REACTING TO PHIL STEELE’S PREDICTIONS & TAKES FOR NEBRASKA FOOTBALL IN 2024

Intro the best part of my offseason is picking up the preview magazines at the grocery store and reading how the experts feel about the teams I care about now times have changed a little bit since we get non-stop info online but just like the tunnel walk in Lincoln Tommy Trojan at USC or the white out at Penn State some traditions don't ever go away Phil Steels college football preview is an offseason Tradition at least for me it is and since I've got all of you to share my excitement with it's become a tradition that we spend a few minutes to read through it together so today I'm running through the best preview magazine out there to see what Phil Steel's thoughts are on Nebraska and how he thinks things are going to go in Matt Rule's second season but what's up guys I'm Connor Hayden and this is corn crazed if you're a fan of Nebraska or the Big 10 hit the Subscribe button below so you don't miss my year 2 expectations video and if you still buy preseason magazines hit the like button now cuz if this isn't an annual offseason tradition I don't know what is but now let's get into it he's hit hand set he's taking a shot downfield wide open end zone caught touchdown this video isn't sponsored so Why I read Phil Steele I could have used any preseason magazine to react to but I didn't I chose to rock with Phil for a reason if you look at his Twitter he posts thank yous to all the coaches he has one-on-one conversations with and they feed in plenty of info about their roster the projected depth chart other teams around the conference and really good recruiting insights so every year his predictions finishes the most accurate that came out before the season started and I know people are impressed with my random knowledge of the sport but I don't just know this stuff I study it I read magazines like this front to back I listen to a bunch of podcasts and I watch random games that nobody else cares about but a lot of the ways I learn about the current landscape of college football is from this specific preview my videos got really popular because I do deep Dives with my own personal opinions later and Phil's content is very similar his magazines are in-depth they're all recently updated takes and they're made for the sio fan not the Casual right now I'm just going over the sections that include Nebraska so top draft eligible players individual unit rankings and most improved teams but there's a lot more to this preview if you read it by yourself and you can see which teams are trending up what the turnover aggression percentages are hitting that power rankings and a bunch of other stuff that people who really want to study the sport would be into but let's start off Top Draft Eligible Players with the top draft eligible players and these are guys who've been in school at least two years and are going into their third so it's pretty much just Juniors and seniors but we're going to start off at receiver this list only got 75 guys on it and coming in at that 75th spot is Jamal Banks and for comparison Marcus Washington cracked the top 50 last season so it's a telling sign for how young and unproven this room is Banks is 6'4 he led wake and receiving last year and he played in 43 games so far in his career So based on this ranking he's not what the scouts are looking for in an NFL receiver but a year going up against some of the best DBS in the entire country could really boost his stock if he puts up good numbers Barrett lean trit ranks 14th at fullback and he only played seven games before he got hurt so I'm glad he earned a spot on here but I just don't think enough teams use fullbacks and this past draft I didn't even see one get taken it's a win for Nebraska to get a guy mentioned but he's barely scratched the surface as far as potential goes so he's a wait and see before we talk about NFL potential at Center Ben Scott makes his second appearance in a row at number 20 but he ranked 11th last year so he fell down on this list a little bit now there are seven Big 10 guys ahead of him here but the most shocking was that Ohio State's got two guys at Center inside the top 13 now only 12 centers got taken in the 2023 draft so he's got a lot of work to do but top 20 of this position is still impressive especially after playing on one of the worst offenses in the entire country in last year's preview Turner corkran ranked 25th at tackle but he fell off the list this time around and only Bryce benhardt cracked the top 80 at number 55 and benh Hart finished as an honorable mention all big 10 lineman last season and in year two with the new system he's in a great position to take another step forward what's craziest at tackle is that the top two guys both play at LSU and in the Big 10 both Wisconsin and Iowa have their left and their right tackles ranked higher than Ben Hart the line's definitely building back but we're some years away before they start looking like they fit in with the rest of the conference on defense Jamari Butler played his way into the 41st spot at defensive end after he started six games under Tony white and he earned honorable mention all big 10 and I think he's the best example to show that you don't even need an entire season to prove yourself you just need a few big performances like he had against Maryland Wisconsin Iowa a tackle Hut maker ranks 36 and Robinson's 31st making those two two of the best candidates to get drafted off this current team and think about this as a firste starter Nash finished with eight tackles for loss and four and a half sacks Tai was less productive with only 29 tackles and I think four for a loss but he's still regarded as one of the top three NFL Defenders on this team this year is huge cuz Tai had a healthy off season unlike what he went through a year ago Nash knows what it takes to be a starting tackle in the Big 10 and he changed his body composition with the new staff these two might have the highest ceilings in terms of potential and they could go from honorable mention all big 10A fighting for the second team Javin wri's the 64th of 65 outside linebackers and honestly knowing what he's been through health-wise that's awesome for him he only played in three games his first three Seasons then he came in as a rotator last year and he ended up with 51 tackles tying for second on the team he forced three turnovers returns as an obvious starter next John Bullock and at 65 he plays a crucial role as a pass Defender against tiends and the slot receivers and last the highest rated NFL