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A Nebraska basketball debate, spring football preview & early transfer portal rumblings
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Mar 24, 2025
We debate whether fans should care about Nebraska basketball and whether the university should allocate fewer resources. We also preview spring football for the #Huskers and discuss early transfer portal rumblings. #GBR
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0:01
hey Husker fans welcome back to the Husker big red YouTube channel I'm Chris Peterson and joining me as always is Danny Gillette and we're back for
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another episode of the podcast here on Monday as we get set for Nebraska Spring football the basketball transfer portal
0:12
is now officially open today and we're also going to debate about Nebraska basketball and what actually can be
0:18
successful about that program after that question was raised by some fans this weekend and also a tremendous uh weekend
0:24
for Nebraska wrestling showing that you can um a men's program can compete for a national championship even they took
0:30
second but brought home some national champions and the best finish that the Huskers have ever had so we're going to touch on all of that um before we do
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please hit the like button hit the Subscribe button get into the comment section and Danny how are you on this Monday morning we might get to this a
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little bit later but I was watching March Madness so I had a busy weekend of watching basketball and boy seeing all
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those Nebraska targets and transfers in March manness kind of hurt yeah it did a little bit and yeah
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we will get into that it's been a hot topic of uh conversation you know with the basketball program and everything um
1:02
so yeah we'll definitely get into that um as I you know I don't know if people saw but coron Nation had an interesting
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uh tweet on social media basically asking you know if you care about Nebraska basketball or if Nebraska
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basketball should care so maybe let's just start let's just get into it I was start with spring football but you know screw it let's start with basketball um
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because yeah it just was really interesting this kind of debate um that coronation put out there and maybe we
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can uh pull up the Tweet basically toh give you a better idea of what we're talking about but essentially you know
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there's been a huge debate of of what um what the ceiling is for Nebraska
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basketball or what can be kind of achieved with Nebraska basketball and um after you know some other teams won
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games mcne State I think won a tournament game on Thursday and that kind of triggered this I think and uh it was a serious question from qu's
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coordination on a Friday how many of you really care about nebras about this and it's a Nebraska not making the Nate
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tournament ever I realize Nebraska wants to compete in every sport but is that reality in the current landscape why
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would we bother pumping money into this sport when we have so many others that are more successful um and that was
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talking about basketball so what are your thoughts about that Danny I mean should Nebraska continue to try to invest in basketball I know that last
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year it's been reported they had about $2 and A5 million dollar in nil which was the bottom tier of the Big 10 and
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now it's also being reported that it's uh every starter is basically going to cost 500,000 so you know is Nebraska
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even going to have the nil money to really field a competitive team I mean those are some debates but what are your thoughts on this idea Nebraska shouldn't
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invest in men's basketball anymore it's a dumbass take I'm sorry it it it's a
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dumb take and I mean I know the program hasn't been strong in recent memory and
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look I know that the program is not where anybody wants it to be right but
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Nebraska basketball is still the to is still one of the top three Sports by Revenue uh they turned a profit last
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season with a surplus of almost $5 million and people do care about Nebraska basketball um you know I don't
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want to speak too badly about coronation but he's very anti- men's basketball so
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that also kind of didn't surprise me that he had this take and others did as well it's not just him but um I think
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it's a stupid debate I I I do think there needs to be more of an investment in the basketball program but I don't
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think I don't think that it's Fred Hy's fault that this program doesn't invest
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and he I feel like he's doing what he can with the budget that he has I
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understand there were some portal misses but when you look at you know the budget of Nebraska basketball in comparison to
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some other schools Fred doesn't have a ton to work with I I I I still think Nebraska was in the bottom tier in terms
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of uh revenue for for basketball so um you know and now we have UCLA and Oregon
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who who also looks pretty good I it it it's it was just one of those times where we caught Oregon at a bad time I
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guess back in the back in early February but anyway um you know I think
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especially with these new teams coming in Nebraska basketball is still at the bottom um in terms of Revenue and I
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think Fred's doing the best he can with the budget that he has and I do think it's worth investing more into the
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program um I don't think you know I don't think taking away Revenue
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from basketball and investing it somewhere else is going to uh
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necessarily be a good thing I mean the only program right now where I could see really heavily investing in is wrestling
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and I wonder how far that's going to go I mean I I I would say baseball but baseball is also on a downward kid so I
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don't know I just thought this was a stupid debate I don't think you should take any money or you know fold any
