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Photos of the construction around haymarket park.
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Photos of the construction around haymarket park.Grammar... The difference between feeling your nuts and feeling you're nuts. -
That's about as good an illustration you could possibly come up with. It looks like the 2nd Congressional district consists of about 1% of the overall geographical territory of Nebraska while the 3rd Congressional District includes about 80%. Whole lot of "in the middle of no where" in Nebraska, huh?!Originally posted by Wild Hoss View PostThe districting map for the House of Reps says it all.
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What part of Nebraska, may I ask, are you guys from? Ent, you already mentioned that both you and you wife came from very small towns, but it looks like even most of those tiny towns are concentrated in either the far eastern section of the state or along the North Platte River. I take it that 95% of the state is either cornfields or the Wild West?Comment
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rob.. i grew up on a farm 12 miles north of Lincoln. My hometown was called Valparaiso, which was about 18 miles north lincoln.
this is where my wife grew up... she lived in the country. Ceresco is also about 18 mile north of Lincoln, but 6-7 miles east of Valparaiso.
Grammar... The difference between feeling your nuts and feeling you're nuts.Comment
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Several roster takes for the 30 minutes we took in practice Tuesday night:
>> Junior college defensive end Randy Gregory looks as advertised – in other words, how he said to me and others, several times, he’d look. He’s 6-foot-6, 255 pounds. Long and big. Nebraska had him working with the No. 2s today, but it’s all so preliminary that it isn’t much use trying to unpack some kind of depth schedule on defense.
>> Freshman corner Boaz Joseph doesn’t look, off the hoof, to be a low three-star corner. He’s listed at 6-foot-1, 190 pounds and looks all of it. The lack of ACC/SEC interest around that kid is still perplexing. Maybe it was a speed thing. Nebraska doesn’t need him this year, so after a redshirt, watch for him. Most corners don’t really learn how to play corner the right way until college anyhow.
>> Johnny Stanton is the tallest of the Husker scholarship quarterbacks by perhaps a hair. His throwing motion for now starts well behind his ear and shades to three-quarters. Stanton throws a good-looking ball.
>> Imani Cross indeed looks bigger, almost as much to play some H-back, fullback stuff. I suspect he’ll be at running back for now.
>> King Frazier’s a walk-on running back who came here despite a scholarship offer to Indiana. He’s up with the top units, and though that may not last in terms of running back, watch him on special teams, perhaps. There’s room for him to contribute.
>> Taariq Allen looked OK running the few routes we saw. Hurt the knee last year, you’ll recall, in the Michigan game. How that holds up on the field will be another question. Quincy Enunwa’s earned a lot of PT and he’ll take it. Enunwa is so cut and in shape at this point that I suspect he won’t need much rest during games.
>> Vincent Valentine has redistributed some of the bad weight.
>> He’ll need a year, but Dwayne Johnson has the most impressive frame right now of the three freshmen offensive linemen.
>> Chongo Kondolo’s wide. Definitely an interior guy. Matt Finnin’s listed at 6-foot-7, but he looks even with Jeremiah Sirles, who’s listed at 6-6.
>> Max Pirman’s now at tight end. That’ll be an uphill climb unless he moves quickly this fall. Sam Cotton strikes me as the No. 2 guy, and Trey Foster can block.Grammar... The difference between feeling your nuts and feeling you're nuts.Comment
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2 hours ago • By BRIAN ROSENTHAL / Lincoln Journal Star
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Nebraska, still looking for its first men’s basketball commitment for 2014, will be hosting its first official visitor of the recruiting class.
Jacob Hammond, a center from Comanche, Okla., who’d originally committed to Oklahoma, will be visiting Lincoln on Sunday and Monday.
Nebraska, with two scholarships to give for 2014, is focusing on big men, and Hammond meets that criteria. He’s 6-foot-10, 230 pounds and is primarily a back-to-the-basket center, although Hammond said he’s capable of playing forward, too.
