Husker Big Red Chat: The Crown, Spring ball rumblings and more

hey Husker fans welcome to the Husker Big Red YouTube channel i'm Chris Peterson and joining me as always is Danny Gillette and we're back here for

Nebraska Husker Big Red live chat we haven't had one of these for a while but we're going to start bringing them up

every Saturday as we lead into football season we've got spring ball and today we've got the crown so we're going to talk a little hoop a little football and

uh Danny how are you doing on this Saturday morning i'm doing very well i'm hoping my um energy level gets as bright

as my shirt here but I'm doing well i'm doing well so how are you uh how are you feeling uh

going into today's uh semi-final of the crown we got a win on uh Thursday or

excuse me Wednesday night it's been a long week but got a win on Wednesday night the Huskers um you know beat

Georgetown uh covered the spread you know had another impressive win kale Jacobson you know had some nice

performances um so what do you think uh going to the semi-final today against uh Boise State i feel pretty confident in

this team because you know this team is so streaky you know one one week they can win four in a row the next week they

can lose four in a row so right now they seem to be on a hot streak and that's

largely due to not only the play of Bryce Williams and you know Juan Gary

the guys who have been doing it pretty much all season but also Connor Sie he's been playing really well and um you know

we're start we're starting to see some other players step up and take the scoring role and if they're not scoring

you know they're making an impact and I'm talking about a guy like Kale Jacobson um he has been a revelation in

this tournament and um we we've talked before on our on our um on our videos

about team about players that need to step up for next season or players that can you know make their case for next

season and Kale Jacobson is one of those guys so he's been great to see in this tournament yeah I mean he's scored uh nine points i

think he has nine rebounds like nine or he has nine nine points nine rebounds eight assists and six steals so far

through two games and I thought he really sparked him in the Arizona State game i remember thinking you know hey

they're going to have to you know crank up the pressure get some turnovers and you know get some easy buckets in

transition and then he kind of allowed that to happen he got some steals you know found Jawan Gary found um Conor

Decan for some big buckets so it's been interesting because I've seen you know some people like well Nebraska can't win

if Kale Jacobson you know is is one of the guys in their lineup and it's like well if Kale Jacobson had been inserted

into the lineup earlier this season this team might be in the NCA tournament i mean the exact same thing yeah because

like one example of this was uh in the game on Wednesday against Georgetown like it was late like two or three

minutes left um and Nebraska was up either seven or eight points I can't quite remember but there was uh the ball

you know shifted around on the perimeter and was uh moved over to the corner by the Hoya and the guy was basically going

to be wide open and Kale Jacobson sprinted over there closed it out made him pass the ball and ended up in a

contested three from another player and a rebound by Nebraska they ended up scoring on the other end and kind of put

the game away i thought to myself how many times this season have we seen that just be a wideopen three where nobody

gets out there yeah every it's been like all season you know and if they had done that if they had Kale Jacobson just to

provide that defense plus he's had one turnover i mean he was he's been you know a primary ball handler he's got one

turnover in two games so you we're talking about scholarships for next season they might need to to think about

uh you know making a spot for Kale Jacobson he reminds me a lot of Sam Hyberg um you know when I when I see his

play style and the way he plays that defensive mindset you know the steals the closeouts and you know things like

that he reminds me a lot of Sam Hoyberg and you know I I do think Kale Jacobson

you know deserves a scholarship for next season and um we talked about bench depth for next season and how you know

it may not be as strong as it it has been in previous years well if Kale

Jacobson keeps playing like this then our bench depth is going to be just fine yeah I I wouldn't be as worried about

the bench depth with uh with Kale Jacobson if he can play like that it's going to be I kind of thought you know

this is um kind of a trying out period for him to see kind of how he does but Nebraska kind of also you know needs

that they're going to need him against Boise State again you this is a team that you know four of their five starters are 67 uh you know they really

attack you know the inside the paint their two-point percentage is is the 20th best in all of college basketball

and they they can shoot threes i mean make no mistake about it and Nebraska's made a lot of teams look good from three-point range this year but I think

a lot of it you know ball screen defense you know mid-range uh defensive rebounds those are going to be a lot of the key

things today and Kale Jacobson's been really good in those areas and I don't think it's a coincidence that he's

played a bunch and Nebraska's held both of their first two opponents to you know less than a point per possession so I

mean he's made a huge impact on this team so far well this is a trying out period for you know a lot of guys and we

talked about this tournament being kind of springboard and I think you know for Kale Jacobson this has been uh this has

been a great couple of games here and he's really made his case to be a major

player on this roster next season speaking of next season before uh we get

a little bit more into this uh matchup today and for anybody who's watching you're trickling in here please if you haven't already hit the like button hit

the subscribe button or just get into the uh chat and let us know what you think about the crown or spring ball or whatever you want to talk about um it's

a a live chat so we want to interact with you guys i know we haven't done one of these for a while so we know the people will be trickling in but um a big

uh commitment yesterday from Price Sanfort um you know we talked about this

earlier this week but I think this is a really key piece for Nebraska i'm a guy that shot 40% from three-point range um

he finishes actually really well has a high percentage on two-point attempts um only played like 22 minutes last year so

I expect kind of a a bigger um a bigger role at Nebraska and maybe a more

productive player but already shot 40% so you talk about a guy that you know you needed to replace um or upgrade the

three-point shooting well Fred Hoyberg certainly did that with Price Stanford this week and he also had two really

strong games against Nebraska so at least I won't have to face him next year um um you know but I think when you look

at like you said the three-point shooting and you look at shooters that can space the floor and you know just

another avenue of scoring not a you know obviously they won't be there next year

but when it came to scoring this year it was Bryce Williams and Dwan Garry now you have another scorer that can help

out say like a Connor Cen or Brookie Boyansel or you know Rink Mast it's not

going to be I think a twoplayer effort like it was at times this year sanford

allows you to have that you know scoring impact uh quickly

and we talked about this depending how the rest of the portal shakes out but you know you could have a lineup with Conor um you know Chry Sanford you know

