RB Discussion

[jflores]

Watch some film of Bradley. Kid has some talent, for sure

Yah I'm excited about Bradley.

 

[HuskerHusaria]

Bradley has some great tape for sure! But, there is something about Tre that I really like.

 

[spinner4]

One problem we need to face here in the fan base is that our desires often don't line up with our proposed solutions.

For example, in this thread we've heard some people refer to our backs as average or even scrubs. Assuming that is true, what sense does it make then to give one guy Zeke Elliott type carries? It doesn't. You'd probably get more mileage out of them playing situational football.

The 2nd pet peeve of mine. "We don't have a feature back on the roster, can Riley afford to wait 2-3 years to find one?" If the consensus among the haters is that Jaylin Bradley is the next true "feature back" at NU, we're already in a position where we're probably 2 years away then. The guy is not getting 70% of carries as a frosh and probably not even as a sophomore.

If even Pledger was "the guy", we're talking about 2 years. He won't be on campus for over another year.

A lot of your "pet peeve's" seem to be aimed at me. Mainly cause you quoted my post and reworded some of my other posts. That's OK. But just to be clear, I have never said "we do not have a feature back on the roster" I said "is there one?" Cause honestly, we don't know. Never called our guys Scrubs. Said they were unproven, basically.

You state " people refer to our backs as average or even scrubs... what sense does it make then to give one guy Zeke Elliott type carries? It doesn't."

What sense does it make? A lot. Confidence is a big key to being successful in sports. Looking over your shoulder on every huddle or not really understanding your placement on the team can really make one worse off. Plus being in a rhythm is a must for a RB. Repetition is the best way to get better.

I honestly believe too much goes into "keeping RBs fresh". RBs are some of (if not) the best athletes on the field. Rushing the ball 20+ times a game should not kill them. They are finely tuned athletes who are in prime shape. Do they get beat up? Hell yes they do. But if one can not play beat up, then they honestly should not be playing RB. There is a difference between being hurt & being injured. I don't know that OZ understands that difference but the good RBs understand it. Hell, guys like Shady McCoy have made comments about not playing well unless they are hurt a little.

And I think your wrong to assume a RB can't come right in and be a feature back. The transition from HS to College for a RB isn't as challenging as most other positions are. Lots of backs have done it. Not saying it is not challenging. It is very challenging but it's do-able. Picking up the blitz is probably the most challenging part but even then, if your not a 3rd down back, you'll probably do less of that. A lot of things RBs do can not be taught. A lot of things RBs do, come natural. So learning is not as important as say lineman or wide-outs. Obviously learning at ever position is important.

 

[TheBeav815]

Bradley scored 50 TOUCHDOWNS in Class A football and won a state title in his senior season. If that's not enough to raise an eyebrow then you'll never be satisfied with a RB from NE. i think the biggest thing is the perception of football has changed in the state so we don't value our kids. I'm telling you there's a lot of true talent here that goes to Wyoming, Kearney etc.... If Bradley was out of Ohio or Texas we would be crowning him the second coming of Ahman Green. i think this kid is as much of risk as Adam Taylor was. My gut tells me by his junior year people will happy he's a husker.

Exactly. If he came out of CA or TX with that film, people would be on here talking about maybe he'll start as a true freshman. My how things have changed from having an in-state RB be the dream to him being an afterthought. I guess after Horne and Okafor your little hearts don't dare to love again?

The ignorance people have about football compared to their passion for wanting to talk about it is staggering. Tre Bryant is a sophomore. True soph. And people are practically dancing on his grave. He got like 40 carries all of last year behind a bad o-line. Bryant looked good in the spring game. He's on schedule. 4* kid, very highly recruited, figures to start in year 2. What is it that you think you want the RB recruiting to look like???

They get an absolute steal in Barnett, fantastic film on the kid, he's dying to be N and just needed to get his grades up. Which is it, they need to take every worthwhile kid from NE and the radius as a first priority, or they shouldn't get any credit for that? This is the same board that shits its pants when Johnny Haybales from out in Cozad doesn't get an offer and might go to Iowa but now getting a kid who just murdered Class A all year is not an accomplishment?

 

[jflores]

A lot of your "pet peeve's" seem to be aimed at me. Mainly cause you quoted my post and reworded some of my other posts. That's OK. But just to be clear, I have never said "we do not have a feature back on the roster" I said "is there one?" Cause honestly, we don't know. Never called our guys Scrubs. Said they were unproven, basically.

