Nebraska football: Troy Walters starting new process for grading backup WRs
Nebraska football coaches have talked about finding ways to get other receivers involved. Troy Walters explained on Wednesday how they are trying to do that.
After practice on Wednesday, Nebraska football assistant coach Troy Walters talked about a new approach he’s trying to get the backup receivers more involved in the offense. Walters has apparently rolled out a kind of grading system he’s been showing the players.
The receivers coach says that he has started to grade every play in practice the backups carry out. He then posts those grades.
It’s clear this is meant as a way to show the reserves how they are performing in the context of one another. The question, of course, is going to be, whether or not this really drives the group forward and gets them to play better and play more in games.
Nebraska Cornhuskers
A big part of the problem with getting players beyond Stanley Morgan and JD Spielman involved has been the way the plays have been called. First of all, the offense has been far more run-heavy than most expected.
There simply haven’t been that many passes to go around. This is especially true when your top two pass catchers are as talented as Morgan and Spielman.
When the Cornhuskers do call a pass play, it tends to be geared towards going to one player and only one player. Spielman has 13 catches in three games so far this season. His average yards per catch is just 9.0 so far.
That low average is because at least two-thirds of the passes coming his way have been short swing passes and wide receiver screens. Those are plays that aren’t going to be looking for a second or third option.
If Walters and the rest of the staff are saying they are calling these players because Mike Williams, Tyjon Lindsey and the rest aren’t playing well in practice, that’s another story. If that is the case then the grading system might make a difference.
Next. Whether Nebraska football has hit bottom is still an open question. dark
In the short term, it will be interesting to see what changes in who gets involved in the Nebraska football game against Purdue. In the long run, it will be interesting to see if this grading system sticks around.