Well there seems to be a small-but-present contingent of Husker posters on 2p2 and since we don't have a Nebraska thread here, I thought I'd start one and see how it goes. It might take off, might not, but here goes:

2011 Nebraska Cornhuskers Schedule

Sep 3 Chattanooga 2:30pm Central

Sep 10 Fresno State 6:00pm

Sep 17 Washington 2:30pm

Sep 24 @Wyoming 6:30pm

Oct 1 @Wisconsin 7:00pm

Oct 8 Ohio State 7:00pm

Oct 22 @Minnesota 2:30pm

Oct 29 Michigan State TBA

Nov 5 Northwestern TBA

Nov 12 @Penn State TBA

Nov 19 @Michigan TBA

Nov 25 Iowa 11:00am

Dec 3 B1G Championship



The Stars:



Jared Crick, #94 DT

Looking first at the Blackshirts: Getting preseason looks as a possible Defensive POY, Crick looks to anchor a defensive line that could be the best in the conference.




Alfonzo Dennard, #15 CB

"The Fonz" had a great 2010 playing opposite Prince Amukamara. He fills Prince's role as the #1 corner in 2011. Though he is hampered by a leg muscle pull, he shouldn't miss any significant time; if anything he might be held out the the first game or two just as a precaution.




Lavonte David, #4 LB

he was given his shot by injuries to the two likely starters in fall camp last year, and boy did he deliver. His speed allowed him to be nearly everywhere on the field and he racked up an incredible 153 tackles and 6 sacks. He has put on another 15 pounds in the offseason in preparation for Big 10 play.




Taylor Martinez, #3 QB

Martinez returns as a redshirt sophomore after a tumultuous freshman year. He'll be running new coordinator Tim Beck's offense which will hopefully allow him to just react and make plays on the fly instead of reading and thinking so much. His leg injuries have healed, and his passing and leadership are supposedly improved. But questions about all of those still remain, and his 2011 season could end up going any direction.




Rex Burkhead, #22 RB

His counterpart Roy Helu was drafted by the Redskins so Rex has the job all to himself this year. The human bowling ball gets to roll behind an offensive line that looks to be a little improved from last year, although injuries may still have a negative impact. Rex is perhaps the only part of the offense that doesn't have a question mark attached to it.




Brandon Kinnie, #84 WR

Kinnie is the only returning receiver to catch more than 1 pass in a Husker uniform. He has the size and route-running ability to be a solid target for Martinez.



Players to Watch:

Kyler Reed, #25 TE - Kyler was a reliable 3rd-and-5 target last year and as one of the only valuable returning receiving threats, could have a huge year.

Mike Caputo, #58 C - Caputo at center is really the rock of the offensive line.

Ciante Evans, PJ Smith, Courtney Osborne - this trio should play a significant role in the Blackshirt secondary.

Eric Martin #46 DE - My avvy himself has made the switch from LB to DE, and put on another 25 pounds. As a fired-up, hard-hitting kickoff team freshman, he weighed 215 but is now up to 260. All reports indicate he has made big strides and should get plenty of playing time as a pass-rush specialist.

Jamal Turner #10 WR - A true freshman, he had a great spring game and has split his time between QB and WR, though focusing more on the WR position. Could be a much-needed spark to the offense.



Husker Websites/Resources/Forums:

Huskers.com
HuskerMax
Huskerboard
Huskerpedia
Rivals


Tradition/History/Plays

• 311 and counting consecutive sellouts
• best winning percentage in NCAAF in the last 50 years
• 5 National Championships: (1970, 1971, 1994, 1995, 1997)
• Longest Bowl streak: 35 years from '68-'03
• 32 consecutive 9-win seasons

Johnny The Jet Rodgers Punt Return

Tom Osborne 1983 - Goes for two

Tommie Frazier "The Run" vs Florida

Matt Davison saves the 1997 season vs Mizzou

Black 41 Flash Reverse Pass - 2001 vs OU

Alex Henery - 57 yard field goal to beat CU




Thats all I feel like writing up for now. Any contributions are welcome too.

Enjoy, and Go Big Red

Hi, good start to the thread. I'm hearing this for our starting lineup

Kinnie
Turner
Reed (Cotton in power sets)
Yoshi
ARod
Caputo
The other Cotton
Jones (if healthy) otherwise, true frosh Moore
Martinez
Burkhead
Legate

Ankrah
Crick
Stein
Meredith
Fish
David
Compton
Green
Evans (Dennard's spot)
Cassidy
Smith (could be Osborne)

When we go Peso, Blatchford at Nickel replacing Fish, I think.

Looks like Maher kicking and punting to start.

Also, I'd add the two JUCO guys, Stafford at safety and Carter at DE, as players to watch.

Thanks for starting this thread. I've heard amazing things about Carter so far.

What was the deal between Pelini and Martinez last year? I remember them fighting on the sidelines. Has that been resolved?

