Over the last four years, the "Should Frank Solich have been fired?" argument has been run into the ground so many times, that dead horse isn't even recognizable underneath all of the tire tracks.  I'm guilty of it myself; I thought Solich shouldn't have been fired in 2003, and have defended Solich ever since.

But as time went on, it became clear that the debate was over regarding Solich.  Not that firing him was right or wrong, but rather... nobody's opinion is changing.  Instead, it was just an endless argument that never persuaded anybody to change their mind.  It was divisive, something we simply had to simply drop since it wasn't going anywhere.  Here's what I wrote just 54 weeks ago:

2003 is over... Solich, Bo Pelini, Barney Cotton, and Marvin Sanders are not coming back. Rehashing this old decision is like picking an old scab; it may feel good at the time but it's not allowing things to heel.

Well...guess what happened.  41-6, 38-0, 76-39.  5-7.

And suddenly, look who's back in town:  Pelini, Cotton, and Sanders.

Still, why bring up Frank Solich again?  He's at Ohio.  Can't we move on, please?

I debated about raising this topic again; it's not like I'm going to change anybody's mind on this.  So why do it?

Well... Mostly because Bo Pelini brought it up again.  Not once, but twice.  Once last week in Columbus, and again last night in Omaha.

I'm not trying to defend Solich here.  But I am curious if people's thoughts about Frank Solich have really changed.

Today, KOZN (1620 AM) radio in Omaha interviewed Solich (podcast), and they talked about Ohio football.  He likes where the Bobcats are going, and they talked a little bit about JuCo transfer quarterback Boo Jackson, who got a little national attention from ESPN for his 16-for-20 performance in the Bobcat spring game.

But then the topic turned towards Nebraska, and as Steve Sipple of the Journal-Star noted, Solich got a little emotional:

"It was extremely tough early on. I found it difficult to even look at the scores at the bottom (of the TV screen) when they'd come across. Then it got to the point where I could take some glimpses of a Nebraska game. And then I'd watch a quarter . . .

"Obviously my heart is there in a lot of ways. A big part of my life was spent there in the state of Nebraska."

Is it time to bring Solich back to be honored for his time at Nebraska?  Would that be a good thing?  Would that help heal the wounds with Husker fans...or does that just reopen an old tired debate?  It could happen this season on October 25th against Baylor; the Bobcats play a couple of Tuesday games back to back. (Temple on the 21st, then Buffalo and Turner Gill on the 28th.)

We lost all our linebackers. All of them. Oh, except for Phillip Dillard, who had 37 tackles last season. He’ll be a starter at the middle linebacker position, you can bet on that. He can tackle.

The rest of the potential linebacking corps will be made up of Blake Lawrence, Latravis Washington, Tyler Wortman, Nick Covey and Austin Stafford. Between them they totaled 18 tackles in 2007. That’s, uh, not very many.

Between all of them (including Dilard) they have two starts, both Dillard’s.

Also amongst our potential starters are a converted senior running back (Cody Glenn) and a freshman recruit (Will Compton) that hasn’t been on campus yet.

Ouch.

I disagree with the guys at Big Red Network about the importance of linebackers. Linebackers are the hunter-killers of any defense.

The linebacker has changed quite a bit over the past few years, and 2008 will be no exception. No less than 10 Big 12 return starting quarterbacks, and they're playing in quick-bang offensive styles that leave little room for a guy who can't catch every player in the backfield.

Linebackers today have to do everything well. They must extra support against the run. They must do pass coverage. They must be fast and have a head for the game (think Bo Ruud), but most of all they must be versatile. They must have attitude.

They are the guys that will be chasing down the Big 12’s quarterbacks when they take off on the zone read. Hence, Hunter - Killers.

This is where Major Culbert fits into the equation. Is he a safety? Is he a linebacker? Does it make a difference as to what he's labeled? Culbert is one of those guys that's a big 'x' factor heading into the coming season. If he's on the field with Larry Asante and Ricky Thenarse playing safety, he'll be the guy the defense will be wondering about. Is he going to come up against the run? Is he capable of defending the pass? I'm glad we have him.

