Count me among those that would be going for X number for touches for Bobby Newcombe if I were calling the shots. I like x=10. Peter Warrick touched the ball about 13 times a game for Florida State last year and I bet Freddie Millons was about there for Alabama. I think the Nebraska offense dictates the Bobby's number be a little lower. One of the big differences of the Big Red offensive philosophy, in my opinion, is not a run/pass thing, but rather an inter-relatedness thing. Husker plays build off one-another better than any offense in college football. Throwing things out of left field (which FSU definitely does) is not the best way. I think Newcombe's touches can reach ten without abandoning this philosophy.

 

The first step toward X=10, I think, is Bobby catching the ball more consistently. I think the time at wingback in the spring and summer will get this job done. I watched summer conditioning last Wednesday and was impressed with the extra work done by Crouch and Newcombe at the end. A lot of timing and pattern work. Crouch's shoulder looked strong and Newcombe was obviously taking catching consistency very seriously (as, I think, he does almost everything). He caught a beauty on a corner pattern right in front of me-- and NFL scouts reading this should note-- did a fabulous job of getting both feet in bounds. The receiving core with Davison and Wistrom and tight ends-a-plenty makes me think that teams can't take Nuke away as a receiver-- like they could concentrate that much effort on the Husker PASSING game anyway.

 

Getting him punt return chances is up to the defense. Teams won't be able to kick away from him with Joe Walker back there. Remember that the NFL scouting rankings we saw this summer on the web showed Walker as a top draftable punt return man (with no mention of Newcombe!). They may be one of the most explosive punt return combos ever in college football. And Darlington is still raving about Craver back there!

 

If he can catch two down-field balls a game and field two punts, we're at four touches.

 

I think the quick passes like the jail break and shovel pass can provide another touch per game. I'd like to see a more traditional screen added here. Maybe faking a WB counter sweep and throwing the counter sweep bootleg screen back across the field (the one LP scored on first vs. Florida and Buck had the big play called back vs. Tennessee last January). x=5

 

I'm interested to see if the Fiesta Bowl experiment with Newcombe back on kickoffs instead of Stella continues. Vedral's situation may put more defensive position pressure on Stella and make this a good move. Probably worth one more opportunity with the ball for Bobby. x=6

 

I think the rest will come on tweaking the running game. The reverse to Newcombe off of the inside zone play has become a Solich/Nuke trademark along with the accompanying four fakes of the same play. I'll dig through my scripts of last year, but I think the handoff to the I-back with Newcombe faking reverse may be averaging more yards than the reverse. I think Bobby's a hell of a decoy when we need him. x=7

 

The last time I watched my Big XII title tape I noticed I had Freddie Millons and 'Bama taking UF apart taped also. One of the ways the Tide got the ball to Milons was to bring him in motion parallel and right behind the LOS and snap it right when he got close to the QB and give him a quick, quick handoff. They blocked it straight ahead on playside (no pulling). Pretty simple really. I wonder if it is not Nuke-able, especially since I think the Huskers could run some of their base stuff off the same motion when not giving him the ball. Actually, they did this (intentionally?) in the Big XII title game where the ball was snapped when Hasselbroek and Applegate were in motion right beside Crouch. It was scary to watch-- and may have been mistakes not plan-- but effective, none the less. My only qualm with this play is that it is (in its modern version, at least) a Steve Spurrior innovation.

 

They've run a lot of WB shovel pass blocked like a counter trap to Bobby in the last year, but not much of the counter trap with a handoff. Watching the Game of the Century on ESPN Classic last month I noticed a couple things about Johnny the Jet's counter game. First, they ran counter sweep to the outside with him. I'd love to see that, especially since the IB counter sweep has struggled a bit (the best counter sweep before the bowl game, I think, was Crouch's QB counter sweep against KSU). That would also set up my screen idea above (damn, I lost Solich's email again- any grad assistants reading this please pass that idea along :-).

 

Second, the inside counter with Rodgers that I always assumed was a counter trap, is really just a counter delay with no trapping linemen. It is a strange play by modern standards as the backs fake option, while JR waits for a kind of WB draw. The line gets a fantastic push every time making this work. I noticed that OU, too, was able to get amazing push out of their offensive lines in that game. I don't know what to attribute that to except that both defenses may have been in much more read-and-react modes than we are used to from attacking defensive schemes today.

 

I think two counter touches a game is do-able. x=9

 

I don't know if the Bobby at IB package that the Fiesta Bowl announcers talked about is real or a misinterpretation by them of other formations to get the ball to Bobby. I'd be interested to see it though, especially something simple like a toss sweep. (Which would lead to a HB pass- I would be interested in Bobby throwing every couple games. His accuracy in his time at QB was fabulous- Berringer/Gill-like really, and I know lack of reps would hurt this, but I think it is still a usable weapon.)

The other two touches would need to come from the option game. I noticed that the '71 team ran a lot of wingback option where Tagge faked iso and ran option with Rodgers. NU experimented with this a couple Spring practices ago (either TO's last or Solich's first) and even ran it once or twice in the regular season, but it never caught on. It may have been a victim of slow play development. Perhaps it could be added to the plays run off of Newcombe motion to the middle (like the inside zone reverse) with just a FB fake and the IB going away from play or lead blocking. That's a little crazy but might make it hit quicker. (GA"s: I can draw that up if you need it- just email me :-) That leaves double wing. Things are brewing there in ways that I don't think anyone wants to talk about publicly. The key is going to be getting defenses to play this formation (or a variation) honestly instead of loading up away from Newcombe and forcing him to be the blocking back instead of the pitch back. I think two touches here is very doable. x=11

 

I leave off the Warrick shotgun type stuff that I was kind of high on last winter. I think that those might be too big a departure from NU's base offense. At first, I thought, the Huskers were even more suited for it because Crouch would be so much more of a WR threat than Wienke could ever be. But, because of the athletic similarity between #12 and #7 I don't know that this really throws much of a new twist at defensive coordinators.

 

Still, it'd be fun!