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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Welcome to the Carriker Chronicles,
00:09 the people show.
00:11 Chuck in the Pulse of Husker Nation
00:12 brought to you by DPS Concrete Construction.
00:14 Ladies and gentlemen, I'm gonna dive right into it
00:15 'cause we got a loaded show today, don't we always?
00:18 Let's light this candle real quick, right off the top.
00:20 Hit that subscribe button if you're excited.
00:23 The former Oregon running back, Dante Doudwell,
00:26 will be a Husker next season.
00:28 Smash that like button if you're in favor
00:31 of former West Virginia and Houston head coach,
00:34 Dana Holgerson, coaching here
00:37 at the University of Nebraska.
00:38 Maybe the quarterbacks, maybe,
00:39 and/or passing game coordinator.
00:41 All right, let's learn a little bit more
00:43 about Coach Holgerson 'cause I knew a lot about him,
00:46 but I didn't realize how much I didn't know.
00:48 So here we go, Dana Holgerson.
00:50 All right, now, you may know he's very fluent
00:52 in the air raid offense, learned under the late Mike Leach.
00:55 Now, Coach Holgerson likes to run the ball
00:57 just a little bit more than Coach Leach.
00:58 Now, I played against Coach Leach,
01:00 and basically he considered screens
01:02 and three-yard crossing route completions
01:05 as part of his run game.
01:06 So Coach Holgerson does like to run the ball
01:08 just a tad bit more,
01:10 and be a little bit more balanced than that.
01:13 But let's be honest, Mike Leach was one of one,
01:15 and I mean that in the best way possible.
01:16 All right, now, Coach Holgerson also worked
01:19 as an assistant under Hal Mumm, Kevin Sumlin,
01:22 and Mike Gundy, who was a Texas Tech
01:24 co-offensive coordinator, 2005, 2006,
01:26 and the offensive coordinator in 2007.
01:29 During his time there, Tech's offensive output per game
01:32 went from 324.8 yards per game to 529.6 yards per game.
01:37 That's an increase, I'm not a math major,
01:40 but that's an increase of over 200 yards
01:41 of total offense per game.
01:43 During that time, the Red Raiders were number eight,
01:45 number three, and number two in the country
01:46 in total yardage per game in 2007, okay?
01:51 Tech was number one in the country in passing offense,
01:54 470 yards per game, and number seven in the country
01:57 in scoring offense at 41 points per game.
02:00 Now, at Houston, his first tenure, okay, two years,
02:04 okay, he was there with the Cougars,
02:06 offensive coordinator, they had 563 yards
02:08 of total offense per game, they averaged 434 pass yards
02:12 per game of 42 points per game,
02:14 and number three in total offense in 2008,
02:17 and number one in the country in total offense in 2009.
02:21 Now, it should be mentioned, okay,
02:23 he's coached quarterbacks, several of them,
02:26 that have had NFL careers, Geno Smith,
02:29 now he led West Virginia, Geno, okay,
02:33 to multiple bowl games during his time
02:34 with the Mountaineers, okay,
02:36 he broke numerous passing records,
02:38 winning multiple awards, then was drafted
02:40 in the second round, okay, by the New York Jets,
02:43 and just finished his 11th season in the NFL.
02:46 Let's be honest, I don't know if many people
02:48 thought he would make it that long.
02:49 Maybe he was a system guy in college, so to speak, nope.
02:52 Not only that, but just finished his second
02:54 consecutive season, starting for the Seattle Seahawks.
02:57 I actually remember the night that he was drafted.
02:59 There was a lot of hoopla there, okay,
03:01 it was one of the, there was a bunch of guys there,
03:03 he wasn't gonna go to the draft talking about Smith,
03:05 and then he showed up to the draft,
03:06 and then he wasn't drafted in the first round,
03:08 he maybe, maybe did not handle that the best
03:10 on national television, in fact,
03:12 you know, that's a tough situation.