Three questions:

• Do you think the linebacker unit will be okay in the fall?
• Care to take a guess at the three guys that will be chosen as starters?
• Sure tackler, Speed, Head for the Game - Pick Two And Tell Why

Here's something to chew on over the weekend

Looking at the crop of receivers as potential starters for 2008, who’s going to step up and be the next big playmaker?

Let’s not worry much about Todd Peterson or Nate Swift. Both are proven receivers, both can move the chains. In fact, Nate Swift is moving up the charts in total receptions and if he has a decent season in 2008 he could pass Johnny Rodgers on the all-time receptions list.

But let’s face it. Neither Peterson nor Swift are going to strike fear into the hearts of a defense. Neither are going to be that ‘stretch the field’ guy, and that’s who I’m looking for. It's who the 2008 Nebraska offense will be looking for.

I’m worried about the next big playmaker.

Your candidates:

• Menelik Holt - four receptions for 97 yards, all in the last three games of 2007 even though he was he the field for all 12 games. Probably should have redshirted, but that wasn’t in the cards. Big guy at 6'4" but can he run?
• Niles Paul - had one for six, I keep hearing his name as high potential. Will it show up as a receiver or a kick/punt return man? Wasn't he a presidential candidate or something like that?
• Chris Brooks - one career reception for four yards.  He's a Junior who played in only a single game last season. Given Callahan's penchant for throwing the ball all over the place is he any good?
• Curenski Gilleylen - much can be made about a 77 yard bomb for a touchdown in the spring game, but it takes more than one play to make him the guy. Especially when it’s during a spring game.
• Will Henry - didn’t play last season.
• Matt Donahue - hasn’t seen the field yet.

Who amongst these is going to be ‘the guy’ and why?

The Columbus Telegram had posted a full 45-minute speech that Bo Pelini gave at a Chamber Banquet. Informative, funny. As of this morning it’s been taken down - I’m guessing they saw their bandwidth being consumed by gobs.
(Folks, that’s why people post things on youtube - so they can let them provide the bandwidth, not just because it's a place where kids can post videos of themselves picking their nose. If the link goes up there, we’ll attach it.)

He’s a good speaker - he said a lot of the right things about tradition and a return of playing with passion. If nothing else, he sounds good. It’s hard not to warm up to the guy. He also said something about success taking a while, but I have no idea what he means when he says that.

He takes a few veiled shots at the former coaching staff - nothing too heavy, but they’re there.  One that stood out for me is Pelini pointing out that while he was focused on discipline he also said it was important that the players understand that the coach has their best interests at heart - specifically ‘that I have their back’. In other words, the players need to know that the coach would support them.  I’m sure all y’all have heard some stories but let’s just say that the former ‘culture of fear’ extended beyond the people who worked for the athletic department.

He answered a questions pointing out that the players will be practicing in full pads on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, then on shorts on Thursday. It’s bizarre to think that’s even a hot issue, but it garnered a fair amount of applause.

Someone must have asked him if he should have been head coach in 2003 (the sound from the questioners was suspect). Pelini responded by saying that he should not have been made head coach in 2003 because Frank Solich should not have been fired - a response which drew applause. More interesting than that (I don’t want to start a Frank debate all over again), he stated that he’s gained a lot of experience since 2003 and is more prepared to be a head coach now.

I like Pelini’s laugh - it reminds me of that guy in high school you thought was too dumb to live past 30. I mean that in a good way.

Nebraska has fallen in love with the guy. That’s not a difficult accomplishment given who he’s replaced. I just hope he’s successful. I don’t want to go through all this again in four years.

[ED - Video is backonline - located here.]

The walk-on program has returned under Tom Osborne.. er, Bo Pelini. Not that it ever really left under Bill Callahan, but you got the idea that it was around only as an amusement. Certainly it was de-emphasized - which means it was comparable to when you’re a civil servant and they assign you off to some meaningless corner department somewhere. You’re still getting paid and they didn’t fire you, but to everyone else you’re a dead man.

The "walk-on makes good" story is a great story. It’s a feel-good story, an American ‘rags to riches’ story. It makes a dream accessible for the everyday kid growing up in Nebraska - who when they were little didn’t dream of one day playing for the Cornhuskers?

