Two gap or not two gap

It’s amazing how a phrase can convince anyone of anything.

Nebraska defensive line coach Rick Kaczenski said in an Omaha World Herald story that the coach staff is going away from the traditional read-and-react two-gap scheme but not because they don’t have that stud that can handle such a task. The purpose is more because they want to find him.

“We try not even to say two-gap anymore,” Kaczenski said. “A lot of two-gap philosophy is read and react. We’re going to attack. We want to go through the blocker and play from there. We don’t want him to react, sit on our heels.”

Kaczenski was hired away from Big Ten Conference foe Iowa after John Papuchis was promoted from defensive line coach to defensive coordinator after Carl Pelini took the head coaching job at Florida Atlantic.

“You’re going to play against the best offensive lines around in this league,” Kaczenski said. “You can’t just have your guys line up with their hand on the ground in the same spot every time. You have to change things up, move people around, attack from different angles.”

Everyone may have their theories on why Nebraska might be going this route with its defensive lineman. I think it’s finally realizing that without a dominant force like Ndamukong Suh up front like 2009, or a blanket secondary like 2010, that this scheme without at least a dominant one or the other is just not going to get it to work. It finally took last year to realize that. Nebraska’s 2011 defense was far from Kevin Cosgrove’s 2007 sieve but the Husker defense certainly did not have the same sharp teeth as 2009 and 2010.

Kaszenski comes to the Husker staff highly recommended. Kaczenski built an impressive resume on Kirk Ferentz’s staff at Iowa. The performance of Kaczenski’s defensive lines played a key role in Iowa’s success the past five seasons. With Kaczenski as a member of the full-time coaching staff from 2007 to 2011, Iowa reached a bowl game in each of his final four seasons, including an appearance in the Orange Bowl following the 2009 season. His defensive lineman earned nine first- or second-team All-Big Ten awards from 2007 to 2011.

An attacking defensive line, mixed with an attacking secondary should make for a pretty salty defense. Having guys like Suh, Eric Haag, Prince Amukamara, Dejon Gomes, etc. really probably hid some issues in the two-gap scheme. I really hope to see this new approach translate into more sacks, hurries and stuffs (tackles for loss). It seems last year that Nebraska played too many games behind the 8-ball on third downs. I really hope that this new scheme unleashes the hounds.  

It also shows that head coach Bo Pelini, although stubborn, isn’t stupid. He has brought in a position coach from the Big Ten who has a proven track record of success and a defensive backs coach (Terry Joseph) who wants DBs to play like those who have won two National Champions the last three years (Alabama). Though I don’t think the SEC has invented football, Alabama is not a bad secondary to emulate.

However, I do not think the two-gap approach is going away entirely. It’s just been modified so we move forward to make the first contact rather than play to let the offensive line come to us and then try shed the block or force your angle to get to your assignment. It will seem more traditional in a sense because of that. The place I think we’ll see the difference is on the ends as it sounds like they’ve got a little more freedom from being able to be aggressive.

Hopefully, the Heard experiment does not last too long

Nebraska football head coach Bo Pelini said sophomore Braylon Heard will start off preseason camp in August playing both running back and backup nickel back on defense, according to a Lincoln Journal star blog entry.

"He thought he made good strides and put a lot of work in at nickel and didn't want to waste it," the coach said. "And I think he's confident (at running back). Obviously, he played a whole year at the running back position. We think he can really help us there. … We're going to see how it goes for a while, and then make a decision, obviously sit down with him and see how it goes.”

The Huskers moved Heard from running back to defensive back this spring. However, that move was made before classmate, and fellow running back, Aaron Green announced he was transferring to TCU.

A player dabbling on both sides of the ball is not unusual. Florida State’s Deion Sanders, Michigan’s Charles Woodson and more recently Nebraska’s Ndamukong Suh did such but that was in roles where they were primarily defensive players making cameo appearances on the offensive side.

My first instinct says, “pick a position and keep him there,” because I don’t see him flourishing if he flip-flops. Heard is working with Ciante Evans at the nickel back position on defense. At running back, Nebraska returns Rex Burkhead and Ameer Abdullah but that is one position where most coaches like having as much depth as possible. Heard had limited involvement as a freshman with 25 carries for 114 yards.

If Heard was near playing time at either position, I doubt they would be having him split time. I think this is a signal that they are using him for depth, but don’t have serious plans for him. It’s just awfully hard to really develop at either position when you can’t concentrate on one or the other.

Although, I think Pelini’s strategy is he really doesn’t know what he has in terms of depth at running back or cornerback. If some new guys step up at running back and Pelini feels comfortable I’m guessing Heard will play cornerback. I personally think it is smart to let this play out, prepare Heard for playing either position just in case the depth at running back or cornerback is not too Pelini’s liking.

