All Huskers
  • 10 months ago
Transcript
00:00 [intro music]
00:08 Welcome to the Carriker Chronicles, the people show. Checking the pulse of Husker Nation.
00:13 Ladies and gentlemen, it's been a while since I've done a show like this.
00:17 I love doing interviews. I love bringing people on my show and hearing Frank Solich's story
00:22 and talking to Malachi Coleman and hearing his story. If you missed those interviews, go back and check them out.
00:27 Pick up Malachi's book. He's donating the proceeds to the foster care system and kids in foster care.
00:33 I love doing that type of stuff. But you know what? It's been a while since I just sat down here and chatted with you fine folks.
00:41 Me and you, one-on-one or one-on-however-many-people-are-watching-this-show.
00:45 Probably at least three or four folks. I missed this, so let's light this candle, shall we?
00:50 This is... I honestly believe, okay, again, Kool-Aid aside, whatever your favorite flavor is, I love red.
00:58 Not just because it's Nebraska's colors, I just love red. By the way, made at Hastings, Nebraska.
01:03 I don't know if you knew that. That's where it was developed and originated and created from.
01:07 That was a pretty cool random fact I thought. But Kool-Aid aside, I really believe that Matt Rule's having a big offseason.
01:14 Okay, now before I dive into that, smash that like button. One of my former teammates, a Husker great, Barrett Roode.
01:23 A former team captain, freshman All-American, three-time All-Big 12 selection, third team All-American, Huskers all-time leading tackle, 432 career tackles.
01:32 Okay, and I have this memory from when I was a true freshman. I read Shurden. We were watching film.
01:36 And he had this gigantic cast on his hand. And I forget what the audibles were.
01:40 As a true freshman, I probably was lost at sea and had no idea what the defensive audibles were.
01:45 But he'd run around doing this with that gigantic cast in the air. That's one of my images or memories that I have in my mind of Barrett Roode.
01:52 But again, Nebraska's all-time leader in career tackles with 432. He's been coaching for about a decade.
02:00 Okay, he was just hired by the Atlanta Falcons as their inside linebacker's coach. Great teammate, great coach, great dude.
02:10 Barrett Roode. Smash that like button to show Barrett some love.
02:13 Now he's reunited with Raheem Morris. Now Raheem was in D.C. when I was there.
02:18 And here's my memory of Raheem Morris. I'm in the training room one day. I'm icing something.
02:24 Because that's just what happens when you play in the trenches. And we get in this debate.
02:27 Okay, and this was years ago, like 10 years ago. Like, if you had an all-time NBA draft, who would you pick number one?
02:33 Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, LeBron James, Michael Jordan. Raheem stood up in front of everybody, about 30 guys in that training room, and said, "I'd take LeBron over Jordan."
02:43 You've got to keep in mind this was 10 years ago. So Raheem Morris is a great football coach, a great dude. Love him.
02:48 But in my mind, he's the guy that would pass over Michael Jordan in an NBA draft. What? What?
02:55 Love you, Raheem, but what?
02:58 Okay, now, you want to show Nebraska men's basketball some love, because I do believe that they are NCAA tournament bound.
03:07 And I'm going to be covering that team on the ticket, as well as here on the Chronicles, as well.
03:12 And if you don't want to miss any of that coverage, or you just haven't done so yet, hit that subscribe button.
03:16 Alright, and I want to do at least one show going forward a week. At least one show a week, if not twice.
03:22 Which is basically what I've been doing throughout the offseason.
03:25 But I want to do at least one, if not two shows a week throughout the offseason.
03:28 My next show, National Signing Day on Wednesday.
03:32 Yes, it still matters. Let's be real. The main signing day was in December, but there's still some interesting things to talk about
03:40 per National Signing Day for Nebraska come this Wednesday, so don't miss that show.
03:46 And I am going to save my high school talk, as far as the offseason things that Matt Ruhle's done well so far this year.
03:52 I'm going to save my high school football talk for Wednesday and that show.
03:56 Now, today, things I haven't addressed much yet on this show so far this offseason, has been really transfer portal needs.
04:05 Okay, and impact players that Matt Ruhle has brought in, most importantly, at key positions of need that we had.
04:11 A new quarterback, coach/offensive coordinator, which I'm going to get to in a little bit.
04:16 Followed by, I'm going to chat just a little bit about other Husker sports at the end of this show as well.
04:21 But let's start off with some of the team needs that Nebraska football had entering this offseason.
