Life without Newby

[MyBloodIsRed16]

IIRC Newby was the #1 rated RB out of Cali, and Adam Taylor was the #1 rated back out of Texas. I remember thinking that they were going to light the world on fire. Newby at least contributed some meaningful snaps, however I'd say his career was overall a letdown.

What happened to Taylor though? Injury bug? Transfer?

I thought Adam Taylor was a better back coming out, not sure what happend to him. Newby's entire highlight tape was him getting a toss and just getting to the sideline and out running everyone. Maybe he made a cut to beat one defender. That doesn't translate to college. Then he got here and would get carries and run to the sideline and have nowhere to go. He also fumbled every other carry and never understood why they wasted carries on him. I'm just speculating but if you go back to last year I'm willing to bet Imani Cross had more 10+ yard carries than Newby behind the same O-line

 

[PaulCrewe]

JJ's initial post is head on. Newby should have been attacking the edge not running up Utters a$$. Yes I know he has to attack the middle at times but the lack of any creativity in the run game and use of what you have from a personnel front really hurt what Newby could have been the past two seasons.

And as someone else stated his pass pro will be the biggest loss.

 

[RedSavage]

Newby was not the problem with our run game. If he had been provided a good O line and favorable play calling, he would've been right up there with our top RB's of the last 15 years.

In my opinion, Newby needed to have the most things go right in order to be successful. Some backs are able to make up for the faults around them based on their athleticism and football skill, and I don't think Newby is/was one of those types of players.
That's partially why I disagree with the notion that he'd be up there with the best backs of the last 15 years if things were different, or that he'd be to the level of Abdullah if he had an extra year of eligibility (as someone posted above.) First, you could say that about a lot of backs, and second, I don't look at Newby and see the same type of skill/athletic ability associated with some of the other recent backs.

I think Tre Bryant is setting himself up to be a special talent, but as others have mentioned, Nebraska has gotten by for far too long on mediocre line play. Conference titles and playoff berths won't be a reality until that changes.

Newby was not the problem with our run game. If he had been provided a good O line and favorable play calling, he would've been right up there with our top RB's of the last 15 years.

I am excited to see what some of the other up and comers will do but if the O line doesn't improve and if Langs insists on running quick scat backs between the tackles and trying to get the edge with punishing runners, well, we'll just have more years like this one.

Not sure I can completely agree with that. I agree Newby was not the main problem but Ameer faced many of the same problems and was able to turn nothing into something countless times.

I do agree about the O-line needing to be better and Langs figuring out how to best utilize our RB's

It was not my intention to claim he is or would've been as good as Ameer. Ameer was a special one and in a class above the others. But Rex, Helu, etc....yeah, I think Newby had the potential to be every bit the RB those guys were. Just unfortunate that he wasn't utilized to the strengths of his ability IMO.

I didn't think you were but even then, Rex, Helu, etc. Were faced with a lot of the same offensive line struggles. They just seemed to do better turning those broken plays into something more times than not, IMO. Maybe it truly does come down to a difference in playcalling.

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

I'm not confident at all with the way these coaches have handled our run game including what backs they decided to use and when and how they used them. I don't see much changing next year. More like waiting to see what running back magically disappears from the field again next year... I used to get excited about our running game. Not anymore sadly enough...

I'm also not confident that the run game will be a big part of the offense going forward. Langsdorf wants to pass the ball, so the run game will always be secondary in his offense.

Not to get too technical about it, but Nebraska ran the ball 495 times this year and passed it 358.

So rushing isn't exactly secondary under Langsdorf, even if it's not as dominant as we'd like.

Our opponents actually passed more, though we never seem to call them pass-happy.

 

[ColoradoHusk]

I'm not confident at all with the way these coaches have handled our run game including what backs they decided to use and when and how they used them. I don't see much changing next year. More like waiting to see what running back magically disappears from the field again next year... I used to get excited about our running game. Not anymore sadly enough...

I'm also not confident that the run game will be a big part of the offense going forward. Langsdorf wants to pass the ball, so the run game will always be secondary in his offense.

Not to get too technical about it, but Nebraska ran the ball 495 times this year and passed it 358.

So rushing isn't exactly secondary under Langsdorf, even if it's not as dominant as we'd like.

