2015 Nebraska Football Captains

On Thursday a player vote decided who the captains were going to be for the 2015 Nebraska Football season. Mike Riley announced the 6 captains in front of the team, and I think the 6 players chosen speaks volumes about the character Nebraska has for the upcoming season.  Here are my views on the 2015 captain selections.

Tommy Armstrong: I think being chosen as a captain by his teammates solidifies that we know who will start the season at quarterback, and the real quarterback race is for who will get the backup job. Since arriving on campus Tommy has shown the characteristics of being a vocal leader and this was a no brain decision by the rest of the team. I look for Tommy to take a step forward this year with Mike Rileys offense.

Jordan Westerkamp: One of the most underrated receivers in the Big Ten, I look for Westerkamp to have a breakout year this year. He has played a valuable part in Nebraska passing game the last 2 years. The guy is a human highlight real and can catch anything.

Alex Lewis: He started all 13 games last year and now joins his father Bill Lewis as serving as a captain for Nebraska. Lewis is the only offensive lineman who we know will be a starter this year. I think he is going to have an All-American caliber year and is a great player to set the foundation for resurrecting the Pipeline at Nebraska.

Maliek Collins: With 45 tackles, 14 for loss, and 4.5 sacks in 2014, the ceiling for Collins will only get higher as he is projected to have a monster year for the Blackshirts. The number 1 goal for Nebraska’s defense this year will be stopping the run and it all starts up front. Collins has improved each season he has been at Nebraska and after earning second-team All-Big Ten honors last year as a sophomore, look for him to be a beast in the trenches and get looked at for some National awards.

Nate Gerry: Gerry led the team in tackles last year and looked more comfortable returning to his natural position at safety, recording 5 interceptions (although it felt like he had about 10). With the secondary loaded with depth, this was a great pick by the players to lead that group and look for Gerry to emerge as one of the best safeties in the Big Ten

Jack Gangwish: Nebraska walk-on turned into Husker Captain, we’ve heard this story before and it gets better every time. A 5^th year senior from the small town of Wood River Nebraska, Gangwish continues the tradition of Nebraska natives being chosen as a captain; this marks the 10^th straight year. He has emerged as one of the most vocal and energetic players in the locker room and I think this was a no brainer electing him captain. If something needs to be said or addressed, you can be Gangwish will stand up and say it, and say it the right way. He is emerging as one of my favorite players on the team. He will tell you up front that he is not the most athletic guy on the field, but that doesn’t stop him from going hard every play. Nobody in that locker room is going to wear that C with more pride than Jack and I can’t wait to see how this motivates Gangwish even more for the upcoming year.

Overall, I think the players did an excellent job in naming their captains. I like how the captains were chosen at this time and I think it was a great idea to let the players vote on them. I think it shows the maturity of this team that only 2 of the 6 captains are seniors. I also like what Mike Riley said, just because a player wasn’t elected to be a captain doesn’t mean you don’t have to be a leader. You can bet guys like Imani Cross, Pierson-El, Vince Valentine, Josh Banderas, and Daniel Davie will all be looked up to by guys in their position. Go Big Red!!

My Top 5 Most Indispensable Players for 2015

ESPN recently did a column of who are the most indispensable players for Nebraska for the 2015 season. They chose Tommy Armstrong and Maliek Collins and I agree with them heavily. Here are my Top 5 most indispensable players for the upcoming 2015 Nebraska Football season.

5) The duo of Maliek Collins/Vince Valentine: I still believe the key to Nebraska’s success this year will be defined on how well they can stop the run. Take Collins and Valentine out of the lineup and Nebraska will have a tough time filling in the gaps. I understand we have some depth at the position, but these two are the key to getting through the Big Ten West schedule and going to the Big Ten Championship Game

4) Nate Gerry: Last year you could tell Nate Gerry felt more at home at safety. He had a very solid year and looks to be one of the leaders of the secondary this year. With a great nose for the ball, it felt like Gerry had 20 interceptions last year. He is a very valuable part to the secondary in 2015 as a lot of questions are up in the air on who will fill some spots. Look for Gerry to step up and be a veteran leader in 2015.

3) Greg McMullen: Yes, another guy on defense, but I look at the defensive end position as one to keep an eye on this year, as far as depth goes. After McMullen and Jack Gangwish, you really don’t have a lot of experience. So keeping McMullen healthy is going to something to watch for. He has shown flashes that he can be a really good pass rusher and I think he is one of the most underrated players on the defensive side of the ball.