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program and invest it into somewhere else um this was one of the more interesting
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uh debates I saw this week and it just shows that we are so deep in the
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offseason that we need some form of content to keep us all relevant yeah well I just think that to
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me it's silly to to try to sacrifice any sport for another I think Nebraska should have the resources to be
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competitive in all of the you know main I mean you look at there's four men's sports that I would say really truly you
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know matter the main four you know obviously you have basketball football baseball and wrestling and then women's
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sports you have volleyball women's basketball and softball and you know maybe someday that there I mean there is
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uh girls wrestling so I mean that that may potentially be a sport that Nebraska could add at some point excuse me in the
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future you know maybe hockey could be added too I don't but any but for now hockey was added hockey would be so cool
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yeah that that would be cool and you know you could add women's hockey too as well but um at any rate that's those are
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the big Seven Sports and if you look at it I mean Nebraska's had a decent amount of success and that honestly the one
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that's had the least amount of success probably is the football program I mean I know basketball struggled but they did make the NCA tournament last season so I
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mean let's not forget about that um and then you know the baseball team won the Big 10 tournament last year the
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wrestling team obviously just went on an incredible run where they took second and crowned two national champions
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something they haven't done in 14 years they've never taken second place and they have six of those guys coming back next year so they should have a good
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chance to be you know right in the thick of it again and then you look at Women's basketballs made the tournament two
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years in a row um volleyball team obviously is one of the best um softball in the top 25 you know they've
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consistently made the Nay tournament for the most part so I feel like you know Nebraska's best programs are all pretty
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successful and um you know so to me I mean looking at the basketball team like I know they struggled this year but the
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Big 10 conference I mean let's just call it like it is it was really damn good I mean they went you know 12 and four in the first two days of the tournament so
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you know Nebraska like I they they were very close to still being in the NSA
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tournament have had a couple of bounces go their way and um you know if they hit
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on a few different transfer portal guys I mean the they just was some of the guys that just did not really hit last
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year you know berky still kind of up in the air see what his future can be Braxton made not wasn't who you know
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Nebraska thought he was going to be Ry Worster ended up being a disappointment um you know Gavin Griffith was a major
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disappointment he was one of the biggest disappointments in the entire class so I mean that's just going to happen year to
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year I think it is going to be important for Nebraska to have more money because you look at you know Indiana's going to be searching Kansas is going to be out
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to playay pay players everybody's going to have more money and they need to probably triple the nil budget from last
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year you know like we've there's been some early guys that Nebraska has been in contact with but you know like Josh
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dicks are they going to be able to get him probably not because it's going to probably cost like $2 million just to get him so I mean that's just the
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reality of college basketball and so it's like I don't know if you think that Nebraska could do better with somebody
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besides Fred hyberg you know and everything that they're up against like I just don't think that that's the reality of the situation I think Fred's
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doing a great job um you know it's going to be an interesting week this week and I think they're probably going to be you
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know out seeeing some guys recruiting but yeah I think the whole premise is kind of ridiculous that uh you know
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Nebraska just because they haven't you know been competitive you would just shut down that program like that just
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that's mindboggling to me that you could be a Nebraska fan site and actually you know like advocate for one of the one of
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the main Sports to just like not be invested so I I just don't understand that take at
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all I'm going to unmute you there Danny no you're muted there we go there we go
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uh and and let's be real here Nebraska's also up against kraton it's very hard to say no to kraton um when you look I was
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watching the opening game their opening game against Louisville and to me that's
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the exact type of offense that Fred hyberg wants to run they were draining threes all game in the opener against
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Louisville and ultimately they got stopped by a very good team in Auburn um
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but at the end of the day they played really well and you know when you look
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at that offensive system that kraton has and how well they execute it and how good they are at shooting the basketball
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it's hard to say no to that and it's an already solidly built Foundation um you
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know some transportal guys some returners and so you know it having
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kraton in the state also makes things difficult because it would because you know kraton has the nil money for