prospect on the entire team is Tommy Hill as the 15th best corner now when he first transferred in Travis Fischer said he was an absolute NFL player but it took Matt rule to figure out how to maximize a skill set to help him break out and show he could be that guy nine pass breakups and four interceptions later and he's up there with Isaac gford for the best or the most impactful player on the entire team he spent half a last season on offense but now with a clear plan for his future Tommy's going to take a huge step forward and he might be this defenses cam Taylor Brit I think the biggest difference from this year and last is that this year's list has proven Talent last year it was all just hope Jeff Sims MJ Sherman and arq Gilbert all got ranked based off their potential and their names instead of their proven production but this time around every one of these guys we talked about has already shown what role they play in this system moving on to the Individual Unit Rankings individual unit rankings and these guys made a massive jump from last season the dline didn't even crack the top 66 nationally but now they're so damn High it took me a second to find out they were ranked inside the top five think about that this dline had the exact same front one offseason took him from zero expectations to the top individual unit on the entire team ranking higher than Georgia Florida State Notre Dame and Iowa and Phil's note says the Huskers allowed just 93 rushing yards a game and had 32 sacks last year they returned all key players including their dominating interior Duo of Nash and Thai who are both NFL prospects rule calls this group the strength of his top-notch D the linebacker unit ranks 19th nationally and seventh in the Big 10 right behind Michigan but think about that they lost Nick Henrich and Luke Rymer who were multi-year starters and Phil thinks that this room got better and I think he's right Bayer Bullock Wright and Thompson all have multiple games of starting experience Sherman and princewell are both established at Jack and they played great for the first time in a long time the position groups that lose the most most aren't just falling off the face of the Earth they're reloading and they're improving at every single spot ninth in the Big 10 and 30th nationally I think this DB room is getting a little disrespected here you look at Who's Back two-year starter Malcolm Hartzog two-year starter Isaac gford two-year starter Maris Buford Jr even though I think he missed eight games last season Tommy Hill who's arguably the best player on the team blly Hill who transferred in and played like a starter out of the gate and that that doesn't even include Kobe bretts who enters year four former starting safety Deshawn Singleton who's going to be back for fall camp and three younger guys behind them who've all got a ton of potential this is the group you look at and no they have all of the pieces in the world but they need to get back to full strength to see if they can be the elite unit that we expect them to be swapping over to offense we're going to start with the o line who ranks ninth in the Big 10 and 40th nationally but let's focus on the best part Phil thinks Nebraska's offensive line deserv deserves to be ranked one spot better than Iowa now this unit's made massive strides under rule cuz not only have they added two multi-year power five starters from the portal during the last two cycles but they actually developed the young guys like Henry lovsky and Justin Evans and turned them into starters one year under Matt Rule and thiso Line's ranked as the best individual unit on the entire offense which to me sounds like a win the running backs are ranked 50th nationally and 11th in the Big 10 right between Washington and USC but the hardest part about ranking this group is that you don't really know what it's going to look like a rir and Gabe fighting for the starting spot with EMT Johnson now that they're healthy off injury how much does the running back's role change now that the offense has a star QB with serious weapons on the outside this might be the most intriguing unit on the entire team because of the unknowns and the fact that they ranked higher than Washington who features a back who was all Pack 12 last year and it just tells tells me that Phil believes in the depth and that having three guys who've all started Big 10 games even though they've dealt with plenty of injuries it gives Nebraska multiple options even if one of them falls off receivers rank 45th nationally and seventh in the Big 10 ahead of Michigan and Penn State which definitely surprised me because even with igc back healthy Banks and ner from the portal and a year in the program for Coleman and Lloyd this unit's never played with a QB like Dylan and they're all finding roles in this updated offense Alex Bullock's the only receiver in the entire room who started more than three big 10 games so although I'm optimistic and I see the vision that Glenn Thomas and Matt rule have I'm not bought into the idea that this is just going to work come fall it's another see it to believe it situation the QB room ranks 56 nationally behind Hawaii north Texas Colorado State and Vanderbilt but this just sets those guys up for a massive coming out party cuz harber wasn't a great passer last year but being in a room with Dylan who can allow him to play a situational role makes the QB Run game a major threat and if Dylan's just 30% better as a passer than what we saw last year this room's going to jump Wisconsin Purdue and Iowa to rank somewhere close to the top 30 and last we've got the special teams that ranks 57th nationally and the only positive takeaway here is that there's a lot of room to grow I'm not sure how Phil can r ranked this unit that high after they finished somewhere in the '90s last year but maybe he just likes that they return both their starters alvano and busini were both inconsistent last season but they both have extremely high ceilings given their history the return game never really got going after Ram's huge return at Minnesota but there's hope that jakori Barney or somebody else can take over as a key returner I wouldn't call the disaster under Ed Foley a red flag after just one season but if they don't get it together this time around rues is going to have to make some big changes cuz he wants to compete with Michigan and Iowa who are winning games with their elite special teams and Nebraska is just not at that point yet next we've got to talk about All-Conference Points lost and returning all conference players