It's not quite as monumental in its chain reaction as when
Frank Sinatra had a cold.
But
Isaac Gifford was getting a cold on Monday. Second week of camp stuff. Ears were plugged. He would need the questions stated with some authority to hear them in the concourse of Memorial Stadium.
A good man to ask questions of considering just two days earlier Husker head coach
Matt Rhule had said, "Isaac Gifford, I mean he is an alpha back there right now. He had an amazing summer. The jump that I've seen Giff make. His mentality."
Rhule started running down the metrics of Gifford's athleticism: 35-inch vert, 10.5 broad, 4.5 with the speed. "He's a multi-year probably NFL player in terms of talent and his mindset has come a long way in terms of taking control back there."
The respect, it seems, is mutual.
"I love this coaching staff, I really do," Gifford said after Monday's practice. "I admire and I trust Coach Coop and Coach Rhule and this whole staff. They really bring out the best out of people and they've definitely brought the best out of me."
He was of course referencing secondary coach
Evan Cooper along with the head man. He thinks they've showed him what it takes to be a leader and to work your hardest.
"I think we've always worked hard, but I think they've brought out a different side of everybody," Gifford continued. "There's a level of trust with this staff that they're going to give everything we can and they're going to take care of us."
One day at a time. That's how he's going at it right now and presumably into the season. If it sounds cliche, so be it. Cliches gain their weight enough times by connection to truth.
"I'm the kind of person that gets here (each day) and I'm like, 'Get to lunch. Go as hard as you can. When you get to lunch you get a breather.'"
Go as hard as you can. A breath. Next thing. Go hard as you can. A breath. Next thing.
Right now the next big thing has him being a commanding voice in Nebraska's secondary heading into 2023
"He's tough, he's competitive, he works his butt off, he's disciplined, he's a violent player. He's a captain of that group," said Husker secondary coach
Evan Cooper. "He's trying to push us to somewhere we haven't been."
Cooper then gave what you might assume a top-shelf compliment in how badly the Lincoln Southeast grad, the brother of a former Husker success story in
Luke Gifford, wants to change the course for Husker football.
"He wants it as bad as I do," the coach told us.
He's listed at 6-1, 205 pounds. A safety option. A rover option. They're basically the same thing as Rhule and Cooper would tell you.
Gifford had said in the spring one of his biggest goals is to start faster in 2023, which added to the magnitude of him having a strong summer runway into camp. He worked out and watched film, or watched film and worked out. Pick the preferred order, but that was the deal.
"It was big for me," said the junior. "Obviously it's Year 4 for me so I would hope I have an idea of football and how to play by now. So I think that's helped me a lot."
Gifford played 665 defensive snaps a season ago, fifth most of any Husker on that team.
Quinton Newsome is the only one of those four who had more snaps also available to Nebraska right now as
Marques Buford works his way back from injury.
Even with Buford rehabbing and
Myles Farmer having hit the portal, Rhule said this weekend, "I see safety as one of our strengths."
Among the options along with Gifford, it appears
DeShon Singleton is someone to keep in mind there and senior
Omar Brown is a guy Cooper has said can be one of the group's better players if it all comes together.
More of a nickel backer a season ago – in which he had 70 tackles, including five for loss, with a sack and three pass breakups – Gifford grew up playing safety and he still gets to line up in the box and play with the linebackers some in his current role.
Really, his role in 2023 isn't a big change, he said. "I like the spot I'm in right now."
The learning never stops. Gifford is quick to say that.
And so does the need to be as heavily involved as possible. To wit, "I'm always going to have a role on special teams. I'll play on as many as I can."
He wants to lead his position group and then you branch out from there to become one of the top voices of the defense. It seems the latter is happening too.
"It's holding guys accountable to the standard and guys holding me accountable to the standard," he said. "As an older guy, I've seen a lot. I've been through different practices with different coaches and now that we have this standard set, keep guys accountable and they've got to me accountable."
It took a while for some players to adjust, he acknowledged.
Especially for the older guys. You get used to a certain way if you've been around. They younger guys actually have it a bit easier because this way is the only way they know as college ball goes.
"But for older guys it took us a little while to really figure out the 'whys' in what Rhule did," Gifford said. "But now that we've got it figured out, it's good."
The 'whys' are coming with answers now. Why this? Because that. And you best know a camp cold isn't going to stamp out progress.
Isaac Gifford has quickly established himself as not only a leader in the secondary but one of the main cogs in Nebraska's defense.
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