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basketball and uh you know they've been a much more successful team so I mean
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that's also working against Nebraska as well to a point yeah yeah I definitely think that
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that's uh that's working against Nebraska and one thing you have to think about too with kraton is and this I think is probably where you know
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nation is probably coming from a little bit with this is that you know some of these programs like kraton doesn't have a football program right so they can put
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all of their resources in nil into their basketball program because they don't have to spend on that so they're not
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there's other teams like that too you know Marquette um you know I guess you could maybe Yukon doesn't really have
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that because they do have a football team it's just not like a major program but you joh yeah St John's there's
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plenty of other ones but I mean where are all the Big East teams at right now most of them are sitting at home as far as I know I mean I'm trying to think St
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John's got beat kraton got beat Yukon got beat so I don't think there's any I mean there might be a team I I just
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haven't studied it that closely but so you know I don't know I mean the the Big East teams have spent a ton in nil and
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not really gotten a whole heck of a lot out of it the past two seasons so I mean it does go both ways did I mean to be
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fair well yeah Yukon did yeah I mean um yeah so but like a lot of the other ones
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that did you know Marquette kraton Georgetown you know all the other private schools they didn't do a whole
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lot so um you know nil is not the only way that you can win but it is going to
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be you know it is going to be difficult for Nebraska getting on some of these debates and that's where having a guy I
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think like Fred hyber who can identify Talent coach kids up and do you know
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some of those extra things I think is really going to matter because um you know there's just some teams are going
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to have more Talent than Nebraska and that's probably always going to be the case and probably going to get worse before it gets better um in terms of you
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know the division of talent in college basketball but um yeah I think they just
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they have to get the right players and they have to have they have to have the money to get the right players now I'm not saying that you're going to get you
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know Superstar NBA draft picks but they have to have enough money to go win some of these recruiting battles and you know
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we'll see if that takes place over the next couple of weeks because yeah you got the crown um starting next Monday
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but the the more important thing for this team is uh you know the roster building that's going to take place before that and so I'm sure we'll see
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Fred hyber and some guys out on visits but um yeah at the end of I just don't I
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don't think it really works that that way either you know I don't know that you can just say like Hey we're going to
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take $3 million from you know basketball and give it to the baseball team this year I mean just for the most the way
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University budgets and things work I mean I just think it's kind of a simplistic idea and it to me it just
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doesn't make sense you should you should Nebraska has the resources to win in every sport so I just I don't I reject
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that argument wholeheartedly if you were starting a new basketball program or we didn't have one and and you know the
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university wanted to start one then this I think would be a better debate but for now I don't really understand it at
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all yeah I don't either um so at any rate Let's uh switch topics there um I
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just wanted to while we're on this it was interesting it was cool to see you know the wrestling team have such a
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great weekend and show that you can compete for national championships at Nebraska which I do think is the case um
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especially you know football can get there I think there's a long way to go for basketball but the program can you
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know win games in the National Tournament you know that's that's got to be the first step but you know they were close and um so but it was awesome to uh
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to see Mark Manning's team um you know perform the way they did Mark Manning was a national Coach of the Year Nebraska got second with 117 points Penn
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State ran away with the national title as expected but you know to beat you know teams like Oklahoma State a
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national Powerhouse and you know ran past Iowa in the point standing so a pretty great weekend for Nebraska and
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like I said six of those eight guys are coming back um or or have eligibility remaining so um should be another good
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season and one of those guys is anell Taylor um from Millard South who just won a national championship and has a chance to you know win a couple of more
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so it's exciting time for Nebraska wrestling and it's a reminder that the Huskers can compete on a national level
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in a big men's sport yeah it was really fun to watch this weekend and uh you
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know you look at what they were able to do this season um and you know you talk
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about a tough basketball conference um the Big 10 but it's also a really really
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really good wrestling um conference so I think this sets the stage for big things
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moving forward from Mark Manning obviously coach of the year like you said and uh he's really been able to you
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know stabilize the program and the program has a vision on how to go forward and a blueprint for how to find
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that success and you know we we kind of tied it in with basketball here I think
