Glenn to Linebacker?

It's been a pretty quiet spring thus far. Every day, we get the same tired quotes from the players as well as the coaching staff, which is understandable. They probably get sick of answering the the same questions day after day, just as I'm sure the media gets tired of asking them. But dammit, it's Husker football, and there isn't much else going on, so the routine continues. There was one interesting development we found out about this morning though: Cody Glenn is contemplating a move to linebacker. The former standout running back, who has battled injuries throughout his career at NU, apparently barely even played defense in HIGH SCHOOL!

Now, don't get me wrong, I don't blame him for thinking about the move. If I had to pick between fighting for playing time in a crowded backfield or a position group that returns no starters, I'd probably start to think about switching too. But when I read that his high school used him on defense only occasionally (and at defensive end at that), I became highly skeptical of this decision. It'd be one thing if Glenn had been pulling a Major Culbert and had been switching back and forth for a year or two, but to play running back your entire college career and then decide as a senior that you'd like to play on the other side of the ball seems like a stretch to me. Believe it or not, muscle memory is important when it comes to things like pursuit angles and tackling. And while Glenn undoubtedly has the athletic ability and size to play linebacker, it's a whole other thing to actually play the position well. The nuances and subtleties of being 'backer in the college game is no simple task, particularly if you barely even played it in high school.

The motivation for this move is easy to understand. With Marlon Lucky, Q, Helu, Mendoza, as well as the soon-to-be-active Kenny Wilson all competing for carries, Glenn faced an uphill battle for playing time, particularly considering his role as goal-line battering ram would likely be filled by Castille. That said though, does Glenn really think he's going to be getting significant playing time behind guys who received scholarships specifically to play the LB position? In addition to this, would an experiment like this stunt the development of younger guys who could use the practice snaps? It's tough to say, and Glenn hasn't made a final decision yet, so this might all be pointless to talk about right now. As much as I have my doubts about this maneuver, I think Glenn has the right to play where wants to, considering he's a senior who has sacrificed his health for the program for several years now. I don't think it will be successful, but the guy deserves a shot if that is what he wants.


Some random thoughts to end the post:

-It may be un-American, but I really don't give a rat's ass about pro baseball. Not one bit. I appreciate the skill the game takes, and I do acknowledge it as an American institution, but that doesn't change one simple fact: 95% of the time, it is the most boring damn thing I've ever seen. The only thing fun to watch is the playoffs, or if there is a dominant pitcher on the mound. Other than that, I'd seriously rather watch golf. Lone exception: if former Husker Alex Gordon is batting, I'd watch it. But then I'd change it after his AB. Most of this dislike stems from the fact the baseball season (counting spring training) stretches from February to November, which would be too long for even an exciting sport (which baseball isn't most of the time).

-I haven't really cared about pro basketball since Charles Barkley retired. Sure, I like KG and followed the Wolves there for a couple of years, but I've never really found a team I care about enough to sit down and watch entire games. That said, for the first time I am genuinely looking forward to the NBA postseason (well really only the Western Conference playoffs, but better than none, right?). It has been incredible to watch the emergence of so many players jumping to the next level this year. Have you seen Chris Paul play? It's like watching a created player abuse people on a video game. He's really that good. It's not just him either: Kobe made the leap from selfish jackass to selfless jackass who is playing on a whole other level, Garnett has made the Eastern Conference a legitimate threat in the Finals, and Shaq is rejuvenated in Phoenix. How crazy would a Lakers-Suns Western Conference finals be, followed by Lakers-Celtics for the title? How could you not watch that, even if you were just an impartial observer?

-51,000 tickets sold for the spring game thus far........the chances for a sellout are high, but we're going to need a lot of walk-ups to get there. I think Husker nation will come through, if only to show Alabama (who had 92,000 in the stands for last year's spring game) that they aren't the only ones who have nothing to do right now besides obsess over college football.

Where's the Kool-Aid Stand?

*** My apologies to any other Husker bloggers (and readers), as we inevitably all have some variation of the exact same information. This tends to happen when there are 20,000 bloggers for one college football team.


WHOOOOO! SPRING FOOTBALL MOTHA-F***ER!!!!