“I can hit shots from about 13, 15 feet; I’m actually pretty good at those,” Hammond said in a phone interview. “My biggest focus has been defense. That’s been my thing. When I went to Vegas (for an AAU tournament) I averaged six or seven blocks per game.”
Hammond played last season for Sunrise Christian Academy in suburban Wichita, Kan., where he averaged about 12 points per game, he said. He’ll play his senior season at Comanche High School, a 3A school near the Texas-Oklahoma border.
As a 6-8 sophomore, Hammond averaged 12 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2.4 blocks for the Oklahoma City Storm, a home school team.
Hammond, a member of the Oklahoma Magic AAU team, committed to Oklahoma in November, then decommitted in May.
“When I committed, I wasn’t thinking about the big picture,” Hammond said. “They were the first to offer me, and I think I got a little too excited. After a while, I just realized that probably wasn’t the best fit for me.”
Nebraska coaches first saw Hammond and expressed interest at a tournament in Dallas, when Hammond was still committed to OU. When he changed his mind, Nebraska contacted him.
“After a few days of talking to them, they offered me and we’ve just stayed in touch from there,” Hammond said.
TCU and Texas Tech have also offered Hammond, a three-star player whom Rivals.com ranks No. 139 on its Top 150 list of 2014 recruits.
Oklahoma’s offer also still stands, although Hammond said the Sooners aren’t really on his radar anymore.
“Probably not,” he said.
Other schools, like Saint Louis, are hoping for a visit from Hammond.
“I have a lot of people who are showing strong interest, who want me to come to their campus,” he said, “and they’ll probably offer me there.”
Nebraska will be Hammond’s first official visit. He said he plans on taking his five allowed visits – TCU and Texas Tech will likely get one – before he decides on a school. Hammond said he wants to decide by the beginning of his senior basketball season.
NU assistant Craig Smith is the lead recruiter on Hammond.
“I talk to him a lot,” Hammond said. “He told me how his main thing is working with bigs and he takes pride in it. I’m looking forward to talking to him more on my visit. Coaching, it seems really good and organized. I’m looking forward to meeting them all.”Grammar... The difference between feeling your nuts and feeling you're nuts.Comment
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Nutt still thinking about that Nebraska job
Remember those weird, wild, flight-tracking days of late 2003/early 2004? Then Athletic Director Steve Pederson had controversially fired Frank Solich at the end of the 2003 season and the Huskers’ search for a new coach was officially a mess. Seemingly every coach with a pulse had his name mentioned in connection with the Nebraska job.
Some — Bo Pelini, Turner Gill — made sense. Others — Steve Spurrier, Bill Cowher, Urban Meyer — less so. When Bill Callahan, who had just been fired by the Raiders, officially took the job on Jan. 9, 2004, there were reports that he was pretty far down the list of Nebraska’s preferred candidates.
Take then Arkansas coach Houston Nutt, for example. That was a name that gained some traction. Pederson flew down to Arkansas for one of those tarmac meet-and-greets in the first days of 2004. That meeting went pretty well. So how close was Nutt to taking the job?
“There was about a six hour window where I thought ‘maybe it is time to go,’” he told Hail Varsity Radio on Tuesday. “I wanted to talk to Tom Osborne and I couldn’t get the number at the time. I wanted to visit with him. I was pretty close there for a window of time.”
Close enough that Arkansas Athletic Director Frank Broyles told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Jan.2 that he thought there was a “90 percent chance” Nutt would leave for Lincoln. The difficulty in getting Osborne on the phone perhaps wasn’t surprising given some of the former coach’s comments during and after the search, but it wasn’t just a missing phone call that kept Nutt in Fayetteville.
“I just felt like my work wasn’t done at Arkansas. We had recruited very, very hard,” Nutt said. ”That’s when we had Darren McFadden, Felix Jones, Matt Jones, Shawn Andrews, some really good guys that we had recruited really hard so we knew we had a good team that was coming back.”
