The Huskers jumped back into camp practices on Tuesday, two days after a scrimmage followed by an off day.
Nebraska defensive coaches
Erik Chinander,
Travis Fisher Tony Tuioti and several defenders spoke to the media after the practice. While the top group is solidifying its place, Chinander said he likes that the older guys on defense are secure enough in themselves and their talents to drive the young guys to try to beat them out.
"We're to the point also with maturity that those older guys are taking those younger guys and helping them and saying, 'Take my job, but you're not going to do it. I want you to try to take this thing. I want you to practice hard and see if you can get in the game as a reserve role or special teams and I'm going to help you. But I know you can't take my job,''" Chinander said. "And I think that's a pretty good feeling."
Some Quick Hits:
– Chinander thought the Sunday scrimmage went well from his vantage point. "We did some really good things on defense. I thought we tackled pretty well. A couple missed ones we got to get cleaned up. But overall, I thought the tackling was really well and that's what you want to see when you go live. That's a couple things we haven't gotten as much."
The D-coordinator said the Huskers caused a couple turnovers.
"Coach Frost put us in some good situations that we need to teach from and get that dialed in, because with this older group it's going to be a little bit more about getting lined up and executing the defense and more about mastering the situations as we move forward. I think a little bit more of that work is necessary, but I was pretty pleased."
– What's left to learn? Who the next guys up after the starters, Chinander said. "There's that first string, even though it's not solidified yet. There's still a lot of guys battling for reps, probably a lot of guys that deserve reps in games. Don't know if we're going to get all of them to play because there's so many guys that are playing at a high level. But who's going to be the next group in? 'Are you that next guy in and can you play special teams?' Because you're going on the (road) trip."
–
Damion Daniels has kept his progress from spring going and looks more twitchy and lean to Chinander. "He just looks like he's able to play hard if we leave him in there for two, or four, or eight. He's able to go the whole time, and I think that's a huge win for him, and for us."
–
Tyreke Johnson is putting himself in the fight at cornerback, making a pretty solid early impression on
Travis Fisher and
Erik Chinander. "The situation really is not too big for him as it is sometimes from a new guy coming into the program – whether they're from a smaller school or freshman. So he's got a lot of confidence, he's got a lot of grit to him," Chinander said. "He also knows the technique really well. It's just learning a new language probably for him ... But he's done some really nice things in nine practices."
Fisher said Johnson has "come in swinging" and is fighting through camp like everyone else.
–
Marques Buford came up from Fisher. The corner is back from a spring injury, suffered on the first play of practices, and has had a good camp. "Right now you'd think he'd never had an injury." He's a first-year frosh to at least keep in mind as the depth chart gets sorted out through the camp and season. Fisher didn't offer a lot for clues on who was where just yet. "I recruited them all. So all of them are my favorites." Someone new steps up every day, according to Fisher.
–
Braxton Clark has been back practicing after fighting back this offseason through an injury suffered last season. Fisher said he was happy with how his DBs fought through a sweltering heat on Tuesday to compete at a high level, but he also doesn't want to give too much credit just yet. "We'll see how it shakes out."
– Chinander said
JoJo Domann probably can't carry the never-come-out workload during a longer season. But he thinks some depth is developing with
Isaac Gifford,
Javin Wright,
Simon Otte and John Bullock.
– The D-coordinator feels like the D-line can go two platoons deep, and maybe a third. "So it's a pretty deep group. Now that we've developed some depth, you want to get those guys some breaks. You want them to be able to rush the passer and be fresh for that, and play the run. But you also want to get the best guys enough reps, so I think that's a good balancing act and Coach Tuioti and Coach Dawson are doing a good job with rotating those guys right now.
"I don't see a huge drop-of with the 1s and the 2s."
–
Deontre Thomas said he's never felt better health-wise, and believes Husker fans haven't yet seen his best football, which he's planning on showing in 2021.
— One of the more striking physical transformations of the summer was along the offensive line was that of junior defensive tackle
Jordon Riley. Riley dropped around 30 pounds from where he was when he arrived on campus, and said the change was brought about because he had injury issues last season and felt like he was playing heavy. Riley is in the mix at the nose tackle spot behind
Damion Daniels.
—
Tony Tuioti said Daniels is having the best camp that he’s had at Nebraska because he’s in shape and in a better place mentally. Tuioti said Daniels has gone from only being able to do two or three consecutive reps to seven or eight.
—
Nash Hutmacher has been getting reps at times with the ones and is “holding his own," Tuioti said.
— Tuioti feels good about his top six defensive linemen, and noted that Hutmacher is also pushing to potentially get into that group as well.
— Tuioti said freshman
Jailen Weaver is “a large man,” and that the staff is working with him to get back in shape after coming in overweight.
– Chinander doesn't think guys have hit a camp wall yet. "Guys get nicked up here and there, and maybe if they get nicked up and they're a vet that has proven themselves and all those kind of things, maybe you shut it down to keep it from getting to something worse."
But there hasn't been a lot of guys who have needed multiple days off.
– The coordinator thinks the Huskers could do more hockey line rotating, "and especially up front."
There's at least 14 guys in the front seven Chinander feels they can bank on, with that number maybe stretching to 17 or so when some young D-linemen are counted. Added the coach, "Outside backers, D-line, inside backers are going to roll, whether that's three guys or four guys, but you're going to see those guys roll. The DBs have always been sort of a different story, but I think you're going to see those guys get subbed in and out, but that's really not as much of a hockey rotation there. Because it's so important for those guys to make calls back there
"But I think up front you'll definitely see some mass substitutions coming."
– A good quote from Fisher to end matters: "This is all about work. It's not about taking credit. This is all about work. Right now, to me, it's no time for giving credit. It's just time to work."
