They’ve said Butler’s role is going to be a bit different this year where he’ll be playing more like a DE. I’m not sure how that will look. My suspicion is that they’re going to try to get him a look as more of a pure edge pass rusher.
Phil Steele’s Top 500 Freshman
- Thread starter scarletred
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Yeah, it's kind of like listening to national announcers. They usually just have a quick, zoomed out perspective.
Anyone that closely follows our program knew it would be tough for Hall to play much this year. Barney provides a different skill set with his shiftiness and acceleration, putting him in position to play a lot. Plus the special teams angle.
Everybody s entitled to their opinion just as long as they recognize that mine is right and theirs, if it differs, is wrong. But seriously folks . . . I've upped my prediction from 7 to 8 wins. The way I see it is the separation between the most elite teams and the second tier is that elite teams manage to win games even when their play is not up to snuff. Second tier teams lose 1-2 games a year they could or should win. Nebraska plays a lot of teams this year against whom they could or should win. I see them dropping 1 of the first seven (I just hope it is NOT Colorado). Chalk up OSU as a loss. We could easily go 2 and 2 of the remaining 4. That would make us 9-3. I'm not confident enough to say we are quite second tier just yet so I'll go 8-4. Here are the reasons why: 1. Dylan Raiola. The guy just has the IT factor. He is as prepared as any freshman could be. He has experienced coming into a new system and succeeding. Not only does he have the tools, it appears to me that he has that hard-to-quantify quality of field sense. No where is that more important than at quarterback. Don't question how I know. I freely admit it is just my sense of it. I'll compare it to a former Nebraska player, albeit on defense, Lavonte David. He just instantly knew where the play was going and had the quick twitch to react. I predict that Raiola will exhibit that same field sense on the other side of the ball. 2. Depth. We have more of it this year than we have had in the past. This will allow some players to play fewer snaps per game so they won't be so beat up by the time we hit the difficult part of the schedule at the end. It will also mean that a key injury or two won't derail things like they did last year unless it happens at one of a couple key positions e.g. quarterback. 3. Schedule. One couldn't have asked for a better schedule. It will give time for the offense, especially Raiola, to mature before the difficult back end. It will also give time for the desperately needed confidence to build. Over the last couple decades, our teams seemed to play like they wondered how they were going to lose. I think Rhule has them in the right frame of mind to believe in themselves. Some early success will cement that but, given the last too many years, team psyche is still fragile. If they continue to build confidence, this team, while perhaps not as gifted as some, will play with anybody so long as they believe in each other and play as a team.
Nothing wrong with that.
Im hoping for 6 wins. Thats all.
Anything more than that is icing.
This is why I roll my eyes when people try to tell me that Iowa has some amazing defense. Nope, not really, you play Rutgers and Illinois and Minny and PU and NW...you add in ISU and UNI...10/12 teams they play probably rank in the bottom half of offense in the nation.
You are starting on 3rd base. All you have to do is pretty much sit in a base defense and play the game between the 30 yard lines. Plus, those teams also know that the teams they are playing suck on offense so neither team takes chances.
Ok but have you heard about paragraphs?
On Barney? Rhule asked Barney to enroll early and hasn't he been listed as not redshirting by Rhule? Who else is a good candidate for slot?
It's August so I'm drinking the Rhule-aid until I see results on the field. Last year they did what they had to on offense - implemented a run heavy scheme with athletic QB's. Turned out only Haarberg was decent and that was until he got beat up. This year should be a completely different offense with hopefully competely different results. Yes there are uncertainties - starting a true freshman QB, a lot of new WR, o-line that is experienced but had issues, and RB's that so far are decent but not game breakers. I'm hoping for 28 ppg instead of 18 ppg and 10-15 less turnovers. If the defense is as good or better than last year that should be good for at least 7 wins.
I noticed that. I don't think they must be calling or using the slot in the traditional sense that most people do. A former H-back is 1st string and a kid recruited for TE is 3rd string. My point stands that without a lot of injuries Hall will redshirt and Barney will play, alot. I still expect Barney to end up as the main guy for the traditional slot role of getting short passes and making something happen.
A different philosophy for the slot position. Look at the size of them. My guess is that you will see them doing some blocking of linebackers and safeties, hopefully springing some long runs by the running backs. Look for some screen passes to the slot receivers. We've been awful with screen passes for some time. It is time to change that.
Looks like they want blockers on the edge. Crack backs, lead blocker on screens and swing passes. Coaches have said they’ve been impressed with Nelson’s blocking/physicality. Hopefully they catch some passes too 😉