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you know when you look at you know is this team better off than it was you know x amount of years ago for wrestling
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I think yes because now they have the blueprint and now they know what they need to do in order to you know contend
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with the top teams in the conference so shout out to Mark Manning and the wrestling team they had a they they had
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a great weekend overall and um I'm really excited to see what they can do moving forward and I love watching
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wrestling so it's going to be it's it's going to be you know fun fun uh seasons
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for the next few years yeah and it was cool Andel Taylor um only the second Nebraska native to
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win a National Championship um Nebraska's previous uh best finish as a team was third back in
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1993 with 79 and a half points so truly by far the best wrestling performance
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Nebraska's ever had and it seems like there's a good chance to you know maybe repeat this next year so um if you're
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not paying attention to the wrestling team you should start doing that going forward but um this week obviously it's
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going to be about uh spring practice and we meant to kind of start the show here got here in a roundabout way but um on
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Monday Nebraska is starting Spring ball now I'm not sure if you've come across this but like I've had a couple of
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pre-spring Articles storylines position battles and stuff and then I even had a um a little video I put out just like
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Dyan rayola like oh I'm waiting for Spring ball and it's really crazy A lot of the comments I get are well Nebraska
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is not having a spring game this year NE you know Nebraska is not having a spring game yeah like dub people but you do
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realize that Spring ball is not one game like I'm no they don't I I need to
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explain like Nebraska people you do realize that right there's like 15 practices and those practices mean a lot
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more than the silly scrimmage that we see on Saturday like I get it's fun to watch it but like more is done and more
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like happen like the depth chart and position battles a lot more important stuff happens during practice than the
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stuff that we see on the field during that spring game which I mean yeah we saw Dy Ro for like 60 Minutes last year
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like that's not the reason he won the starting job he did it in spring so like it's just it driving me crazy a little bit well you have the camp that thinks
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you know that is just so mad that there's no spring game that they don't even care about spring practices and
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then you have the camp that thinks Spring ball is the spring game and who are genuinely confused so you have those
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two groupings and quite honestly the spring game in terms of the you know the
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big picture of spring practices is mean is the most meaningless part of them all and um so yeah um I don't want to go
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into this tangent again I it's too early to have two angry heart attacks but um
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yeah um it's really interesting to kind of see the this negative reaction about the
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spring about the lack of a spring game I'd say yeah it is it is kind of interesting
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and that people don't you know it's like the allstar games or like the Senior Bowl you know the practice is more
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important than the actual game and I I feel like that about Spring ball so at any rate there is a lot to talk about I
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think um you know we have talked a little bit about some position battles um there's not like a ton you know an
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offense quarterback is set obviously we know the running back um but I think like running back two is a really
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interesting position battle I think receiver is kind I think we know who's going to play at receiver obviously like
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Dane key Isaiah Hunter I think Hardley Gilmore Barney I think Cortez Mills I think that's going to be like your top
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five you know how's that exactly going to shake out after I think key and Hunter are going to be your top two um
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so I think it's interesting there you know tight end I don't know I mean I think you've got Lynden Meyer and harberg and I think those are going to
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be the guys I don't know if there's really that much of a competition to see like who's going to be the number one I
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think that harberg is gonna be the number one pass threat and that you know L Meers is gonna play the role that he played last year harberg has been
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impressing from what I've heard so yeah I he's a good athlete he's always been a good athlete and you know he's had some
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moments at tight end he looked pretty good catching that pass against Minnesota a couple years ago and like I said I think he can be a good blocker so
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yeah he just need he needs that time to work on his technique and it's I'm glad he's finally getting that um but I guess
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offensively the most interesting battle to me is going to be on the offensive line which is also interesting because a bunch of the guys that are going to be
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in that battle aren't going to be available you know like gunar catula you know Turner cork Ren Teddy prashka won't
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be out there um Henry latoski is limited and there's been some chatter him playing offensive tackle so that's going
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to be you know interesting if he can work his way into the mix there um because I thought maybe he would be
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starting at guard again um and maybe he still could if he doesn't win the tackle job there's a lot I feel like there's a lot of moving Parts you know like if
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Gibson pile you know proves like he's a starter starting caliber player or Sam Sledge or Grant brics or LSI there's
