Spring practice starts tomorrow and what a great feeling it is to have the team back on the field. The pro coach era is over and it appears that we have returned to our roots. Bo is a no nonsense guy and he was my choice four years ago. I thought that Tom might go for an established head coach. But after listening to the criteria that Tom used to select our new coach Bo was really the most logical choice. If you watch a lot of college football you realize what a premium a great defense is. Bo’s staff is an interesting mix of the old and the new. Some of the individual choices might seem to be a little curious but the staff appears to be extremely cohesive. That is very important because the previous staff never seemed to be on the same page. They managed to recruit a solid class in spite of all of the turmoil of the coaching change.

This spring practice will be interesting to see how the players receive what will a change in the overall culture. There are a great many interesting position battles to be played-out over the course of the spring. We will discuss those battles after the spring game. I am particularly interested in seeing how Zac Lee and Patrick Witt perform.

There has been a lot debate about the overall talent level of our team. After the 06 season it appeared that we had upgraded the talent of the team. Was last year’s performance an indication of poor talent? Or do we have talent as many recruiting pundents have said and they were poorly coached and motivated. They will be coached and motivated this year so the pace of the rebuilding project will be determined by the amount of inherited talent. The Bobfather inherited a talented team that was poorly coached and turned the program around immediately. I am greatly relieved that the pro coach era is over and very excited about having Bo back. Right or wrong we are returning the program to doing things the Nebraska way. By that I don’t mean running the option, I mean a team that plays hard and playing for the “N” on the helmet and not playing to improve his chances to get into the “league”. I believe that we have the right guy in Bo and he will very quickly get the program back on track.

Keep the faith. GBR.
 
-- The Colonel