Husker coordinator conversations: Updates after Tuesday's practice​

ByBRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON 58 minutes ago

We'll start with what the coordinators said in Tuesday's post-practice spread of information.

Matt Lubick and Erik Chinander, as well as Mike Dawson and Sean Beckton, were coaches who appeared before the media.

Quick Hits:

– Mentally, Lubick said he was "really impressed with the way our guys came out after a tough loss and practiced the last two days. Because it's easy to practice when things are going well, when you have a win, you have more energy. Where you really find out about somebody, how mentally tough they are are is when things aren't going well, when you didn't the result they wanted. How do they respond?"

Monday's practice effort was "Hey, we're moving on. We're not going to feel sorry for ourselves," Lubick said.


– Chinander said it's no surprise his defenders aren't pointing fingers in interviews, and instead looking at what more they can give to get over the hump. "We're part of a football team in general. We need to control what we can control first ... And then it's our j0b to spread the culture that's being created in that room. Pointing the fingers not solving any issues. Helping others is solving a lot of issues. And so I think those kids have to take it upon themselves to help spread what they're creating in that room and continue to get better on their end.

"We've got good guys on the defense, and they're not finger-pointers, they're not complainers. They want to work, they want to get better. They want to do their job. They know they can control their attitude, they can control their effort and they can control their preparation – and that's what they're going to do."

– Chinander said Scott Frost has done a great job managing the games: with how the snap counts have worked out, and also the defense starting the game on the field with the offense getting a chance to get momentum to start the third quarter.

Looking ahead, he thinks Northwestern is well-versed in the different formations it can use and does a good job with motion to get your eyes going the wrong way. He said they also use their tight ends really well.

– Casey Rogers didn't play on Saturday but was available. "I didn't feel like it was the right time. I didn't feel like he was quite where he needed to be. Sometimes it's a fine line, 'Do you force a good player back in and it may be a detriment to him?' Or do you sit him on the shelf? If we needed him he was ready to roll. The guys were playing really well and I thought Coach Tuioti had a good rotation going so we didn't mess with that. I'm looking forward to getting Casey back in and ready to roll."

– It did "bring a lot of joy to me," Chinander said of watching the Husker defense play as it did in the second half, giving up no first downs and 14 yards. "I don't look at the stats during the game ... so I didn't really know. I just saw the emotion, I saw the violence and the speed. That made me very happy. I haven't read Coach Fitzgerald's (complimentary) comments. Obviously respect him a lot for a what he's done a long time in this league. But like we told the guys, praise and blame is all the same. Can't read your own press clippings. Got to go back to work. There's only a few guys in your life that won't lie to you: probably the guys in our room and your family. Everybody else will tell you what you want to hear, what they want you to hear.

"But I'm just like them: I don't need to read my own press clippings either."

– Has Rahmir Johnson definitely separated as RB1? "I think it's a little too early to call. We've been happy with what Rahmir has done. He's definitely gotten better. Tough to say if he's separated from the other guys" long term, but coaches are happy with his improvements.

– On the overtime interception by Michigan State, Lubick said Samori Toure could have come a lot flatter in the route he was running against the coverage he was seeing. "The guy was heavy, heavy inside and he's got to protect the throw."

– Lubick said the Huskers have been trying different combos on the O-line the last couple weeks. "We have to really plan it, like, hey, we talk about it each night: 'How many reps is this guy going to have? How many reps is that guy going to have?' There's 150 plays on average in a practice so you need those reps to be distributed with value.

– The Husker offense has struggled the most in the first quarter. "The first couple drives are planned," Lubick said, explaining the setup. "When I say planned, these are the plays we want to get called early. We talk about that. But you still go to situational football. It might be you plan the first two calls and all of a sudden it's third-and-11. Or you plan the first two calls and you're down at the 2-yard-line. So you got to have plans for that as well. We spend a lot of time doing that and we just got to show better results."

While Illinois surprised the Huskers with their alignment, Lubick said most opponents have not had any dramatic changes in what they've shown the Huskers.

– Lubick said the staff spends a whole night of planning red zone packages, but execution has to be better, "and you've got to be able to run the ball, because there's less room for passing. You can still throw the ball but it's a lot more challenging."

– Nebraska has been good on third down offense. "It goes from like 20 percent to 70 percent if you're going to third-and-3, third-and-4, Lubick said. So first- and second-down playcalling is a big part of that, figuring out how to get to at least third-and-medium. Lubick also praised Adrian Martinez on third and down for knowing where to go with the ball and making plays with his feet to extend plays with his feet. "It was a big emphasis in the summertime," Lubick said of that particular part of the game.

– Logan Smothers has been "poised" and impressed Lubick. "We feel like he can operate the whole system."

– Big Ten defenses have been dominant in the stats. "Every team in our league has a good defense..." Lubick said. "You love the challenge of it. Not saying I wouldn't mind going against one in the bottom ten once in a while, but they're really good." Lubick said the coaching is really good in this league, and it's just such a physical league. Again, he repeated, "you've got to be able to run the ball."

– Chinander said Garrett Nelson is playing "outstanding football." But just like everyone else on our defense, "we have so much more to give. We're playing good right now – that's great. Who cares? Let's get better. I think there's room for every single one of those guys, all 11, the next 11, all 22. They have a lot more to go. Garrett's got a lot more to go. But I'm really proud of how he's playing right now."