cuz this category told us that LSU Florida State and Kansas would all improve and that both Minnesota and Illinois would regress so this system was spot-on for all five of those teams and it's definitely something you can count on now the scoring system assigns different values to all Americans and first second or third team players and then based on that score you get an idea of how teams who lost that much production are going to perform The Following Season Nebraska scores minus 12 here and they ranked ninth in the Big 10 with two players lost in this category but schools like Michigan UCLA Penn State Indiana and Washington all scored between Min -30 and minus 90 and this formula says if you score between - 26 and - 47 you have an an 80% chance of regressing the following year meaning Oregon Illinois and those other five schools I mentioned are all due for aggression this is just one of my favorite things to look at cuz Phil's so accurate in his predictions with this one category alone the last thing to Most Improved Teams check out before the overview for Nebraska is the most improved teams list last year he had nine of his top 11 teams on that list go from a losing record the year before to a bow game now some of those schools were Oklahoma App State and Boston College which were all teams who won three or four more games than they won the year before and here's why this is such an important category in the last two years 82% of the teams that made this list following a Bad season either matched their win total or exceeded it with 76% of those making a bowl game now last year Nebraska ranked 15th here and they missed a bow by one game but this time around Phil's confidence in rule went through the roof and he's got him listed as the number two most improved team in the entire country so statistically speaking there's about an 80% chance that this team makes it to a bowl game before we wrap up with Phil's season forecast I want to shout out the character Chronicles for sponsoring Today's Show and for helping me put out content all off season Adam's been covering Nebraska football on YouTube for about a year now and he's putting content out as much or more often than I am and I get so many messages from subscribers asking how they can support me to make sure I can keep putting out content and I speak for all creators when I say the number one way to support is to subscribe like the videos and leave a comment for the algorithm so if you want more content from guys like Adam make sure you're subscribed to his channel by clicking the link in the description box below and he'll keep the amazing insight and the really good interviews coming last Season Forecast we've got the full season forecast and these two pages are packed with info about the position groups the depth chart proven experience last year's record with stats and the last 10 years of their record against the spread but I'm going to go through and give you the short version for what he thinks about this team then if you want to read it yourself I'm not spoiling it completely he ranks Nebraska seventh in the Big 10 right behind USC in one spot ahead of Ruckers and after one season he still considers rule an A+ higher even though he didn't make it to a blll game in year one he thinks the mining 17 turnover margin is almost impossible to replicate and by default this team's at least one game better since the strength of schedules almost identical to what we saw last year now last season he didn't have any Nebraska players listed as first or second Team all big 10 but now he's got both Nash and Micah mizuka on the second team Ben Hart and gford are on the third and Ben Scott Ty Robinson and Jamari Butler are on the fourth five all big 10 caliber guys last year but now he thinks there are seven and he has all of those guys ranked higher which is obviously a really good sign on offense he's predicting they jump from 18 points a game all the way up to 26.8 this season which is almost a nine-point swing now that they've upgraded a oine receiver in QB and his depth chart list Gabe Irvin is the number one ramir Johnson is the two and Emett Johnson is the number three with janir and boner as the starting slot next to Isaiah ner and Jamal Banks which honestly was really surprising to me the main point he makes on offense is that even though they lose their two starting guards and Ethan Piper and NRI n eight of the top 10 are back on the line plus they added Micah mzuka who started over 20 games in the Big 12 in the SEC on defense he considers the line the strength and he expects the DBS to regress a little bit after losing Sanford Nome and Omar brown but with six of the top eight linebackers back he thinks they're to improve on their 304 yards a game basically Phil thinks the defense is in a great position with eight starters returning but his whole point of optimism for rule in year two comes down to two things the staff's history in their second year and obviously correcting the embarrassing turnover margin that is for sure bound to improve these are all Phil Steel's takes which are pretty similar to mine but I respect his opinion because of how accurate he's been for so many years now and how much research he does on each team even though he's got to go through all 134 of them and now that I've got this preview I'm going to spend the next couple of weeks reading about the rest of the conference and the other teams on the schedule so I can start building out my full season record prediction but if you want to get into the weeds and get yourself fully prepared for this season and again this is not sponsored I'm not being paid for it even though I should be I highly recommend you go out and buy the Phil steel college football preview that's just you know me telling you I love you and I want to make sure that you're not missing out but I want to know what you think so let me know in the comments below is the dline actually top five nationally or do you think they just played a week schedule will the o line improve on last year's momentum and protect their QBs or does Dylan need to be a pro at getting the ball out quick and what's your go-to preseason magazine are you reading Phil Steeler athlons or do you just click on the links you find online I'm forever tied to this tradition of picking up a magazine and actually flipping through it and reading it but I'm just glad that now I've got more people to share the experience with but that's all I've got for today so until next time thank you for being here and I will see you in the next one go Big Red