Bert you know Buansel and Rank Mass so I mean they're really you know you really could have a nice starting point i think

I would love that lineup yeah there's a lot of positive buzz about uh Jammarcus Lawrence so you know we've talked about

what kind of you know impact he could make as a a point guard combo guard you know a guy who shoots the three pretty

well plays good defense um is a playmaker so you know there's there's some positive buzz there i would like to

see them get in addition to Jim Marcus Lawrence i would like to see them get

you know a dynamic score you know somebody that can um you know really do well in in ball screen situations

because you look at you know rink mass they need somebody that can uh you know do the pick and pop with him who can you

know attack who can attack drop coverage you know when other teams drop that you know drop their big and play drop

coverage you know can you rise up and hit that mid-range jumper you know Nebraska didn't have anybody who could do that this year they haven't really in

a long I mean really outside of I mean maybe Tomaga you know Sam Greel really wasn't even good at that so they haven't

had a point guard like a really dynamic scoring point guard in a long time and I would like to see them get somebody like

that to pair with Jamarcus Lawrence i don't know that I think Jammarcus Lawrence can be you know your point

guard or sharing that role but I would like to see him paired with kind of a dynamic scoring guard kind of like Nick Graves who just of course went to Kraton

but uh he he would have been right in that that mold of the kind of guy I'm talking about and the thing about Lawrence too is that he has the ability

to drive to the rim so he can draw defenders into the paint and then leave space open for a guy like um like like

Connor Agen or Sanfort so you know his ability to collapse defenders can allow

for open shooting lanes for you know guys at the perimeter and uh I know that yeah this has maybe

been a bit of a broken record but uh you know in terms of the crown like I'm really excited for this matchup and you

look at Boise State man this is a team that's made the tournament three years in a row before this year i mean at least the playin a couple those years of

the playin but still it's still you're you're still in the NCA tournament I guess and uh they've got 26 wins this

year both of these teams in this game were ranked in the top 50 according to the Ken Pom ranking so like if this was

during the regular season this would be a quad one win for Nebraska so I mean that tells you the level of uh

basketball skill it's going to take to win this game and beyond that if Nebraska does get this victory today

regardless of what happened what would happen on Sunday this would clinch their uh first back-to-back 21 seasons um for

the first time since uh 199899 when Danny Knee was the head coach so like I think that would be a massive

achievement for this team and hopefully they can uh you know get it done but it's it's going to be a challenge today

for sure boise State is no joke and um you know they're they're probably these these might be the two best teams that

didn't make the NCA tournament playing today in Las Vegas how did Boise State not make the NCA tournament you know I

don't think they had a very tough um or very impressive non-conference schedule because they play in the Mountain West i

just know that they got upset there and they probably should have probably should have still 26 wins you said

that's that should be enough to make I mean 20 24 before this tournament but still yeah they were 24 and 10 and um h

you know but yeah so they're and the thing about it is they like Nebraska like they're all their guys are playing

I mean they they don't have anybody that I've seen um that's kind of skipping this event for the port or whatever

which I think is pretty impressive and you think about a team that's made the the postseason a lot but they've got bounce in the NCA tournament so like

they're probably looking to you know win this and what's kind of crazy is like you know Nebraska if they win this

tournament like they're going to hang a banner for this crown championship like I hope people realize that and they should because it's like it's still a

postseason tournament and the other thing that drives me crazy I keep seeing this in the comments is being like "Oh

Nebraska's winning a tournament that's less um you know like less uh important than the NI than the NIT."

Yeah less prestigious thanks Danny than the NIT and it's like no man like the NIT like the NIT is less you know I mean

I get that it has the history but like the quality of teams between the NIT and the Crown this year is not even close

like the Crown was so much better than the NIT like the field so like if you're if you're trying to say that like that

just tells me that you have not invested any time in like actually looking at who's in the NIT because the Crown has

already surpassed it and uh Fox Sports did a nice little deal here i think it's a really smart move because everybody

you know you got March Madness all week or the first two weeks and then this week you have nothing because you have

the final four and so I think the way they did this was really smart and not having you know the NIT it's hard to

follow it over three weeks right i mean all these different campuses this was this was Monday Tuesday Wednesday

Thursday you know and it was all on the same channel it was all in the same place it was all Power Five teams and um

it just it made it it felt easy to get invested into it now maybe it's because I'm a Nebraska fan but um you know I I

want to feel like even if I wasn't I probably still would have watched this just because you know it served that need of college basketball got got me

the fix for the week you know what I mean well you know what it is it's not it's not only just cuz we're Nebraska

fans but there's no Peacock no extra streaming service no this no that it's

all on Fox Sports very accessible uh you know on a on a major network which you

know I would say most people get on their TV right so it's not even hard to find a lot like like some of these games

are hard to find and you know my gripes about Peacock if if if you guys have been watching the streams and all these

streaming BS services uh but this tournament you can follow right on uh

Fox Sports One and all the games are on there and they're at times where you can watch them and um so in that area I

think they did a really nice job with this tournament because it's more accessible to the fans i mean speaking of accessibility there

was a Nebraska guy sitting on the bench at the Georgetown that that was like I

was so distracted by that i could not like for like 10 minutes I could not focus on the game because I was just

watching this guy every time Nebraska would come down the court I was like just like watching his interactions and

when Nebraska would score like he would like his his like clapping was so meek probably because he's sitting right next

to Ed Culie i just was like what is this but I love it and I don't know if he like meant to get tickets there i know

he ended up switching seats eventually but I just thought was funny like I wanted to know like if he was like when

they're trying to like do their timeouts is he like sneezing really loud like you know like oh I spilled my drink like I

just wonder if there was if he was like dude but anyways that guy was a legend that was really cool and yeah it's been

a it's been a fun tournament um what uh I'm sure people are probably you know

wanting to talk about some spring ball so what's your what's your prediction for today what do you think Nebraska is going to do against Boise State