Much is made of the walk-on program at Nebraska - I wonder if far more success is attributed to it than it deserves. I’m not saying that out of some blasphemous intent or hidden agenda, but I am wondering what others are thinking.

Given that, who’s your favorite walk-on, or better yet - when you hear the phrase ‘walk-on’ and ‘Husker’ together, what pops into your head? It can be a person, but it can also be a concept. I’d like to know what you’re thinking.

A few years ago one of my regular clients hired a new IS Manager. Knowing his background and that he’d come from Carlson Companies, when I first met him I jokingly asked him if Curt Carlson ever liked him enough to give him a statue of himself.

My question was a joke. The guy’s response wasn’t.

“Oh, yeah, I won one of those once. They’re called ‘Curties’, about six inches tall, he used to give them out if he thought you were doing a good job”.

Egad. You have to wonder about the ego of a guy that would give out statues of himself. Not that surprising given Carlon’s success, though, as he built Carlson Companies from the ground up. He also got the University of Minnesota to name their business school after him just because he gave them a boatload of money.

There’s a life size statue of him as you enter Carlson Companies, or at least there used to be, I haven’t been out there in quite a few years. There’s a bust of him at the Carlson School of Management. The key here is that when you’re successful you can just about anything you want and get away with it - even give out little statues of yourself.

Unfortunately, when you’re not successful the same ideas can make you look really stupid. Take our old buddy Steve Pederson for example. He wanted to have statues of himself made, too.

Maybe if old Stevey P got really successful he could make miniatures - little tiny ones you could carry around so you could keep him with you and remember him all the time. Reading through his bio at Pitt, you’d have to wonder why we got rid of him:

Pederson was at Nebraska for five years and we have 23 teams, meaning there were 345 chances for teams get to get NCAA invitations. 15 out of 345 chances is... not very good is it?  I’m thinking there’s a different definition for the word ‘exceptional’ out there in Pittsburgh.

What this means is that Pitt’s standards for athletic success are a helluva low lower than they are at Nebraska, so there’s still a chance for Pedey to get his statues made and then we’ll be sorry.

Especially you because you won’t get one. Maybe you’d like to have had a ‘Pedey’?

---

One more item of interest about Pederson from that Omaha World Herald article:

Being a consultant now for about 20 years and having worked in organizations of all sizes, shapes and industries, all I have to say is

Holy crap.

The only companies I’m aware of where they do quarterly performance reviews are those that have been bought or sold or are about to be. Oh, that and those run by control freaks and megalomaniacs.

There have been no Huskers taken on the first day of the NFL draft. I find it surprising that Carl Nicks is still available, I thought that we would at least be taken by the middle of the second round. Like I said earlier, this isn’t saying a whole lot for the talent level that Bill Callahan brought to Nebraska.

Only one Big 12 player was taken in the first round - Aqib Taliq from Kansas going to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with the 20th pick.

The second round saw:

• WR Jordy Nelson, Kansas State, to the Green Bay Packers
• LB Curtis Lofton, Oklahoma to the Atlanta Falcons
• LB Jordon Dizon, Colorado to the Detroit Lions (poor bastard)
• WR Malcom Kelly, Oklahoma to the Washington Redskins
• WR Limas Sweed, Texas to the Pittsburgh Steelers
• TE Martellus Bennett, Texas A&M to the Dallas Cowboys
• CB Terrence Wheatle, Colorado to the New England Patriots

Two defensive players from Colorado, and Malcolm Kelly goes ahead of Limas Sweed. Wow.

Eight from the Big 12 sounds awful until you look at the major conference break downs:

• 11 from the ACC
• 8 from the Big 10
• 4 from the Big East
• 2 from Notre Dame, otherwise known as "Independents"
• 11 from the Pac -10
• 28 from the SEC

Okay, the 28 from the SEC is a typo. They had only 8 taken in the first two rounds, but it’s best not to piss them off. These SEC guys get all freaky if someone implies their conference isn't the best at football.