2) De’Mornay Pierson-El – DPE had one of the best true freshman seasons in recent Nebraska history. From his punt return play making ability, to the development as a wide receiver, DPE is going to be a very important key in Nebraska success this year. The Holiday Bowl against USC showed the ceiling DPE has as a wide receiver; some people forget he had to learn the position last year after playing quarterback in high school. Although the wide receiver position has some good depth to it, the presence of DPE is going to put more pressure on the defense, and I think he could break some receiving records this year.

1) Tommy Armstrong: Mike Riley’s offense is based around quarterback play and the most indispensable player on our team right now is Tommy Armstrong. If he goes down with an injury, I really don’t know who can step up and replace him effectively. Armstrong is a 21 game starter and has the experience to lead Nebraska’s offense. We did see in the spring game Zack Darlington has the ability to make some plays, but I still think the in game experience of Armstrong is going to be the key to the offenses success. Now that Armstrong has a new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, he can get that help on the sideline that he never got last year. I look for Armstrong to take a step forward this year and I really hope he can stay healthy.

Who do you think is the most indispensable player on the 2015 Nebraska roster? Do you agree with my list? Thanks for reading and as always: GO BIG RED!!

My favorite Husker Football, Basketball, and Baseball moments in the last year!

Now that the Husker Baseball season is over, I’d like to take a look back at the seasons of Husker Football, Basketball, and Baseball. Although all 3 sports didn’t produce what a lot of Husker Nation was hoping for, but there are still some great moments to take away from each sport.

Football: De’Morney Pierson-El

Before even stepping foot on the field, the scouting report for DPE was “don’t kick to me”, and the true freshman from Alexandria Virginia lived up to that hype. Before the start of the year, Nebraska was coming off as one of the worst teams in punt return production in 2013. Single handedly, DPE turned the whole special teams around by leading the nation with 596 punt return yards and 3 sensational touchdowns in 2014. DPE played quarterback in high school, so he had to learn the position at wide receiver, which is why he didn’t see much playing time on the offensive side of the ball to start the year. But as the season progressed, we saw more and more production coming out of DPE, and towards the end of the year, especially the Holiday Bowl against USC, he has now emerged as one of the most dynamic players in the Big Ten, and the entire country. It was because of DPE that Nebraska had any sort of chance against Michigan State. He also single handedly took over the Iowa game as he almost took back TWO punt returns for touchdowns in the 2^nd half, but the one return was still masterful. With Mike Riley now coaching Nebraska, DPE now has the potential to be one of the most productive wide receivers, and players in Nebraska history.

Basketball: Avery Strong Day

Although Nebrasketball didn’t live up to the expectations of another NCAA tournament birth, the season did produce a very special day for one very special young man.   Avery Harriman, son of (then) assistant coach Chris Harriman, was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and was the man of the day during the Huskers game with Michigan State. The team staged a bone marrow drive for people before the game and even the Husker players signed up for the registry befor the game. The students wore yellow “Avery Strong” shirts and you could see more yellow throughout the crowd. Instead of the usual “HUSKER POWER” chant, the crowd shouted “AVERY STRONG”. The Huskers played one of their most physical games all year and managed to come out with a hard fought victory in front of one of the best atmospheres all year at Pinnacle Bank Arena. Even after the game, Avery sat right beside is buddy, Husker star Shavon Shields, at the postgame press conference and thanked Husker Nation for the support. It was a very special day for a very special cause.

Baseball: Home series against Texas

The Husker Baseball team didn’t have the season that everyone was expecting and hoping for. But one of the highlights of the year came when Nebraska hosted Texas for a weekend series, and it felt like all of Husker Nation came out to watch. The three games at Haymarket Park produced an attendance of 14,866! That’s incredible! Attendance for all the other 21 Big Ten games combined for that same weekend was 8,719, so bravo to Husker Nation! People just didn’t show up, but they had the place rocking for the entire series. The series produced pitching duels and extra innings, and this was one of the most memorable series in recent Nebraska History. When Nebraska beats Texas in any sport, its nice, but when Nebraska Baseball swept them, it was very surreal and awesome!

All 3 sports didn’t end the way people wanted, but there is reason to believe that each sport will bounce back next year. A lot of new faces, players and coaches, will provide Husker Nation another exciting year in sports and I look forward to watching it unfold. You can also bet all 3 coaches will put in the hard work to produce a good product and give us something to cheer about. Feel free to comment on what your favorite moments in each sport were.

2015 Nebraska Football Toss Up Games

I was looking at the Vegas odds today, and they have the 2015 Nebraska Cornhuskers over/under for wins at 8. When I first saw this I was a little surprised, but after taking it all in, looking at the schedule, I can see how Vegas came up with that mark. As a big Husker fan, I like to look at the schedule and say to myself “well there’s no way we are going to lose that game”, and then we play Iowa State, Northwestern, Iowa, etc, and I’m sitting there eating my own words. In this piece, I’m going to look at Nebraska’s “toss up” games and give you my opinion if Nebraska will win those games.