03:13 All right, I've never been in that, I can only imagine.
03:15 EJ Manuel, the former Florida State quarterback,
03:17 was the only quarterback drafted
03:18 in the first round that year.
03:20 Gino wasn't gonna come back night two for round two,
03:22 but then he did, and then he was drafted,
03:24 and then he's had great success since then.
03:26 Now Case Keenum, at Houston, another Holgerson disciple,
03:29 so to speak, was a Heisman finalist.
03:31 Led the nation in total offense,
03:33 403 yards per game his sophomore year,
03:35 okay, and 416 yards per game his junior year,
03:39 and then would go on to become a college football's
03:42 all-time leading passer in yards gained and touchdowns.
03:46 Now Keenum is still active in the NFL, again.
03:48 System quarterback?
03:49 No, doesn't seem so.
03:51 Okay, still active in the NFL,
03:53 easy for me to say, just finished his 12th season.
03:56 Now it should be mentioned,
03:58 former Texas Tech and Arizona head coach,
04:00 Cliff Kingsbury, was mentored by Holgerson as well.
04:04 And Oklahoma State, all right, Holgerson's time there.
04:07 Before he arrived at the Cowboys, okay,
04:09 they were 61st in the country in total offense.
04:12 In his first season in Stillwater, okay,
04:16 Oklahoma State led the nation in total offense,
04:18 538 yards per game,
04:20 and they were number two in passing offense,
04:22 355 yards per game, and number three in scoring offense,
04:26 45 points per game.
04:27 Now, he had players at Oklahoma State,
04:29 a lot of guys won a bunch of awards there
04:31 at multiple positions, not just quarterbacks, all right?
04:34 He had a finalist for the Manning Award
04:35 for the top quarterback in the country in Brandon Whedon,
04:39 who was also a first-round pick in random side note,
04:41 he's the oldest first-round pick in NFL history
04:43 at the age of 28.
04:44 All right, he was also the first Oklahoma State quarterback
04:47 to ever finish with first-team all-conference honors.
04:51 All right, now running back Kendall Hunter
04:53 was a finalist for the Doak Walker Award,
04:55 the nation's top running back.
04:57 And Justin Blackman won the Boletnikoff Award in 2010
05:00 as the top wide receiver in the entire country.
05:03 Now, Holgerson's second,
05:05 he was actually Holgerson's second Boletnikoff Award winner,
05:08 if you go back to Texas Tech,
05:09 Michael Crabtree led the nation in catches per game
05:12 and receiving yards per game,
05:14 and he won the Boletnikoff Award twice.
05:17 Crabtree was also the 10th overall pick
05:19 by the 49ers and Blackman,
05:20 Justin Blackman, going back to him,
05:22 was the fifth overall pick in the NFL draft
05:24 by the Jacksonville Jaguars.
05:26 Blackman was also a two-time All-American as well.
05:30 Holgerson has coached several award winners, as I mentioned,
05:33 NFL players and high-round draft picks.
05:36 Now, obviously, this wasn't all him.
05:38 There were other coaches involved as well, okay?
05:40 But the man just understands offense
05:42 and specifically the passing offense.
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06:07 Now, Holgerson was named
06:09 West Virginia's Offensive Coordinator 2010.
06:12 Little bit of drama here, so to speak.
06:14 I'm gonna report everything, not just the wonderful stuff.
06:17 You know, it's gonna be everything.
06:18 It's gonna be, you know, the facts.
06:20 The facts don't care about your feelings.
06:21 All right, the AD at West Virginia announced
06:23 Holgerson will be the head coach.
06:24 When he hired him as the Offensive Coordinator in 2010,
06:27 he basically announced that he'd be the head coach in 2012
06:30 because he didn't think the current head coach
06:32 at that time at West Virginia
06:34 could lead them to a national title.
06:36 This obviously strained the relationship
06:38 between the two coaches from day one.
