Ranking the Memes of the Spring

4 comments so far March 24, 2009 by Brandon Vogel

Last year, after only one spring practice, I named the spring practices of 2008 the "Better, Skinnier, Happier" sessions as some variation on those three memes worked its way into almost every quote out of camp. Everything was new and shiny, the players were, by their own admission, in better shape, and enthusiasm prevailed.

This year, if I had to guess, I'd call the dominant theme of Spring '09 simply "Building." You're going to hear a lot about building on last year, building more complex schemes, building new video screens which will build better recruiting classes, etc. Building, building, building. Virginia Tech uses the lunch pail as their defensive totem, maybe 2009 Nebraska should adopt the hardhat. Or maybe have your top performer from each practice carry a steel I-beam to workouts the next day.

That'd be cool too.

But built in to this "building" philosophy are a number of smaller, more specific memes that are going to dominant the conversation day in and day out. Which ones are poised to have the biggest impact on the team you'll see take the field next year? Let's rank'em...

1. There Can Only Be One QBlander
The QB race. I'm almost tired of it already and it hasn't even started yet. Here's how its going to work. We're going to hear effusive but non-specific praise about all of the candidates and then, if we're lucky, we'll get to see all three play in the Spring game and then we'll draw conclusions. It's not ideal but it is important given that, y'know, the guy touches the ball on every offensive play so we're stuck. Prepare to do most of you're reading between the lines.

2. I'm Looking for A Few Good Ballhawks
I still don't feel like I know much of anything about Nebraska's defensive backfield and that bothers me. While hardly Nebraska's most pressing need heading into the Spring, building a consistent secondary might be one of the most intriguing questions to follow in the weeks to come. We know that there's individual talent among the DBs, but for Marvin Sanders to really get this thing humming he's going to need a consistent unit. The Huskers have some hitters back there (Thenarse, Asante) and they have some athletes (Amukamara, Blue) but we've yet to see those disparate skill sets truly come together and dominate for meaningful stretches. Ideally, I want to see the term "well-oiled" tossed out in reference to the secondary before the spring is over.

3. Better Living through Schemistry
Nebraska probably isn't going to find two replacements as talented as the departing prospective pros Matt Slauson and Lydon Murtha. But general feeling with those two was that they weren't quite as dominant as their individual talents might have lead you to expect and I'm willing to chalk that up to the coaching change before their senior seasons. This year's group, whoever might emerge to claim the starting spots, will have a year of experience as a unit, a year of scheming together and nowhere is being on the same page as important as on the offensive line. Everything starts and, if it doesn't start, ends here and given our most important meme of the spring, the further development of the line is something we'll want to see right away in April.

4. Catch as Catch Can
Catching is really an instinctive reaction. To test this, simply go about your day today as normal but, from time to time, randomly throw things at people. You'll see that most people, even very small children, will try to catch whatever it is you toss and I think this is the reason that everyone is willing to note that Nebraska needs to replace 53% of its receptions from last year but nobody really seems that worried about it. As long as this year's receiving corps isn't actively dropping the ball everything should be fine, right? Maybe. What we're really looking to answer this spring is who is going to make the touchdown catch that Nate Swift made in the Gator Bowl? That was more than instinct. That was will. Nebraska has guys who can and will catch the ball, but who has the will to catch the ball when the chips are down? That we don't know.

5. Just Give Me A Hint
Spring isn't the time for answers it's the time for clues. The combination of closed practices, canned responses and coachspeak results in a lot of guessing for fans this time of year. The reality is that we're not going to answer any of the above questions, or even those left unlisted, over the next month. We'll try like hell, but we won't. That's fine.

Remember the overall theme of this spring: building. While the perception of Nebraska is different this year to last, the goal is really still the same. Get better. Take the next step. Lay the next brick. This is a program on the come. They're not saddled with expectations yet. At least not the sort of expectations that really get Nebraska fans salivating. That's still to come.

So when the Cornhuskers kick things off tomorrow let's start small--Who wants the first honorary I-Beam?--and build from there.

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