GILLEYLEN TURNS IT ON

Nebraska’s annual Red/White spring game developed into something of importance under the Bill Callahan staff.  Tom Osborne and Bo Pelini did everything they could to keep the ball rolling in the right direction, while adding a few “Nebraska Ways” along the way.  This developed a frenzy that has never been seen in Lincoln, although being witness to 72nd and Dodge after 3 National Championships, I can tell you it felt something like that going into Saturday. 

Everything was just like a normal gameday, well except for the fact that the general admission gates had lines that seemed to go on forever!  Luckily, I wasn’t in one of those.  The brats, Runzas, and Val’s were all in mid-season form and many families were at the soccer complex standing in line for kid friendly activities.  Chants of GO BIG RED were frequent and my anticipation for the Bo Pelini era of NU football was nearing it’s boiling point.

There were so many things I wanted to see at Saturday’s game.  Joey G, Zach Lee,  the receivers, Marlon Lucky, and of course Rickey Thenarse!  We had great 45 yard line seats, 17 rows up in the West Stadium.  Ron Brown was out on the field walking around with a football at 11:30 so some of the coaches were feeling it too.  The sun was warm and it was a beautiful day for football.  Soon, 81,000 fans would pack into the Stadium, highlighted by the return of 200+ former players, many of whom have not been back to NU since they left.  The Tunnel Walk video was awesome, drawing huge ovations from game footage of the 2003 Alomo Bowl with Bo Pelini as our coach.  The game was about to begin, and everyone was on the edge of their seats.  Mike Ekeler came out with his linebackers on the field and he was jumping up and slapping guys helmets and pads, looking much like a player himself.  One player gave him a little something back and Ekeler fell to the turf.  He quickly got up and gave it right back with a huge smile on his face.  I couldn’t help but laugh that if this was last year’s staff, someone might have broken a hip.

Just like Callahan introducing us to the “passing attack” on the first play of the 2004 spring game, Watson took us back to our roots with an I formation and option right for the 2008 game.  Tyler Wortman, a 5th year walk-on tipped the pitch intended for Roy Helu and recovered the ball.  Here comes Ganz and Lucky.  Lucky’s first run looked pretty good.  There was no “dancing” in the backfield.  Lucky, instead, went forward with his first handoff andmade a really nice 2 footed shift to avoid contact at the line.  People around us wondered out loud if this is the new Marlon and I think with Tim Beck as his coach now, it will be.  He looked good and showed a great burst of speed to get to the outside.  Bo Pelini and Mike Ekelerstayed on the field behind the offense all day to help line up the defense and Cody Glenn looked like a natural as a linebacker.  On one particular play he was covering Meno Holt, when the play went to the other side, Cody gave Holt a shove and he went down on the turf.  The White offense couldn’t get anything going in the first half and the White defense didn’t fare much better.  The Red team took a 24-7 lead going into half, but many breaks were going their way.  I think the refs were biased!!

GO LOW RICKEY!!

Everyone in my group knew of my man crush on Rickey Thenarse, so you can imagine the ribbing I received when Rickey took on Quentin Castille head on and lost.  Castille took a run up the left side and Rickey quickly filled the gap to take him on.  The problem is Rickey was standing almost upright and Q put his head down, running right over Rickey, throwing him backwards and on his back.  Thenarse showed what kind of man he is by getting right back up and helping, with several others, to take him down.  I think this played in Major Culbert’s mind when he was faced witha similar situation in the second half.  Major did his homework and almost laid flat on the ground when tackling Castille in the open field.

WHO IS NUMBER TWO?

Joey Ganz is the clear number one, but I don’t think the backup picture became any clearer after Saturday.  Patrick Witt received alot of time on both the White and Red teams.  I think Witt played pretty good.  His arm strength seemed great, but more than a few throws were quite wobbly and his immobility was evident.  Zac Lee looked a little nervous or uncomfortable at first but soon he settled down and directed a scoring drive early in the 4th quarter.  Shawn Watson says he would like a mobile QB and Lee showed it with a 22 yard run.  Personally, I say once Lee gets Watson’s system down, it’s a no brainer.  A mobile and strong armed QB.  Who wouldn’t want that?  Ganz looked good, but the concern with me is his arm strength.  Some balls seem to float on him, or just don’t have much zip behind them.  I do think he is more than capable of running this offense and given he is a true leader in the locker room,  he is the obvious choice.  Should be interesting come fall.

LUCKY, HELU, CASTILLE, MENDOZA

As I mentioned above, Lucky looked pretty good.  Towards the end of last year, he was running as hard as we have ever seen him.  He was making quick decisions, breaking tackles, and taking on defenders.  Watson showed some misdirection with the running game and with Marlon being more decisive, he could have a great year.  Helu looked relentless and took on whoever got in his way.  The pounds he added has helped his strength and he has seem to have kept his quick burst.  Castille is still the punisher, but after dropping some weight, I thought he looked impressively quick, especially after his screen pass from Lee that went for 38 yards in the 2nd quarter.  Castille did have a fumble in this game, but I don’t know if that was more of his fault or just a smart play by Amukamara.  The back I was most impressed with was Mendoza.  I remember watching him at last years spring game thinking he looked small and didn’t show any of the quickness that Callahan had said he possessed.  Well about 20 pounds and a year later Mendoza showed what he is all about.  He isn’t a between the tackle kind of back, but when he gets past you on the outside, not many will catch him.  I though he ran well outside and showed some explosiveness after catching the ball.  With 4 really good backs anda couple more coming in August, Coach Beck will have some unbelievable depth at RB next year.

HOT OR HYPED?

There has been an electric buzz around NU football since Tom Osborne and Bo Pelini were brought back to Nebraska for the sole purpose of “Restoring the Order”.  The practice reports of player’s high praise andstories of the defense flying around all over the place combined with hearing about Helu’s long run and Cody Glenn’s emergence at linebacker really worked up a frenzy among NU faithful.  I wanted to go to the spring game to confirm with my eyes my inner desire for a complete turnaround of this program.  I just don’t know if I saw that on Saturday.  All week long people were complaining about ticket prices and the demand of them for a “practice”.  This really did have the feel of a practice.  Bo Pelini and Mike Ekeler stood on the field lining people up, there was no live punt or kick-off return game, and many times the offense didn’t get the play started until the play clock had expired.  Outside of Gilleylen’s long bomb, it was mostly short and secure passes.  I am not trying to sound negative or say that I was’t impressed, I guess I was just expecting more.  I believed the hype.  These coaches are going in the right direction and I do have to remind myself that they haven’t been in Lincoln that long.  Am I alone on this or did anyone else get the same feeling coming away that I did? 

[Game Stats courtesy of Huskers.com]