Husker position groups ranked

[Righteous Red]

In Sunday Herald the position groups were ranked against the rest in B1G. Thoughts on if you feel they are too high, too low or just right.

* QB room #7. I feel pretty good here. All three have had Power 5 game experience.

* WR & TE #8, I think we are actually better here with excellent players such as Barney, Hunter and Lindenmeyer. Then we have Carter Nelson who could surprise folks. Receivers will be required to run good routes this year, more importantly, with a running QB who begins to scramble, the receivers have to adjust and change routes and come back to the ball. If they can do this, this group can be dangerous.

* O-Line #7. This is respectable given how many great OLs are in the B1G

* RB #14. I have no idea here. We have those from last year plus folks are high on the untested Rhule. Given that our OL has some respect, gotta believe that our RB’s will show better plus there is the threat of a running
QB to take more pressure off our stable of backs.

* DL # 9. Again, who knows. That may be more than fair considering how we were pushed around this year.
The wild card here are new coaches and schemes.

* LB # 10, I hope we are better than that. Backers have to improve on tackling, angles of pursuit, finish plays, so often we had hats on the ball, folks in the immediate area, and couldn’t make the plays last year.

* DB’s #5 Looks like our team strength, but they could struggle if #9 DL and #10 LB don’t improve.

* ST’s #5 I think we have the players here, just hope coaching is there. Those strong ST’s can really win a couple of tight games.

 

[Doc Fumble]

I appreciate the discussion thread, RR, but I think this kind of preseason "ranking" is pure bullpucky.

I want to see them do a position group ranking AFTER the season, not before it. You never really know in...(double checks calendar)...in August. I would have rated last year's group differently before than I would've after. Overall, a number of position groups were a big disappointment for a number of reasons.

I THINK our QB room, our LB room, our WR room, our OL room, and our secondary are pretty darn good and better than most pundits currently believe. But I'd like to revisit the issue after the non-con and a couple games into the conference slate and see what I'm thinking then.

 

[HuskersNC949597]

It's not exciting to take the wait and see approach. I hate going out on limbs because I'm never right anyway. Safer to say everyone on the team stinks and they're all bums who should be ranked 19th out of 18 conference teams, so anyone who does something good becomes a pleasant surprise

 

[Righteous Red]

I appreciate the discussion thread, RR, but I think this kind of preseason "ranking" is pure bullpucky.

I want to see them do a position group ranking AFTER the season, not before it. You never really know in...(double checks calendar)...in August. I would have rated last year's group differently before than I would've after. Overall, a number of position groups were a big disappointment for a number of reasons.

I THINK our QB room, our LB room, our WR room, our OL room, and our secondary are pretty darn good and better than most pundits currently believe. But I'd like to revisit the issue after the non-con and a couple games into the conference slate and see what I'm thinking then.

Doc, I should have clarified that these rankings were determined by the writers at the Omaha World Herald. I believe they know a little more about our team than the writers from the East or West Coast. But they don’t know as much as the writers from BHF, and I include myself in that esteemed group

 

[Husker99]

The only ranking I would really argue about is the ranking of the Nebraska DL.

Nebraska's DL should be ranked 164th out of the 18 teams.

Nebraska has the weakest, most ineffectual, softest, and absolute worst DL out of any P4 team. Our DL cannot stop the run, cannot contain the QB, and in passing situations have zero ability to negatively affect the QB by themselves.

Now maybe these new coaches, along with the new defensive scheme can fix this, and start giving us a DL that is up to the Blackshirts standards. I mean I doubt it, but that's why the games are played.

 

[Doc Fumble]

Now maybe these new coaches, along with the new defensive scheme can fix this, and start giving us a DL that is up to the Blackshirts standards.

You forgot to mention there will be three out of four new starters along the line of scrimmage on Saturday.

 

[Husker99]

You forgot to mention there will be three out of four new starters along the line of scrimmage on Saturday.

Addition by subtraction?

 

[j d]

Addition by addition

 

[Doc Fumble]

Addition by subtraction?

Addition by addition

I echo j d's take. The thing is, last season's DL men are back--bigger and stronger. If we hadn't done anything thru the portal, we still should've expected improvement. Granted, given last year's stats that's not a bold statement--we sucked against the run.

But while I wouldn't go into the season characterizing our DL acquisitions as "Suh-like studs," they're good.

How good? We'll see but, from my perspective, we have significantly better depth at a critical position group (Same at linebacker) than we did last year.

 

[ATX_Husker]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2094827919356953063

 

[Pavlov's Dog]

Air Nebraska.
GBR

 

[Husker99]

...we have significantly better depth at a critical position group (Same at linebacker) than we did last year.