[Music] this is a tough one because I think Boise State is by far the best team they

played in this tournament so I'm going to

say Boise State 83 Nebraska 77 i think I think the run ends here but that's

nothing to be ashamed of this is a very good Boise State basketball team yeah I mean I definitely think it could end

here um you know the one thing Boise State's not they're um their defense is

really interesting because they're you know when they allow teams to shoot three-pointers they're not they teams shoot a pretty high percentage 34% but

they don't allow very many attempts um so it's going to kind of be interesting to see that that battle but I think

Bryce Williams is going to have to you know play you know lights out um but also the defense you know this Boise

State team they um like I said their two-point percentage is is off the charts they shot 70% from two against um

oh gosh I'm blanking on who they beat not George Washington but Butler they shot 70% um from two against Butler so

like if they do that against Nebraska on Saturday today I'm in a few hours they're Nebraska's going to be in big

trouble um but they also I feel like they don't play maybe a team as big as

Nebraska usually i mean you know you've got Gary um you got Berky i mean I I wouldn't be shocked if we saw um Braxton

May a little bit today just you know trying to get some little more size and rim protection so I don't know i feel like the physicality of a Big 10 team

could bother Boise State enough where it maybe could allow them to shoot a lower percentage on twos i think Nebraska's

going to do well enough defensively and I think that Bryce Williams and and Gary and all those guys will hit enough shots

to win this game but um it's not going to be easy though talking about us and physicality is kind of like we were like

we tried to be physical but it just didn't work a lot this season so I don't know i mean I hope Braxton Mink could play

today i mean I get he had size but and granted he did come on late in the

season and play better but I'm not sure I'm not really sure what to expect out of him honestly yeah and that's just

speculation on my point you know I know they have Yeah but they do have a sevenfooter but he doesn't play a ton um

so and that's the thing is they've got four guys that can shoot threes like they they have four players who have who

average at least one three-point field goal per game so I mean that always worries me but the three-point defense

has been better with with Kale out there although they did give up like 13 against Georgetown but I mean Georgetown

was kind of just chucking up a bunch of threes so I mean that's just like at some point you're okay with some of those shots you know if you're not

giving up a ton of twos but I don't know i feel like Nebraska they just have to

play lights out offensively and I I I get what you're saying from the physicality standpoint but I do feel like you know there's a difference

between like Big 10 physicality and and Mountain West physicality and so I don't know i just feel like maybe Nebraska can

play good enough defense on the interior my worry is is what it's been all year though is that three-point shooting so

if Boise State gets hot from three like watch out yeah no and I totally get what

you're saying too for sure um you know I a lot of times this season I didn't see

push back from this Nebraska basketball team so that's what worries me in that respect but I do agree that there's a

difference in physicality when it comes to conferences um so I I think it's going to be a good game but I think

regardless it's going to be a good game um this would be another um big big

opportunity for for Nebraska to kind of make a statement and while I'm thinking

of it speaking of having an opportunity to make statements the men's basketball

team has also agreed to a uh two-year exhibition series with BYU starting this

fall so that'll be a good opportunity for them to face a very talented team um

in BYU uh prior to the season and I love it because it gives it's not an an easy

exhibition game where where everybody holds hands and eats and eats lollipops and tells everybody good job it's a

quality opponent in a quality exhibition format so I really like that i don't know if you caught that yeah I do i do

like that actually and it um it's also nice because then it doesn't it's not going to hurt or help you in terms of your NCA resume so we're seeing more

teams do that and and yeah I think that's a good idea also I think we should mention um Fred Hoyberg there's

been a there's been some buzz about him going to Texas A&M i never thought that that was going to be an issue but Fred

Hoyberg did say Friday night "My future is at Nebraska." So just so everybody knows that and I thought it was like I

love Fred Hyberg i think he's a great coach but Texas&M people would have went absolutely ballistic if Trev Alberts

hired Fred Hyberg like just his resume just does not back up you know a big hire right now now I'm not saying that

reflects the kind of job he's done at Nebraska but I mean thinking about you know that the fan base in Texas A&M if

you just hire a coach that doesn't even make his own conference tournament that would not and Trev is not doing well right now like Texas&M I was going to

say they're already going ballistic about Trev i don't They are so pissed off and like you know you think Nebraska

baseball fans are pissed they they let they let Texas Trev let Texas steal their baseball coach now that the guy

that they replaced him with has been a complete disaster um Texas&M fans don't

like Mike Elco although I mean it's only been one season so like chill out but I'm I'm just sitting back eating the

popcorn i'm I'm loving it i love that we got Troy Dannon and that Trev is uh you know having his feet held to the fire a

little bit down there in a College Station he's just used these positions to try to get better positions and I

can't wait till the day people wake up and realize that and by people I mean the dummies that keep hiring

yeah he's great at getting jobs and then you know weird at leaving them but uh yeah including ESPN like his tenure

doesn't end ceremoniously there either yeah that was a weird that was a weird deal but um what um what's Let's ship

the talk to Springball we haven't um don't have a ton of people commenting we've got some people watching along so