However, if they continue this experiment for too long before settling on one position, he should probably go ahead and redshirt, practice at one position or the other, and then come back in 2013 ready and available to make an impact on the field.

Finally some football

Without further adieu, it’s time to start the college football season. In Lincoln, Neb., it starts at 6 p.m. local time against Florida Atlantic.

I never know for sure what to expect, especially in a season opener. I always caution that in August, pretty much everybody is full of optimism. The fact of the matter is, when the games are actually played, somebody's going to go away disappointed.Nebraska could, and probably should, win decisively but I would not be shocked if the Huskers are tested early in the contest. We have an unproven OL and an unproven QB. These are key question marks. FAU has a great talent at QB.For Nebraska, the rubber will truly meet the road on Sept. 19 when it visits Virginia Tech, which enters the season rated No. 7.

One thing we have to take into consideration is that this Nebraska team is a pretty young one. There are about 11 redshirt freshmen, 11 sophomore, and 16 juniors that will play key roles but as of now only about six seniors that figure to be starters. There will be some bugs to work out.

With the running back rotation, I see the top three guys as being Roy Helu, Rex Burkhead and probably Lester Ward with Marcus Mendoza being the situational back. Much will depend on the game situation but I see Helu getting about 20-25 carries with Burkhead (a true freshman) getting about 10-12.

The biggest concern for Nebraska on offense is definitely the line, which I think will at least be satisfactory. Individually, you have some pretty good players but it’s a matter of finding the right combination. Then, there’s the question of how does quarterback Zac Lee respond to adversity? Not just from a game score standpoint but how does he react the first time he gets hit? Then also, while there is talent at wide receiver, who becomes that No. 1 guy?

No worries at all for the tight end position with Mike McNeill figuring to be Lee’s go-to man but don’t be surprised if Dreu Young or Kyler Reed becomes a factor.

Defensively, Nebraska should be just as good if not better up front thanks to Ndamukong Suh opting to stay in school for his senior year. Suh will face his share of double-teams that will free up opportunities for guys like Barry Turner, Pierre Allen, Jared Crick and Cameron Meredith.

Allen is a definitely star but with Turner coming off a torn ACL, it’s doubtful he’s an all-Big 12 player but if he can be solid that would be a huge boost for Nebraska.

Linebacker and secondary should be an upgrade even with several new faces.

Florida Atlantic’s offense will test the Huskers from time-to-time. Rusty Smith is a legit quarterback. FAU has some size and speed at receiver and their head coach (Howard Schnellengberger) is a bright offensive mind). However, FAU has a suspect running game and Nebraska’s D-Line should dominate.

The Husker offense has some new faces but the good news is that so does FAU’s defense, which lost eight starters.

Big 12 Media Day in Big D

The Nebraska football team (well not the entire team) took center-stage in Dallas on Monday for Big 12 Media Day.

Head coach Bo Pelini, defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, offensive guard Jacob Hickman and running back Roy Helu represented the Huskers. I did not have a chance to listen to any sound bites due to my work schedule at my regular job. However, I did have a chance to read the quote transcription from Pelini.

There are four things that Pelini addressed that stood out to me:

“I think right now our football team now understands what it means to put a good hard day's work in.”

What I take out of that sound bite is that any time a new regeme comes in and asks players to work harder than they did under a previous coaching staff, there is going to be resistance at first. Pelini admitted as much. On the other hand, those that are not on board are thrown overboard rather quickly. Granted, no football coach is going to outright say to the media, “Our team is a bunch of lazy asses.” On the other hand, you just get the sense from Pelini that this team understands that to achieve success (short term or long term), there are no shortcuts.

“Zac Lee came out in the spring. No one's won a job yet. We still have a whole camp ahead of us before we play the first game. Zac came out as the clear-cut favorite. He'll go into fall camp as a starter.”

Pelini said this in reference to the starting quarterback job as the team looks to replace the graduated Joe Ganz. This approach is quite the departure of Bill Callahan in 2007 when Sam Keller transferred from Arizona State. Callahan said over and over that Ganz and Keller were competing for the job when everyone in their right mind knew that Keller would be the starter. After Keller got injured, Ganz showed why he should have the starter. I like the fact that Pelini stated explicitly that the job belongs to Lee until he proves he is not worthy of being the Huskers starting signal-caller. On the other hand, it’s good that Pelini said, “No one has won a job yet” if for no other reason than to not give Lee a false sense of security. The real question is how the No. 2 position shakes out between Kody Spano, LaTravis Washington and Cody Green.