[UPDATE - 11:52 AM - Danny Woodhead was just on ESPN's draft day coverage. Man this guy is humble. Given the chance to spout on about his own accomplishments, he re-iterates that he'd love to be drafted, doesn't like to talk about himself, and only wants the opportunity to show what he's got. He won over the announcer dudes immediately.]

Looks like Blankman and I were simultaneously posting the same story...  Be sure to read his take as a former contributor to Scout.

Illinois coach Ron Zook doesn't like the new "Saban Rule" that places restrictions on what head coaches can do during the spring evaluation period currently underway.  He's not alone...  Saban (no duh!) and Pete Carroll also aren't happy about it either.

But Zook didn't stop there in his interview with the Arlington Heights' Daily Herald, telling Lindsey Willhite that some coaches are secretly using recruiting services (such as Rivals & Scout) as an intermediary to communicate with recruits.  The recruiting services can communicate with recruits outside the NCAA's control...and with some schools giving some of these services extra access to the program, that leaves a hole in the system to be exploited.

"We're turning the recruiting over to the so-called recruiting gurus," Zook said. "Now, all of a sudden, just like you've got basketball coaches complaining that it's turning over to the AAU coaches, now we're turning it over to these guys that can call them.

"Well, you know what a lot of them are saying. They're selling their school to these kids, and we're not able to talk to them. To me, we're losing this thing, in my opinion."

Why would Zook call them "so-called" gurus?  Well, in Terry Bowden's online column this week on Bo Pelini, he compared 2007 Nebraska with the rest of the Top 10 (PDF) (and boy, was it ever ugly except for Nebraska's passing numbers.)  But at the same time, he pulled out the Top 10's recruiting rankings for 2003 to 2007 from Rivals, which should have ranked nearly every player in each program.

What did he find?  Well...some of last season's best teams had highly ranked recruiting classes...and some didn't.

1. LSU (1, 2, 22, 7, 4; average 7)

2. Georgia (6, 6, 10, 4, 9; average 7)

3. USC (3, 1, 1, 1, 2; average 1.5)

Wow, sounds like these recruiting services are rock solid!

4. Missouri (28, 29, 39, 47, 33; average 36)

Whoa!  Well, Missouri was a bit of a surprise.

5. Ohio State (41, 9, 12, 12, 15; average 18)

A little closer.  Not bad, though.

6. West Virginia (46, 47, 31, 52, 23; average 40)

7. Kansas (39, 51, 48, 38, 50; average 45)

Ummm... Something doesn't look right.

8. Oklahoma (4, 8, 3, 9, 14; average 8)

Nailed that!

9. Virginia Tech (27, 41, 14, 32, 29; average 28)

10. Boston College (24, 24, 49, 37, 46; average 36)

Hmmm...

Nebraska (42, 27, 5, 20, 13; average 21)

Hmmmm...  So four teams in the top ten (LSU, Georgia, USC, Oklahoma) had great recruiting.  Of course...they've been top programs in recent years.

A couple of teams (Ohio State, Nebraska) had good recruiting.  One team made it to the National Championship game.  The other had a season to forget.

Virginia Tech didn't show any signs of being a top ten program in their recruiting, but still made it into the top 10.  Boston College and Missouri rode rather ordinary recruiting rankings into the top 10.  And West Virginia and Kansas won BCS bowl games with the worst ranked recruiting classes of the bunch.

In other words...sometimes the recruiting rankings get it right...sometimes they don't.  And at least in 2007, they got it wrong a lot more than they got it right, it seemed.  And that's why they are merely "so-called" gurus.

Turns out that Illinois Head Coach Ron Zook ain’t that big of a fan when it comes to recruiting sites.  Said Zook via the Arlington Heights (Ill.) Daily Herald,

"We're turning the recruiting over to the so-called recruiting gurus," Zook said.

"Now, all of a sudden, just like you've got basketball coaches complaining that it's turning over to the AAU coaches, now we're turning it over to these guys that can call them.  Well, you know what a lot of them are saying. They're selling their school to these kids, and we're not able to talk to them. To me, we're losing this thing, in my opinion."

Just some more comments on what I saw that the spring game last weekend.

