Returning StartersNebraska returns about everybody except for Jacob Hickman (Center) as starters next year. Nebraska also loses Menelik Holt, Chris Brooks, Derek Meyer, and Andy Christensen. Wes Cammack, who played mostly special teams, also is gone.
Wide Receivers
Nebraska has Khiry Cooper, Brandon Kinnie, Niles Paul, Curenski Gilleylen, Antonio Bell, and Will Henry returning. Steven Osborne may be a factor. Our only recruit is Quincy Enunwa. Paul, Kinnie, and Khiry Cooper look like the best of the lot. All receivers must catch the ball more consistently. Paul is a game breaker but we need more fire power. Gilleylen could be that player but hasn't impressed coaches enough to get much playing time. We need a couple of receivers besides Paul to step up next year.
Offensive Line
Nebraska has Mike Smith, Keith Williams, Ricky Henry, Marcel Jones, and DJ Jones returning. Mike Caputo looks to be the starting center. Hopefully Javario Burkes can get healthy to play. He would break into the starting lineup. Brent Qvale, Jeremiah Sirles, Nick Ash, and new recruit Jamarus Hardick have to step up. It is my belief that two of these guys need to step into the starting lineup for NU to get better. We need better play in the line. If we have the same linemen playing next year, we will be better but not enough better to have the offense we need to go to the next level. We did this in 09 in defense. That is some new talent played ahead of some players that played a lot in 08.
Tight Ends
We have everybody back. We have some pretty good talent at this position. Mike McNiel, Dreu Young, Kyler Reed, and Ben Cotton are all back. Add recruit Chase Harper and we should be in good shape here.
Running Backs
Helu, Burkhead, and Robinson are all back. It appears that Mendoza, Okafor, and Ward will not be factors in the future without noticeable development before next year. This could happen for at least one of these backs. There are no recruits at running back for this year. We could use a solid recruit at running back yet this year. We'll see what happens. We saw what injuries can do to a team when you lose a player to start the year and then Helu and Burkhead have injuries. Helu and Burkhead are excellent backs; we just need them to stay healthy.
Fullbacks
Tyler Legate, this year's walk-on MVP, Mike Hays, and CJ Zimmeren are back. LET THE FULLBACKS RUN TWO OR THREE TIMES A GAME. If not we might as well put tight ends in the backfield to block and catch the ball once every other game.
Quarterbacks
The offense starts with the quarterback. After the first two games this season, I thought Zac Lee was as good as Joe Ganz. Then we traveled to Virginia Tech and things changed for the rest of the season. Not sure what happened, but Lee become very tentative with his throws. Cody Green may be the answer but has to learn to be so risky when throwing the ball. He has to get more accurate with his throws. On the running side he is a plus. Cody Spano may be the best of the group but who knows now what his injuries will do to his performance level. This writer believes that Cody Green will be the starter next year. With spring ball and fall camp, the coaches hopefully can move him up another level. He does have the running ability to run the offense that Pelini looks like he likes to run.
RECRUITING
Nebraska only has five offensive recruits so far this year.
We have three offensive lineman in Jamarcus Hardick, Andrew Rodriquez, and Mike Mundy. We have on wide receiver recruit in Quincy Enunwa. The last recruit is a tightend in Chase Harper. We have some quality recruits on the offensive side but not the numbers we need to bring in some difference makers for the future. There are now no quarterback or running back recruits. Nebraska will probably not bring in any JUCO QB's because, according to Jeremy Crabtree of Rivals, there are no quality quarterbacks left to recruit from a JUCO. Nebraska may get a QB recruit that has committed to another school to look at Nebraska now but that is iffy. Could be that we take two next year's class. Will Ron Kellogg or Taylor Martinez be factors at quarterback?
The fact that we are apparently looking to more of a running attack, it is surprising a quality kid hasn't signed with Nebraska this year.
In the past five recruiting classes, there have been 50 offensive players taken and 60 defensive players. Some of the early offensive recruits in the Callahan era were JUCO players and are gone such as Carl Nicks and Maurice Purify. Running back Kenny Wilson got hurt early and never got to play much. Quentin Castille was kicked off the team. Running back Justin Rogers was never in a factor in the the 2008 class. Lester Ward and Collins Okafor were also recruits of that class.
PLAYER DEVELOPMENT
On defense
, player development has been tremendous. I haven't seen this on the offensive side of the ball although how do I really know when you don't attend practices, etc.
We will have to have some huge improvement in quarterback play for 2010. There are no new recruits coming in so it appears Cody Green has to improve his throwing and Zac Lee has to gain back his confidence he showed in the first two games this year. They have to get better. The line has some veterans around but I am not sure the improvement has been there. We know it can be done. We have seen it on defense.
We will need to see some newcomers on the line and at wide receiver next year which means we have increased our talent level and some of the developing players will move ahead of those that have been playing. It will raise the level of play.
Player development is essential at quarterback and wide receiver. It is just as important for the offensive line. We have to be better at these positions.