“Our players don't feel Nebraska's back. Our expectations in the program are very, very high. I think (the team) is starting to feel the momentum from last season.”

While there is every reason to think the Huskers are “on their way back” after a 9-4 season in 2008 that included winning six of their last seven contests, there’s a difference between “being back” and “on your way back.” I’ve stated numerous times on this blog (some postings come with Kool-Aid sipping, others do not) that going from 5-7 in 2007 to 9-4 in 2008 was the easy part but going from 9-4 in 2008 to say 11-2 in 2009 will be the hard part. Since two of Nebraska’s four defeats came by less than seven points (a 35-30 loss to Virginia Tech and a 37-31 overtime loss to Texas Tech), an argument can be made that the Huskers could have been 11-2 last year. Well, coulda, woulda, shoulda but didn’t. Therein also lies the issue, the higher a team shoots up the ladder, the smaller that margin for error becomes.

“Well, I've only been back in the league for a year. But I don't – my expectations aren't going to change.”

Pelini said this in reference to the Big 12 offenses producing basketball like scores and the fact that he is a defensive minded coach. Pelini has coaching dominant defenses wherever he has been and is cocksure in his ability to do the same at Nebraska. The Huskers improved last year defensively from 112th to No. 55, enough to where they didn’t lead the world in crappy defense. With another year of seasoning under Pelini’s system, there’s every reason to think this team will get better. In 2007 when teams went through the Husker defense quicker than a pizza at a Weight Watchers convention, there was often a lack of passion, fire and purpose. Last year’s team played hard but not always smart. To that end, Pelini added: “Part of that is coaching. Part of that is players being accountable.” Even in the era of high scoring Big 12 offenses, part of slowing them down is executing assignments.

How much will the Husker defense improve in Pelini's second year?

It is generally assumed that after having had one season to absorb the scheme, Nebraska’s defense will make “a huge jump” during the 2009 season.

Second-year Husker head coach Bo Pelini said as much during his press conference on the eve of the beginning of spring practice Tuesday. After leading the nation in terrible defense in 2007 (ranking 112th overall), the Huskers climbed to 55th overall a year ago.

The No. 55 ranking was exactly the same as where Nebraska finished during a 7-7 season in 2002 with Craig Bohl as the defensive coordinator. In 2007, Kevin Cosgrove made Bohl look like Charlie McBride.

Nebraska ranked No. 2 in the Big 12 in total defense, No. 3 in rushing defense and No. 6 in scoring defense last year after picking up the rear in each category in 2007.

Last year, Nebraska allowed about 10 fewer points and 125 fewer yards per game than the 2007 defense that Pelini was hired to fix. That improvement can be traced to playing with better effort along with the offense averaging over 34 minutes per game in time of possession to help a still building defense.

The 2008 Huskers held four of their last seven opponents below 300 total yards, but also scorched for 62 points and 508 yards at Oklahoma, 52 points and 462 yards by Missouri and nearly nine yards per play at Texas Tech.

We’ve heard all of the arguments why the Husker defense should be better. The real question is how much should we expect the defense to improve? Top 30? Top 20? Top 10?

My realistic expectation would lie somewhere between 20-30. Since the Big 12 has become chalk full of offenses that resemble basketball teams in pads, I’m not sure that a Top Ten defense is realistic but if Nebraska can finish say in the Top 25 in defense, that means we are slowing downing the potent offenses and putting the clamps on the bad ones.

We all long for the days of the Peter Bros., Grant Wistrom, and Jared Tomich causing nightmares. With the exception of defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, however, Nebraska’s defense does not have anyone that compares to Blackshirt defenses of that era. And even in Suh’s case, he only began to scratch the surface last season with his potential.

The Husker defense will need to be better since the offense is breaking in a new starting quarterback and a new group of receivers. Secondly, they players know what to expect and there should be a lot less thinking about their assignments. Therefore what they do should come as second nature. In turn, that will mean Pelini will be more comfortable implementing more intricate things within the scheme like we saw when his LSU defenses wreaked havoc.

Despite the Huskers having limitations at some positions, especially linebacker, Pelini resisted the temptation to burn redshirts in order to develop those players the right way. Those redshirted players such as Will Compton, Sean Fisher, Alonzo Whaley and Micah Kreikemeier should be ready to contribute. However, let’s not forget that the only way of truly telling how good a player is until he plays in game situations.

The two biggest keys, however, to the Husker defense making a quantum leap are forcing more turnovers and simply executing assignments better. The Huskers forced just 17 turnovers last season.