04:26 Positional needs. Wide receiver. Very talented, young, fast wide receiver group here at the University of Nebraska.
04:32 You've got guys like Malachi Coleman, Jalen Lloyd.
04:35 They played and started a lot of games as true freshmen last year.
04:39 Very bright futures. That goes without saying.
04:41 But this group as a whole is very inexperienced.
04:44 It's a wide receiver room where nobody has really proven to be consistent just yet.
04:50 We're very, very young. So that's one position that stood out to me coming into this offseason.
04:54 Number two, offensive line.
04:56 Now, you may remember, the offensive line got better throughout the year, especially run blocking.
05:01 Pass blocking was still iffy.
05:03 But the run blocking did improve. And as you recall, Donovan Raiola got a $175,000 pay raise.
05:09 He signed through 2024.
05:12 Now, the improvement on the O-line needs to continue. That goes without saying.
05:16 But when you get guys like Bryce Benhart, much improved to right tackle.
05:21 And you've got Ben Scott, who's a very good center. Both choosing to come back to Nebraska.
05:26 You've got guys like Justin Evans-Jenkins, Henry Lutovsky, who saw a lot of playing time at guard.
05:33 You still need another guard in that mix, I think.
05:37 For starting competition and for depth as well.
05:40 We got just a smidge banged up on the offense last year. Just a tiny bit.
05:45 So, I think bringing in another offensive line, especially at the guard position,
05:49 bringing in wide receivers was something we needed to do.
05:53 And that's obviously something we did. I'll get to those guys here in a minute.
05:56 But for competition at the starting spot, also adding depth.
06:00 Now, you look at the defense. You could argue up to 10 starters returning.
06:04 Now, some guys started early on and got banged up. Some guys started later on.
06:08 The majority of the year-long starters are back.
06:11 You could argue up to 10 potential starters are back.
06:14 Depending on how you want to look at that.
06:17 But the linebacker spot was a spot that we needed some help in.
06:21 Somebody who could immediately step in and help us.
06:24 Again, we had a near top 10 total defense last year.
06:27 Number 11 in the country. Number 8 rush defense. Gave up 92 rush yards per game.
06:31 Number 13 in the country in points allowed. 18 points per game.
06:35 And we're seriously going to miss guys at the linebacker spot like Luke Reimer, Nick Henrich.
06:41 Guys like that.
06:43 We have all Big 10 type players.
06:46 Ty Robinson, Nash Huntmaker at the first level of the defense.
06:49 Also, Malcolm Hartzog, Isaac Gifford, Tommy Hill in the third level of the defense.
06:55 That linebacker spot, we had some guys going and we needed some guys, or at least a guy, to come in and be an impact starter player for us.
07:03 Now, first things first, and I've mentioned this before but I'm going to cover it again.
07:08 Nebraska's player retention rate has been phenomenal.
07:11 You've got other Big 10 schools like Indiana, Purdue, Michigan State.
07:15 Had well over 20 players leave their program. In fact, tops in the nation.
07:19 Ohio State was hit hard.
07:21 You've got other really good programs like Georgia hit hard by the transfer portal.
07:25 Of course, all they do is recruit 5 and 18 star players so they just step right up.
07:29 Florida got hit hard by the transfer portal. SEC type schools.
07:33 Washington, oh my. They lost 15 players.
07:38 There's no longer a Power 5 conference, there's Power 4.
07:41 15 players were taken by other Power 4 conference schools.
07:47 They only have 2. This is the team that played for the national title last year.
07:50 Only 2 returning starters on their entire roster coming back next season.
07:54 Good luck joining the Big 10, my friends.
07:56 Alright, now, Nebraska only lost a handful of players.
08:01 And outside of Chubba Purdy and Jeff Sims, ok, and I do think they were major contributors last year.
08:07 You could argue Jeff lost his job. Great dude. You could argue Chubba only started a couple games at the end of the year.
08:12 But I would have said he had the inside track to start, and this year had he stayed.
08:16 Outside of those 2 guys, not a lot of major key contributors are back.
08:20 Most of the key contributors are back and chose not to leave.
08:24 So first, that's what Matt Ruhle wants to do. He wants to return, retain talent, build and develop players.
08:32 So we didn't need a ton of transfer players to come in first and foremost.
08:36 Colorado has brought in over 80 players last year.
08:40 They're at 51 I believe this year.
08:42 Number 1 transfer portal class in America.