That’s half-right. Guard/tackle Andrews left school a year early and was selected with the 16th pick in the 2004 NFL Draft, but Nutt may not have know that at the time he was mulling Nebraska’s offer. Do-everything quarterback/receiver Matt Jones was a senior in 2004 and he too was a first round pick the following year. Felix Jones and McFadden didn’t show up until 2005, and Nutt needed them. After going 5-6 in 2004 and 4-7 in 2005, the coach was in danger of losing his job.
With now Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn running the offense, Nutt righted the ship in 2006, going 10-4 and taking the Hogs to the SEC title game. But an 8-5 record in 2007, along with some off the field controversy, was enough for Nutt to finally pull the plug at Arkansas. He resigned on Nov. 26, 2007, days after beating top-ranked and eventual national champion LSU. Less than 24 hours later, Ole Miss hired Nutt as its new head coach. Over the next four seasons, he compiled a 22-24 record with the Rebels before getting fired in November of 2011.
Not surprisingly, given the roller coaster ride that comprised the eight seasons after Nutt was offered the Nebraska job, the coach still occasionally wonders what things would’ve been like for him in Lincoln.
“We were doing some good things at Arkansas and when things do go right in the world that we’re in your name does get mentioned,” he said. “Of course, I had such an awesome respect for Nebraska. There were so many times where I look back and say, ‘you know, what if I’d gotten on that plane and came to Nebraska.’
“It’s hard. I’m an Arkansas boy and loyal but I always was flattered about that. Sometimes I think about that a lot. If I’m not in coaching sometimes you think. But, no need to look back. Look forward. It looks like Coach Pelini’s got things rolling now.”
Nutt got the chance to see Nebraska, and Coach Pelini, up close this week as he was in Lincoln broadcasting his college football show on SiriusXM Radio on Monday.Grammar... The difference between feeling your nuts and feeling you're nuts.Comment
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another interesting article about a budget trip from omaha to the sandhills..Originally posted by Rob F View Post
Grammar... The difference between feeling your nuts and feeling you're nuts.Comment
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the slide show from the trip..
Grammar... The difference between feeling your nuts and feeling you're nuts.Comment
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btw.. part of the reason I loved north western michigan (not the upper, but lower), is the people and places reminded me a lot of nebraska.Grammar... The difference between feeling your nuts and feeling you're nuts.Comment
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Yeah, "The Rock" has long been one of the more "chiseled" of the pro wrasslers. But I didn't realize he still had college eligibility left, keep him away from the memorabilia brokers!>> He’ll need a year, but Dwayne Johnson has the most impressive frame right now of the three freshmen offensive linemen.Comment
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the new stadium..
Grammar... The difference between feeling your nuts and feeling you're nuts.Comment
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Grammar... The difference between feeling your nuts and feeling you're nuts.Comment
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Things I know and think I know:
Taylor Martinez perhaps watches the Johnny Manziel hysteria and counts his many blessings.
It's Camp Chaos at Texas A&M.
It's Camp Calm at Nebraska -- through three days, anyway.
Martinez, the speedy Husker senior quarterback, has the starting job sewed up. So, no roiling QB controversy to shake up camp, as was the case in August 2010. Martinez now has command of a high-powered offense. He will wear a "C" for captain on his game jersey, indicative of the respect he's earned from teammates and coaches, and hopefully most fans. He is seemingly in a great place in his life.
If Taylor seems light and airy, don't discount the family factor. His eyes light up when brother Drake Martinez's name is broached. Drake told me recently Taylor is his best friend.
"Drake should play for us this year, just based on what I've been hearing from the coaches," Taylor Martinez said July 26 during Big Ten Media Days. "I think they're going to try to get him on the field."
The 6-foot-2, 200-pound Drake Martinez is listed in the Nebraska media guide as a defensive back. He practiced Tuesday with the safeties. Watch his high school film. He's a vicious hitter. He made 130 tackles last season as a senior at Laguna Beach (Calif.) High School. As a running back, he rushed for 1,613 yards and 23 touchdowns, averaging 9.4 yards per carry. He could be a demon on special teams.