if you're following you know pop in the chat you know join the chat but if you just want to listen that's fine too um I still like talking with you anyway it's

a good time yeah we're trying to get this we know it'll be uh we'll get some more interaction as we get these going again

to like we used to have them uh once once I had the baby that kind of messed up the schedule a little bit so we're a

little more regular schedule now um but yeah spring ball what do you what are some of your thoughts now we're a couple

weeks into spring ball i know we've got some not so great rumors about uh Hardley Gilmore potentially you know not

being on the team anymore but but outside of that um what what are some of your takeaways

i think this defense has a chance to be really really good um this defense bold

prediction here I know we're not doing these right now but this defense will be better than last year um I think

the play calling in terms of getting the running backs more involved will improve

like I saw Emma Johnson and Dylan Riola connecting on a wheel route uh during uh

practice last week i think that the wide receivers that room will

be loaded and I expect to see some freshman contribute right away and

lastly I think this is a team that can get to nine wins next season

yeah 100% i mean it's um yeah I feel I agree with all those points i do think

the defense is going to be better this year i really do i think the pass rush with Desan McCulla and some of these

other guys um is going to be I don't think it's going to drop off at all from last year and and really the pass rush

at times last year wasn't that great i was going to say how much of a drop off are we going to have like if if if if we

have a drop off from last year we might as well just be standing on the field just letting them pass cuz it wasn't a

huge schematically this wasn't a pass friend uh pass rush friendly system last year

in my opinion yeah and like they had you know they had some sacks in bunches but you know it wasn't it just didn't seem

like they got enough pressure when they really needed it and you know I I think back to Mac Rule's first press

conference and he said you have to you know protect and affect the quarterback and Nebraska has not done a good enough

job of affecting the quarterback especially on third down um when they've done you know like last year there were so many times where you know with the

run defense they would get into third and long third and eight and they just could not get off the field and um so

you know like even if like I keep thinking back to the Tony White situation and you know like we all

looked at it as like oh he's leaving Nebraska like I don't know if he would have been allowed to return based on the way that things finished and and I think

that he may have been pushed out the door you know honestly I was happy to see him go i know a lot of people were but I but I but I wasn't in the camp of

oh no he's leaving Nebraska i was I was sad about Terrence Knight leaving more than I was about Tony White leaving to

be honest with you even that higher you know I think Terry Braden's done a good job um you know obviously we'll have to

see you know what the returns are on the field but he seems to have control of the defensive line uh where things could

have gone really badly you lose your defensive line coach you lose some of your guys but you know it seems like uh

Brain's done a good job of coaching up these young guys and we'll see and that's what I love about this team too

it's a team that you can build with and build around there's so many young players you know Shavers McGee Van

Pppppel uh Kiona Davis you know all these young guys have a chance to be

part of the defense for for several years to come it's not like a veteranladen roster in the sense that

you're going to have to replace a ton um but you know it's a roster that you can

build with provided NIL doesn't get them first and well it's interesting that they have um you know young young guys

at every position along with you know some veterans like at linebacker i think you know you've got McCulla um you know

Dawson um not Yeah Dawson Merritt's a young guy but Javin Wright is what I was

thinking marcus Watson Trent so some of those guys are going to be moving on and then you've got Christian Jones and Dawson Merritt and Vincent Shavers who

are kind of there to you know be that next group vincent Shavers is already in that mix you know McGee he's another

name and the defensive line is pretty similar except you don't have a lot of older guys you have Judy who's um up

there a little bit i think this will be his last year yeah I believe so so he's kind of taken on a veteran leadership

role for this team but but yeah beyond that you know Davis Williams Neri Riley Van Pppppel um you know Cam Leonard a

lot of these guys have multiple I always throw Gabe Moore in there because we forget about him but we do

forget about Yeah Gabe Moore isn't talked about enough so I'm interested to see what his body type is looking like

you know this fall because um yeah he's he's a guy that used to be an edge and if he can really play you know 300 lb I

think that could be an exciting prospect that that yeah doesn't get talked about enough so um yeah I guess when I when I

look at this transfer portal class I think it's it's a really dynamic one and uh one that's not only going to help for

this season but I think Nebraska was really smart in getting guys you know Isaiah Hunter Williams who are going to

you know impact this program for multiple years elijah Pritchard's another example of that i mean even you

know not necessarily transfer portal but you talk about you know players that can impact for multiple years you have Cortez Mills Isaiah Mosy uh you know

guys like that too so you know people people have been asking me um about the

2027 quarterback situation and how that could impact uh Dayton Raola and so I wanted to ask

you that you know you have TJ I mean sorry um

uh the kid from oh Trey Taylor sorry Trey Taylor and then you have you know

they they offered Keegan Croucher so where do you see Dayton Raola fitting

into the plans for the quarterback position moving forward yeah I mean I definitely think that

Dayton is you know going to be in the mix it's going to be really interesting to see who kind of takes the helm after

his brother um I don't think that you know I don't think that the 2027 quarterback

recruiting is really impacted or I don't think that Dayton's going to be impacted as much by the 2027 quarterback

recruiting but I do think that they're maybe trying to aim a little bit higher in the 2027 class i mean it just seems

like and I'm not trying to talk down Dayton at all but it does seem like they kind of settled for him a little bit i I

think that they're they have they have more belief in him than others do right like the scouting services or even other

programs because he hasn't really been offered by a ton of major teams outside of Nebraska so you know I don't know if

it's like if part of it is that they're trying to keep the Rayola thing going and keep them happy or if they really

truly believe he can be a starting point let's be honest here i would try to keep everybody happy

i mean let's be like I would try to keep everybody happy i do think that's a part of it because obvious goes here you know

uncle's coach here you know his father was a superstar at Nebraska so I could

definitely see him try like see the program try to keep everybody happy but I don't know it it it is an interesting

question because honestly I once Dylan Riola leaves I could see TJ Latif taking

over there's been some videos that I've seen and you know you know reports I've

read and stuff and he's a really really talented player so I think even though he would be a bit young in terms of

getting a starting job I do think you see Latif taking over and then it becomes about who is going to come after