The defensive line did a decent job of standing their ground, so either they're better or the offensive line isn't near as powerful as we've been lead to expect. If you had to chose between the two, you'd be better off choosing the former, because if the 2008 defensive line doesn't play well, whatever else happens on defense won't matter much.

It's pretty obvious we'll go back to the 4-3 as a base defense. No more of this 3-3-5 or whatever it was that Kevin Cosgrove was trying to do last season to defend against the spread. The biggest part of that 4-3 defensive is the front four. If they can stand their ground (which they didn't do last season) and generate a pass rush when it's needed, then the defense will be fine. They won't be great, but they'll be okay.

It's easy to say the defensive line will be fine - it's spring. They're the same guys we had last season and they got shoved all over the field as if they didn't exist last season. When they weren't getting shoved around they took themselves right out of plays, i.e., a defensive end crashing inside into the backfield while a back was running to the outside - go back and watch the Missouri game if you've got the stomach for it and you'll see what I mean.

Everything that's come out of spring football has been positive. There were no serious injuries - we won't be missing anyone for the 2008 season. The coaches have been upbeat, as have the players. That's great news, certainly different than the news out of other programs, oh, like Michigan, where there seems to have been a never ending string of complaints about the coaching change.

I took a boatload of pictures mostly because I could. The vast majority of them aren't going to end up online, but I did it mostly for fun, and because I wanted to go back and look for patterns, things I didn't see last season.

One of those patterns is gang tackling - swarming to the ball, that thing that Bo Pelini talks about all the time. You've missed it, haven't you? I know I have.

Another thing you're missing is a defensive end (or two, remember that gang tackling theme) squishing the life out of a quarterback. Not a chance of that happening with the green jerseys on, but I don't doubt that we'll see it's return next season.

Is all this a good sign? Yes, but the defensive front four must be something they weren't last year - physically and mentally tough. We'll only know that when they take the field. Even they won't know it until then. Seems like a long ways away doesn't it?

New Era Scouting has released a NFL draft guide that includes their own mock draft. Given all the talent that Bill Callahan was supposed to have brought in, there isn't a whole lot going on for the Huskers. I have the feeling that Husker defensive players are going to pay a steep price for what was systematic failure last season - that the defense was so bad that their NFL draft status will be downgraded despite their ability to play the game at the next level.

Here's where New Era sees the Husker players going:

• Carl Nicks, 4th round, 106th pick - Baltimore

I would be surprised if Nicks falls this far. New Era's guide is at odds with their scouting analysis which projects Nicks going in the mid second round. The ongoing SB Nation NFL Mock Draft featured Nicks getting picked in the second round by Kansas City.

From New Era's profile:

Nicks may improve in quickness with different condition and strength coaching in the NFL. Departed strength coach Dave Kennedy did not help these guys much in that regard - read the comment on that post and you'll get a good idea of what I'm talking about.

There's been comments about Nicks' character after his exclusion from Nebraska's Pro Day and his ticket at a Lincoln party, but if there isn't more than that, what's the big deal? Is it that we need something to talk about that we make mountains out of mole hills, or is there more to the story?

[UPDATE 12:20 PM- From the Sacramento Bee - more of an explanation about what happened from Carl Nicks' point of view.]

• Zachary Bowman, 4th round, 135th pick - Green Bay

Bowman is the one guy I'd like to see do well in the NFL. He had considered leaving early for the NFL after 2006 season, but returned to Nebraska, then suffered another knee injury. No doubt NFL draft wonks are worried about his injuries, but if he's recovered, I'm guessing they may find a quality guy and a quality cornerback for a late-round pick.

He was the defensive captain that turned in his blackshirt before anyone else and we should have known something was wrong when no one followed his lead.  It seems to me that the defensive woes in 2007 will cost Bowman more than any other Husker. He only started four games in 2007, ending up with 29 tackles and one game-saving interception against Wake Forest.

• Maurice Purify, 6th round, 202nd pick - Indianapolis

Purify has a couple of problems, the first (and most important) being that this NFL draft is stock full of wide receiver prospects. New Era has him listed as the 25th best receiver in the draft. When you consider that Michigan's Mario Manningham is listed at 14th, the draft is pretty deep at that position.

