Name the players who don't care and then tell us how you know. David Knevel, Gerald Foster (watch Foster's press conference on youtube after the Wisconsin loss.)
Name the players who are taking plays off. Half the time the OL, Lamar Jackson.
Answers in red. Every answer I gave here is easily discover able and in the form of posts right here on BHF. .
94, I've always appreciated your passion, and there is no doubt that you bleed Husker red. But statements that call out players without any corroborating evidence cross the line, and are very much uncalled for. I understand that we see things in games that make us scratch our heads. But it's impossible to see things such as heart and desire.
We think we can perceive them - it's quite common to talk about a player having heart when we see them make outstanding plays (or even just "hustle" plays). And it's also easy to criticize a player that seems to be constantly over-matched, out of position, etc. But these are only our perceptions. It's possible that the player getting beat like a drum on every play is giving everything they've got, but it's not enough - and the coaches know that this player's back up would do even worse. Maybe there's a nagging injury of some sort. Or he's playing out of position out of necessity. Or maybe the player that is beating them like a drum is simply a much better athlete, and the coaching staff isn't smart enough to adjust, provide help, etc. A bad coaching staff can make potential All-Americans look like complete crap by poor play calling, leaving them on an island against a scheme that is designed to attack their position, etc. On the other side of the coin, that player that you believe has miles and miles of "heart" and "desire" may actually have more talent than we see and aren't actually working hard at all. It goes both ways.
I also put very little stock in how a player comes across in a press conference. Or if you see players laughing and joking with each other after a poor performance. Everybody handles adversity differently. These are also 18-24 year old kids that in many cases have never faced the pressure of college athletics - they are still learning how to act in front of microphones, fans, cameras, etc. Just because they aren't sobbing into their gym bags, screaming at the top of their lungs, or acting totally pissed off/angry/etc doesn't mean they don't care.
I know that I am an extremely competitive person - and anyone that really knows me will back me up on that. But I rarely show emotion. Does that mean I care less than others? Absolutely not! I've spent many sleepless nights beating myself up over mistakes and trying to figure out how to eliminate them. And although I've mellowed with age, it still happens to this day. One of my hobbies is music (still a middle-aged wannabe rock star!). I can play on stage for hours to crowds of all sizes, and I've heard quite a few compliments over the years about my ability. But no matter how well a gig goes, all I can think about are the 4 or 5 notes I missed; or when one of my effects when haywire and there was 2 bars of static; or a cable coming undone in the middle of a song (usually right before a complicated solo!). I may have nailed 99.5% of the night, but I can't stop thinking about the 0.5%.
Just because I didn't show any emotion about it doesn't mean I didn't care