Latif yeah Latif has a really good chance right i mean he's got this year and next

year to you know sit behind Raola and develop and learn and I mean he was another Elite 11 quarterback so like

he's got all the skill set i That was there his arm is really impressive yeah

that was a really big recruiting win for Nebraska so I mean if if all goes to plan I mean he would be the next starter

and then you know theoretically this 2020 you know Rayola this 2027 QB would be the next guy in

line and hopefully it's hopefully it's Trey Taylor i prefer Trey Taylor over Keegan Croucher i know that the rankings

are a little bit different not that you can go bad either way but I just I really like Trey Taylor's game i like

his I like personality his mindset and I think he would a great fit for Nebraska and so hopefully they can uh they can

get that done i'm not I'm not sure it's really kind of feels like up in the air right now though it's really hard to read his recruitment i mean and I would

rather trade Taylor too but I honestly think you know Keegan Croucher might be more realistic because you have Illinois

going after Taylor you have Michigan going after Taylor so you know other Midwest teams and inconference teams

even are starting to realize how good a player he is so I'm happy that they jumped on Croucher's uh recruitment this

early cuz I don't know if Taylor is a guarantee and uh speaking of recruiting we finally

got Darien Jones was offered I think on Friday um so that was what the third instate offer for Nebraska in 2026 which

is does seem really low but um I mean I understand it and it's for one it's not

it's not as good of a class although Iowa State would disagree because they've been plucking kids like crazy and that's actually one of the top guys

that Darian Jones is supposed to take an official visit to Iowa State so um I mean that's though i don't know yeah I

know but they I'm just saying like they I'd be more worried about Iowa like Iowa yeah like Yeah yeah i know i just I'm

saying they uh what's interesting to me about like with Darian Jones is just because it might be to the point where

they're like "Hey we've got a bunch of Nebraska kids here i just I wonder if that's going to be a selling point." Although Nebraska's got his brother on

the team so if they really want him and I think they should he's ranked in the top 500 so they probably should offer

him a little bit earlier but like I've said I don't think I don't think this staff you know cares gives two craps

about what the rankings say which is a good Well that's Well that's the thing too like once you find a pocket where you're successful for Iowa State it

might be Nebraska this class for Nebraska it seems to be like the Florida Georgia area once you find that

successful recruiting pocket I mean you might as well keep going to the well um I guess we should address the Hardley

Gilmore situation i really haven't heard a ton i just saw what was posted on the message boards and what Sean Callahan

reported yesterday so I the only thing that we know is that he hasn't been at practice this week so you know that

could mean different things probably probably does mean that he he might be off the team or maybe there's some disciplinary action i'm not sure um I do

think that would be it would be disappointing not that I I do think Nebraska has the wide receivers to obviously overcome that but man he was

really generated like every reporter was like Harley Gilmore is going to make an impact this season so if he's not on the

team anymore um that would be a bit of a blow i'm hoping he is and I'm hoping everything's okay whatever it is or you

know I I I I hope it sorts itself out but that would be a blow because I was excited to see him come in um you know

thankfully it's not at a position where depth is scarce we have about 60 67,000

wide receivers so uh but you know just on a personal level I hope everything works out i hope he's okay and I um and

I hope he is able to return to the team yeah I hope so as well you look at um

even if he isn't available you've got Dane Keegan and Isaiah Hunter Jakory Barney Cortez Mills Isaiah yeah de I

keep forgetting about I forgot about Demetrius Bell isaiah Mosy obviously looked pretty good jeremiah

Jones people keep forgetting about they're not talking about Jeremiah Jones but he um almost flipped Missouri and

I'm I'm not 100% sure but I'm I'm thinking Nebraska's going to play him at receiver too and then you also have I

thought it would be like a safety type of or corner safety type i think that

was part but I think part of his thing is Missouri really wanted him as a receiver and I think that was part of why Nebraska was able to keep him is

they said hey like we'll let you play receiver here so I don't know if that was like you know we'll let you try it

i'm not sure so that's I'll have to get some clarity on that he's a good athlete so I wouldn't I wouldn't be mad seeing

him receiver at all yeah and then um and there's quite a bit of quite a bit of depth I think at quarterback right now

just just like wide receiver and yeah like I said Quinn Clark is another guy that I think has a chance to do

something in the future so um yeah and I you know Carter Nelson bumping over to tight end I think is the right move um I

like where the tight end room is at and if he can get healthy like and and and he can contribute this this season in a

meaningful way with Luke Linden and Hinrich Harber like that tight that tight end room is going to be pretty tight yeah yeah then you look at the

running back room and I know people were stressing earlier this offseason about the running back room but I really

really um like how the running back room shapes out i was alerted that

everybody's favorite Nebraska podcaster said that uh Jarian Parker might take away Sner Evett Johnson i don't see that

happening i see you know Parker even maybe being a number two type of back or

something like that but I don't see him taking over the uh starting role yeah that would be a bit of a stretch see

Parker you know have making an impact he's already gained 15 pounds since he's come here and definitely think he's best

running back that Matt Rule has recruited since he's been in Nebraska and that that includes the trans that includes uh Dante Daell in the transfer

portal so um you know I do think he's going to be has a chance to be a special player i think he could be possibly