You state " people refer to our backs as average or even scrubs... what sense does it make then to give one guy Zeke Elliott type carries? It doesn't."

What sense does it make? A lot. Confidence is a big key to being successful in sports. Looking over your shoulder on every huddle or not really understanding your placement on the team can really make one worse off. Plus being in a rhythm is a must for a RB. Repetition is the best way to get better.

I honestly believe too much goes into "keeping RBs fresh". RBs are some of (if not) the best athletes on the field. Rushing the ball 20+ times a game should not kill them. They are finely tuned athletes who are in prime shape. Do they get beat up? Hell yes they do. But if one can not play beat up, then they honestly should not be playing RB. There is a difference between being hurt & being injured. I don't know that OZ understands that difference but the good RBs understand it. Hell, guys like Shady McCoy have made comments about not playing well unless they are hurt a little.

And I think your wrong to assume a RB can't come right in and be a feature back. The transition from HS to College for a RB isn't as challenging as most other positions are. Lots of backs have done it. Not saying it is not challenging. It is very challenging but it's do-able. Picking up the blitz is probably the most challenging part but even then, if your not a 3rd down back, you'll probably do less of that. A lot of things RBs do can not be taught. A lot of things RBs do, come natural. So learning is not as important as say lineman or wide-outs. Obviously learning at ever position is important.

I'm not aiming my pet peeves at you in particular. These are things that have been said over time on the board, some of which you appear to agree with and some of which you don't.

In terms of the looking over your shoulder thing, I think part of it has to do with the expectations of the players going in and their relative skill level. If Tre Bryant was LP incarnate, and the other guys are still the other guys, he by and large is not going to expect to be pulled from play to play or drive to drive, and if he is you are doing it wrong. 100% agree.

However, Bryant is not LP at this time, although he appears to have a gap between him and the other guys when you hear about the coaches in the off season. Does that mean he expects 3/4 of the snaps? Probably not...he can probably see that while he's better than the other guys, he's probably not so good that they literally should never see the field unless he's just gassed.

We also have to consider "the system". Riley is probably not telling all these kids, if you come to NU you'll get 35 carries a game. They are probably more than aware that if you are Stephen Jackson good you will, but if you aren't quite that good, any one of the K-Dub hauls at WR will be getting a couple of screens of fly sweeps instead, or the TE, or the FB. Etc.

Such is a nice problem to have.

 

[NikkiSixx]

Bradley scored 50 TOUCHDOWNS in Class A football and won a state title in his senior season. If that's not enough to raise an eyebrow then you'll never be satisfied with a RB from NE. i think the biggest thing is the perception of football has changed in the state so we don't value our kids. I'm telling you there's a lot of true talent here that goes to Wyoming, Kearney etc.... If Bradley was out of Ohio or Texas we would be crowning him the second coming of Ahman Green. i think this kid is as much of risk as Adam Taylor was. My gut tells me by his junior year people will happy he's a husker.

I would hope you could re-read what I wrote. I said nothing negative about Jaylin Bradley at all. I said Tre Bryant hadn't done anything yet to raise an eyebrow, but also noted he is young. Further down in this thread, I gave some insight why I was so excited about Jaylin Bradley. You seem to have gotten it all twisted up somehow.

 

[jflores]

I don't think in this offense, being fresh is a primary concern. I think its a nice bonus, but there are so many contrasting skill sets it opens up the playbook.

That said, there are some bonehead times when they pull Newby, and then try and make Zig an open field guy.

Fix those, and I'm good.

 

[HuskerHusaria]

I like every RB who runs for us! They have chosen to bleed scarlet when they had multiple options!! They chose Nebraska. The name.... Nebraska. They could play at OSU who produced Ezekiel Elliott. That's a powerful recruiting tool! What can DONU do to bridge the gap?

 

[NikkiSixx]

A lot of your "pet peeve's" seem to be aimed at me. Mainly cause you quoted my post and reworded some of my other posts. That's OK. But just to be clear, I have never said "we do not have a feature back on the roster" I said "is there one?" Cause honestly, we don't know. Never called our guys Scrubs. Said they were unproven, basically.

You state " people refer to our backs as average or even scrubs... what sense does it make then to give one guy Zeke Elliott type carries? It doesn't."