His second problem is his character issues. Husker fans are well-acquainted with his 2007 preseason incidents, but he didn't have any problems during the season. After the season is over, he gets the equivalent of a parking ticket and hits the news again. The NFL is so caught up on their 'character' issues I wonder if they freak out at anything besides pure piety these days, or if they're just looking for an excuse to lower the cost of a contract.

Purify will take a hit for his route running as much as anything. Forget the character issues, forget the depth of the draft. Purify will make it if he works his butt off, anything less and his NFL career will be short lived.

• Sam Keller barely gets a mention, only being listed as the 28th best quarterback available, below Xavier Lee (FSU), Kyle Wright (Miami, FL), Anthony Morelli (Penn State), and Brandon Cox (Auburn). If you followed these guys throughout their college careers - this isn't saying much about Keller's pro prospects.
• Bo Ruud is another unknown, younger brother of Barrett Ruud who happens to be a starting linebacker for the Tamba Bay Buccaneers. Barrett was thought to be too slow to play linebacker in the NFL, yet he finished 2007 with 114 tackles, 83 of them unassisted, and was the NFC defensive player of the month last September. Barrett  remains the leading tackler in Nebraska history, a guy who just played the game better than most. The same might be said of Bo, who made game-saving interceptions against Iowa State and Ball State last season. Whether he's drafted or not, I'm betting he makes a NFL roster.

The Spring Revival meetin’ was insane. It really was  - I headed down to campus around 9:00 am to get a parking spot for the day and to get some pictures for an upcoming book. I did a tour around campus, then came back towards the stadium and noticed that there were already people in line for general admission. In talking to one of the event guys, he said that people were in line as early as 6:30 am. That’s dedication.

An hour before the gates opened, the line for general admission had stretched for a couple of blocks or more, the shot below isn’t even at the tale end of the line. At that point, I decided to wander off to join in some pre-game festivities instead of standing in line.

By the time I entered the stadium, general admission seating was nuts. I didn’t bother finding a seat until about three minutes left in the game and that was because I journeyed to the top of the North end zone to talk for a few minutes with Husker Mike about what’d we seen. What we saw was a good old-fashioned revival. The revival was the nation of Husker fans coming back together to welcome a new coach, a bunch of former players and restoration of Nebraska traditions.

As for the play on the field, I’d describe it as ‘rough’ - as in it’s still in the process of being made rough, as in it hasn’t been sanded yet rough. There were a number of turnovers which were the result of poor execution, but that kind of stuff is to be expected.

Throughout the game, the coaches were on the field, many times holding up cards showing an offensive formation or (guessing) a specific play, so you get the idea that things aren’t quite finished, but again that is to be expected.

There were some nice plays. My favorite was seeing Quentin Castille run over Ricky Thenarse as the two met head-on, as shown in the shot sequence below. In the first shot you can see the ‘9’ on Castille’s jersey as he’s charging straight into Thenarse (# 3).

Next shot, that’s Thenarse lying on the ground with Castille surrounded by members of the Red team.

And in our third, we see Thenarse giving chase as other Red guys are finally bringing Castille to the ground.

There was a 77-yard bomb from Joe Ganz to Curenski Gilleylen where Gilleylen burned the defense.

Later, Marcus Mendoza burned the white defense badly for a touchdown in which it appeared that the defense simply never saw him coming out of the backfield for a swing pass.

We have a lot of talent at running back. Lucky, Helu, Castille, Mendoza - it’s no wonder that we’ll be running the ball a lot more next season. I tend to watch the line play, but the backs were impressive.… well, with the exception of the turnovers but that can be worked out.

All in all, a great day for Husker fans - a good excuse to field good about where the program is now and where we’re headed. I was discussing the fact that Bo Pelini may fail as the Husker head man, but for now he’s our guy. What was the loudest cheer? I’d say it was when Pelini’s name was announced at the beginning of the game, exactly like you thought it would be.

If that weren’t enough, the Husker baseball team took the series from Kansas as they won Saturday 8-6.

And here’s your obligatory Husker Cheerleader shot because I can.