Nebraska Nebraska's next thousand yard rusher because I just not sure Emtt EMTT Johnson's going to be able to you know

handle the workload to get to a,000 yards this season maybe he might be able to i think he'll get over a thousand

total yards receiving and rushing but back yeah yeah yeah I could see I could

see him getting like 900 yards rushing and like um you know 3 400 yards so I

definitely think EMTT's going to have like a big like 1,200 yard total season but I I think there could be a chance that Jarian Parker's our next thousand

yard rusher like in a year or two i don't know if we'll see a 10,000 yard rusher just do the like like I know

Hogerson said he doesn't want to run his traditional air raid but how like the amount of talent that we have at wide

receiver I don't know if we're going to need a 10,00 rusher it's gonna be really interesting to see because because like I just said I know Hogerson said he

doesn't want to do a traditional air raid offense but how could you not let loose with the talent at wide receiver

well I think some hope will be uh you can let your talent loose you know early get the lead and then you can just grind

people to dust you know the old Matt Rule um you know fourth quarter rush attempt formula because I mean that's

still that's what he's always wanted to do and he's made that very clear and we've never really had opportunities to

do it often so hope I'm I'm hoping that this year maybe maybe um that can happen

we did we did a little bit uh in 2023 with Anthony Grant and you know guys like that but I'm hoping we have more

opportunities to do that this season yeah last year I mean we we kind of did that I guess against Wisconsin but we

mostly just threw the ball all over them so that's like what I'm you know when I think about what Dylan Riyola could be

this season I think about you know 12 games of you know like doing the Wisconsin game from last year 12 times

over cuz that game like go watch that game like if you doubt that Dylan Riola can be like an all Big 10 quarterback or

you know like a true like a first round pick go watch that game because that tells you all you need to know and if we

can just you know photocopy that and have that performance 12 times this year Nebraska will be in the playoff i have

no doubt in my mind if he plays like that Nebraska will win nine or 10 games this year so who are your starting wide

receivers for 2025 i know I've asked you that before but I keep having different like combinations in my head well I

think Dane Key and Isaiah Hunter um and then I'm going to say Jakori Barney

still number three and um I think Cortez like in terms of the most targeted I'm

going to say it's going to be Key Hunter Jakory Barney and Cortez Mills um and I think Cortez Mills is going to make an

immediate impact like he So those are your four you trot out on game day yeah I think so yep

and then um Isaiah Mosy I think is gonna have an impact and yeah Demetrius Bell's

um I got to remember him because he really was dynamic last year in the spring too and and his injury in the spring game that that's you know maybe

one of the reasons they're not having it this year um because that what really was a bummer he was going to be a good player the last season so that's another

name to uh keep on the radar yeah no when you look at these weapons and how

fast they are like this is the best wide receiver room I've seen at Nebraska since I started covering with the team

six years ago i mean we've come a long way uh at many positions not just the receiver positions but I think just when

you look at you know the skill positions and I talk about when I say skill positions I mean you know like running back receiver and then defensive backs

and our defense I mean look at the defensive backs when like Matt Rule came here i mean it it's just night and day

like it really is um you know and I know that they have recruited and they've even kept some of the same guys so I

mean it's not all different but like I just feel like at quarterback especially they're longer they're more athletic

they can play man-to-man um you know Donovan Jones say right Andrew

Marshall Marshall yeah and even you know Amari Sanders you know Larry Tarver like

Bryson Weber who's come in this season like I just feel like they have so much more talent where they can actually like

match up one-on-one and now that that now in practice like you know we're not

you know it's it's not Brody Belt on the other side and I'm sorry I'm not trying to like rip on any I don't want to mention any names i but I but I

definitely thought of some names when I was making that now you look at the defensive backs now look at who they're

having to cover i mean they're having to cover Dane Ke and you know defending Dylan Riyola passes and that truly I

think that truly does matter makes a difference so now when they go and we play you know Ohio State or somebody I'm

not saying we're quite at that level but it's a lot more comparable it's not like oh my god we've never seen the speed

before so I think it does help you all around and and that competitive nature that really is pushed by Matt Rule I

think is is just going to you know raise the ceiling of this entire program well since you mentioned names I got to say

like when you talk about the wide receiver room and you think about you know even like four or five years ago

when you had I'm sorry but Oliver Martin as your starting wide receiver and now you got like speed everywhere it it is

impressive how far uh the recruiting has come and looking at you know Hunter just

with uh Dane Key Naiah Hunter Jakorti Barney all three of these guys had over 40 receptions last year all of them have

I think Barney didn't quite have 500 yards i think he was like 478 or something but still they didn't utilize

him correctly yeah so you've got three guys but still but three guys who've had 40 catches over 400 yards like that's

not like it's like pure production and Hunter and Key are from the SEC and ACC

so it's not like oh how's this guy going to come up from the Sunb Belt and produce in the Big 10 no like these guys

played in in some power conferences and so I mean yeah this is probably the most proven receiving group that Nebraska's

maybe had ever like cuz they just have never had an offense like this with receivers like this and like you know

even when Zack Taylor was doing his thing like you know they had good players and Joe Gans and they but but it

wasn't like this so I mean this I feel like has the chance to be the best pass offense Nebraska's maybe ever had i

think Marcus Satderfeld only thought that Jakory Barney could do the under play and that's it uh that was so

annoying yeah cuz once what's that oh well he just ran that he

ran the same play with him every time he got and everybody knew it was coming including like but um and no and the

reason that stuck out to me is because you mentioned that Wisconsin game a little bit ago that's when Barney like

really had a strong receiving game i think it was like Big 10 like freshman of the week or something and it's like maybe Barney can do a lot more than just

that end round play but that the final couple games of the season where they really got him involved more as a

receiver and not just a gadget player which was so annoying um that that that

really spoke volumes about what he could do well it just like you did it to I mean it was like you can't run that same

play four times a game like you know like it was it was a good play and they should have utilized it but they should

have kept it you they should have kept it under wraps and kept it for like you know Ohio State or some of those big and

they were just running it like every you know it just seemed like every time they thought they needed a few yards they try to run it and just wouldn't get anything

just a wasted play and um so that's the thing is like Satderfield just had so many like just wasted plays dumb screens

just not just unimaginative plays screens drove me insane oh my god there were some of the And look I'm not saying