What sense does it make? A lot. Confidence is a big key to being successful in sports. Looking over your shoulder on every huddle or not really understanding your placement on the team can really make one worse off. Plus being in a rhythm is a must for a RB. Repetition is the best way to get better.

I honestly believe too much goes into "keeping RBs fresh". RBs are some of (if not) the best athletes on the field. Rushing the ball 20+ times a game should not kill them. They are finely tuned athletes who are in prime shape. Do they get beat up? Hell yes they do. But if one can not play beat up, then they honestly should not be playing RB. There is a difference between being hurt & being injured. I don't know that OZ understands that difference but the good RBs understand it. Hell, guys like Shady McCoy have made comments about not playing well unless they are hurt a little.

And I think your wrong to assume a RB can't come right in and be a feature back. The transition from HS to College for a RB isn't as challenging as most other positions are. Lots of backs have done it. Not saying it is not challenging. It is very challenging but it's do-able. Picking up the blitz is probably the most challenging part but even then, if your not a 3rd down back, you'll probably do less of that. A lot of things RBs do can not be taught. A lot of things RBs do, come natural. So learning is not as important as say lineman or wide-outs. Obviously learning at ever position is important.

You make some good points. It's probably a good reminder to us all that any RB has to be able to block first to even see the field under this offense. That was not necessarily the case in the past. Also, a premium is put on being able to catch the ball as well.

They never are going to get a RB into rhythm either, because they are just flat out used differently in this offense. We all have seen the past two years, that they don't have a clue on how to run the ball first. The run is setup by the pass instead.

Personally, I think we got enough wide receivers as it is, but hey, let's make the RB's receivers too and let's give the QB like 5 options to pass the ball to on any given play. (sarcasm)

I'll never be a fan of this pro style offense at Nebraska.

 

[jeans15]

I don't like a lot of RB shuffling. Play the best guy the majority of the snaps.

 

[TheBeav815]

You make some good points. It's probably a good reminder to us all that any RB has to be able to block first to even see the field under this offense. That was not necessarily the case in the past. Also, a premium is put on being able to catch the ball as well.

They never are going to get a RB into rhythm either, because they are just flat out used differently in this offense. We all have seen the past two years, that they don't have a clue on how to run the ball first. The run is setup by the pass instead.

Personally, I think we got enough wide receivers as it is, but hey, let's make the RB's receivers too and let's give the QB like 5 options to pass the ball to on any given play. (sarcasm)

I'll never be a fan of this pro style offense at Nebraska.

Hard to say what they'd like to do, but it was clear they didn't believe they had the OL to be able to ground & pound. Having seen them in action, it's tough to argue.

 

[nebcountry]

I seldom expect a true freshman to come in and play at a high impact level. Recruiting is not to fill some void this year, it's an investment for down the road. The world will not come to an end if we don't take a RB this year, heck, a portion of our fanbase is content with 7 or 8 wins. So, no biggie that we can't recruit a RB to Nebraska.

It has been suggested by others that we ask one of our other coaches that is slacking off and only giving about 50% to pick up the load on RB recruiting. That's fine too.

 

[jflores]

You make some good points. It's probably a good reminder to us all that any RB has to be able to block first to even see the field under this offense. That was not necessarily the case in the past. Also, a premium is put on being able to catch the ball as well.

They never are going to get a RB into rhythm either, because they are just flat out used differently in this offense. We all have seen the past two years, that they don't have a clue on how to run the ball first. The run is setup by the pass instead.

Personally, I think we got enough wide receivers as it is, but hey, let's make the RB's receivers too and let's give the QB like 5 options to pass the ball to on any given play. (sarcasm)

I'll never be a fan of this pro style offense at Nebraska.

Of the top 25 rushing teams there are only about six teams that play pretty good football record wise. Auburn Bama OSU Louisville Oklahoma LSU and west Virginia. Only two in the top 10 rushing. Auburn and Bama (and they were 9 and 10).

Clemson won the title finishing six spots behind us but only five actual yards per game. We finished at 68th and Wisconsin at 39. We finished about thirty yards a game behind the west division leader which is basically 6 or 7 rushes per game.

It's a different era in college football when Wisconsin almost wins the BIG and barely cracks the top 40 in rushing. Or when PSU wins the BIG finishing 59th in rushing.

