Secondary Is Primary To Success

4 comments so far April 6, 2009 by Tom Cudd

For anyone who doubts the importance of a great secondary to the winning percentage of your team, I ask you to look no further than the Bill Callahan years filled with 20+ yard plays given up. How many times can a fan see the opponent running on the wrong side of your safeties and corners before the desire to throw the TV out the window overcomes everything else. In Bo Pelini's first year, a number of fans wanted to blame the cornerback and safety positions for a few of the missteps in games like Oklahoma and Missouri, but Pelini stuck by the adage that it takes 11 on the field to make the play work. This year's group should have that extra year of experience it takes to really "feel" their spots on the turf and limit the mistakes that makes coaches and fans alike shake their heads.

Of the 21 secondary players listed in the roster, 16 are returners from last season. Here are the players separated out by 2008 and 2009 rosters. In bold are the players returning.

Armando Murillo was the only player lost to graduation. Last year's staff of defensive backs were not especially impressive, statistically speaking, as Anthony West was able to match the number of interceptions of TWO of our defensive linemen who led the team in that area. They did make up for that stat by holding three of the top four spots for total tackles on the Huskers. Larry Asante actually had more unassisted tackles than Suh last year (44 versus 39), impressive enough in itself. His leadership should be critical to the development of the rest of the players around him.

One of the biggest items from this year's spring practices are the switch of Eric Haag to a chance at strong safety. This means that Haag and JuCo transfer Dejon Gomes will be competing for a starting spot. Competition is always good, and the coaching staff seems to be happy with the effort of those two right now. With the concern about depth in safeties, this move eases a few minds. The spring game will be the true indicator if the switch pays off.

Looking quite strong at corner, the Huskers have a slew of players competing there, but the return of Anthony Blue from injury will hopefully spark a competitive streak, all for the better.

Overall, I am confident that our corners will be pestering the Big 12 receivers the whole year. Our depth means that we can have a rotation of players and fresh legs. As the season rolls on and the possibility of injury increases, there should hopefully be no concern there. As far as the safeties, with the veteran leadership of guys like Asante, O'Hanlon, and Thenarse, I anticipate that last year's concerns for the big plays against us will stay last year's concerns only.

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