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just there's a lot of competition which I think is a good thing I think Nebraska has actually quality depth on the offensive line for the first time
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probably since that rules been here yeah and you know guys like Grant bricks and
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um and and Gibson pile I'm really interested to see what they make of this spring because they came in as highly
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highly regarded recruits and um you know by all accounts they're very good lineman from what I've seen they're very
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talented very sturdy very physical lineman and um you know I just hate to
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see the injuries you know the injuries to Teddy and the injuries to uh you know
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Turner and you know guys like that just because I feel like those two in particular Teddy and Turner kind of
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needed to be healthy this spring because now they have depth to where they can get pushed out and when you look at some
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of these battles I agree with you offensive line is extremely important because it seems like there hasn't been consistency on the offensive line in I
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don't know five years seven years so I mean it seems like there's always something with
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the offensive line and I think this is a good opportunity for the younger guys to really step up and you know make a name
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for themselves and for the older more veteran guys to get healthy and let's be
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honest here try to retain their spot because the young boys are the young boys are moving on up and I think now
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we're at the point where you know if you're healthy you're good and you see the field then the job is
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yours yeah and I mean you've got the 105 man roster limit too and I'm not sure how exactly that's going to factor into
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to it with um guys like corkrin and you know prashka and um so that's going to
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be really interesting I mean Brock Canon's another guy that you know has been mentioned um so yeah it's going to
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be very interesting to see how that offensive line depth chart shaks out this spring and how that change is going
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into the fall and what the roster looks like going into the fall if if all those I mean yeah if you can find a way to get
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Turner corkran and Teddy broska on this roster um you know that would be great because they've they've got starting
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experience you know if they're healthy but if you have to make a decision and you don't know if they're going to be able to play on the field like I'm not
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sure if you keep them on the roster so I don't know it's going to be really interesting and I guess I'm glad I'm not the one that has to make those decisions
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and tell those guys what those decisions are you know that's got to probably be the toughest part of mats rule ru's job
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and it's it's only going to get tougher but I feel like this is probably going to be the toughest year I feel like after this it's going to be just more
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set in stone what the roster is and and he said he was upfront with players so I'm not I think they all know what they
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had to do and I think the guys who were on the on the bubble like definitely know that they're on the bubble and they made the choice to be here so and I'm
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not saying I have no idea who that is I'm just looking at the roster and kind of right feeling it out but uh yeah it
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will be interesting and um some of the I'm very interested to uh you know hear about some of the newcomers and how
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they've done um I think defensive Line's another position not really like again a
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defensive Line's different than an offensive line where all the guys are going to play but who's going to be the starting you who's going to be the
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starting three up front I personally think it's it's going to be Van Poppel Kiana Davis and um oh shoot I'm totally
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losing it now um probably Elijah yeah Elijah Judy yeah and then I think
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Williams noer and Jaylen George and then cam Leonard are going to be the other guys that play quite a bit I think we'll
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see cam Leonard a lot on pass rushing situations um kind of like you know his freshman season and so yeah I think if
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if they stick with a six-man or a three-man front whether that be a 34 or 335 I think those are the six guys
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you're going to see you know outside of pass rush situation situations those are the six guys you're going to see the most on the
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defensive line which I feel pretty good about yeah no that's a really good defensive line especially when you look at Van popp's growth and how much you
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know weight he's put on and I think you make a really good point about um about
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uh Leonard's freshman season because I feel like last year he was kind of out of position in a sense like he's a pure
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pass rusher in my opinion he's a pass rusher that's what he does and I feel like that's how he made how made an
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impact his freshman season last year I felt like he was almost not given too much and not even that he tried to do
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too much but it just wasn't a good fit for him defensively and so if he could get back to like a pure like pass rusher
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role or get in there for pass rushing situations I feel like that could benefit him greatly and then you do have
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obviously Jason McCulla is going to be you know one of the top pass rushers at the Jack position I think Willis Mah is
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also going to be in the mix there so that sounds really nice and then even Dawson Merrick too too could have could
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uh you know be in the mix as well so Shavers probably yeah Shavers will be obviously starting inside um but you
