Let's talk player development

[Pepe Silvia]

this is always a popular off season discussion, but for most of the last 10 years it's been like discussing big foot. we've heard about it it and others claim to see it, but it's largely a myth in the NU program. now in Rhule's first year we're finally seeing signs of it

Nash - was largely considered a bust leading into this season, has played very well and has become a solid Big 10 caliber NT

John Bullock - I don't think any of us had heard of him until this fall, but he's playing well

Jimari Butler - raw prospect that was expected to take a couple of years to develop. he was on a milk carton while Frost was here, now he's getting reps and playing well

Singleton - he went from an afterthought to maybe our best DB before the injury

Phalen Sanford - 5th year guy who was an athletic freak yet couldn't get on the field. he got pushed into a starting role with Singleton's injury and looked good against ILL

Omar Brown - his tackling has generally been outstanding and his INT against Minny was key

Mikai Gbayor - had never done anything prior to getting more reps due to injuries, has looked impressive


with all these guys S&C has helped, but it's obvious that they are being coached well and that they are being put in a position to best use their skillsets. it's amazing that we had 3 solid safeties on the roster but still trotted out Farmer to get burned week after week. now we get a legit defensive staff and we see the best player development in years

as for the offense...

 

[iruletheskool]

Have looked better than expected. D looks solid and a lot of young guys stepping up.

O players have developped too but limited by the cupboard. Hs improved from likely never seeing the field to a solid looking TE and better QB than what we had. Benhart is better than the turd sandwich he was before. Too bad he's the only T we can say that about. Fidone looks good. All the RBs are out..

WRs?,, .,,, hard to say whats going on there.

 

[BorWhiskey]

On offense:
- HH was in talks of converting to TE under previous staff and he's now a 3-1 starting QB for us. He's not a world beater but he's playing well.
- Alex Bullock is pretty good for a WR. Reliable despite not having imposing size or speed.
- Benhart is noticeably better and he was written off last year.
- Nouili is also better than he was 2 years ago.
- Fidone has become the best TE on the team surpassing the walk-on who's been playing the past two years in Boerk.
- I don't think any of the RBs have looked bad, including Emmett Johnson or the full backs.

I think there are plenty of areas you can point to and see some development on offense. Where I really want to see it, though, is with the freshman. I want to see Lloyd, Coleman and/or Doss become a legit pass catching threat by years end. I want to see Sledge or Gottula get on the field in a meaningful way, maybe without losing their red shirt.

 

[Eaton Beaver]

Besides Nash and Singleton the rest is shit on both sides of the ball. All the young pups look good though. 👍

 

[Stan Raymond]

this is always a popular off season discussion, but for most of the last 10 years it's been like discussing big foot. we've heard about it it and others claim to see it, but it's largely a myth in the NU program. now in Rhule's first year we're finally seeing signs of it

Nash - was largely considered a bust leading into this season, has played very well and has become a solid Big 10 caliber NT

John Bullock - I don't think any of us had heard of him until this fall, but he's playing well

Jimari Butler - raw prospect that was expected to take a couple of years to develop. he was on a milk carton while Frost was here, now he's getting reps and playing well

Singleton - he went from an afterthought to maybe our best DB before the injury

Phalen Sanford - 5th year guy who was an athletic freak yet couldn't get on the field. he got pushed into a starting role with Singleton's injury and looked good against ILL

Omar Brown - his tackling has generally been outstanding and his INT against Minny was key

Mikai Gbayor - had never done anything prior to getting more reps due to injuries, has looked impressive


with all these guys S&C has helped, but it's obvious that they are being coached well and that they are being put in a position to best use their skillsets. it's amazing that we had 3 solid safeties on the roster but still trotted out Farmer to get burned week after week. now we get a legit defensive staff and we see the best player development in years

as for the offense...

While agree that this staff will develop players better than last season, some of your highlighted players were showing improvement last season.

Nash - has continued to improve, started contributing last season, takes awhile to turn a SD kid into a B1G DL

John Bullock - Agreed

Jimari Butler - he was getting some good snaps last year as well

Singleton - Agreed, came out of nowhere

Phalen Sanford - he's been lurking on the 2 deep for awhile, played some last season

Omar Brown - Was hurt last year I think

Mikai Gbayor - Agreed, many wrote him off

 

[DuckSker]

While agree that this staff will develop players better than last season, some of your highlighted players were showing improvement last season.

Nash - has continued to improve, started contributing last season, takes awhile to turn a SD kid into a B1G DL

John Bullock - Agreed

Jimari Butler - he was getting some good snaps last year as well

Singleton - Agreed, came out of nowhere

Phalen Sanford - he's been lurking on the 2 deep for awhile, played some last season

Omar Brown - Was hurt last year I think

Mikai Gbayor - Agreed, many wrote him off

Gbayor likely still isn’t seeing the field other than special teams if we hang on to Ernie Hausmann and Reimer stayed healthy.

Still hard to tell how guys are progressing when weve played 4 very bad teams. We’ll learn a lot the last 3 games of this season on where we are at

 

[Stan Raymond]

Gbayor likely still isn’t seeing the field other than special teams if we hang on to Ernie Hausmann and Reimer stayed healthy.

Still hard to tell how guys are progressing when weve played 4 very bad teams. We’ll learn a lot the last 3 games of this season on where we are at

Maybe, he's played a fair amount of Jack though so I not sure how it would affect his snaps. Which vary a lot week to week.