There’s no doubt that Nebraska’s defense played with better effort in 2008 after a sorry effort in 2007. However, there were also plenty of blown assignments that led to big plays. Just picture Colorado’s Riar Greer blowing by Husker cornerback Lance Thorell.

Therein lies Pelini’s statement of “We were our own worst enemy sometimes.” Playing defense is a combination of playing with a controlled fury and discipline.

With Suh, Pierre Allen and hopefully a healthy Barry Turner coming back, the defensive line should still be pretty stout despite losing Zach Potter and Ty Steinkuhler.

The linebacking corps has plenty of young players ready to make their mark but their youth also means you have to live with mistakes as well as big plays. The secondary brings back a lot of experience and talent and should improve. Therefore, we should not be seeing the amount of assignment busts we saw last season.

2009 Nebraska football Position outlook: Defensive line

One story in a Wine Country Husker series, looking at position breakdowns for the Nebraska Cornhuskers for the 2009 season. Today, we look at defensive line:

Looking back: The Huskers entered the 2008 season looking to prove that the 2007 campaign was an aberration under former coordinator Kevin Cosgrove. The defense was so bad in 2007 that it became a national punch-line, ranking 112th in total defense, and near the bottom in many more categories.

Thanks to its strongest line since Jason Wiltz, Chad Kelsay and Steve Warren were donning Blackshirts, the Husker defense rose to 55th overall in 2008. That ranking might not make us forget the 1993-1999 Blackshirts but it was a step in the right direction.

Despite being pushed around in ’07, this immediate unit was looked at as one that had plenty of pieces to help make the Husker defense a leap forward. Despite the loss of starting defensive end Barry Turner to a season ending knee injury in Week Two, the line turned out to be the strength of the entire team which is saying something considering the offense averaged 35.4 points per game.

Any discussion about the Husker defensive line, however, begins and ends with tackle Ndamukong Suh, who especially blossomed in the second half of the season into the dominant player Nebraska fans envisioned when they recruited him as a high school football star out of Portland, Oregon. Tackle is not normally a stat oriented position but Suh led the Huskers in total tackles (76), tackles for lost yardage (19), sacks (7.5), quarterback hurries (seven) and tied for the team lead with interceptions (two, both for touchdowns).

End Zach Potter and tackle Ty Steinkuhler were also vital cogs to the Husker defensive line. Potter enjoyed a breakout senior campaign with 54 total tackles (16 for lost yardage), 5.5 sacks and two interceptions. After an injury plagued junior year, Steinkuhler enjoyed a solid senior year along side Suh. Steinkuhler recorded 48 tackles (eight for lost yardage).

If there is a bright side to Turner’s injury, sophomore Pierre Allen got the chance to develop into a solid starter. Allen recorded 52 tackles (10 for lost yardage) and five sacks. Reserve senior tackle Shukree Barfield also came on strong at the end of the season, earning a Blackshirt in the process. Redshirt freshmen Jared Crick and Terrance Moore also gained some valuable experience at tackle.

Looking ahead: The best news is that Suh decided to return for his senior campaign instead of entering the NFL draft.

The Husker defense probably would have continued to improve even if Suh opted to apply for a job that required him to work on Sundays because a) the comfort level in head coach Bo Pelini’s scheme would be greater and b) Pelini will likely put in more intricacies into his scheme this season. However, dominant defensive tackles like Suh are the backbone of any strong defense. With that being said, Suh’s return to Lincoln for his senior season gives Nebraska’s defense a chance to ascend to the top quicker than if he had decided to forgo his senior campaign.

Suh made a wise decision to stay for his senior season. Of course, I say that for selfish reasons – hardly a confession if you are a Husker fan. However, Suh’s return not only does wonders for the 2009 defense but also if he continues to improve, he can help his draft stock even more. Most draft boards projected Suh as a late first-rounder/early second-rounder in 2009. If he dominates as a senior, he could be a potential Top 10 pick a la Jason Peter or Grant Wistrom in 1998.

Steinkuhler and Potter are key losses but Suh’s return softens that blow. The Huskers also look forward to the return of a healthy Turner along with Allen having had the chance to develop.

Throw in the unveiling of redshirt freshman Baker Steinkuhler and the line should be close to as strong as last season with the back seven figuring to improve with many pieces returning.

Allen and Turner give the Huskers two experienced ends. The question for Turner is that if he returns healthy, how effective will he be? Moore and Crick also have experience but will need to keep improving. Turner looked like he was starting to reach his vast potential as a pass rusher before getting injured. Allen performed much better than anyone could have anticipated under the circumstances and will need to keep getting better.

My money is on Crick to be a possible breakout performer.