06:40 All right, it was even reported
06:43 that the Mountaineers head coach at the time
06:45 asked a couple of reporters, okay,
06:48 to dig up some negative info on Holgerson.
06:51 Holgerson did apologize for an early morning incident
06:53 where he was asked to leave a casino,
06:55 but there were no further negative,
06:57 no further negative information came forth.
07:00 And although the West Virginia AD
07:03 wasn't able to fully substantiate the claims,
07:05 he decided to make a change at head coach
07:07 and named Holgerson the Mountaineers' new head coach.
07:12 All right, in his first season,
07:14 they want to share the Big East Conference Championship.
07:17 It's always weird when I talk about conferences
07:19 that don't exist anymore.
07:20 I will miss the Pac-12,
07:22 but that's a show for another day.
07:24 All right, now, they want to share
07:25 the Big East Conference Championship in his first season.
07:27 They demolished Clemson.
07:28 I remember watching this game
07:29 and just being stunned at what I was watching.
07:32 They demolished Clemson 70-33
07:34 in a record-setting game in the 2012 Orange Bowl.
07:38 Now, fast forward, 2019,
07:41 Coach Holgerson was announced as Houston's head coach.
07:43 He received a contract extension in 2022
07:47 that went through 2027.
07:50 He was fired and let go on November 26th of 2023
07:54 following a losing season in the Cougars' first season
07:57 in the Big 12 Conference.
07:59 Now, Coach Holgerson is currently in discussions
08:02 with Nebraska for a coaching role right now.
08:06 He doesn't really have to coach this year
08:08 if he doesn't want to.
08:11 That being said, the Huskers,
08:12 they currently don't really have a job opening
08:19 for an assistant coach at this point in time,
08:20 but I'm pretty sure they can figure it out if they want to.
08:22 Now, does he come in as potentially an analyst?
08:26 Pretty much most of the reports I'm seeing
08:27 are they're talking about a coaching role.
08:30 Now, does he come in as the offensive coordinator?
08:32 Possibility, one end of the spectrum to the other.
08:34 Analyst, coordinator, you know.
08:37 All right, now, rule is flat out set.
08:39 He wants to keep Marcus Satterfield
08:41 as the offensive coordinator.
08:42 He doesn't want to start over on offense,
08:45 changing the verbiage and everything else.
08:47 So he has stated that, okay, in previous press conference.
08:51 Now, here's what I'd love to see, personally,
08:53 with all the information that we have to this point.
08:55 I'd love to see Holgerson coaching quarterbacks
08:57 and being the passing game coordinator.
09:00 Now, Matt Rule, he could potentially move
09:03 Marcus Satterfield to coach the tight ends, okay,
09:06 which is where Coach Rule has said
09:08 he planned on Satterfield coaching initially anyways.
09:13 All right, Nebraska doesn't need, really,
09:14 a lot of help in the run game, I don't think.
09:16 That's kind of Rule's strength, okay?
09:18 They had success running the ball last year
09:20 without much of a threat of a passing game to begin with,
09:23 okay, but they definitely need help
09:25 coaching quarterbacks and in the pass game.
09:27 And I've talked about this previously,
09:28 but just a quick reminder.
09:30 Nebraska had 31 turnovers last year,
09:32 was tied some for dead last in the country.
09:35 Now, Rule even said, again, referencing another one
09:37 of his press conference statements,
09:39 most of the turnovers came from the quarterback position,
09:42 okay, plus the Huskers, where it finished 126 in the country
09:46 and passed offense only ahead of Iowa, okay?
09:49 And check this out, Iowa, just for reference,
09:51 we know they're not good on offense, okay,
09:53 they didn't score a single point
09:55 against a ranked opponent this year,
09:57 and they played two more games after Black Friday
10:00 than Nebraska did, yet they scored the same amount of points
10:04 after Black Friday as the Huskers, zero.
