Does NU have a chance in the B1G West?

BigRedBuster said:
I think there are some coaches that are good at creating a culture and work ethic within a program that gets 3* kids to play fundamentally sound football. They might not be as fast as the kid on the other side.  But, they don't make mistakes that they can control.  Then, those coaches know how to scheme in a way that allows the team (working well together) to succeed in a lot of games.
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Bill Snyder was one example

 
There's just not a great history of Air Raid or Total Ground Game offenses being sustainable. It's true that a Hawaii or Texas Tech or Army or Georgia Tech can make a little noise recruiting and playing a one-dimensional game, but the ceiling is pretty low. It comes up on here because we still remember 1994-97 Nebraska, but that was a perfect storm and we were already a recruiting hotbed. A lot of folks say the premium on defense speed these would make reliance on the option more risky. 

Notable difference?  Nebraska wasn't necessarily famous for recruiting the skill positions. But we treated the offensive and defensive lines as skill positions, and a lot of good fell out of that. 

 
Red Five said:
Rhule's HS recruiting isn't pointing to dual threat.  Went hard and Raiola and ended up with Kaelin, both strong pass first guys.
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I agree that Kaelin has the potential to be a good passer at the college level. Yeah we went after Raiola, but who didn't? And also, did we really ever have much of a chance?

My definition of a "pass first QB" tends to be one that obviously passes well, but his running isn't really all that great. But he can do a little zone read or QB power's here and there. Maybe I'm using that differently than everybody else.

The true dual threat guy is good at both (again, for me), and there aren't that many of them out there in the wild, and they usually go to Top 25 schools. I think the term has basically come to mean "a QB that runs" for most people, though. Know what I mean?

 
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Undone said:
I agree that Kaelin has the potential to be a good passer at the college level. Yeah we went after Raiola, but who didn't? And also, did we really ever have much of a chance?

My definition of a "pass first QB" tends to be one that obviously passes well, but his running isn't really all that great. But he can do a little zone read or QB power's here and there. Maybe I'm using that differently than everybody else.

The true dual threat guy is good at both (again, for me), but I think the term has basically come to mean "a QB that runs." Know what I mean?
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I disagree.  I consider Casey Thompson a pass first guy even though he could do damage with his legs.

 
Guy Chamberlin said:
Notable difference?  Nebraska wasn't necessarily famous for recruiting the skill positions. But we treated the offensive and defensive lines as skill positions, and a lot of good fell out of that. 
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Yes, Tenopir - and Epley was probably brought in as well - were great at spotting genetic potential in the builds of high school athletes for the line.

But also, we were stacked with skill position talent that was recruited from coast to coast during the title run era.

 
My personal preference for Nebraska's quarterback position in the future (assuming Rhule/Satterfield take the offense in the direction I think they want to go) would be a player that can make plays with their legs but passing is their greatest asset, as opposed to a player who is "good at both" or a good runner that we try to mold into a competent passer. We've definitely had some good dual-threat quarterbacks in the last 10-15 years, but they were too often liabilities in the passing game or just had really high volumes of turnovers because a) they weren't great passers and b) they ran a lot and fumbled.

 
BigRedBuster said:
I disagree.  I consider Casey Thompson a pass first guy even though he could do damage with his legs.
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What do you disagree with? Nobody said anything about Casey Thompson. So you can see why I'd be confused that you brought him up, as if you're having a different conversation in your own head about my post that I'm unaware of.    ;)

I also consider Casey Thompson to be a pass first guy - but you can't use him in Rhule's (current) scheme, or he'd be in a wheel chair by mid-season. With the operative word being "current."

 
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No quarterback want to come to a program where the offensive line collapses as quickly as the Huskers.

We need a reputation as an offensive line powerhouse. That should be a top priority, rather than chasing pocket passers who won't have a pocket. 

 
Guy Chamberlin said:
No quarterback want to come to a program where the offensive line collapses as quickly as the Huskers.

