch the spring game - I'm looking forward to it.
Just watched it. Adrian looks noticeably faster and but for a couple passes, threw well in crazy wind. He looks to be the clear #1 to me. Heinrich looked better than I had anticipated...and also had foreseeable freshman moments.
 
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Still baffled that we regularly throw checkdowns backward when they could be thrown a yard forward and remove the risk. Can't tell if it's intentional, or if not supposed to happen and they don't care/are unable to fix it. Maybe the backs need to get slightly farther upfield while waiting for the checkdown?
I'm convinced it's how they're coached to do it. Every QB that's played under this staff has had the same problem show up. So either they're coached wrong or the players aren't executing the play right. If the players aren't capable of executing it how it should be done, then get it out of the playbook! Nebraska wastes so many possessions with the sideline throw whether through loss of yards or possession.

It's maddening that it's still in the playbook when it's been obvious for 3 seasons that either the players can't make the throw or they're being coached incorrectly.
 
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AM has trouble throwing short passes again, 2 passes to Ervin we’re off target.
he has trouble with long balls too.. so I'm not sure why he is even out there.. but I digress

I thought I read how the staff had spent a lot of time on the deep passing game this spring.

I could be wrong, but didn't AM only throw 1 deep pass for an incomplete yesterday?

Sometimes, this staff perplexes me.. say one thing, do another I guess.
 
he has trouble with long balls too.. so I'm not sure why he is even out there.. but I digress

I thought I read how the staff had spent a lot of time on the deep passing game this spring.

I could be wrong, but didn't AM only throw 1 deep pass for an incomplete yesterday?

Sometimes, this staff perplexes me.. say one thing, do another I guess.
To be fair he did throw deep and dropped it right in the bread basket and Manning dropped it
 
Believe me I would love for Adrian to be great. I don't know him, but I bet he is a good kid. I just think he is still the player that he has always been. Too loose with the ball, not very accurate and makes bad decisions. Throwing a backward pass on a ball he is just trying to throw away is bad. It is even worse when it is in a "no pressure" Spring Game.
 
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Didn't see enough from any of the backups to make me think Martinez's job is in jeopardy at all. He does look quicker and more decisive running the ball. Had his typical few good throws mixed in with a handful of bad decisions. I did not come away from the spring game feeling encouraged. Running backs room looks pretty good and receivers for the most part, but the passing game overall is not good and the line did not hold up well
Agreed. Martinez is faster and healthier this spring. No knee brace yesterday
 
it looks to me like the white team - primarily composed of players buried on the depth chart chart - beat the red team primarily composed of starters

the red team with a 4th year starter generated a grand total of 1 TD

the red team, clinging to an embarrassing 6 point lead - lets a walkon receiver get behind them for a TD on the last play from scrimmage and loses on a extra point


if this staff is on the sidelines to open the season against Illinois then Neb has officially given up

I expect Illinois to be ready, sound fundamentally and disciplined
 
I expect Illinois to be ready, sound fundamentally and disciplined

Any half-way competent staff in their 4th yr at an alleged blue blood program should be able to name the score against an Illinois team playing their first game with a new head coach that was a massive failure at Arkansas

if this game is in any way close the coaching staff shouldn’t be allowed to return to Lincoln
 
Discipline is what the team needed to concentrate during the spring..

Frost playing for TO should know this is one of two priorities besides sound special teams...
 
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He’s such a good kid. Ball out this year AM, the state needs you and you deserve it.
Yes, I have always admired the way he represents the University and state. And I too hope he has a fantastic year. Unfortunately, when he signed those three balls and threw them back into the stands I suspect two were incomplete and one of them was intercepted.
 
Yeah...smh some people are so sensitive. I guess I should have said, "Zavier Betts was locked up by Pat Ricketts."
Why use Pat Ricketts' name when you could just use the name of the player locking up Betts?
 
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