I'm a football genius okay like I play Madden but like some of these screens it was like how in the hell did you think

that was going to work like if it it just there was too many moving parts you know what I mean it just he didn't know

I think he's a good position coach like I'm glad he's still on staff but like I said some people just don't know how to

call plays it's just they just don't have that instinct for it and Dana Hogerson does so like I'm excited for

him i think we'll get him for two years i think we'll get him for this year and next year and then uh after we win the

national championship he'll ride off to another head coaching job i'm just kidding we're going to get something

joking it's gonna end up on social media but that was just a joke that was a totally a joke maybe maybe Big 10

National Championship who knows let's start there let's start with Would be cool i'd be pumped if they got like just

You know what i would like to consistently be back in the top 25 i mean yeah like you know just that's my

first goal like let's beat some top 25 teams and like every time Nebraska has a game I want to see that little number

next to their name even top 25 teams do you play this year i'm just I'm just looking at the schedule right now hold on gosh I don't even know i I know maybe

Michigan probably will be ranked if they they have to beat Oklahoma though so that's going to be kind of a up in the

air prospect so they won't be ranked by that point um cuz I don't think they're beating Oklahoma but we'll see uh let's

see yeah we'll see it'll be tough oklahoma wasn't that great last year though although they did kick the crap

out of Alabama they did they did but Alabama is also a joke uh okay so I'm

looking at the schedule maybe Michigan right maybe Michigan uh Penn State maybe

Penn State will be ranked for sure maybe USC but I don't know i think like we we

USC is kind of like USC is kind of like Michigan like I just don't know i mean they I feel like they could be a lot

better this year and I know they've made a lot of investments on their defense so I don't know lincoln Lincoln Riley has

to get it figured out on defense though but I mean yeah there's a good chance though i would say like Michigan and USC

are like 5050 they'll be ranked when we play them and then Penn State I think and that's it we don't play Yeah

so yeah maybe Iowa at the end of the year they're sometimes ranked when we play them but we we we need to win like

I'm just looking at the schedule we This is I mean Akran Cincinnati Houston Christian if we don't start at 3 and 0

I'm going to be very upset yeah especially that that Cincinnati game at Arrowhead's really big they got to get

that one they they just they have that's the that's the tone setter for this season and um yeah I mean Cincinnati is

not who they were when they were going to the playoff and whatever but they're still you know you're still going to have to play a good game to beat that

team so um the month of November is going to be tough you got USC you got UCLA and Pasadena and then you have to

go to University Park but you play Iowa to end the season so a little bit of

travel from California to Pennsylvania but uh yeah the month of November is going to tell a lot it always seems like

that but uh yeah yeah so is it So is it UCLA and Penn State and backto-back road games it goes all right so for the month

of November it goes USC in Lincoln UCLA in Pasadena Penn State in University

Park and then Iowa in Nebraska obviously yeah that's those are two that's a tough

uh that's that's a tough backtoback uh road game there there's no byee between there uh let me see when is our bye-week

i think we have our our bye-week is between the UCLA and Penn State game okay okay but it's still a tough trip

yeah that's still two backto-back that helps a little bit but yeah because I mean I just there's so many games last

year where I look back you know we we talk about how our record could have been better but I'm like we should have never lost that UCLA game that's the

game we should have never probably lost to Illinois i mean Ohio State Illinois it makes me furious the Iowa game pisses

me off too we should not have lost that game you know what I mean like h I'm so

when Isa if I gets drafted like I hope they show the highlight of him dropping that pass

against come on man oh god we had the game one i'm happy for the guys but it

was kind of frustrating to see them test so well at the combine yeah like Thomas

Fedoni is like blowing up which I'm not surprised but Well I don't think we utilize him correctly like and then I

think his injuries didn't help but I mean man like he was a top tight end

recruit it's like and Nebraska just couldn't get him on the field whether it be health or production or whatever i

mean he was better i think he got like 30 some passes last year so I just think like the hype was so was to a point with

him that really I mean unless he was like an all-American he just was never going to live up to that you know unless

he had like a 600 yard season so I don't know hopefully best of luck to him like I said still helps Nebraska I think when

guys get drafted so um but yeah that was a little frustrating um but yeah I mean

if we can just do the do the simple things right like you know be be solid on special teams and Mike Eckler I think

will help with that a lot and you know just getting the most out of your players which Nebraska just didn't do I

think for a good chunk of last season on offense so um I'm glad that Matt Rule made the moves that he made i think he

brought in three really good coordinators and uh you know it's it's crazy that we're going into year three

already with three different coordinators but I think it was kind of a soft soft reboot and I think those were steps were needed to help this

program reach its full potential i was going to say the ability to not get the most out of our players has been uh

extending far back beyond just last year so like the last Yeah six or seven years or the last 10 years honestly i mean

hell it's been happening since Bill Callahan was here yeah you know

and now and now they're all tearing it up in the NFL and sometimes that happens sometimes they just need to uh they just

need to leave Nebraska and I think that's the case with even the coaches too sometimes so yeah it'll Yeah which

speaking of it'll be um interesting huh man um Michigan just

got another big guy in the portal michigan's doing they got the number one player in the transfer portal so Oh wow for basketball um