Also, a new coordinator. I thought your offense last year was pretty decent, seemed like a good fit for Taylor's skills... why do you think this one will be better?

i think reed is gonna have a solid year

One more week!!!!! Time to switch my avatar for football season.

Like the beginning of last year, all of our question marks are on offense. Hopefully Beck does a better job of calling plays and the offense can get into a rhythm. Martinez should be more consistent with a year under his belt. The line needs to play better but I don't know if that's possible with Barney Cotton as line coach. I think I say this every year but he's awful.

It sucks because I'm going to miss the first two games NU plays in the B1G. I leave for Germany on Oct 1 and will miss the Wisc and OSU games.

Pelini was mad because T-Mart was texting in the locker room while being treated for an injury during a game.

Agreed, especially Carter.

Really excited to have you all in the B1G.

Quick question - Say the B1G expands to 16 as it most likely will and adds Texas. What would your feelings be on that possible outcome?

doubtful that happens, b/c of their little network. If it does, that's fine, b/c Texas won't be running the show with their handpicked commissioner and handpicked referees.

Pretty much what YM said...here's what i posted in another thread:

Omaha World Herald did a pretty big 2011 season preview / Big Ten preview. (Just FYI, its a pretty large PDF)

tell me if you had ever heard of Spencer Long before two weeks ago. Apparently, he's starting at RG.

Nope lol. Our O-Line is so young and/or inexperienced and/or injured...couple that in with Barney's questionable coaching and I think I'm liking that unit less every day. Pray to God that Caputo stays healthy.

I'm a huge husker fan, but less than optimistic because of previous seasons. 8-4 is my prediction.

Well I'm up and about to start hittin the booze. Anyone else going to the game today?

woohoo..I posted on here last year during college football season but forgot my username.
I'll reserve opinion on the offense until after today and see if Taylor is 100% healed from all injury.
It is hard to be too pessimistic though since the black shirts almost seem a sure bet to be godly.
I wouldn't want to have to play against an older and heavier Lavonte David and having Crick back just seems like a free gift.

Watched that Wisconsin game though, scary.

ehhh...Much sloppier than the score would imply.
I don't like the option , just don't see how Taylor possibly makes it through the season.

option play as a regular part of the offense is awful. We're trying to run the AD's offense. It's pathetic. Need to involve Reed and Turner much more. Enunwa was a pleasant surprise today though. Martinez at least is back at full speed. Other than that, I thought our O looked like ****. Couldn't run the ball at all with our RB, which was pathetic. WR dropped a handful of passes like normal. Martinez had happy feet the entire first half.

D was mediocre. Blatchford couldn't cover anyone, LB were gashed on run plays at times. Need to get Stafford out there, hopefully as the nickel back and then we only need to find 1 LB to play with David. Hopefully, Dennard is back soon as well b/c Green was picked on quite a bit today. Meredith played real well though.

oh and Maher was awesome.

I'll watch it again in the next couple days and hopefully I'll be less depressed.

That game was sloppy all around.

T-Mart looks good running, but he needs to be a little more patient with the passing game. He's probably nervous because the line can't pass protect. I thought the line play was awful. Nobody was maintaining blocks or driving the d-line back. When we had first and goal from the 6 in the 3rd quarter, we should have been able to pound it up the middle, but had top settle for a fg. I don't care what offense we run, we just have to execute.

The defense had some lapses, but I'm not too worried. They always seem to start slow but show up for the big games

Can't really say much besides pointing out the obvious...the O-line was not good, and trying to run the option with a bad O-line is just a bad idea. Agree that not involving Turner, Kinnie, and Kyler more is a mistake. Though Kinnie didn't help his own cause with a couple of drops, and his route-running from what I saw was absolutely atrocious. Like, unbelievably bad. Marlowe in the slot looks like it could have some potential. But I'll give it some time and reserve most judgement on this new offense until I see more of it.

Outside of Lavonte who was his typical self, the linebacker play was slow and sloppy. (Wtf was Fisher doing all game???) There was some blown coverage and missed assignments but I'm really not worried about the pass defense. Especially considering the D-line played really well, especially Cameron Meredith. He is going to have a huuuuuge year. The D-line worked well as a unit, and its nice to see we can substitute freely...the whole line is 2-deep. Stafford was a bright spot and I agree, though he's a safety, having him as a nickel or peso guy, sort of a Hagg-Gomes hybrid seems like it would work really well.

Martinez started out shaky but settled down. His passing still isn't where it should be, particularly after what we have been hearing all offseason about his supposed improvements. But I had to listen to idiots behind me bitching and yelling for them to put Carnes in already for the whole game....they shut up when he got in and could barely function. Definitely the worst option play ever run by a black #15 Nebraska quarterback.

And any worries I had about our kicking game quickly went away with that 50-yarder into the breeze. Alex who?

Most impressed by Meredith, Maher, and David this week