Nebraska...not feeling Frosty anymore

[entropy]

If UNL wins Saturday, it will be the Huskers 850th win.

[entropy]

looks like UNL is going away from the nicke/dime and using a 4-3 saturday. Great. Sacrifice speed for LB's who can't make plays. One can't help but wonder if UNL out-thinks itself..

[Wild Hoss]

If we get beat because of Whaley and Fisher I am going to find Bo's house and take a shit on his lawn.

[hack]

If you do that I'll take a dump on Borges' lawn. Deal?

[Wild Hoss]

If you do that I'll take a dump on Borges' lawn. Deal?

...and Talent can represent us!

[hack]

Ugh. Actually I guess it would also mean that we would then represent Talent. It's worth it tho if Borges shits the bed for the MSU game.

[entropy]

Husker fullback Janovich likes contact, fits into offense's plans

By Rich Kaipust
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU
Omaha World-Herald

LINCOLN — Nebraska assistant Ron Brown said the coaching staff knew from the start that Andy Janovich might be able to help the Huskers, but had to first weigh the pros and cons of using the fullback as a freshman.

As the deliberations carried on, however, Janovich just kept making it tougher and tougher to decide against it.

Never going away. Always on the come. Relentless to the whistle.

“He's not a two-time state champion wrestler for nothing,” Brown said Monday. “He's got a lot of grit and determination.”

And now one heck of an opportunity ahead of him, as well.

Nebraska turned Janovich loose Saturday against Idaho State after holding him out of the first three games. The walk-on from Gretna not only played but came out with the NU offense for the very first snap.

“It was pretty awesome,” Janovich said.

It was also just the start.

The first of hundreds of collisions that will follow for the “rocked-up” 6-foot-1, 215-pounder who savors the contact. The first of possibly many rushing attempts and pass receptions for a versatile fullback who Brown isn't afraid to compare with past NU greats such as Cory Schlesinger or the Makovicka brothers.

“He can run, he can catch, he can do a lot of things,” Brown said. “Fullbacks tend to be not quite as athletic as him. I think he has the nature and the mentality of one, but I think God has given him an extra dose of athletic ability for that position.

“Only the Lord knows how it's all going to turn out but, boy, from what I've seen, in the 22 years that I've been here, I think he has a chance to be special.”

The same goes for his story.

Janovich initially committed to the University of Nebraska at Kearney before drawing his NU interest. He was a World-Herald All-Nebraska pick at linebacker for Gretna in 2011, but also rushed for 800 yards and 18 touchdowns his senior season.

Speaking of linebackers, one of his uncles is former Husker tough guy Jerry Murtaugh, who played from 1968 through 1970. What does he know about Murtaugh's playing style? “Just mean, is what I've heard,” Janovich said.

The second youngest of nine children also went 46-0 and 53-0 his final two wrestling seasons as a two-time Class B state champ, and he was actually recruited by the Huskers in that sport. The leverage, aggressiveness and toughness he brought to the mat have served him well in football.

“He stays low, he keeps his legs moving,” NU linebacker Will Compton said. “He's going to be a good football player.”

First, Husker coach Bo Pelini said, there will be some learning and growing to do. But the staff upped his practice repetitions in preparation for Idaho State and told him last Wednesday that he would play against the Bengals.

“We made the determination that he's capable of helping us mentally and physically,” Pelini said. “We'll probably need one more fullback as the year goes on (with Mike Marrow and C.J. Zimmerer). We have confidence in Andy and what he brings to the table.”

Janovich certainly knows the long road ahead.

He never had to worry about things such as footwork and technique when he used to just run people over. Something as simple as going wide of backup quarterback Bronson Marsh cost him a fumbled handoff on one of his three carries Saturday.

Janovich had to catch up in August with his teammates because he wasn't working out with the rest of the Huskers over the summer in preparation for preseason practice.

But he gave the Husker staff a taste of his potential right away, then just kept coming with more of it. Brown said Janovich seemed to be gliding around almost effortlessly during camp.

Brown in the same sentence manages to call Janovich “a sweet kid” but also somebody who's “extremely competitive and tenacious.” Unsure of all the sudden attention, Janovich even came into Brown's office on Monday and wondered if he had to meet some of the media interview requests.

It's part of the process, Brown told him. Keep it short and simple and go back to work. It's worked pretty well for him so far.

But Janovich also admits that Saturday was special. Something he had been waiting for and dreaming about.

“I just try to put it behind me now,” he said. “It's cool to start and all, but it was Idaho State and now we got Wisconsin this week. So it's a big week for us.”

Contact the writer:

402-444-1042, rich.kaipust@owh.com, twitter.com/RKaipustOWH

[entropy]

The New Shoes Disclosed:



Seemingly every Big Red fan has seen Nebraska's new helmets, new football jerseys, new pants and new socks. What you haven't seen are the shoes that complete the Huskers’ alternative uniforms for the Big Ten Conference home-opener against Wisconsin Saturday night. We have a sneak peek of those shoes, but adidas isn't sharing why they're so special outside of the locker room, at least not yet.

