ADVERTISEMENT

psn groups next year: up/down or status quo

inWV

Offensive Coordinator
Sep 22, 2007
9,459
10,865
113
I'll take a stab at it.
Receivers and TEs - Status quo. Loss of Bell, but we have Turner and DPE, both can be electric. TEs should improve under new staff.
OL - status quo, perhaps better.
QB - Up, TA has one more year of experience and will get better coaching.
RB - Down. I do not see a replacement for AA among this group.
DL - status quo. We lose Randy, but the others will have one more year of experience. Collins should be a beast.
LB - Up. Bando, Santos with another year of experience, return of Rose
DB - Status quo, perhaps up. Lose Mitchell and Coop, but get a couple of players back, plus DD, Nate, Cockerell plus the frosh that played last year.
ST - Up. Kicker and punter return, plus DPE and focused coaching.

My take. This team goes as far as Tommy can take it. Defensively, a monster season from Collins could change the calculus on that side of the ball.
 
Position groups. Could have also used personnel groupings (btw, the text editor flags misspellings
smile.r191677.gif
).
 
Originally posted by inWV:
I'll take a stab at it.
Receivers and TEs - Status quo. Loss of Bell, but we have Turner and DPE, both can be electric. TEs should improve under new staff.
OL - status quo, perhaps better.
QB - Up, TA has one more year of experience and will get better coaching.
RB - Down. I do not see a replacement for AA among this group.
DL - status quo. We lose Randy, but the others will have one more year of experience. Collins should be a beast.
LB - Up. Bando, Santos with another year of experience, return of Rose
DB - Status quo, perhaps up. Lose Mitchell and Coop, but get a couple of players back, plus DD, Nate, Cockerell plus the frosh that played last year.
ST - Up. Kicker and punter return, plus DPE and focused coaching.

My take. This team goes as far as Tommy can take it. Defensively, a monster season from Collins could change the calculus on that side of the ball.
WR/TE - Up. Bell is the only real loss, Westy will continue to be reliable and a year in the playbook should help DPE. There is size and talent here. Maybe Turner plays another year? TE should improve in the new offense after being overlooked before.

OL - Up/Same. They were neither very good nor very bad for years. There's plenty of room to improve, but I'd be surprised if they got much worse.

QB - Depends on the offense. Armstrong is not a pro-style pocket passer IMO and if they try to make him one, it could be the second coming of Joe Daily. Similar offense, up. Wholesale offensive change, down.

RB - I'll go out on a limb and say up. You don't replace Ameer, but you shouldn't be trying to. NU vastly overused its #1 back under Pelini. If they can get a true 2-3 back rotation and not just grind the #1 til his legs fall off, they can be better late in the season.

DL - Down. Depth is somehow an issue here again. A key injury here or there and they're in deep trouble and forced to trot out freshman or play guys out of position.

LB - Down (if that's possible). The LB play was bad last year, and they'll be VERY young at the position this year. They're going to take some lumps and bust some plays. But there's a chance we get a pleasant surprise and a young phenom emerges.

DB - Up. For all the solid CB play we got under Pelini, the safety play was garbage. A lot of talented guys came in to play safety, and pretty much NONE of them panned out. They were turning walk-ons into starters while guys with better measurables rode pine. If Gerry gets a coach and a scheme that uses his talents properly and doesn't put him on an island against the run all the time, he has the goods to be All-Conference or better.

ST - Up. KR and PR were pretty good. DPE is lightning in a bottle on PR. Placekicking has fallen off and the kick coverage has been poor for years. Lots of room to improve.
 
Originally posted by inWV:
Position groups. Could have also used personnel groupings (btw, the text editor flags misspellings
smile.r191677.gif
).
The implementation of a new scheme is a neutralizer. A few things I expect on defense:


- Safety will be downright nasty with Gerry and Alexander side by side. - Having LeRoy Alexander in the fold will be huge. He can totally cut
off the strong side of the field and will allow Gerry to utilize his
strength which is pursuit on vertical routes or close on crossing routes. Think about how many angles Corey Cooper missed on short to intermediate routes. LeRoy will make those plays. I'm pretty sure Nebraska beats Minnesota if LeRoy plays, and the Michigan State game would've been very interesting.


- D-line will present more depth with the addition of Stoltenburg, Newell, and King. Natter is the wildcard though. He must finally get healthy. I think Stoltenburg will eventually start over Gangwish. McMullen was gassed by the last month of the 2014 season. Dude is a great player, but was beat up and played far too many snaps. He will get some rest in 2015 and be far more effective.

- Banderas and Santos will benefit immensely from the scheme. Their coverage responsibilities will be drastically minimized. Linebacker depth is terrifying.

- Chris Jones will start opposite Daniel Davie. CB is the strongest unit on the team. Kalu, Cjax, Trai Mosely and Cockrell can all play the position. Eric Lee will also earn extensive PT. Don't be surprised if Chris Jones and Eric Lee are starters in 2016. The secondary will be tested more in 2015 than before. This new scheme will focus on stopping the run. That will keep the corners on an island.
 