08:44 Brought in like 92 Ole Linemen, because that math adds up.
08:48 Ole Miss, they have the number 2 transfer portal class in the country.
08:51 They've got like the number 1 outside edge rusher, the number 1 this, the number 1 that.
08:55 And that's awesome. Phenomenal. More power to you.
08:58 That's just not Matt Ruhle's plan.
09:00 He's executing his plan well. To bring in young guys, to retain them, to develop them, to build a culture,
09:06 to build something from the bottom of the ground up that will withstand more effectively over time.
09:15 Nebraska currently has the number 28 transfer portal class in the country.
09:19 I've got to be honest, I was surprised it was that high.
09:21 We just don't have a whole lot of players coming in, although they are very good players in my opinion.
09:25 Again, that doesn't mean much to me, because Ruhle's plan calls for less transfer portal targets and quality over quantity, so to speak.
09:34 The focus is on key transfer portal players and targets at positions of need, and that's exactly what he addressed.
09:39 Alright, I talked about wide receiver position.
09:41 We brought in Jamal Banks, who's 6'4", Isaiah Nair, who's 6'3".
09:45 Now you could argue, Jamal is probably the number 1 transfer portal player that we brought in for our team,
09:50 because he's the most proven player and arguably the biggest position of need, which is wide receiver.
09:57 Isaiah Nair. Now this is a guy who at Wyoming, when he entered the transfer portal after he left Wyoming,
10:03 was one of the top wide receivers in the transfer portal in the country that year.
10:07 He went to Texas expecting to be the number 1 guy, got hurt, got the knee injury, was never quite the same.
10:12 I'm hoping he's had a year, he's had time to recover, and he can get back to being that guy.
10:18 Because if he can, we brought in not one, but potentially two starting wide receivers for the Huskers coming up next season.
10:26 Now, I already mentioned Jaylon Lloyd. This is a young guy with elite speed.
10:30 I already mentioned Malachi Coleman. We all know about Malachi.
10:33 Again, check out that interview if you missed it, because his backstory is even more awesome than I already thought it was.
10:38 Great dude, great family. Got to know them a smidge.
10:42 But these are guys, I mean Malachi started six games for us last year.
10:46 Doesn't mean he has a ton of experience, but we've got 2 to 3 to 4 wide receivers in this wide receiver competition.
10:52 So it's going to be a great competition which forces guys to get better. It also adds depth.
10:57 And Matt Rule's not really a 4 wide receiver type of offense guy, or even 3.
11:03 But he did spread it out more at Baylor. It all just depends on what he has.
11:06 I'm just excited to see this wide receiver offseason battle.
11:10 Offensive line, Micah "Mazuka" DeBazuka. 6'5", 335 pounds.
11:16 This is a guy that started at Baylor, he started at Florida, he almost came to Nebraska through the transfer portal a year ago.
11:21 This dude's a road grader. A big, physical, nasty dude.
11:26 Again, I like to call him Mazuka DeBazuka.
11:30 Here's a little bit more on my friend. Nebraska's O-line just got bigger and better.
11:33 This is my tweet that I put out a while back.
11:35 Micah Mazuka announced today that he'll be transferring to us. He started 10 games each of the last two years for Florida and Baylor.
11:42 In 2023 at Florida, back then he was 6'5", 325.
11:47 Micah started at right guard in 11 of 12 games and had 743 snaps.
11:51 In 2022 at Baylor, he played in 11 games, had 10 starts, and graded out as the second best guard in the Big 12 according to Pro Football Focus.
11:59 And the 42nd best guard in the nation.
12:02 At run blocking specifically, he graded as the best in the conference and 15th best in the nation.
12:09 Now he does have to get better at pass blocking. He's got to be more consistent.
12:14 He shows really good pass pro at times, just got to do it consistently.
12:18 You go to linebacker.
12:21 The really biggest, I don't want to say only need we had on defense, but the really biggest need we had on defense.
12:26 Stephon Thompson transfers in. Stephon is another linebacker who played three seasons under Tony White at Syracuse.
12:34 Stephon has played in 36 career games, 169 career total tackles, 20 TFLs, and earned a starting job as a true freshman in 2020.
12:43 6'1", 248 pounds, and has two seasons of eligibility remaining.
12:47 This is a guy who's not only played in the 335, he's not only got starting experience, he not only earned a starting job as a true freshman, he did it under Tony White.
12:54 This is potentially a multi-year starter in the middle of our defense.
