Hey everyone, it's been a long time since my last post, but I've been pretty busy with the last month of this semester. This post is going to talk about my opinions on the Spring game back on April 15th, and the NFL draft that took place this past Thursday - Saturday.
First off, let's start with the Spring Game. Over 76,000 people packed into memorial stadium on that beautiful Saturday afternoon to see Coach Riley and staff's debut with our 2015 Huskers. I was lucky enough to get a chance to hang out on the field beforehand while they players warmed up. I met with some of our recruits in the upcoming recruiting class, along with some future Huskers from our most recent recruiting class who will be joining the team in the fall. I also was lucky enough to meet Prince Amukamara and get a picture with him! He's one of my all-time favorite Huskers so that was a lot of fun. Now onto the game... Overall, there honestly wasn't that much that jumped out at me from the field. I thought the team performed well, but once again, I didn't necessarily see anything special from the new system yet. The Quarterback play was somewhat lack luster, especially with Tommy's blunder at the end of the half. All of them clearly need to work on hitting the deep routes, because there is no reason that Jamal Turner and Brandon Reilly should be overthrown every time. However, from watching the route patterns of the receivers, I thought the combinations looked very promising for producing potential big gains/touchdowns. Out of all the QBs, AJ Bush and Zack Darlington impressed me the most. Both were probably the most consistent in their play, and when they pulled the ball down to run, I was really excited with their vision and how well they picked their spots while running. That's not an easy thing to do, so seeing that out of our younger QBs really pumps me up!
The running backs played really well, some ripping off some big gains, and no fumbles is always a plus! The line definitely opened up some nice holes on some plays, but there were definitely some missed opportunities that I saw throughout the game that could have been torn into some large runs. Quarterback protection was also a familiar issue that urgently needs to be fixed. I'll give the team a little break on this one since they're all still learning the new system, but that kind of protection won't fly during the season. The defense played really well, and I want to give a shout out to my man Freedom Akinmoladun for his stellar play at Defensive End after switching this Spring. The entire D-Line performed really well creating consistent pressure throughout the game. Linebacker play didn't stand out very much, but a number of them were in on a lot of tackles. The secondary played fairly well, had a lot of help with the over thrown balls, but definitely got burned a number of times. If those balls start hitting their marks, the secondary is going to have a lot of trouble this year. Overall, it was still a good day, and I know everyone is excited for this upcoming season. From what my friends on the team have told me, they all really like their new coaches a lot and believe that this system is going to help them win. There's always going to be aspects of the previous coaches they miss, but I've heard nothing but good things on the new staff. I've also been lucky enough to meet some more of the players on the team in recent weeks including new members Aaron Williams and Avery Anderson from our most recent recruiting class and DB Chris Jones.
Now I'm going to talk about the draft. Obviously we have to talk about the 3 Huskers drafted, but I'll also cover some teams that made some really smart picks in my opinion. First off, with the 54th pick in the 2015 NFL Draft, the Detroit Lions (my favorite NFL team) selected Ameer Abdullah, Running back from Nebraska! I was really excited with this pick, not only because one of my favorite Huskers went to my favorite team, but also because the Lions really needed some help in the ground game. Who better to provide that than arguably one of the best backs in the nation. Randy Gregory was selected by the Dallas Cowboys with the 60th overall pick. Obviously this one hurt since Gregory was projected as a top 10 prospect, but his personal affairs definitely cost him on this one. Nonetheless, the Cowboys got a great pick in Gregory and will no doubt use him to strengthen a defense that could easily become one of the strongest in the nation with a few tweaks. Finally, the third Husker Drafted was the Fro himself, Kenny Bell. Bell slid down into the 5th round, mostly because of his size. However, I think that the Bucs got a steal with Kenny since he'll add a lot of speed and versatility to a fairly weak receiving corps. Plus his blocking is at a whole other level completely. LB Ziare Anderson and DB Josh Mitchell were taken by the Broncos and Colts respectively as un-drafted Free Agents. I'm really excited for all of them and cannot wait to see how well they do at the next level.
My final thoughts will be on a few picks that I thought were really good choices. My first one is for my second favorite NFL team, the Eagles. Although a number of their offseason actions have been quite questionable, I thought the drafting of Nelson Agholor was a phenomenal pick. Agholor has terrific speed and good hands to match. With the loss of Maclin in the offseason, the Eagles definitely needed another solid wideout to add depth to the corps. With the duo of Jordan Matthews and Nelson Agholor coming into play next year, defenses are really going to struggle shutting them down. Both are fantastic wide receivers who can flat out fly. As long as they have a QB who can get them the ball, the Eagles' offense will be flying very high with these two. After Agholor, the Eagles focused heavily on defense. They drafted two fantastic Defensive Backs in Eric Rowe out of Utah and JaCorey Shepherd out of Kansas. Both have potential to be solid secondary players at the next level and will help provide much needed depth to the Eagles secondary.
Back into the NFC North, I have to mention the Vikings for a couple of my good friends Bailie and Ean. I thought that they had a fairly successful draft. Early on, they definitely had their focus on Defense, drafting a man in each section in the first 3 rounds. Trae Waynes DB was their first pick at number 11 overall, followed by Eric Kendricks LB at 45. Waynes and Kendricks will definitely add good talent and depth to a struggling, but young defense. I was surprised that Minnesota didn't try to get more weapons for Teddy, but when they pulled Stefon Diggs WR out of the 5th round, those thoughts were put to rest. Diggs is obviously a very talented wideout. Has decent size and a whole of speed. His medical history is a little bit worrisome, but nonetheless, he's a very versatile weapon that can help Teddy and the Minnesota offense start rolling.
The final team that I want to talk about who I thought had a really good draft are the Titans. Everyone knows about their first pick, selecting the reigning Heisman winner Marcus Mariota number 2 overall, but their supporting picks are what impressed me the most. Snagging Dorial Green-Beckham in the 2nd round was a great pick to give Mariota a solid target. Then adding some protection with Jeremiah Poutasi in the 3rd was a smart move. My biggest praise for the Titans draft class goes to their 5th round pick of Minnesota RB David Cobb. I believe Cobb as one of the better backs in the draft. He was overshadowed a lot in the BIG 10 with Ameer, Gordon and Coleman running wild, but he is a very powerful runner and does not go down easy. I thought he was a fabulous pick and was surprised that it took so long for someone to snatch him up. I think he's going to shine brighter than many may think in the years to come. We'll see how the Titans want to use him.
So here are my thoughts on the Husker Spring Game and on the recent NFL Draft. If you have any questions or would like me to go in depth on other NFL teams and their draft classes, please comment below. Until next time! GO BIG RED!
Alex Fernando
#CollegeFootballKnowItAll