I wish we could do that i wish Nebraska had money to do that so I got people

like you know I' I've posted a few things on thought posting Kraton stuff like I want I'm posting it because that

guy was on our radar nick Graves nick Graves would have been freaking perfect for Nebraska but of course Kraton and

it's massive budget it's so annoying it's like Kraton can almost spend more

on one player than we can for our entire team and that's not lying that's like not a joke well they don't have anything

else i mean that's true they don't have anything else i mean and um you know I

think when you look at just Yeah they don't have anything else they have Don't they have baseball they have baseball

yeah they have baseball yeah and which they beat us in baseball too this year i hate them i mean so it's it's it's no

surprise and when you look at the offensive system like if you're a shooter that's the system you want to play in yep yeah like that's what Cred

Hoyberg dreams of running and I don't know if he'll get there but I think I mean he's got the like Fred

runs high level stuff it's just can he get the players that you know McDermott can get i don't know i ju I just don't

know if he if he's ever going to be able to um we'll see i mean it's it does seem

a little bit crazy to me that Nebraska doesn't have more NIL but like I guess saving it for football like

but I don't know i just feel like they know where the bread is buttered for the university and for the fans it's

football this is a football school and it sucks because we should have more money for NIL for basketball but

everybody knows this is a football school and and a volleyball school let's not let's not volleyball team but uh

speaking of volleyball really quickly I just I just saw something that the board of regents is going to vote on um

renaming the Deainy Sports Complex to uh honor John Cook as well yeah which would

be that would be awesome he deserves I'm assuming that vote's gonna pass yes like Yeah i would I would have to i would be

yeah yeah you know the legend himself and I think they're also gonna add more

seats in there too um I saw last month so they're upgrading the volleyball

facilities i just You know what honestly I wish they would just play at PBA like just I feel like they could do it i I

honestly I mean I don't know maybe they could that just seems like they sell out i know it's like twice as big and or at

least not I mean maybe not every game but they should have they should have some games at PBA like that's just to me

it's crazy that they aren't doing that already like the popularity fell out i I fully believe that 100% especially when

it's like Nebraska and Wisconsin or like Nebraskan like when it's these big matches like put them in the vault like

let's go like get like support these ladies and let people like people want to go to these matches like they really

do so I think you would have I mean we sold out a freaking football stadium to

watch these ladies play you know the University of Omaha so if you had a top five volleyball matchup they would

easily sell off the vault every time i'm excited for volleyball because I don't think there's going to be a lot of drop off i think uh Danny Bus Kelly is going

to do a great job and I think the train is just going to keep on rolling and got some nice talent in the uh transfer

portal so um you know obviously lost Meritt Bon and Lexi Rodriguez which was tough but um yeah I don't I see Nebraska

being one of the one of the contenders for a national championship and I kind of love that they got a head coach that hasn't won one so like you you look at

the players and the coach like they're all starving to get that national championship and I'm excited yeah very

excited to watch them uh chase that it's been such an interesting paradox to watch like the Alabama of volleyball

compete at a school where we've struggled in football recently basketball can't seem to you know get

things going it's just so weird there's just this one program that is above the rest and everybody else is struggling

although baseball won last night so who knows they did and softball keeps killing i mean they uh I'm not sure if

Northwestern's lost yet they've been a game back in Northwestern but they're I think they're seven and one in the Big 10 right now so they're rolling um I

remember when some people were were yelling to fire the softball coach no

man people are crazy but I do think um so in terms of the softball team like the baseball team has a ton of work to

do just to try to make the tournament um but the softball team like I feel like they have a legitimate chance of hosting

a regional this year um if they if they can if they can I mean because they're ranked right now um this conference is

so much uh you know more difficult than um it used to be but I guess Nebraska

has two losses they got them at seven and two so I must have missed one um but any at any rate yeah so Northwestern's

7-0 UCLA and Oregon are are eight and one and seven and one and that's the thing like you added some really good ba

baseball and softball programs so I feel like the overall like power of the Big 10 in those sports is a lot it's just

viewed much more differently now than it used to be i think the Big 10's not going to be like a one or two bid league in baseball anymore and it's also great

that the uh baseball tournament is being held in Omaha again this summer regardless if Nebraska makes it or not

it's such a great atmosphere it really is yeah it really is yeah so um well I

am going to have to wrap it up here you guys pretty quickly so um this was kind of a fun chat i don't know we didn't get

quite as many people as we usually do but I know that uh we haven't done this for a while so people aren't really expecting it plus it's the it's spring

and we're talking about the crown so the reaction's always a little tepid with basketball but we'll uh we'll keep doing

these though we'll have one of these every Saturday um you know going up into the season we'll talk some more football next week and hopefully we'll be

celebrating our crown championship i'm definitely going to get a shirt i still haven't got my pinstripe bowl championship pinstripe Bowl shirt yeah I

need a pinstripe bowl shirt and then I need a I need a picture of like Bryce Williams wearing the crown after they've

won the crown i wonder if they actually give them a crown at the crown they probably do i bet you they I mean I I think they give you like Pop-Tarts for

the Pop-Tarts bowl and like mayo for the Duke's mayo bowl so I don't see why a crown would be out of the like a super

nice 3D printed crown you know that'd be nice yeah got to see that Bryce so hopefully he goes off for another 30

today it's been fun um so all right we'll have our regular podcast on Monday morning you guys go Big Red and uh have

a great rest of your weekend go Big Red have a good weekend everybody