12:59 You look at the running back position, not really a position of need, honestly.
13:03 But, running back Dante Dowdwell, probably heard of him, transferred from Oregon.
13:08 Now, again, we didn't really need a running back, but here's the deal.
13:12 Oregon has a rare situation of two stud running backs that were both near 1,000 yard rushers, both coming back.
13:19 So there's a crowd of running backs for him.
13:21 So, when you've got guys like Gabe Irvin in our running back room, a guy who has started for two different coaching staffs,
13:28 big, fast, explosive, powerful guy, hopefully he can stay healthy.
13:33 You've got a guy like Ramir Johnson, who had started for us a couple, three years ago, I don't know if people remember that, but he's got that beast, that burst in speed out of the backfield.
13:41 He could be a starter for a lot of teams in the country, in my opinion.
13:44 Emmitt Johnson, who was our starter a good portion of the year last year as a freshman, and then quit Knives.
13:50 I've mentioned it, Matt Rule brings him up consistently for a reason.
13:53 Coaches don't do that if they don't like you.
13:55 Dante Dowdwell becomes available, and even with this loaded running back room, a guy like that, that big, powerful, Big Ten, downhill, Matt Rule type of offense, running back, you just can't say no.
14:06 He's that with explosiveness, which you don't always find, I might add.
14:11 Now, I will say this, five running backs like that, I don't expect us to have these same five backs going into the fall, and that's okay.
14:17 Somebody's going to hit the portal, that's fine.
14:19 I wish them nothing but love and the best.
14:22 Another potential position of need that I have not mentioned yet was DB, and it really depends on where Malcolm Hartzog plays next year.
14:29 You think about our defense, we had a lot of Big Ten performers, we had a lot of guys who played well, and you think about Malcolm Hartzog, who started games at corner, he started at safety, so you don't really know where he's going to play exactly next year.
14:44 So, maybe DB is a position of need, potentially, so Bly Hill. This is a guy who's really flown under the radar.
14:50 Six foot, 385 pounds, a young corner, okay, this is the type of guy that can go toe-to-toe with a tall, wide receiver.
14:58 Okay, maybe not an elite, fast wide receiver, but a tall, wide receiver.
15:03 Okay, he's also a guy who could potentially move to safety.
15:06 Now, he's a little light, but potentially he could go there.
15:09 In my opinion, I've talked about Diamonds in the Rough that Matt Rule has brought in this offseason, he's one of those guys I see.
15:14 I think he's flown under the radar.
15:16 I think he's that prototypical Matt Rule, bring in, overlooked, developmental type guy that he could turn into something, depending on how hard he works and how hard he's able to develop himself.
15:29 And I think he's flown under the radar because he played at St. Francis and they just don't get talked about a lot.
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15:56 Now, a couple more positions of need potentially, okay, left tackle and quarterback.
16:02 Now, at left tackle, we've got Turner Corcoran, we've got Teddy Prochaska.
16:06 Okay, Corcoran started a lot of games, Prochaska has started games, and I love Teddy, honestly.
16:11 Okay, he's just got to stay healthy as well.
16:14 Alright, I just think adding one more guy into that competition, particularly at left tackle, could add depth and could make everybody raise their game just a little bit.
16:24 I don't know that it's imperative, I just think it would be helpful.
16:27 Now, I personally think we need a vet quarterback receiver.
16:32 Most likely, I'd prefer a senior, okay.
16:35 Alright, now, I'm going to do a show, I'm not going to dive into that much today.
16:39 That's just my opinion.
16:40 A lot of people that I've talked to disagree with me, so I'm going to do a show on that here in the next week or two.
16:46 Alright, so keep your eye out for that.
16:48 Now, we also hired a new quarterbacks coach and co-offensive coordinator in Glenn Thomas.
16:53 Alright, from the Steelers, a necessary offensive move in my opinion.
16:56 I'm going to talk about Glenn more in that quarterback show I'm going to do in the future, but he has a very good history coaching quarterbacks and his style of offense.
17:05 Okay, he's a little bit more up Rule's alley.
17:07 Now, Satterfield can coach the tight ends, which is really what Rule wanted him to do originally.
17:12 Okay, this is a big hire, a big deal in a coaching area that we needed to get better at, and so I think this is a big deal as well.
17:22 Obviously, flipping Dylan Raiola from Georgia to Nebraska was big time.
17:26 Now, I did see recently where some Husker fans got upset, okay, because Dylan Raiola dropped dramatically in on three's recruiting rankings.