Taylor hints that Drake might be a shade faster than him. Ponder that for a second. Taylor raised eyebrows at Big Ten Media Days when he said, "I guarantee I'm probably the fastest player in college football, so that shows you how fast he is."
Taylor and Drake apparently are very different in their approach to the game.
"I think I'm a meaner person," Drake says matter-of-factly. "I think quarterback is Taylor's spot. He's more composed than me."
Said Taylor: "I think Drake has more of a defensive mentality -- he loves to hit. We'll see. I can't wait to watch him."
* Credit Nebraska coach Bo Pelini for Drake Martinez choosing NU over Michigan State and Vanderbilt, among others. When Pelini was recruiting Taylor Martinez in 2008, the coach talked to Drake about someday playing for the Huskers.
"Once Nebraska offered him, in his mind he was coming here the whole time," Taylor said. "I really didn't know about (Pelini's early discussions with Drake), and neither did my parents. But I'm really glad he's here."
* I've said many times Pelini likes when folks doubt him, and doubt his program. Doubters keep his blood pumping. They help him retain his hard edge. He seems to like the friction. A lot of competitors probably possess such a mentality. But perhaps Pelini should embrace the current calm. A quiet, focused fall camp would be best for a youthful defense that faces a lot of learning packed into a month.
* Make no mistake, there is chaos at Texas A&M. But don't count out the Aggies making a national championship run if Manziel is eligible. Two reasons come to mind: 1. Kevin Sumlin; and 2. Cam Newton.
Why Newton? Stay with me here. If the NCAA cannot prove allegations against Manziel, he might play an entire season under a cloud of suspicion, like Newton did at Auburn in 2010. The greats often can manage the noise and drama. Their strong will and talent take over. The playing field becomes the ultimate sanctuary. All Newton did was lead the Tigers to the national crown.
It is worth noting that A&M has hired the same Birmingham, Ala., law firm that Auburn used in 2010 to help Newton remain eligible.
As for Sumlin, talk to people close to him. They'll tell you his teams are disciplined. They'll tell you he understands today's players and gets this generation. If anyone can keep A&M on course, it's Sumlin.
* Sept. 14 can't arrive soon enough. Johnny Trouble vs. 'Bama will transfix the sporting world, assuming J.T. is still in the fold.
* From a purely physical standpoint, Nebraska junior-college transfer Randy Gregory looks ready for the bright lights. A Husker practice observer remarked Tuesday that it looks like NU stole the 6-6, 255-pound Gregory from Georgia's roster last January, if you know what I mean. If we were in SEC territory, I might even say it appears Nebraska got its money's worth. Bada-bing.
* It appears Scott Frost is on track to become a major-college head coach someday (at Nebraska?). Joe Ganz will rise quickly in the profession (Martinez raves about him). Another ex-Husker quarterback, Zac Taylor, is a safe bet to keep rising. Think of the experience he's getting as Miami Dolphins quarterbacks coach under head coach Joe Philbin.
"In some ways, it's no different coaching here (in Miami) than at the college level," Taylor told me recently. "You have to make sure your guys believe in your system and can play fast. That's the bottom line."
* Nebraska's prowess this season on offense has sparked memories of all-time great Husker offenses. In that regard, I'll take the 1995 offense over the 1983 "Scoring Explosion" group every time. The Tommie Frazier-led 1995 group averaged more yards and points than the 1983 edition, even with Lawrence Phillips missing half the season.
The 1982 and 1989 offenses often get overlooked despite putting up colossal numbers. Is there a more underappreciated Husker quarterback than 1989 starter Gerry Gdowski? I think not.
OK, maybe Jammal Lord ...Grammar... The difference between feeling your nuts and feeling you're nuts.Comment
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Grammar... The difference between feeling your nuts and feeling you're nuts.Comment
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