Given that Nebraska football landed its replacement for Corey Raymond as defensive backs coach much sooner than anticipated, the picture for the last line of Husker defense does not look so bad.
Are things perfect? Far from it. When are they? However, given head coach Bo Pelini’s ability to land Tennessee defensive backs coach Terry Joseph, who also has five years of experience as a recruiting coordinator, just a few days after Raymond’s departure, things could be much worse.
What’s nice is that Joseph is not walking into a bare cupboard. Damion Stafford will be a constant at the strong safety spot. There are a number of capable - and experienced - players to compete to play alongside him. P.J. Smith and Courtney Osborne are the first names that come to mind, but I will be curious to see if Corey Cooper remains at safety and makes the most of a chance to compete.
At corner, there is potential but a lot of unknowns. Andrew Green improved as the year went along. He’s the only one fans may be able to count on at corner. Ciante Evans was inconsistent to the end. The coaches moved a wide receiver (Stanley Jean-Baptiste) and now a running back (Braylon Heard) to the spot. That tells me they aren’t in love with the talent there now. Fans can be optimistic about Mohammed Seisay’s ability but he’s a newcomer that must learn quickly. Seisay will be given every chance to make an impact right way because team’s don’t bring in JC transfers just to be a body on the roster.
The X factor is the possible addition of freshman Charles Jackson, who could give the coaches another option. Jackson has the talent to be a game changer at NU and get on field.
I’m hopeful the staff can coach them up, but the team needs a good surprise by Seisay and Jackson to make the secondary good this year. Otherwise, Green is an adequate starter and the Huskers have a huge question mark on the other side.
Last year, the experience was sparse, but there are guys with promise returning this year. The talent level could not do what Raymond wanted them to do. Good coaches are able to adjust to the abilities of their young or undeveloped players to compensate for perceived deficiencies. I’m not a fan of a coach who disparages the players under his command, so I will happily blame some of the problems on Raymond last season.
Hopefully, Joseph can bring aggressiveness that the secondary lacked last season because there were so many receivers running loose. Stafford and Osborne would be the ideal safety tandem. You know Green will man one corner spot; the question becomes who takes the other? Evans was beat more than any other DB last year.
Whether it’s Seisay, Jackson or Jean Baptiste, Nebraska needs one if not two of those guys to elevate their performance because last season the unit’s inexperience really showed. Evans was a disappointment and the defensive line was no better without Jared Crick.
Despite the losses of Crick, linebacker LaVonte David and cornerback Alfonzo Dennard, the 2012 Husker defense is not void of talent but is lacking in terms of impact players.
For what it’s worth, Seisay’s JC coach was quoted as saying Seisay was a better player than Zack Bowman, at that level.
With so many prospects on campus and arriving over the summer, there’s got to be enough players to replace Dennard and compete for the opposite side and third corner.
I was thinking this is similar to the 2003 defensive backfield, which had a new DB coach, a walk-on corner and some young players. Then I realized the young players turned out to be the Daniel Bullocks and Josh Bullocks, who had NFL talent and Fabian Washington, who was a multi-year starter in the NFL.
At the moment, Safety looks like the strongest position, talent and experience. Which is key because good Safeties can make up for a lot.
No comments:
Post a Comment