Per Urban Meyer
- Thread starter dtrain87
- Start date
CB's look pretty dang good moving forward. Our starters are both Jr's and are playing better everyday, while we have some pretty talented youngster too (Jackson, Lee, etc). DE is another story, going to have to find some difference makers there, if we are ever going to be Championship caliber defense.
I watch Freedom quite a bit when the D is on the field. He is not great at point of attack run defense or chasing running plays. He does create pressure on the pass rush alot - frankly he gets held often.....so needs to refine technique to finish the pass rush and blow up the QB more often. I think we would hold up OK at CB vs SEC talent. Dline is suspect for that kind of test.
Freedom is a Base End. He's a good run stopper and ideal on the Strong Side if you have a dominant pass rusher on the Weak Side of the Field. But you can't rely on a guy like him to be your primary pass rusher.
Dzuris is a high motor guy and he's using that effort to produce some TFLs and sacks this season from the Weak Side. Ideally though, you want a guy like Dzuris to be a situational player, and you can't rely on him to be a big factor against an Elite Offensive tackle.
Collin Miller might actually start next season opposite Freedom. Langsdorf says he's unblockable on the scout team. Miller had some dynamic high school film and a bunch of offers. The only knock on him coming into the program was his size. He was basically a lean 6'3 235. He apparently is close to 250 now and has actually added speed off the edge.
Don't be surprised to see ESPN 300 Quayshon Alexander get a shot at DE next season as well. He's overcoming an injury, but early reports say he's more suited to stay at DE which he excelled at in high school. He's a little shorter than most DE's at only 6'2, but he's just electric in pursuit. Conversely, he's not very instinctual in pass coverage. That likely means his athleticism keeps him at the line of scrimmage.
Back to the matter at hand, Nebraska has to get much better off the edge if they want to take the next step into a consistent top 10 team. Urban is correct about DE's, but the front 7 as a whole must be able to dictate their will on an opponent.
Hell, just think about this current Husker team and insert Suh next to Maurice and Wistrom in for Dzuris. Those two caliber of players completely transforms the defense.
Cornerbacks at Nebraska are very good this year. Chris Jones is a future NFL Corner. Kalu has excellent ball skills and guys like Eric Lee and Lamar Jackson are developing well.
Good to hear about Miller. Pretty nice from a guy that basically recruited us, as Hughes decided to punt DL recruiting last year.
Think about the DE we have had in the past when we were a Top 10 team year in and out...compare that to now....lots of work to go to develop stars and build depth but you cant say this staff isnt trying to do so
Not as pass rushers. Nebraska has plenty of size in the program and on the way. The Huskers need more athleticism for creating disruption at the point of attack.
Urban is probably thinking about the mighty SEC East when he was at Florida. We would do just fine against all but a couple SEC West teams. The fact Mizzery has had more success in the SEC than they had in the Big XII says a lot.