I think the evidence is pretty clear. We clean up other parts of our game and we already run the ball well enough to win what we want to win.

https://www.teamrankings.com/college-football/stat/rushing-yards-per-game

 

[jflores]

I guess it's also fair to point out that Iowa finished 53 and less than 15 ypg rushing ahead of us.

This is a team that runs the most vanilla offense in college football and will be combing the ranks of the cheer squad to find WRs to throw to.

 

[jflores]

You make some good points. It's probably a good reminder to us all that any RB has to be able to block first to even see the field under this offense. That was not necessarily the case in the past. Also, a premium is put on being able to catch the ball as well.

They never are going to get a RB into rhythm either, because they are just flat out used differently in this offense. We all have seen the past two years, that they don't have a clue on how to run the ball first. The run is setup by the pass instead.

Personally, I think we got enough wide receivers as it is, but hey, let's make the RB's receivers too and let's give the QB like 5 options to pass the ball to on any given play. (sarcasm)

I'll never be a fan of this pro style offense at Nebraska.

We have more RB on the roster than they did in 95. And we might get two on the field simultaneously.

We just had something like four or five receivers leave the program and can use up to five on any given play. Are we not to supposed to staff appropriately?

 

[jflores]

And I think your wrong to assume a RB can't come right in and be a feature back.

I didn't say it was impossible, its just unlikely in many cases. Abdullah didn't really carry the load until his sophomore year and he was a guy you knew game 1 had "it" for the college game.

 

[cecilB]

A poster on another board made a comment that intrigued me. Folks getting antsy about not getting a RB this year (basically unless its Pledger sounds like).

We have 9 RB's on the roster. In 1995 we had 7. Subtracting walk-ons, both teams had 5 scholarship backs. Both teams had one Sr back, and 95 also had LP on it who was probably going pro anyway. This year's only Sr is Adam Taylor.

The '17 backs are Bradley, Bryant, Ozigbo, Taylor, Wilbon on scholarship and Hass, Lambert, Mazour and Rose as walk-ons.

I know what folks are going to say "but I don't think we have a true game changer on the roster". Some might quibble with that, but its besides the point....

The NCAA doesn't let you get above 85 because you don't think you have a true game changer in your massive RB room.

I'm not worried about the kids manning the position as I am the scheme/philosophy. If the staff continues to think you can just fling it around the field in this conference, in this climate(back half of the season), fields are certain to shrink once we get to the 30, and we won't be as prolific as all hope. Need lineman and some toughness to make the skinny fast guys on the outside what we all hope they will be. Balance, and effective in both aspects is critical

 

[NikkiSixx]

We have more RB on the roster than they did in 95. And we might get two on the field simultaneously.

We just had something like four or five receivers leave the program and can use up to five on any given play. Are we not to supposed to staff appropriately?

Yeah, I guess so.. it does seem like every commit we hear about is another WR, and that has been going on for 2 classes now. It is clear that the WR is the new featured skill player, not the RB.. and that makes me sad.

I hope they got some good OL the last 2 classes, cause if they can't pass pro as a unit, all those star receivers aint gonna mean squat.

 

[Tuco Salamanca]

31 players signed or committed between 2017-2018 classes

DB -4
LB - 4
DL - 5
OL - 5
WR -6
RB - 2
K - 1
TE - 3
QB - 1

 

[jflores]

Yeah, I guess so.. it does seem like every commit we hear about is another WR, and that has been going on for 2 classes now.

Well, I did say somewhere in this thread that I don't find the football talk all that prevalent at here on times....but I do know that this board celebrates ALL the new Husker commits so anyone who reasonably has a facility for attention span SHOULD know.

If you can't remember any of the Line commits, I would suppose that's on you, or maybe you are just looking for a reason to be butt hurt about the WR position group

 

[jflores]

It is clear that the WR is the new featured skill player, not the RB.. and that makes me sad.

Since you founded the Evidence Coalition, I would point out that most folks who are taking our run game to task aren't submitting much in the way of actual evidence of why it needs to be drastically overhauled.

There's a lot of "I don't like RB rotation" or "I prefer the RB to be featured over WR" and other touchy philosophical feelings....but there's not a whole heck of a lot of evidence being presented that NU *needs* to average 250 or 300 on the ground to have any chance of winning the B1G. Its how we've done it before, but it doesn't appear to *have* to be how we do it now.

