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 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.