That seems to be the collective feeling of Husker Nation as we enter the first spring practices of the Pelini era. Everyone you talk to seems to be completely bombed off of the Pelini Kool-Aid, myself included. Unlike the last time we had a regime change, there's no bitterness over firings or anything like that--everyone is genuinely excited we have a different coaching staff, which is understandable considering everyone (including the players, apparently) really didn't like Callahan and his crew.

Every player has given glowing endorsements of Pelini's practice style, and the media as well as the fans are eating up every sound bite they are fed by the Big Red. I'm not going to analyze or quote every single interview that was given or try to break down Pelini's defensive schemes after just one practice (that would be pretty dumb at this juncture). What I am going to do in this post is look at what some of the the players are saying about the new staff as well as the old one (these quotes were particularly eye opening). Anyways, I, along with the rest of Husker Nation, find myself with a spring in my step this week. Sure, it's a new staff, a new outlook, and we are back at square one. But I'd rather be at square one in the Pelini era than whatever number we were at last year in Callahan's......because his "drive program into ground" square completely sucked.....

One article I definitely want to touch on is this gem by the OWH's Dirk Chatelain, discussing how the players last year would often fall behind mentally because Callahan's staff wouldn't stop to make sure that everyone understood what was being taught. If you fell behind, someone who understood was going to be playing instead of you (which is probably why we saw a lot of guys playing who weren't really the best football player). Typically revealing was this little soundbite:

"Coaches weren't really in teaching mode," safety Larry Asante said.

So whoever understood the information, Asante said, "that's the guy who played."

"There were guys out there lost."

Really? No way! I always thought the defensive guys were spot-on in their assignments. I mean, those 15 yard-wide holes against USC had to have been planned, right? Oh, wait, it's because nobody knew what they were doing? I really couldn't tell. As the article states, Callahan's practices were better set up for NFL players who could quickly pick up his schemes with minimal instruction. After all, by the time you make it to the league, you're expected to understand most football schemes, and there isn't much individual instruction and follow up to make sure the players get it. Because if they don't you can simply find someone who will. College ball is different. You still need to be a teacher, you still need to help the kids out, you can't expect 19 and 20 year olds to be able to pick up a scheme instantly. In addition to that, apparently the staff waited till they were in film later that night or even the next day to point out mistakes made in practice. This is one of the DUMBEST things I have ever heard of. Players need correction and re-enforcement right away, you don't wait a day to let them know they screwed up.

One thing I have loved reading about is the intensity and effort that Pelini is demanding (and apparently getting) from his Husker defenders. Take this quote from Phillip Dillard:

"Every play he's yelling, 'Run to the ball, run to the ball. D-linemen, I want you running 10 yards to the ball no matter what,"' Dillard said. "If you're not, you're going to hear from him."

"If you're messing up, he's talking to you, and he's going to correct you because he wants everything done right," Dillard said. "If you're not doing something right, he's going to call you out. And the other players are going to call you out. That's the way it's supposed to be."


I know that seems like a given, but there were a lot of times last year where the effort was questionable at best, and to be a successful, ball-hawking unit that Pelini likes, there has to be guys flying to the ball every single play. The goal is to always have about 7 guys in the picture when you're watching film of a tackle. There has a to be a wolf-pack mentality, where every one is fighting for scraps. This is especially true of a unit that wants to create turnovers. There were several times last year where the opposing team fumbled, only to recover it themselves because nobody was around the ball (which was partly due to Cosgrove's insistence on sticking with man-to-man defenses). This quote by Niles Paul to Brian Christopherson of the LJS was particularly encouraging: “The defense was flying to the ball, picking up fumbles, dropped passes, they were picking them up and taking them to the house.” After watching the Blackshirts sleepwalk through embarrassment after embarrassment last year, it's refreshing to hear of their enthusiasm to impress their new coach.

Anyways, I just wanted to check in with some stuff on this post, we're only one practice in after all. But I want to leave with you with one more snippet from Barry Turner about what Bo is telling his troops about the upcoming season:

"Coach Pelini is doing a great job of just saying there's no team on the schedule we feel like we can't beat," said Turner. "That's how your mind's got to be."

Damn right.