10:08 Okay, and obviously they fired their offensive coordinator,
10:11 Brian Ferenc, even though, in my opinion,
10:13 the head coach, Kirk Ferenc, he flat out
10:14 tried to play daddy ball, but it could only go so far.
10:17 All right, now, and that happened about a month
10:20 before the season ended, obviously he finished
10:21 coaching out the rest of the year.
10:23 All right, the other teams that we finished in front of
10:26 were the three service academies, Navy, Army, Air Force,
10:29 when it comes to passing offense in the country,
10:31 and due to the physical limitations of some of the players
10:33 of these service academies, which I have 100% respect for,
10:37 they don't even really try to pass the ball, okay?
10:39 There's a reason they all run that same offense,
10:41 very few other teams do.
10:43 Now, they run it successfully, but there's a reason
10:45 they kind of have to run it, so to speak, okay?
10:48 Again, with all due respect.
10:49 Now, we needed an upgrade.
10:50 In production from our quarterbacks,
10:53 all three of them struggled last year.
10:55 It wasn't just one or two, it was all three.
10:57 Okay, and in our passing game, that's pretty obvious.
10:59 Holgerson could very possibly be
11:02 the guy that helps with that.
11:04 Okay, now, Nebraska had a pretty successful
11:07 recruiting weekend, in my opinion, as well.
11:09 Those are my thoughts on Holgerson, okay?
11:12 As far as the recruiting weekend, this past weekend,
11:14 they hosted, I believe, five players
11:16 throughout the week, and weekend from the transfer portal,
11:18 all guys who could help contribute in one way or another
11:21 if they come to the Big Red.
11:22 Okay, they got highly sought after,
11:24 former Oregon running back, Dante Dowdwell,
11:26 to commit to Nebraska this past weekend.
11:29 Our running back room is absolutely stacked.
11:31 Emmitt Johnson, Quentin Ives, Ramir Johnson,
11:33 Gabe Irvin, and now Dante Dowdwell.
11:35 Three of those guys were freshmen last year.
11:37 I hope not, but probably someone's gonna transfer,
11:41 and that's okay if they do.
11:42 All right, now, Dante, the Huskers didn't need
11:44 a running back, really, but this guy's
11:46 a potential impact player.
11:48 Maybe sooner rather than later.
11:49 Dante had limited carries in a loaded running back room
11:52 last year at Oregon.
11:53 He's a big, physical back, six foot two, 218 pounds,
11:56 likes to run downhill between the tackles,
11:58 and breaks a lot of tackles.
12:00 He fits the physical type of offense
12:01 that Matt Rule wants to run.
12:03 Okay, very good initial burst, as well,
12:06 and deceptively good speed.
12:08 They also got a commitment from Texas wide receiver,
12:10 Isaiah Nayer, okay?
12:12 He committed over the weekend, six foot three, 215 pounds,
12:15 big bodied, veteran wide receiver,
12:16 one year of eligibility left.
12:18 Probably two if he gets a medical hardship approved
12:21 after missing 2022 with an ACL tear.
12:23 All right, let me know in the comments below,
12:24 ladies and gentlemen.
12:25 Simply say yes or no.
12:26 Will Dana Holgerson be on Nebraska's
12:28 coaching staff next year?
12:29 Second question, who will be our starting running back
12:31 come game one next fall?
12:33 And I wanna show Nash Huttmaker some love.
12:35 He's now wrestling with the number four
12:36 Nebraska wrestling team.
12:37 He lost 30 to 40 pounds to do so.
12:39 He was top ranked heavyweight in the country
12:42 coming out of high school.
12:43 All right, following four state titles,
12:44 an undefeated 166 and 0 career record.
12:47 By the way, he pinned his opponent from Wyoming,
12:49 Mason Ding in 52 seconds.
12:51 Just show him some love in the comments below
12:52 by typing in polar bear, go big red nose.
12:54 Remember, throw the bow.
12:56 (sighs)