Spring football is finally here as in less than an hour or so things will get going at 7 different Big Ten schools. The question is will the game get going at our final stop this week in our Spring Previews: Nebraska. There appears to be some nasty weather in store and some tornado warnings/watches as well, so perhaps that will put a damper on things, but we shall see.
By all accounts Nebraska’s first season in the Big Ten didn’t go exactly as planned and Wisconsin fans all remember the rather “rude” welcome we gave them at Camp Randall in October. Because of the less than stellar season (by Nebraska standards) changes happened going into the 2012 season, making Spring football a bit more interesting than most under Bo Pelini. Gone is his brother Carl, who left to take another defensive coordinator position. In his place steps John Papuchis. So a lot of attention will be on that side of the ball and for good reason as it cost them quite a few games in 2011.
Wisconsin will make their first ever trip to Lincoln to face Nebraska as a member of the Big Ten this year, so there’s another reason to watch this game today.
Any Spring game at Nebraska will be interesting as they will pack anywhere from 60,000-70,000 into Memorial Stadium, so right there it should be on your list of games to watch today. (If it actually happens due to weather concerns).
Before getting into the nuts and bolts of the Huskers spring here’s a quick guide for how you can find all the games today.
2011 Record: 9-4 (5-3) – 3rd in Legends Division
Postseason: Capital One Bowl – L 13-30 vs. #10/9 South Carolina
Head Coach: Bo Pelini – 39-16, 4 years at Nebraska/Overall
Returning Starters: 16 (8 offense, 7 defense, 1 special teams)
Spring Game Info: April 14th @ Noon CT (BTN2Go & BTN Digital Network LIVE – Replay on BTN)
Spring Outlook: There was a lot that went right for Nebraska in 2011, but also a lot that went wrong in their first go around in the Big Ten and it all starts and ends on the defensive side of the ball, so that’s where we’ll start our look at the Huskers.
Gone is all-Big Ten linebacker Lavonte David and his massive ability to be around the ball. He recorded a team best 133 tackles last year, bettering 2nd best and returning Will Compton by 51 tackles. Also gone is Bo’s brother Carl as DC and that may not be the worst thing in the world.
There are only 4 positions not returning, but two of them could be high draft picks in David as well as DT Jared Crick. They also lose two key members of their secondary in Alfonzo Dennard and Austin Cassidy. So, naturally the secondary is the place to watch for good position battles.
In fact our friends over at CornNation give us a good glimpse of players they are watching on both sides of the ball and I really can’t disagree with most of what they have to say, especially on the defensive side of the ball.
The key to replacing Dennard may come from the play of Juco transfer Mohamme Seisay and he’ll get plenty of time to prove he can live up to the hype as one of the top Juco transfers in the country. Opposite of Seisay is pretty wide open despite Andrew Green returning as a starter from a year ago. Watching to see if anyone can unseat him or if he picks up his game should be high on the list of things to watch.
Offensively, you have to start with QB Taylor Martinez. He improved a bit in his throwing last season, but it still was a total mess. He only completed 56.2% of his passes and that’s not going to get it done in the much more physical and tough Big Ten. He also needs to show his decision making is much better as all too often he threw up arm punts that hurt this team in key situations where he needed to make a big play.
Helping Martinez should be a much more veteran group of wide receivers, despite the loss of quality playmaker Brandon Kinnie. Both Kenny Bell and Quincy Enunwa are back, but they’ll both need to get better and showing it in the spring game will be important as well.
Rex Burkhead is probably the best returning back in the Big Ten not named Montee Ball, so he probably won’t be seeing much action on Saturday. The battle for his backup role should be a lot of fun to watch as their are two very talented players in Ameer Abdullah (150yds, 3.6avg) and heralded 2011 recruit Aaron Green (not related to Ahman Green – former Husker and Packer but brother of current Husker Andrew). Watching to see if either separates themselves will be huge because of the multi-back sets that this team could run more in 2012 and if something should happen to Burkhead having confidence in the backup is huge.
There is plenty to watch for and if you want even more information and discussion we direct you to our friends at CornNation. Despite being Huskers they really are a decent bunch of people who believe it or not can actually keep up with us in the tailgating department. I have first hand knowledge thanks to our meeting last year. So be kind!!
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