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know he he proved last year he can Blitz too and do some other things so um yeah I mean the inside linebacker positions
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or just you you look at mola is going to be Jack and then your two inside spots probably Javin Wright and Vincent
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Shavers starting but then you've also still got you know Marcus um Watson Trent that they um added you know
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Christian Jones um so I feel like they're really deep at the linebacker spot Dylan Rogers too you know and don't
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forget about him yeah and then also the secondary I think is some interesting uh safety I think they're pretty much set
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with Buford I mean um yeah Marcus Buford um harzog and Singleton I think those
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are going to be like your three essentially your three safeties that but at quarterback it's going to be really interesting because you've got you know
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Donovan Jones um say right obviously is going to be the starter and then Jones started the bowl game you've got Andrew
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Marshall who came in here um um you know so I think that's just going to be really you know you've got Amir Hall
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still uh you know coming back and then you've got some other guys too you know Tarver umari Sanders yeah Jamir Khan so
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a lot of guys to compete um at that cornerback position and that's even without you know they had um you know
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Mar that Bru kerw Groves killer brew and he left so the room would have been maybe I can see why he left because the
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cornerback room is pretty loaded right now I I think there's guys that prove themselves but you know Jones if he can
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play the way he did against Boston College and you have Andrew Marshall who was first team all Big Sky last year I
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feel like this secondary just the defense as a whole I don't think it's gonna have a very big drop off from last
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season they might be just as good as they were last year honestly I hope they're better because last year even though they were good it was just kind
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of like like e in some spots but um yeah gross killer probably saw all this and
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was like yeah I'm all set and I don't blame him I don't blame him but um one of the things I'm really looking forward
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to seeing and I know I kind of you know I kind of gave him a hard time last year
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but this really wasn't his fault in retrospect is Buford just playing the safety position no corner just focusing
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on safety and that's it because I feel like he has a little bit you know better you know downfield athleticism and I
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feel like he's more naturally suited for the safety position I feel like Corner was a position where he really struggled
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last year and he had to play that position you know almost out of necessity after the injury Tommy Hill at
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the time so I'm happy to see him kind of shift back to that safety position and I think it's a position that's going to be
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more natural for him yeah I agree I think um he's better at that spot you also have his younger brother Mario
26:41
Buford who could be in the mix um Justin Rhett a transfer from Georgia is another guy also cayb Benning ramire Stewart so
26:48
there's a lot of talented guys um in this secondary and um you know I feel
26:53
good about where they're where they're at you know they I know some fans have questions about John Butler but and and
26:59
rightfully so I mean he only had the One season I guess um with Penn State where he was a college defensive coordinator but I think he's going to be uh I think
27:07
he's going to do a better job and I think third down defense which was a really which was a weakness a real weakness under Tony white both years I
27:13
mean how many times would Nebraska get the other team to like third and 11 and they're like oh great and they would pick it up like just too often and I
27:21
think that John Butler with that NFL background and his pass defenses were really good I he was like the pass
27:27
defense of coordinator for the bills so he had a huge part in that and I think that I think you will see the pass
27:33
defense is going to be a lot better especially on third down this year and I feel like we might be able to find a pure pass rusher this year like a go-to
27:39
pass rusher that's something that we also have struggled with not just under Tony white but just in general like over
27:44
the past five seasons um but I feel like we'll be able to find a pure pass rushing attack this year it's not going
27:51
to be you know where the the offensive line can just block us back and the quarterback can read a book in the
27:57
pocket I think they going to be more aggressive and I think that's something that we can look forward to with the John Butler defense as well so I have
28:03
hope for John Butler and um I and I know it's only one game but the uh pinch STP bu definitely showed me a lot in terms
28:10
of what he could do with the delayed blitzes and things like that and I think you saw some good things from like like
28:16
the guys we mentioned Judy um Kiana Davis Van Poppel they all played well in those games so I feel like you know yeah
28:23
they if if Nebraska could get another defense a 330 pounder or another pass rusher they might do it but overall I
28:30
think with Mulla with mahe Leonard no Jaylen George I think they've got a
28:35
pretty good pass rush um going into next season and uh yeah I mean you look at
28:41
some of the young guys too that could could kind of uh step up into that role and Williams noer is another guy that
28:46
could really you know he's to me he's truly an X Factor because he had like one sack last year and I don't I don't
28:52
know if he'll be a starter this year but I I think he's obviously going to play a lot and uh you know if they could reach
28:57
that potential I mean he could he could be starting I mean he could be their best pass rusher who he's got all the potential in the world and so he if you
29:04
if you want to talk about X factors ver for Nebraska this season um no's definitely won for me because I think he
29:10
really could have a big a bigger impact than maybe we're expecting the Florida guys Shavers and
29:16
Mah are the ex factors for me so far just because we saw what they could do a little bit last season I mean just the
29:21
way they rushed the passer in the pinstrike bow was impressive to me and um you know if they can if they can play
29:28
like that the entire season then we got something special and um you know one of
29:33
the guys I'm kind of interested in just to see you know what he can do is Gabe more now whether he can develop just a
29:40
spring ball and then you know we'll see what happens during the season or whether he you know may you know leaves
29:46