When looking at the 2015 schedule, I believe there are about 7 games where we can feel pretty confident that Nebraska will walk away with a win: S. Alabama, Southern Miss, Illinois, Northwestern, Purdue, Rutgers, and Iowa. Yes, I know Northwestern and Iowa have given us a couple fits in the last couple years, but a lot of that had to do with coaching, and not the players. I believe that Nebraska now as the roster talent and proper coaching staff, who are willing to make simple in game adjustments, and we will finally be able take care of these teams that we should beat.

The remaining schedule can be considered “toss up” games. Games where I believe Nebraska CAN win, but maybe not 100% sure they WILL win. To be honest, Nebraska has the roster talent to beat everyone on their schedule. They’ve had the roster talent to beat a lot of teams over the last few years, but instead have gotten blown out when there really was no excuse for it.

The Mike Riley era begins with no cupcake on the schedule. BYU is going to be a lot harder than some people think. I’ve seen very early polls where some people have BYU ranked in the Top 25, most likely because their stud QB Hill will be back from his injury. I expect this game to be high scoring, almost like last years Miami game without the fights. But in the end, I think Nebraska’s defense makes more stops than BYU’s defense. Nebraska will win this one in a shootout. (Side note, I really don’t like to predict scores, just giving my opinion on who wins and why)

Miami to me is a toss up game mostly because it’s on the road. But there are a lot of factors in this game that make me lean towards Nebraska. First, I think Nebraska fans will flock to South Beach and fill their stadium. Miami fans can barely fill that place half full as it is, so the full home field advantage won’t be there. Miami might have more raw roster talent than Nebraska, but they lost a ton of players from last years team to the NFL. They have more holes to fill on their roster than Nebraska does, so I give the experience side to the Huskers. Finally I think Nebraska wins because of the coaching. Al Golden has underachieved in his tenure as Miami’s coach and I think Mike Riley has the advantage when it comes to making in game adjustments. I think this one stays close throughout the whole game, but in the end Nebraska makes too many big plays and adjusts to Miami’s scheme, and the Huskers take this one for Mike Rileys first road win.

Now, it’s the only game I have circled on this year’s schedule: Wisconsin!! Oh Wisconsin; how you keep embarrassing the Huskers with Joe Stave as your quarterback is beyond me. But this year, IT STOPS!! That’s right Badgers, your days of running over 400 yards in 3 quarters are over!! This game is being played in Lincoln and I believe with this new attack style defense, Collins and Valentine will shut down Wisconsin enough to pull the upset and get Mike Rileys first signature win at Nebraska. I think the Huskers can stuff the run enough where they’ll make Joe Stave have to throw the ball, which is the blue print to beating Wisconsin, MAKE JOE STAVE HAVE TO THROW!! Do that, and Wisconsin is a very beatable team!

Now we come to the team that has beaten Nebraska two years in a row, Minnesota. Yep, as weird as it is to say, the Minnesota Gophers has beaten Nebraska two years in a row. But there is no way Nebraska can lose to Minnesota 3 years in a row right? This is the game that I can truly call a “toss up” game. After Nebraska beats Wisconsin they will be riding high into Minneapolis, which is the perfect recipe for a let down game. Minnesota is a very tough and physical team, and if I had to pick a game for Nebraska to lose, I might have to look at this game as the best possibility. Nebraska’s roster is still better than Minnesota’s as the Gophers lost their stud running back and tight end. But I have to look at this game as a trap game and will not be surprised if the Gophers find a way to do Nebraska in, again! I’m torn on making a prediction right now, but I will make one before the game starts.

Finally, we come to Michigan State, another team who has beaten Nebraska two years in a row, but that stat is a little less surprising since Michigan State has been averaging about 10 wins the last 4 years. Connor Cook is a stud and has the tools to be a very high NFL draft pick. But who is he going to throw to? Who will he hand the ball off to? The Spartans lost a lot of weapons on offense and lost their great Defense Coordinator Pat Narduzzi. This game will be PRIMETIME in Lincoln and you can bet Memorial Stadium will be rocking for this one as the Spartans could be a top 10 team heading into this game. I’m looking for this to be the 2^nd signature win of the season for Mike Riley as Nebraska finally beats Michigan State in front of a national audience, and the media will finally notice that something special is happening at Nebraska and they better take notice!!

Looking at the schedule more closely, I believe Nebraska has the roster talent and coaching experience to make this a very special season. The schedule has a lot of toss up games that Nebraska will have to fight hard for, but I think Mike Riley put together a tremendous and experience coaching staff to lead Nebraska to those kind of wins we have been missing in the last 10 years.