PSU and Wisconsin the obvious examples presented in 2016, as is Clemson. Despite PSU have a feature back in Barkley and feeding him in the manner many suggest here, they basically came out in the wash similar to us (which might be kind of a slap in the face for them considering how bad our OL was and how average many folks think our backs are).

 

[NikkiSixx]

Since you founded the Evidence Coalition, I would point out that most folks who are taking our run game to task aren't submitting much in the way of actual evidence of why it needs to be drastically overhauled.

There's a lot of "I don't like RB rotation" or "I prefer the RB to be featured over WR" and other touchy philosophical feelings....but there's not a whole heck of a lot of evidence being presented that NU *needs* to average 250 or 300 on the ground to have any chance of winning the B1G. Its how we've done it before, but it doesn't appear to *have* to be how we do it now.

PSU and Wisconsin the obvious examples presented in 2016, as is Clemson. Despite PSU have a feature back in Barkley and feeding him in the manner many suggest here, they basically came out in the wash similar to us (which might be kind of a slap in the face for them considering how bad our OL was and how average many folks think our backs are).

Nebraska's 5 national titles is all the evidence I need to support an option or run first mentality. Long time fans know how the run game works, how a back gets in the groove (or not when he gets 1 carry per quarter). Get back to me when we at least win a conference championship with the pass first offense.

 

[timnsun]

Nebraska's 5 national titles is all the evidence I need to support an option or run first mentality. Long time fans know how the run game works, how a back gets in the groove (or not when he gets 1 carry per quarter). Get back to me when we at least win a conference championship with the pass first offense.

USC, Florida, FSU, OU, Clemson, Oregon, BYU (classic days), and many others have won conference/NC with a passing game...

But the fact that these teams have done it doesn't matter cuz they're not Nebraska, right?

 

[jeans15]

USC, Florida, FSU, OU, Clemson, Oregon, BYU (classic days), and many others have won conference/NC with a passing game...

But the fact that these teams have done it doesn't matter cuz they're not Nebraska, right?

We don't get near the talent those schools do and Oregon isn't a pass first offense.

If you can't run the ball and play good defense you ain't winning jack.

Oklahoma's defense was unreal..plus FSU played a 3rd string QB or they wouldn't have any.


Great defenses will always shutdown a team that can't run the ball. Unless they have a mobile QB.

 

[Tuco Salamanca]

We don't get near the talent those schools do and Oregon isn't a pass first offense.

If you can't run the ball and play good defense you ain't winning jack.

Oklahoma's defense was unreal..plus FSU played a 3rd string QB or they wouldn't have any.


Great defenses will always shutdown a team that can't run the ball. Unless they have a mobile QB.

Who are the "great defenses" on the schedule?

 

[timnsun]

We don't get near the talent those schools do and Oregon isn't a pass first offense.

If you can't run the ball and play good defense you ain't winning jack.

Oklahoma's defense was unreal..plus FSU played a 3rd string QB or they wouldn't have any.


Great defenses will always shutdown a team that can't run the ball. Unless they have a mobile QB.

We're working on the defense... and the argument was passing teams don't win, but the ones I named did. We have not had the pro style QBs on campus like we do now, nor the talent at receiver like we do now. Maybe it won't work, but do we really know it won't? I guess I'll be contrarian on this one and say hat since we've never had this talent, there really is no factual evidence to say it won't work.

We are upgrading our talent across the board. It will begin to show in the west, and when we start coming through the west and start playing in conference championships, who knows what these kids can do? Maybe not year in and year out, but we will start to make waves.

And if we don't, then Riley will be gone and we will go back to the running game which Osborne made famous.

 

[anon_umk0ifu6vj6zi]

LOL. I've been a long time member here, I think I joined trying to get the scoop on who would get a crack after Solich. But I find more interesting football discussions elsewhere mostly.

I kind of get tired of explaining to folks who supposedly follow the program, why we are taking more WR's than OL this year. Over, and over, and over.

Run the ball!

 

[percyland]

I guess it's also fair to point out that Iowa finished 53 and less than 15 ypg rushing ahead of us.

This is a team that runs the most vanilla offense in college football and will be combing the ranks of the cheer squad to find WRs to throw to.

Hey I'm offended the way you are talking about Iowa's WR group!

Just kidding, I think they had 1 scholarship guy on the roster for the spring game. Nebraska may not need to play any DBs against Iowa this year. Probably will be 4 TEs out there at a time.