Mark Banker Q&A: Embracing a big challenge

zoogs

zoogs

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From LJS.

A few nuggets from Brian Christopherson's excellent piece:

-Banker didn't hand out playbooks or OSU film cut-ups during Spring. Asked players to take more ownership of the learning process.

-Doesn't think we have "that flashy edge guy" at DE, but has "blue collar" workers.

-Cites VV getting to playing weight as his "Achilles' heel". Thinks Maliek can get more out of himself by trying to do less.

-High hopes for J.Rose, but "w'ere not going to sacrifice the good of the team just to make sure he plays", which I thought was kind of an interesting comment. Also names some academic hurdles.

-Also interesting when talking about Kalu. Lots of praise, and also (smilingly) warns that he's got to "not jack around."

-Banker uses the word "dude" a lot. That's cool
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-This is the interview where he had the line, "We want to be part of the positive history of Nebraska football, because otherwise youre just some other dude."

 
-This is the interview where he had the line, "We want to be part of the positive history of Nebraska football, because otherwise youre just some other dude."
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I love that quote.
I really like Coach Banker.

I like his attitude.

I also like how he doesn't seem to overcompicate things. He speaks in a way that people can understand, he's relateable, and in coaching that can be huge.

It doesn't matter if you're the smartest guy in the room, if it doesn't translate to the players and they aren't able to pick it up, then they aren't learning.

Coaching is teaching.

It's not about what you know, it's about what you can get your players to know. Banker seems to understand that. So while his defensive scheme may not be the most elaborate, I do expect the players to have an understanding, and the knowledge to execute it.

Now we just have to see if executing his defense will be a good or a bad thing in the Big Ten.

 
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I know a lot on this board have a lot of miss givings about Banker. The concerns are legitimate, but I think after reading this article you can see he understands what is expected of him and is up to and embracing the challenge.

 
Really good interview; great candidness. Results will show his actual ability, but you have to give the guy absolute respect for his respect of Nebraska and drive to do something special here.

 
Very good article......

I thought it was interesting about Kevin Williams. He had a chip on his shoulder and felt "slighted" that he didn't get into the rotation with Collins and Vince. This is pretty telling of the previous staff and the fact we were often gassed by the 4th quarter. I like the idea of an actual rotation rather than playing the starters for most of the game every game. This helps with player development as well. Obviously.

Interesting tidbit on Chris Weber as well. Looks like he will provide some much needed depth at LB.

 
zoogs said:
From LJS.

-Banker uses the word "dude" a lot. That's cool
default_laugh.png


-This is the interview where he had the line, "We want to be part of the positive history of Nebraska football, because otherwise youre just some other dude."
Click to expand...
Good break down zoogs, especially the dude part.
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I've heard a lot about this defense. Supposed to be much faster, let loose, go for the QB kind of thing. But won't that make it much easier for running QB's to get out of the pocket and/or up the middle because we're not staying in lanes? I think we'll see more pressure at times, but we could suffer against running QB's again. Banker did have problems at OSU with this.

 
NUinID said:
I know a lot on this board have a lot of miss givings about Banker. The concerns are legitimate, but I think after reading this article you can see he understands what is expected of him and is up to and embracing the challenge.
Click to expand...
Time will definitely tell, but I wonder if Banker won't be the one coach on this staff that sees the biggest success or impact over what he had at Oregon State. Back in the day, there were many including myself that wanted to run McBride out on a rail. I thought he had to be one of the most incompetent DCs in the country. When we shifted gears in recruiting from size to speed, McBride's defense excelled. I think the upgrade in team speed might make Banker's defense look a lot better.

 
Really wish VV would turn the corner on the playing weight issue. Dude has a huge upside but is having problems getting out of his way on this.

 
junior4949 said:
NUinID said:
I know a lot on this board have a lot of miss givings about Banker. The concerns are legitimate, but I think after reading this article you can see he understands what is expected of him and is up to and embracing the challenge.
Click to expand...
Time will definitely tell, but I wonder if Banker won't be the one coach on this staff that sees the biggest success or impact over what he had at Oregon State. Back in the day, there were many including myself that wanted to run McBride out on a rail. I thought he had to be one of the most incompetent DCs in the country. When we shifted gears in recruiting from size to speed, McBride's defense excelled. I think the upgrade in team speed might make Banker's defense look a lot better.
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This always makes me chuckle when McBride comes up. He definitely finished with a flourish, but his name was mud when we were getting killed in 20 straight bowl games (or something like that). I can still remember my dad saying we'd never win a national championship with McBride as DC - and that was when we were playing for national championships fairly regularly.

 
There was a significant period of time where it seemed like your dad was right. It was downright embarrassing playing a team from the state of Florida with speedy receivers because they were being covered by our secondary where the 40 times were timed using a sundial.

 
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