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Jeremy Pernell: No Surprise That This Offense Is Struggling
Nebraska sits at 0-2 and finds itself in a position where it needs to win six of its remaining 10 games to reach a bowl game for the first time since the 2016 season. To do that, the Huskers will need to win at least four conference games, something else they haven't done since 2016.
The blame falls squarely on the shoulders of an offense that has lacked cohesion and has failed to demonstrate any kind of identity.
When Matt Rhule put his staff together, I highlighted three coaches who I was skeptical of - at least initially. I've softened my stance a bit on wide receivers coach Garret McGuire. He's got next to nothing to work with outside of Billy Kemp and Marcus Washington. Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda getting hurt and Zavier Betts quitting crippled an already thin room.
I'm going to keep an eye on the development of youngsters like Malachi Coleman and Jaylen Lloyd as the season progresses. That should give us a better glimpse of McGuire's value to the staff. Jaidyn Doss was going to see the field prior to a wrist injury. Can he help once he's fully recovered? Can other true freshmen like Jeremiah Charles or Brice Hunter work their way onto the field this season?
McGuire has done well on the recruiting trail as a first-time assistant. He has commitments in the 2024 class from four-star receivers Jacory Barney Jr., Dae'vonn Hall and Isaiah McMorris. Barney is still being heavily pursued by the hometown Hurricanes and others. The 'Canes were runners-up in his initial commitment and they're working hard to flip him. Nebraska has to keep him in its class.
Another coach I questioned, like most of the Husker fanbase, was Donovan Raiola. Well, once again the O-line is playing awful and unlike the receiver room, they're doing it with a group of guys who have tons of Power Five starting experience.
The only returning lineman who seems to have improved is right tackle Bryce Benhart, and he's gone from terrible to serviceable. Turner Corcoran is still dreadful at tackle. It's gotten so bad that after two years of assuming he would thrive once given the chance to play guard, I'm starting to second guess that presumption. Ethan Piper has been bad at left guard and Nouredin Nouili is giving me "Steve Lattimer" vibes after coming back from a year-long PED suspension. Ben Scott has been Nebraska's best lineman, as expected.
I give credit to Raiola for securing a couple of impressive commitments for the 2024 class, particularly four-stars Preston Taumua and Gibson Pyle. He's also helped position Nebraska as a finalist for Grant Brix, a top 100 recruit out of Iowa. The Huskers will also host five-star California lineman Brandon Baker on an official visit this weekend. It will be the third visit to Lincoln for the nation's top-ranked offensive tackle, with a planned commitment set to come on his birthday, Sept. 24.
The other coach I was hesitant about was offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield. When he was hired, I had a coach who is well-connected in the SEC tell me, "Rhule did South Carolina a favor. Beamer didn't want to fire his buddy, but he knew he had the wrong guy running his offense."
Satterfield's offenses in Columbia were bad. I can give him a pass for 2021 because of the situation he dealt with at quarterback, but his unit ranked 72nd in total offense in Year 2. Heck, even after the Gamecocks enjoyed some late-season success against Tennessee and Clemson, there were questions as to whether or not Satterfield was actually calling the plays.
He also didn't exactly coordinate prolific offenses in his three years at Temple - in fact they were horrendous. Under his direction, the Owls ranked 74th (2013), 117th (2014) and 96th (2015) in total offense and were 88th (2013), 97th (2014) and t-60th (2015) in scoring. Yet now he's in Lincoln and is the highest-paid assistant coach in program history, making $1.4 million.
I haven't been impressed by his playcalling and as I stated above, he hasn't developed any sort of an identity on offense, period. Nothing he talked about in the offseason has come to fruition. They certainly aren't the power-running team he spoke of wanting to be. There's no rhyme or reason to the sequence of plays he calls. There's no consistency to the formations or player groupings he employs, which might not be an issue if the offense wasn't so discombobulated all the time.
There doesn't seem to be any sort of big-picture vision with his offense. What I mean by that, is great offenses run plays in the first half with counterpunches designed for the second half. Offenses set up defenses. They feel them out early to see how they'll defend something they want to do and then adjust accordingly. Have the EIGHT turnovers affected that? Probably.
Regardless, I continue to have serious reservations about Nebraska's offensive coordinator. I get that there's a serious dearth of talent on the offensive side of the ball, but they can still demonstrate serious growth - and they'd better.
By the time the season is coming to an end, there needs to be a feeling around the program that the offense will get where they want to be once the staff gets more talent on the roster. There's already an overwhelming confidence in the defense. Satterfield needs to show something.
The best-case scenario for Husker fans is that it truly is due to a lack of playmakers. That it will look different once guys like Daniel Kaelin, Kewan Lacy, Carter Nelson, Dae'vonn Hall, Jacory Barney Jr. and Isaiah McMorris get on campus. That's the hope, at least, or else Matt Rhule might have to make the tough decision that Shane Beamer didn't have to.