On paper that certainly appears to be the case.

 

[HuskersNC949597]

I echo j d's take. The thing is, last season's DL men are back--bigger and stronger. If we hadn't done anything thru the portal, we still should've expected improvement. Granted, given last year's stats that's not a bold statement--we sucked against the run.

But while I wouldn't go into the season characterizing our DL acquisitions as "Suh-like studs," they're good.

How good? We'll see but, from my perspective, we have significantly better depth at a critical position group (Same at linebacker) than we did last year.

Until proven otherwise, I'll also give credence to the theory floated by some people that Butler's pass defense-oriented coaching history played a factor. I think it's also telling how quickly Bradden was sent packing. I believe Damon Benning, yes the guy who loves speaking in riddles like some kind of bridge troll, even said something as explicit as he is capable of, that run defense is about attitude as much as size. So it seems reasonable, lo these waning days of the offseason, to posit that there exists potential for improvement based on a new attitude brought by the new coordinator, who is not married strictly to the secondary in his coaching career.

But. . .maybe they'll still suck butt at stopping the run. I don't know anything.

 

[ATX_Husker]

I think it's also telling how quickly Bradden was sent packing.

I had heard that Dave Tollefson was sitting in on a film session before he was on staff and was literally calling out the poor coaching techinques of the DL in front of the rest of the staff and that was the nail in the coffin for Bradden. Kind of brings up the concerning question of why this was not noticed or addressed prior by Rhule, Snow or Butler who were all Bradden's superiors.

Dave Tollefson - University of Nebraska - Official Athletics Website

 

[Doc Fumble]

I had heard that Dave Tollefson was sitting in on a film session before he was on staff and was literally calling out the poor coaching techinques of the DL in front of the rest of the staff and that was the nail in the coffin for Bradden. Kind of brings up the concerning question of why this was not noticed or addressed prior by Rhule, Snow or Butler who were all Bradden's superiors.

You never really know what was going on behind the scenes.

I recall a Snow interview during the 2025 fall camp where he was asked some question about 'what does Rhule do?' at camp. He said that Coach was spending serious time with the DL to the point where (he said jokingly) that Coach Bradden was probably annoyed but noted that Coach was an old DL coach at heart.

At the time, it felt like a nothing burger but looking back in hindsight, I suspect Rhule and Snow realized early on that Bradden was a serious mistake at a critical position. The trouble with promoting an assistant on another staff--even one like the Kansas City Chiefs--is that you are hearing how well he does helping somebody else with his job, not how he'd do in that role himself.

To my knowledge, it's the first time I've ever heard of a position coach losing his job after a single year when it wasn't ethics related.

 

[OhioHusker]

I had heard that Dave Tollefson was sitting in on a film session before he was on staff and was literally calling out the poor coaching techinques of the DL in front of the rest of the staff and that was the nail in the coffin for Bradden. Kind of brings up the concerning question of why this was not noticed or addressed prior by Rhule, Snow or Butler who were all Bradden's superiors.

Dave Tollefson - University of Nebraska - Official Athletics Website

This

 

[OhioHusker]

I have no idea what this year will hold other than I think we're really going to miss Emmett.

 

[Doc Fumble]

I have no idea what this year will hold other than I think we're really going to miss Emmett.

I have no idea how good we'll be other than to say we won't be hearing much bellyaching from Ohio.

 

[OhioHusker]

I have no idea how good we'll be other than to say we won't be hearing much bellyaching from Ohio.

I will do my best. Honestly, I don't think I have an expectations to get beat out of me at this point.

 

[Husker99]

Which makes me ask the questions, regarding ATX and Doc Fumbles posts, #14 and 15 respectively:

* If Bradden was such a terrible DL coach, how in the world did he make it all the way to be an NFL coach?
* Wasn't the KC Chiefs DL one of the best in the league while he was there?
* How can a guy, teaching the same techniques, be good in the NFL and terrible in college?
* What was Bradden's interview like if they (Rhule, Snow, whoever) couldn't discern that Bradden was bad?

And obviously the play of the DL wasn't up to the Blackshirts standards, which prompts another question:

Was the especially poor play of the DL due the disconnect between what Bradden was telling them to do vs what Butler's defensive scheme required?

So many questions. Honestly, given all this, I think even coaches are just making sh^^ up as they go along.

I'll tell you what I would pay an admission price for, would be to sit down and watch film with Dave Tollefson and have him show why the technique was so bad. I dunno, this whole scenario just seems so bizarre on so many levels.