Nebraska Cornhuskers

Huskers DC Banker opens up about LB depth

Published Jul. 1, 2015 11:48 a.m. ET

foxsports

New Huskers defensive coordinator Mark Banker will have a lot of fans paying attention to him this season. The last staff's calling card was supposed to be defense but they often feel short of expectations.

Banker brings what is thought to be a more simple, attack-style defense with him from Oregon State, but one key ingredient may be missing. Linebacker depth is a real concern with this team with only three players with real experience. Here is what Banker had to say to the Lincoln Journal Star about the concerns:

“The two guys we first look to are Bando (Josh Banderas) and Michael Rose. And here are two guys also, where, it’s not like they took 100 reps every game. ... But coming out of spring and being around those guys, those two people have to help lead that group, there’s no doubt about that. And then from there, we’ve got Marcus Newby, who was on the team last year but didn’t play linebacker per se. ... And then we moved Luke Gifford from safety to 'backer, so it’s new for him. Fortunately we had Dedrick Young here as a high school senior getting prepared. And then really a great surprise to us is (Chris) Weber. He’s not only serviceable but he’s a good football player. He’s in the mix, there’s no doubt. So that’s kind of our nucleus. From there, now we look at the players we’ve brought on. And we really like everything about the players we’re bringing in: Tyrin Ferguson, Mohamed Barry, Adrienne Talan."

It will be interesting to see and very important if the first two linebackers, Banderas and Rose can stay healthy all season. If they can and live up to their potential, it will greatly help the Huskers return to "Blackshirts" form.

(h/t Lincoln Journal Star)

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