Our opponents actually passed more, though we never seem to call them pass-happy.

That was this year, and what would the split be if the Armstrong runs were pass plays instead. I don't expect too many called QB runs with Lee at QB next year.
I would also expect NU opponents to have a higher % of pass plays as NU was ahead in the 4th quarter, so the opponents would need to pass to quickly come back. Just like NU would usually run more in the 4th quarter to run the clock out when having the lead.

 

[MyBloodIsRed16]

I'm not confident at all with the way these coaches have handled our run game including what backs they decided to use and when and how they used them. I don't see much changing next year. More like waiting to see what running back magically disappears from the field again next year... I used to get excited about our running game. Not anymore sadly enough...

I'm also not confident that the run game will be a big part of the offense going forward. Langsdorf wants to pass the ball, so the run game will always be secondary in his offense.

Not to get too technical about it, but Nebraska ran the ball 495 times this year and passed it 358.

So rushing isn't exactly secondary under Langsdorf, even if it's not as dominant as we'd like.

Our opponents actually passed more, though we never seem to call them pass-happy.

That was this year, and what would the split be if the Armstrong runs were pass plays instead. I don't expect too many called QB runs with Lee at QB next year.
I would also expect NU opponents to have a higher % of pass plays as NU was ahead in the 4th quarter, so the opponents would need to pass to quickly come back. Just like NU would usually run more in the 4th quarter to run the clock out when having the lead.

You have to account for the fact that some of TAs runs were option as well. They will probably be just straight run calls next season

 

[Mavric]

I'm not confident at all with the way these coaches have handled our run game including what backs they decided to use and when and how they used them. I don't see much changing next year. More like waiting to see what running back magically disappears from the field again next year... I used to get excited about our running game. Not anymore sadly enough...

I'm also not confident that the run game will be a big part of the offense going forward. Langsdorf wants to pass the ball, so the run game will always be secondary in his offense.

Not to get too technical about it, but Nebraska ran the ball 495 times this year and passed it 358.

So rushing isn't exactly secondary under Langsdorf, even if it's not as dominant as we'd like.

Our opponents actually passed more, though we never seem to call them pass-happy.

But I thought you repeatedly said that Nebraska couldn't have a run-heavy offense through the year. Now you're defending a run-heavy offense.

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

I'm not confident at all with the way these coaches have handled our run game including what backs they decided to use and when and how they used them. I don't see much changing next year. More like waiting to see what running back magically disappears from the field again next year... I used to get excited about our running game. Not anymore sadly enough...

I'm also not confident that the run game will be a big part of the offense going forward. Langsdorf wants to pass the ball, so the run game will always be secondary in his offense.

Not to get too technical about it, but Nebraska ran the ball 495 times this year and passed it 358.

So rushing isn't exactly secondary under Langsdorf, even if it's not as dominant as we'd like.

Our opponents actually passed more, though we never seem to call them pass-happy.

But I thought you repeatedly said that Nebraska couldn't have a run-heavy offense through the year. Now you're defending a run-heavy offense.

?????

I'm pretty sure what I'm saying is that a 49/35 run/pass split would indicate that running isn't secondary in Langsdorf's offense -- at least not by the definition of the word. It was a response to the previous post.

And I wouldn't even describe a 49/35 run/pass split as run-heavy. It still relies on quite a bit of passing to set up the run, and hopefully you'll lean more heavily on the run in the fourth quarter. It's actually pretty close to the ratio we claim we wanted last year. Execution is another story. Not surprisingly, nothing worked as well against better defenses.

If I've said anything repeatedly, it's that every coach would love to run the ball down the opponents throat, wear down the defense and control the clock. But it's not that easy. Even with a great offensive line, which we don't have at the moment.

 

[Nebfanatic]

We will continue to run the ball more than we pass it about 55 to 45. That's what this staff wants to do and to say otherwise is a misguided opinion. It is what they have done in the past when they have had some semblance of running game to rely on and it's what they want to do. This staff knows it's important to run the ball and they believe in a balanced philosophy

 

[BaytownHusker]

If ADam Taylor isn't an every down type of back any more put him at fullback. I gaurentee you he isn't afraid to lay the wood on someone. And a carry here and there he could get yardsas well as catch out of the back field.