a positive impression on the coaches and he works his way into the rotation on defensive line you know that that
29:52
remains to be seen but I'm really interested to see how they uh how they work with him on his development
29:58
because I think Terry Braden is a very good um defensive line coach and maybe he can get more to where you know more
30:06
will be able to contribute uh sooner rather than later yeah and Gabe moral admit um that I kind of forgot about him
30:12
but he is somebody actually pretty excited about just where he came in where his body's at now he's a pretty
30:18
athletic dude for 290 pounds and he was going to be on the two deep for Mississippi State last year and just had
30:23
some injuries and stuff so um kind of a forgotten name but could be one that we learn a lot more about as the season
30:28
goes on for sure I am definitely excited for him and it's just added depth on the defensive line and another thing I'm
30:35
interested in um you know Sean Callahan and others have talked about Dylan rola's weight being down but Callahan
30:41
reported on Monday he expects him about 220 pounds for Dylan Rola which I think would be spectacular I think last year
30:47
probably was closer to 230 24 240 and Matt Ru even made the comment you know
30:53
it's hard to be a great quarterback at 240 pounds and it is it is and we saw some of that last year with Dylan I'm
31:00
glad that he's attacked that um and got his body back to you know a healthier weight I think just a healthier weight
31:05
for him to move around and be agile in the pocket so um if he can do that and even not just even as a runner but if he
31:12
can just buy himself more time because it seemed like last year there was a number of times where he just kind of got um Happy Feet in the pocket and I
31:19
think just being in better shape will help him move around have more of that Tom Brady kind of dip and Dodge um
31:25
effect in the pocket which we didn't really see much from him last year and you know it could be Sly as
31:31
simple as gaining The Freshman 15 because I gain the Freshman 15 but I'm not an athletic freak like Dylan Rola so
31:36
it obviously had different effects for me but um you know just adjusting to that sort of like this is one of those
31:43
things where it's not necessarily even just a sports thing but just adjusting to college life and you know eating
31:49
properly and you know making sure you take care of your body better it's tough your freshman year I certainly didn't
31:55
and so having that extra year in college just from a life standpoint and kind of regulating your body regulating your
32:01
diet making sure what you eat and having another you know uh chance at Spring ball under your belt is is really
32:08
important for him so I'm expecting that he'll do some really big things uh this year and continue to make progress with
32:14
his weight I know some fans are really kind of like oh my God he weighed that much well yeah I'm I'm I'm not surprised
32:20
he was adjusting to a new environment you know adjusting you know to new to a new situation and stuff like that so um
32:28
I'm really excited to see what what he can do this year especially as he continues to lose the weight um yeah and Spring ball will
32:35
monitor that going forward well there'll be I'm sure plenty of rumbling so we'll be covering that um in depth as we move
32:40
forward but I want to wrap up the show with the transfer portal stuff is the basketball transfer portal does open
32:47
today um which like we talked about it's going to be interesting for Fred hyberg and Company as they have the crown
32:52
starting next week of course you still have 16 teams playing in the NCA tournament as well so you know it's sets
32:58
it sets up well for teams like Kansas and Indiana that aren't in the tournament right now and that have a lot of money to spend um but here's a an
33:06
interesting update from Robin uh washut of husker online that he posted on Sunday night talking about some of the
33:12
uh targets for Nebraska and that there's been some names um kind of reported that Nebraska had interest Brandon Walker
33:19
from Montana State Brian tumu from marac and uh Jaden Henley from UNLV and um
33:26
Robin reports that Nebraska's actually not interested in those teams that that has come from the agents the Agents of
33:32
those players but that Nebraska is actually not interested in any of those prospects so just wanted to pass that along the only prospects at this point
33:39
that they kind of have confirmed interest in are Josh dicks and price sanf for of uh Iowa and then also a 611
33:48
big from Georgetown Drew Fielder 611 235 average seven points and 5.4 rebounds so
33:55
that's another name on the radar I think they'll probably some more that come up today um last year I remember they went
34:01
and visited Andrew Morgan early he was one of the early targets um so I think it wouldn't surprise me if Fred and the
34:09
assistant coaches you know made a visit to a big guy like that or you know if they made a stop to you know price inand
34:15
for in iow I'm sure they want to see Josh dicks but like I said I just feel like that one's going to be a tough one
34:21
to get um San for probably too but um but Josh I mean dicks averaged 14 points
34:27
a game last year and shot 42% from three so like he would fit great in his offense wouldn't he yeah he'd be a great
34:33
replacement for uh for Bryce Williams like he'd be those two would be perfect not perfect you know in the sense that
34:40
they you could be a little better defensively but you know in terms of replacing Bryce and Jawan Gary you know
34:45
you could do a lot worse than San Fort and Josh dicks yeah yeah but like you said I think they're gonna be hard to
34:51
get I think they're going to come with a big price tag and you know like we talked about earlier how much is Nebraska basketball willing to inv I
34:58
think that ultimately is going to be the question and um but yeah those two would be absolutely great fits for this
35:04
offense and you know again just watching how kraton ran theirs and how well they shot the three and you know how well
35:10
they spaced the floor and things like that I mean I think that's the type of offense that Fred wants to run so I'm hoping he can get more three-point
35:17
Shooters not that he's not tried because it's a hard hard to do right but you know just watching just watching the
35:24
kraton games it's just like it's just night and day and comparison to uh
35:30
Nebraska yeah getting getting Rick Mass back will help and then um you know like
35:35
is berky gonna stay the the two guys I'm wondering about if they'll potentially transfer Gavin Griffith and berki like I
35:41
don't think so I think bery will probably stay but you just never know and Gavin Griffith could leave um just
35:48
because he didn't find much of a role last season so and I think there's like four spots available right now um the
35:53
way I look at it you need um you know a guard like a Bryce Williams scoring type you
35:59
need a wing like a a Jaan Gary and then you need a big guy and you need a point guard that's that's where where I look
36:05
at Nebraska's you know transfer class right now they need to get um and
36:11
honestly like I don't care if the point guard can score they just need they need somebody at that position that's a threat offensively and Raleigh Worster
36:17
just wasn't this year which I mean that we kind of expected that but then the trade-off was supposed to be he was
36:23
supposed to be a really good Creator and defensive player and he wasn't either of those things for the Huskers so just at
36:28
the end of the day it got to the point where like they they replaced him with Sam hyberg in the lineup because at least Sam could play defense and hit