Please feel free to comment on this and let everyone know how you think Nebraska will do this year. I’ve heard some people say Nebraska will go undefeated (I used to say that every year), and I’ve also heard people say Nebraska will lucky to win 7 games. It’s very interesting to see others opinions and I’m looking forward to hearing yours. Thanks for reading! GO BIG RED!!!

What is You Favorite Husker Football Gameday Tradition?

There is no place like Nebraska, and there is no experience like Gameday at Nebraska. From the moment you wake up, until you (finally) go to sleep, Gameday at Nebraska is an experience that everyone must live at least once. Many people have their favorite traditions with Nebraska Football, whether it’s letting the balloons go after the first touchdown, or listening to the Sidetracks band at the Single Barrel. But there is one tradition that I put above all of the others, and it’s something that I consider to be one of the greatest moments in all of college football.

The band is on the field. The stadium is buzzing. The Husker Vision big screens are blank, with an eerie black screen. The stadium starts chanting: HUSKER. POWER. HUSKER. POWER. HUSKER. POWER. Then, you hear it. A low base note that makes the hair on my neck stand up every time. It’s finally that time. It’s the TUNNEL WALK and the stadium goes absolutely crazy!!

A tradition that dates back to the 1995 season, I consider the Tunnel Walk to be the best tradition on Husker Gameday, and one of the best entrances in all of college football. There have been multiple ideas, concepts, and videos that went along with the Tunnel Walk, but one thing has always stayed the same: the song. Sirius by Alan Parsons Project has been the staple of the Tunnel Walk that makes it absolutely amazing, and listening to Memorial Stadium clap along gives me goose bumps every time.

I can handle missing some tailgating, I can handle missing the marching band take the field for their pregame festivities, but there is always ONE rule I follow when going to a Husker game: DON’T MISS THE TUNNEL WALK!! I’ve sprinted from O Street just to get to the stadium on time, just to hear the Tunnel Walk.

Of course this is just a personal opinion, I’d like to know what other favorite traditions are out there. Do you have any personal Gameday Traditions that you have? Please leave a comment if you’d like to share. Thanks for reading, and as always: GO BIG RED!!

What is the Best Touchdown in Nebraska Football History? My top 3

When I think of the tradition that is Nebraska Football, I always like to look back at all of the amazing plays, players, and games. One thing that’s been fun to think about is what is the best touchdown in Nebraska history. With so many great plays to choose from, it basically comes down to ones personal opinion. It’s very hard to look at all of the historic plays in Nebraska history and say “Yes, I can 100% truly say that that’s the best touchdown in Nebraska history.”

There are the obvious choices like The Jet’s punt return against Oklahoma, Eric Crouch running end zone to end zone against Missouri, and the Flea Kicker thrown by Scott Frost to save Nebraska the chance to win the National Title back in 1997. But when I think of the absolute best touchdowns in Nebraska history, I made my personal top 3.

3) Taylor Martinez scrambling through the Wisconsin defense to score an impossible touchdown in the Big Ten Title game. This one gets overlooked sometimes because of the final outcome of the game, but that play, along with the commentary of Gus Johnson, makes my top 3 as one of the most memorable touchdowns ever.

2) Black 41 Flash Reverse: #1 vs #2, Nebraska Vs Oklahoma, Memorial Stadium. The Nebraska-Oklahoma rivalry already had so many memories, but the 2001 game in Lincoln served up to be an instant classic. Oklahoma was the defending National Champion, and their defense was suffocating Nebraska’s offense. Frank Solich pulled out all of the stops by cementing the legacy of Eric Crouch. A 63 yard touchdown gave Nebraska the lead, which lead to an amazing win. This play boosted Eric Crouch with the Heisman voters, which he eventually went on to win. It was a play that all Husker fans will remember forever, especially with the commentary from Warren Swain and the late legend Adrian Fiala.

1) “The Run” – I don’t even have to type anything and all Husker fans know what I’m talking about. I watched it live when it happened and since then I’m still convinced that Tommie Fraziers 75 yard touchdown run against Florida in the 1995 Fiesta Bowl is the best touchdown in Nebraska history. Nebraska had the game won, it was over, no doubt about it, and starting quarterback Tommie Frazier was still going full throttle, breaking (what I still believe to be) 11 tackles, and simply embarrassed the Florida Gators defense. The best part of this play is watching all of the reporters on the sideline with their jaws dropped in disbelief. Even Frazier turned his head around at about the 10 yard line to give the play a little chuckle. This game is my argument that the Heisman Trophy should be given out after the bowls are played

I encourage those reading this to comment on what they believe is the best touchdown in Nebraska Football history. Do you agree with my list? Disagree? What do you think?  GO BIG RED!!