Originally posted by inWV:
I'll take a stab at it.
Receivers and TEs - Status quo. Loss of Bell, but we have Turner and DPE, both can be electric. TEs should improve under new staff.
OL - status quo, perhaps better.
QB - Up, TA has one more year of experience and will get better coaching.
RB - Down. I do not see a replacement for AA among this group.
DL - status quo. We lose Randy, but the others will have one more year of experience. Collins should be a beast.
LB - Up. Bando, Santos with another year of experience, return of Rose
DB - Status quo, perhaps up. Lose Mitchell and Coop, but get a couple of players back, plus DD, Nate, Cockerell plus the frosh that played last year.
ST - Up. Kicker and punter return, plus DPE and focused coaching.

My take. This team goes as far as Tommy can take it. Defensively, a monster season from Collins could change the calculus on that side of the ball.
Receivers and TEs - status quo. I'd have said down because we're going to seriously miss Bell, but TE play will be better and we've got some guys coming back from injury who should help a lot.
OL - Up (slightly). Experience and depth. Some promising newcomers. Hope Reeves is healthy.
QB - Up. They're all back and more experience. Scheme could change this however if they're uncomfortable with the new offense.
RB - Down. I like the talent we have, but they're not Ameer, at least not yet.
DL - Up. DTs should be stout. Would love to have Williams stay healthy all season. DEs - one stud, and some of the youngsters will play. No true pass-rusher like Gregory but depth across the board and overall talent will prevail.
LB - Up. Mostly because I can't see them playing any worse.
DB - Up. Lots of depth. Critical players coming back from injury/suspension. Talented newcomers. New defense scheme may make the DBs look worse because they won't be protected as much as before, but it's a necessary change IMO because we can't keep allowing teams to ram the ball down our throats.
ST - Up. No reason to think they won't keep improving.

Guess that looks optimistic. A few key injuries changes everything, though, especially on the defensive front 7.
 
Originally posted by Cornicator:

- Chris Jones will start opposite Daniel Davie. CB is the strongest unit on the team. Kalu, Cjax, Trai Mosely and Cockrell can all play the position. Eric Lee will also earn extensive PT. Don't be surprised if Chris Jones and Eric Lee are starters in 2016. The secondary will be tested more in 2015 than before. This new scheme will focus on stopping the run. That will keep the corners on an island.
Anything additional to add about Chris Jones? He kind of got lost last year with Kalu breaking out. Does Jones have more speed/agility than Kalu or Cockrell? Not disagreeing at all, just wondering. I like Kalu and Cockrell, and didn't see Jones play much other than ST, so wondered what you saw/heard to think he was going to jump over a few more experienced players.
 
Based on personnel only because I do not know what to expect from the coaching staff yet (I am optimistic, but don't want to put the cart before the horse).

OL - Better. Keep all 4 tackles and give an opportunity to some young and talented kids in the middle. The team is deep with young guards.
QB - Better. Everybody coming back.
WR - Same. DPE takes Bells spot.
TE - Better. Nowhere to go but up.
RB - Down. Hard to replace a legend.
DL - Same. DTs looks great. Since RG was out for some of last year, the depth is not any worse. There are a couple young kids that should get a shot.
LB - Better. Nowhere to go but up. Rose returning helps.
DB - Better. Alexander will be back. He and Gerry should be stout. CBs will look good as well.
ST - Better. DPE will be electric.
 
Originally posted by zamzman:
Originally posted by Cornicator:

- Chris Jones will start opposite Daniel Davie. CB is the strongest unit on the team. Kalu, Cjax, Trai Mosely and Cockrell can all play the position. Eric Lee will also earn extensive PT. Don't be surprised if Chris Jones and Eric Lee are starters in 2016. The secondary will be tested more in 2015 than before. This new scheme will focus on stopping the run. That will keep the corners on an island.
Anything additional to add about Chris Jones? He kind of got lost last year with Kalu breaking out. Does Jones have more speed/agility than Kalu or Cockrell? Not disagreeing at all, just wondering. I like Kalu and Cockrell, and didn't see Jones play much other than ST, so wondered what you saw/heard to think he was going to jump over a few more experienced players.
Jones has DYNAMIC speed and flexibility, even moreso than Kalu. Jones was just a little too small last season and really should've been redshirted. He will be a true cover corner. He's more of a throw back blanket corner. He's not going to overwhelm someone with his size like SJB or Prince. He's also not going to dominate in press coverage through tremendous strength like Alfonzo Dennard.

He's more in the Keyou Craver or Ralph Brown mode. He has exceptional speed and can change direction on a dime. Kalu is more of a Nickel or Hybrid player. He's lankier and also has excellent speed, but doesn't shift his hips as well.

... And I honestly think Eric Lee might be better than all of them.
 
OL - Better talent. Better size. Better depth. No more mental mistakes at the worst possible moment from 68.
QB - Better by experience, if nothing else. Better QB coaching expected as well.
WR - Loss until we find a consistent deep threat to replace Bell.
TE - Should be better. I wonder how much of this was Beck and how much was TA4? Seemed like TM3 threw to TEs. If TA4 can't find a TE, I think they will find a new QB.
RB - Loss, but hopefully not by much if someone (or two) steps up.

DL - Better. More experience and more depth.
LB - Better by far. Els is gone. There is some talent and experience to work with. Questionable depth.
DB - Safetys better. Unsure about CBs. There is talent, no doubt.
ST - Holding steady.

Coaching- I feel confident this will be an upgrade overall.
 
ADVERTISEMENT