Know this, though. The adidas slogan of "Impossible is Nothing" is an appropriate description for both the shoes and the uniforms that Nebraska and Wisconsin will both wear in Saturday's nationally televised game on ABC. Whatever that “something different” is intrigues Ron Kellogg III and Tim Marlowe, who got a better view of the shoes last week. Obviously, they agree with what they see.

If you’re among those who might wonder the reason behind such uniforms and shoes, please wonder no more. The answer is, in a word, recruiting.

Els: Added Exposure Enhances Recruiting

“The media makes such a big deal out of it, and when they do, we get more national exposure,” said Ross Els, Nebraska’s linebacker coach and recruiting coordinator. “When ESPN, Sports Illustrated and all of the other national media outlets generate that kind of interest, that’s good. The recruiting quotient increases exponentially. We all know that winning is the most important thing, but when you line up all the teams that are winning, you look for a differentiator, and this (alternative uniforms) is a big one.”

At Monday’s press conference, Nebraska Head Coach Bo Pelini acknowledged that the Huskers will host “somewhere around 20 recruits” this weekend and praised Els for the way he’s handling Husker recruiting.

"I think he does a great job. He stays on it; he's very detailed,” Pelini said of Els. “There are a lot of things going on and your No. 1 focus is winning football games, and you need someone like Ross who is constantly pushing what we need to do recruiting-wise.”

Pelini Preoccupied with Game Preparation

Because Pelini is so focused on preparing his team, he does not allow uniform changes to intrude on his concentration. “I haven’t really thought much about it,” he said at Monday’s press conference when asked about the uniforms. “It will be a one-game thing. I’ve talked about that. I’m concerned about how the guys in those uniforms play. I’m not concerned with what they line up in.”

Terry Joseph left a recruiting coordinator job and assistant coaching position at Tennessee to become part of Pelini’s staff as Nebraska’s secondary coach. He knows why Els is willing to push the envelope and understands why Pelini supports him.

“Alternate uniforms are the vogue thing to do. It’s hot right now,” Joseph said. “When kids play on national TV, those uniforms give the fans and the recruits a different way to look at a team. Kids want to be different. That's the way a lot of them were brought up, so when they see these guys wearing different uniforms, it excites them about the school, so we're excited, too. You want to make it fun, and it helps us recruit, so it’s a big deal for us all the way around.”

Burkhead is All N on Alternate Uniforms

The idea excites current Huskers, too. “I like the socks. I like the black helmets, and I like the uniforms,” Rex Burkhead said Monday. “They’re cool, and they’re kind of throwback-ish in an old-school kind of way. In a sense, it’s like we’re mixing it up by having something new and still being able to have fun with and enjoy history. It’s kind of like that 300 sellout game a couple of years ago. When we wore those throwback uniforms, everybody got really excited about it. I think it kind of brings a new energy.”

Burkhead likes Nebraska being a traditional school that protects its conservative roots. “That’s why it’s so exciting when we do decide to change things up,” he said. “When recruits see all these other schools doing stuff, and they don’t see another school doing something, they ask why we don’t innovate more or change things up more like all these other schools. When they see the latest technology, or the latest uniforms, I think it helps recruiting. Football is just football. It doesn’t matter what jersey you have on. You just play. At the same time, I think it’s kind of an energy thing. I’m excited about it and hope the new uniforms give us a little more pep in our step.”

When you ask Burkhead about the new shoes, you see a smile and even a look of wonder, but he would be the last guy on earth to spill the beans about why those new shoes are unique. The countdown to Saturday has begun, and everyone will learn what’s so special about those shoes whenever the time is right. Meanwhile, hit the play button on the video below, then get in the waiting line with everyone else

[entropy]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg5Es-keix0"]Nebraska | adidas - #Spotlight - YouTube[/ame]

[Wild Hoss]

Y'know, I am fine with the alterate uniform concept...but between ours and Wisco's getups, this one is going to be bad. Its going to look like a couple California high school teams going at it...and yes, I know I set myself up heckling with that comment.

[Wild Hoss]

Wiz...curious as to your thoughts on what happened in Seattle last night.

[Hannibal]

I heard about that play and what a disaster it supposedly was. I looked on youtube, and I said to myself "what am I missing here?" Looks like clear simultaneous posession to me. I have never seen that on a Hail Mary before. It was a unique and incredibly chaotic play, and if you ask me, they got it right. If they didn't get it right, I don't think that the real refs would be more likely to get it right.

[Wild Hoss]

Simultaneous doesn't mean that the defender catches it and the receiver shoves one hand under his armpit as they fall to the ground. I don't know that Tate got his second hand on the ball until they'd wrestled on the ground for five seconds.

Regardless...this is why you don't go for the INT like a dumbass. Knock the ball down.

[entropy]

agree.. in HS you were taught knock the ball down

[entropy]

hoss... so how good will Wisky's OL look on saturday. I think the "experts" will claim the OL problems are solved.. Wisky has gone back to Chryst's OL philosophies. That has/should help. I also think UNL's DL will disappear.. again.