Reflections on a 38-0 Thrashing

Nope...I didn't bother to spend the $8 or the hour-long drive down to Lincoln to catch today's Spring Game, instead choosing to clean out the garage while listening to the radio. Any second thoughts were long gone when Nate Swift scored to make it 28-love in the first quarter. I swore off the spring game two years ago when it became clear that it was becoming more of a PR/recruiting event than a scrimmage.

Darren of Big Red Network talked about the "Return of Competition" this spring, but today, that competition was pretty much non-existent. Granted, Darren was referring to competition between players who were on the Red squad, not necessarily competition between the top units and the reservers. If anything, the gap seems to be widening. Does this mean the talent level at the top of the roster has improved that much?

Probably the best reason to attend the Spring Game would be to avoid listening to "Husker Information Minister" Jim Rose. Rose kept raving about Xavier Rucker, implying that he's the brother of former Husker Mike and Mizzou tight end Martin. Turns out that he's a freshman from Minnesota, not St. Joseph, Missouri...and almost half the size of the 6'5" 275 lb. Panthers defensive end.

Watching a few highlights this evening, it looks like Sam Keller gets the edge at quarterback if you put any weight on today's performance. Ganz showed some nice mobility, but considering how much time the offensive line gave the quarterbacks today, there really wasn't a need to scramble.

I'm still trying to figure out the logic in playing Marlon Lucky late in the fourth quarter of this game. The Journal-Star reports that it's tentatively diagnosed as a sprain, though an MRI tomorrow will tell us more. Nice to see Cody Glenn running again...

True freshman Patrick Witt is probably the best freshman quarterback of the Bill Callahan era; I liked his maturity as a high school junior, and he put up some decent numbers considering that he was running for his life behind the sieves of the reserve o-line.

We're going to need help on kickoffs this fall with the rule change to kick off from the 30 yard line. According to the official stats, Jake Wesch was able to get a few kickoffs inside the ten, but no touchbacks.

Darren and Jason over at Big Red Network sat through the carnage and reported their initial observations. Of the youngsters, they liked DJ Jones, playing both ways on the offensive line, Witt, Rickey Thenarse, and Chris Brooks.