36:34
some open shots because that's the other thing about Raleigh because he's not a floor spacer so it's like if you're not creating shots you don't space the floor
36:41
and you're not defending I mean you don't bring much to the table so um so
36:47
they need to do AIT they need to hit on point guard you know they hit on Sam greel um you know Ulus was a bus and not
36:54
the gambling thing he didn't play well and so I think they need to find some type of big that can complement Rank and
37:01
you know an Andrew Morgan like if we could just have Andrew Morgan for a second year in a row like that'd be perfect uh but you know it is what it is
37:08
it would be nice to have you know another guy that could shoot and could space the floor a bit because you really
37:14
Nebraska just did not have that pick and pop game that was a critical part of their offense the past two years and how
37:21
many threes did rank get off of that last year he was able to pop out and then kind of create something so the way
37:27
he moved without the basketball and he was able to just find a spot and shoot yeah and then if you could get if you
37:34
could get a point guard who you know when teams play Drop coverage can hit that mid-range jump shot I mean Nebraska
37:40
just has not even Sam greel couldn't really do that so that would be you know I would probably prioritize and value
37:46
that even over like a a playmaking point guard I'd rather have somebody that they just need somebody who can go get a
37:51
bucket especially after you know losing Bryce Williams so you lose your top two scorers um you got Janowski there who I
37:58
think has a chance to be a dynamic scorer I think Conor be really good yeah Janowski yeah and I think Conor asan
38:04
will I mean the dude made 73p pointers he made almost as many three-pointers as tomaga did it's like it felt like to me
38:12
that he got blamed for Nebraska's um you know drop in production from three-point
38:18
shooting when really he was one guy you know there was the you know like he essentially replaced Kay but they also
38:24
lost you know rank mass and CJ Wilshire and a bunch of three-point shooter lawence well a three-point shooter but
38:31
well I mean he was a little bit but so I mean um but that that's kind of where things stand right now I I would keep my
38:37
eye out on Monday I think there's going to be some surprise visitors and also some guys that haven't even entered into
38:43
the portal yet that Nebraska's probably going to be after so the next couple weeks will be really interesting but I'm
38:49
still excited about the crown I know a lot of people aren't but you know I am and I'm telling you even though Arizona
38:55
state is what three and or four and 1 whatever the hell they were in their conference they're still ranked 70th in
39:00
the kenpom so you know don't there there's not an easy uh game in that in that tournament and I think if Nebraska
39:07
does go to the final if they could go through and do it they'd have to probably beat four teams ranked in the
39:13
top 100 of the kenpom rankings so like I understand it's not the NCA tournament but it's not going to be a walk in the park if they win this thing either no
39:20
and I think it'll set the stage for guys like Connor and hopefully berky and you know players that are coming back next
39:26
year to really build off something I I I know I said that last week but to be honest with you I'm I'm one of the ones
39:32
that's not overly excited about the crown but I do think there are some positives to this as well I mean and um
39:38
you know one of the things that I was thinking about too is I think last year
39:43
when you had Connor coming off the bench that almost hurt him in terms of getting his rhythm over the course of a game and
39:49
I think him starting next year will help him become an even better three-point shooter because I I liked Connor he was
39:57
one of my players on the team uh this year but his you know three-pointers in comparison to to uh casy's
40:03
three-pointers almost felt a little bit different right like I didn't feel like he was the electrifying volume scorer
40:09
that tominaga was but he still produced and um you know I feel like him in the
40:14
starting rle next year could yield better results yeah for sure I think um yeah
40:20
he's just a different type of player in the sense that he doesn't you know Kay could create his own shot too and Kay
40:26
could also um you know do a lot of things without the ball uh but Conor Conor's a really um a really good player
40:33
at what he does and I think nebras just needs to surround him you know with more talented players but you look at aan and
40:39
rank Mass that's not a bad starting spot and you just need to to build out from there so um you know we'll see how it
40:46
all works out one thing I did want to say about the crown and with Fred hyberg and everything is that you know
40:51
regardless of what they do in the crown this is the first time they've had three um consecutive non- losing seasons for
40:58
the first time since 2006 to 2008 so Fred Hy's already done something that Nebraska hasn't done for 17 years if
41:05
they win three games in the crown they'll have back-to-back 20 win seasons for the first time since 1998 1999 so
41:12
that'll be the first time in 26 years and if they win the crown it'll be their first postseason tournament Championship
41:19
since 1996 which would be what 31 years um so or no 29 years excuse me yeah bad
41:26
counting on my but still I mean even even if they get three wins and they get 20 wins in
41:31
back-to-back Seasons that'd be the first time they've done Nebraska's done that in 26 years so I understand people were
41:37
frustrated by this season but if you take just a step back and look at Nebraska basketball at a hole Fred Hy's
41:43
put together one of the best three-year stretches that this program's had in decades so maybe I don't know just maybe
41:49
we shouldn't try to run him out of town after like one mediocre season because he's probably the best coach we've had since Danny KNE so I don't know who's
41:56
going to recruit better or or or utilize a transfer portal better with what Nebraska basketball offers I mean we
42:01
talked about the limited budget and things like that so you know although we weren't happy with the results this season and it hasn't been a pretty you
42:08
know kind of 10 year for hyberg overall I do think things are stepping in the right direction and um I think it's also
42:15
important to recognize not to go down this Rabbit Hole again but again the ceiling of Nebraska basketball I mean I
42:22
I think Fred is pretty close to Leading the program there and um you know if he has like I don't know you know uh 15 win
42:30
season next year then maybe he started talking about it but for right now I don't think it's a worthy debate yeah
42:36
like I said if they miss the Big 10 tournament next year then I think it's time to say okay maybe Fred should be on the hot seat but um but I don't think
42:43
that they will I think they will bounce back next season um I think they're going to bounce back at the crown and
42:49
who knows man maybe they'll maybe they'll win 20 games this year and win 20 games next year would not surprise me
42:54
I have 100% confidence in Fred hyberg I think that he'll do better job in the portal this time around and uh yeah
43:00
we'll go from there but we'll have lots of um you know updates with the transfer portal with spring football with
43:05
everything that's going on with Nebraska so we'll be back um for another episode sometime this week and um as always guys
43:12
hit the like button hit the Subscribe button get into the comment section and go Big Red go Big Red
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