We need a reputation as an offensive line powerhouse. That should be a top priority, rather than chasing pocket passers who won't have a pocket. 
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And I think it is - but you can't just not recruit QBs while you build up the OL. And I don't think the dual-threat guys are super interested in a pitch like "well we really want to throw it more, but our OL sucks and we think you can survive better than guys who fit our scheme." OL is clearly a priority, it's just hard to land guys like Baker. Taumua is a big pull, and I'm really hoping we can land Brix. 

 
Number1Rhule said:
We just have to win more each year and more high school and college transfers will want to come play here. Right now we just can’t compete in the transfer market like the top teams. Best QB in portal we could get is a bad QB, and drove a better one out. Deion has legend status as an Hall of Famer. We have Matt Rhule because we have to have a builder coach, as we don’t attract big time players. Same as Kansas and Kansas St have had to do it, and many others.
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I get it. I flat out said we can’t do what Deion is doing in my first post. That doesn’t mean we can’t get portal guys who have shown some ability at the college level. But we can develop portal players as well. Guys who have seen what it takes to compete at a college level and want to get a chance. And yeah we whiffed big time on Arik Gilbert but maybe you steal a guy with his talent that doesn’t rob vape shops. I’m just saying the portal offers you the opportunity to maybe steal a level of talent you won’t get out of high school or maybe a guy who was a 3 coming out of high school who went to a school in the AAC or MAC who turned out to be better then expected

 
Guy Chamberlin said:
We need a reputation as an offensive line powerhouse. That should be a top priority, rather than chasing pocket passers who won't have a pocket. 
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I think you need to do both simultaneously. Probably the three most important things a team needs in order to be successful are a good QB, a good o-line, and a good pass rush. Because yeah, a really good o-line isn't going to change much if you have troubles at QB, and a really good QB can't do much if they're running for their life all day.

 
Enhance said:
I think you need to do both simultaneously. Probably the three most important things a team needs in order to be successful are a good QB, a good o-line, and a good pass rush. Because yeah, a really good o-line isn't going to change much if you have troubles at QB, and a really good QB can't do much if they're running for their life all day.
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This. Good Oline lets you do what your skill position players are best suited for. Good Dline can cover flaws in the secondary by making teams one dimensional. Everything starts with the line on both sides. It’s why Oregon -21 was free money. Shadeur Sanders isn’t s#!t with a guy in his face. It’s why having an extremely talented back like Edwards at CU means nothing at this point 

 
Enhance said:
I think you need to do both simultaneously. Probably the three most important things a team needs in order to be successful are a good QB, a good o-line, and a good pass rush. Because yeah, a really good o-line isn't going to change much if you have troubles at QB, and a really good QB can't do much if they're running for their life all day.
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What can we offer a good QB or good O-line recruit, that other better Power 5 teams cannot?  Why would a good QB or O-line recruit want to come to Nebraska?  Maybe they grew up here, but I don't think we can rely on that because we have such a small population base to choose from. 

 
Guy Chamberlin said:
There's just not a great history of Air Raid or Total Ground Game offenses being sustainable. It's true that a Hawaii or Texas Tech or Army or Georgia Tech can make a little noise recruiting and playing a one-dimensional game, but the ceiling is pretty low. It comes up on here because we still remember 1994-97 Nebraska, but that was a perfect storm and we were already a recruiting hotbed. A lot of folks say the premium on defense speed these would make reliance on the option more risky. 

Notable difference?  Nebraska wasn't necessarily famous for recruiting the skill positions. But we treated the offensive and defensive lines as skill positions, and a lot of good fell out of that. 
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You may be right or you may be wrong, but I think the question left unanswered is how you get that O-line or D-line recruit to Nebraska? 

Right now, I don't care how good of a "recruiter" you bring in.  At the end of the day if you have the greatest salesman in the world offering you a 1995 Blazer, or a piss poor salesman offering you a 2023 Cadillac, for the same price, everyone is taking the Cadillac.  

People also talk about how "winning" will bring recruits, but I've always thought that was a chicken or egg argument.  I still stand by the fact that we need to offer something unique to recruits, given our small state population, lack of attractions, etc.  I think that is really the only proven recipe that has worked here?

Again, just my two cents.

 
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