2023 Fall Camp Notes - Running Backs

Undone said:
A lot of our fans probably didn't understand that it wasn't the scheme Frost was playing that was the problem, it was just bad blocking so much of the time.
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Disclaimer:

I could be completely and totally off my rocker with what I'm about to say.

Sometimes I wonder if Frost would have been more successful at a school other than Nebraska. I think the idea of "Husker Power' poisoned his offense.

These spread to run type offenses developed because these teams didn't have Rimington award winners on them. Offenses like Mike Leach's Air Raid have those big line splits because someone went out with a stopwatch and went "Our Left Tackle sucks, how long would it take an opposing DE to get to the QB if he wasn't blocked". That's a big reason those line splits are so wide is to extend the distance between the DE and the QB's launch point.

A lot of today's popular offenses were developed for this reason; to overcome offensive line talent disadvantages. The spread to run offense Frost used as a base is one of them. It's designed to run against light boxes and to use pulling linemen to create numbers advantages. Somewhere along the line it all got big and bulky and slow.

 
brophog said:
Sometimes I wonder if Frost would have been more successful at a school other than Nebraska. I think the idea of "Husker Power' poisoned his offense.
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I do think Frost could have been way more successful at another school.  I think the burden of the trying to be the program's (or even state's) savior wore on him, and he succumbed to the mounting pressure to develop a lot of bad habits in coaching and his personal life.  He had some great success as an offensive coach prior to coming to NU, and his offenses at NU had moments of success, as well.

 
brophog said:
Sometimes I wonder if Frost would have been more successful at a school other than Nebraska. I think the idea of "Husker Power' poisoned his offense.
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Well, he was much more successful at a different school, and that school was UCF (even if it was a lucky flash in the pan). And I don't even know how we'd draw any straight lines to "Husker Power" and what he was doing as a composite of all 4.25 of his years here.

brophog said:
A lot of today's popular offenses were developed for this reason; to overcome offensive line talent disadvantages. The spread to run offense Frost used as a base is one of them. It's designed to run against light boxes and to use pulling linemen to create numbers advantages.
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As the stats show, in years 1-3 we at least ranked in the top 30 nationally in rushing yards per game. And Jurgens pulled a lot, and was extremely good at it, and some of that scheme was actually fairly successful here. But by the 2021 season, the offense as a whole was just fraught with unforced errors; there'd be false starts, turnovers, and even away-from-the-ball 15 yards penalties that would kill drives.

And as I mentioned in a part of that post that you didn't quote above (which is fine, there's no "tone" in what I'm saying here  :)  ), years 3 & 4 maybe didn't have as much outside/over the top talent as years 1 & 2 did. We did have Betts in year 4, but it wasn't enough.

So if the theory is that B1G defense are still big, strong, and lean more towards playing the box, what Frost was trying to do wasn't a bad idea. The scheme itself was in my opinion excellent not only in and of itself but also excellent for the B1G.

But a huge problem by years 4 & 5 were fairly bad issues with blocking in both the run and the pass, and then also tremendously bad issues with unforced errors. 

 
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Hilltop said:
I think most of us agree with you to a point but the one thing our team has lacked since Pelini left is an identity.  We need to know who we are and adapt and adjust as needed- crawl before you walk. 
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Identity is one thing I think won't be much of a problem for Rhule. On offense, at least, he doesn't seem like he wants to change what he does a whole lot from week to week, to try to scheme up something new for the upcoming opponent. He seems more focused on execution over scheme, just line up and do what we do well. (Which might have hurt him in the NFL, where scheme is much more critical.)

 
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Not having a top notch QB may have been his biggest problem in the NFL.  
 

Describe the ‘identity’ of Pelini’s teams. 
 

What was Frost’s team identity?   
 

What do you think Rhule wants his team identity to be?  I’d say, he wants his team to play harder than everybody else.  He wants his team to very athletic.   Speed is the first and foremost physical requirement.  Aggressive.  I think Rhule will be a risk taker at times - a bit of a riverboat gambler in all three phases.  He will have a few surprises up his sleeve.  
 

Sometimes it works; sometimes it doesn’t.   He will certainly demand full devotion and 110% effort. No slackers allowed.  

 
84HuskerLaw said:
Not having a top notch QB may have been his biggest problem in the NFL.  
 

Describe the ‘identity’ of Pelini’s teams. 
 

What was Frost’s team identity?   
 

What do you think Rhule wants his team identity to be?  I’d say, he wants his team to play harder than everybody else.  He wants his team to very athletic.   Speed is the first and foremost physical requirement.  Aggressive.  I think Rhule will be a risk taker at times - a bit of a riverboat gambler in all three phases.  He will have a few surprises up his sleeve.  
 

Sometimes it works; sometimes it doesn’t.   He will certainly demand full devotion and 110% effort. No slackers allowed.  
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The biggest difference already between what Frost and Rhule both say they demand with regards to work ethic, maturity, responsibility, etc, is that, while they both say very similar things, Rhule is the only one that actually sent Allen and Farmer packing and told Fleeks to stay home until he was able to hold his head up and say he is doing his part to be on the team.  s#!t carries 10000 times more weight when you hold your key diva's accountable like you say you will.

 
Red Five said:
Anyone know the story on Grant? I’ve heard anything from he’s working with the 3s and 4s to don’t expect him to be on the team come game week.
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My guess is that he's not doing what the coaches are expecting from him at RB, and other guys are.  I applaud the coaches for having fluid depth charts and treating training camp as a competition for playing time and touches.

 
just watched a short video or what I believe was the scrimmage they had on Sat.  looked like each back (23,22,21,14) had really nice runs for chunk plays.  Couple nice gains after breaking tackles as well.  Nice to sell all of them doing it.  Didn't really pay attention to who it was against or who was blocking tho.  

 
MyBloodIsRed16 said:
just watched a short video or what I believe was the scrimmage they had on Sat.  looked like each back (23,22,21,14) had really nice runs for chunk plays.  Couple nice gains after breaking tackles as well.  Nice to sell all of them doing it.  Didn't really pay attention to who it was against or who was blocking tho.  
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I didn't realize that Grant switched his number from #10 to #23, thanks!

 
MyBloodIsRed16 said:
Yeah I noticed 23 getting reps last week and was wondering who it was.  looked it up and saw it was him.  Also didn't know who 21 was at the time so I learned that was Emmett Johnson 
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The top 4 seem to be Gabe Ervin, Emmett Johnson, Rahmir Johnson, and Anthony Grant.  That could be the current pecking order, but it's a fluid situation.

 
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