17:34 At one point throughout his recruiting journey, so we say he was the number one player in America, then he was the number one quarterback, then he was the number one pocket passer.
17:43 Now, according to on three, he's the 71st overall ranked player.
17:48 Some fans got a little bit upset about this.
17:50 Some think it's because he flipped from Georgia to Nebraska, even though he's still very highly rated, period, and hasn't really moved much in other recruiting rankings.
18:01 Okay, to be fair, Carter Nelson, who played eight man football at Ainsworth, has climbed in on three's recruiting rankings.
18:08 Okay, my reaction, who cares?
18:11 They're one of us now, and people are just funny sometimes.
18:16 That's all I got to say about that.
18:18 Alright, a couple of thoughts on other Husker sports.
18:22 Shout out to Nebraska Wrestling.
18:24 They're the number six team in the country, nine and one in Polar Bear, Nash, Hutmakers, now four and one so far on the year.
18:31 That's pretty cool.
18:32 The guy took three years off from wrestling.
18:34 He's lost 30 plus pounds.
18:35 Then he's going to have to put weight back on to play football.
18:38 Okay, and I asked Mark Manning, the wrestling coach, all about this on my interview with him about a week and a half ago on Night 3.7.
18:45 The ticket, you can go check it out on their YouTube page.
18:48 I also interviewed Nebraska women's basketball coach Amy Williams on Night 3.7.
18:53 The ticket as well, you can see that on their YouTube page if you want to check that out.
18:57 Nebraska women's basketball is currently 14 and eight and taking on Michigan in their next game.
19:02 Show them some love, alright, ladies and gentlemen, love and support for them.
19:07 Now men's basketball is 16 and seven.
19:09 They have two top ten wins on the year.
19:11 You probably know this, but they beat number one Purdue and number six Wisconsin at the time.
19:14 They had number 14 Illinois beat on the road.
19:18 Nebraska basketball, the men had a great performance, a great effort.
19:22 The refs, not so much.
19:24 Alright, and they're still looking for their first road victory, but I have a feeling they're going to get it here in the near future.
19:30 Now this is a team that absolutely should make the NCAA tournament, in my opinion.
19:35 Okay, a couple of random facts.
19:37 Alright, this is kind of a bunch of stuff that I haven't talked about in a while.
19:40 Kind of all put into one show and hopefully you enjoy it just a smidge.
19:44 Two random facts.
19:45 There are currently 21 former Husker football players on NFL active rosters.
19:51 Alright, number two, I'm going to put up this pic of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson back when he played college football.
19:57 Now I kind of randomly came across this pic and I'm a big fan of The Rock.
20:01 Alright, but if you're a wrestling fan at all, you know he just stole the main event of WrestleMania from the American nightmare, Cody Rhodes.
20:08 Alright, now I got some questions for you fine folks at home.
20:10 Number one, simple. Simple questions, simple answers. Let me know yes or no to all these below.
20:14 Number one, again, Kool-Aid aside, do you believe the Matt rule is having as big of an offseason so far as I believe he is?
20:22 Alright, number two, again, just say yes or no to all these.
20:25 I'm not addressing the portal quarterback situation for the Huskers in this show just yet.
20:30 So with that aside, does Nebraska have other positions of need to fill yet like I believe, like the left tackle?
20:36 Do you agree with the left tackle spot? Do you agree?
20:38 And it's really just about having more competition and potential depth.
20:41 Corcoran's talented, gotta be consistent. Prochaska's shown he can play well, just gotta stay healthy.
20:47 Okay, do you believe like I do that maybe there's some other positions that we have of need, maybe left tackle's one of them, maybe you disagree.
20:54 Well let me know.
20:55 Last but certainly not least, alright, will Nebraska basketball get in the NCAA tournament?
21:01 Because in my opinion, it absolutely should.
21:03 The real question is this, that's actually not the question, the real question is this.
21:07 You're probably aware we're the only Power Four basketball program without an NCAA tournament win, so here's my question.
21:13 Yes or no, will Nebraska basketball get their first ever NCAA tournament win this year?
21:20 Alright ladies and gentlemen, I hope you enjoyed that.
21:22 If you have nothing better to do with your time, you can always check me out on Facebook and Twitter.
21:26 I hope you have a phenomenal week.
21:28 Check out the show on Wednesday.
21:30 Go Big Red, and always remember to throw the ball.
21:34 (sighs)