It was linebackers day after Monday's practice, the fourth of this fall for the Huskers.
Erik Chinander, Mike Dawson and Barrett Ruud were the Nebraska coaches who spoke with the media, as well as a collection of the backers who figure to be key guys in 2021.
Some Quick Hits:
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Overall knowledge is way better, Ruud said of his middle linebackers. "The knowledge is as good as it has ever been."
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Scott Frost mentioned Nick Henrich in particular as someone he was really excited to see this year. Biggest step ahead for him? "No. 1, Nick's got to stay healthy. I think that's the biggest thing for him. He's a really natural football player. Really intelligent, loves the game. He's a great teammate. His No. 1 deal is developing a routine that keeps him healthy, first and foremost. If he stays on the field he's going to be a productive player for us."
Don't take that statement to mean he's not healthy at the moment. But Ruud is talking long term. "Four practices in. It's not 16 years, 200 straight games or something like that. But yeah, he's doing so good so far. He's a guy that loves the game too. He doesn't want to miss a rep."
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Ruud likes how instinctive he is when it comes to playing him inside. "I think to play inside you have to have great eyes. You got to have a great awareness and understanding for angles. That's just his most natural spot. I think he's a talented enough athlete to go out and play outside when he needs to. I think he's more natural on the inside."
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Chris Kolarevic was fueled coming out of high school by the fact no FBS programs believe in him. He proved himself a strong FCS linebacker at Northern Cockeye. Now he said he's fired up to show he can do it at this level too. It doesn't seem dwelled on, but it's not forgotten that bigger schools didn't look his way in high school.
Ruud said Kolarevic is caught up to the other guys in learning the system, giving a lot of credit to how well he was coached at UNI. The biggest challenge here was learning new terminology for things.
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Kolarevic said his body is feeling good heading into his season, and that he’s eager to play in a game for the first time since late 2019. Kolarevic said that during Covid-19, he added meditation and yoga to his routine. That has helped with the mental side of the game and being able to make calls and checks more quickly at the line of scrimmage.
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Ruud doesn't want to list off any set rotation yet. "But I do know it's going to be a rotation. That's the biggest thing. I think anymore in this conference, with as many snaps as we play on defense this day and age, and with the desire to play guys on special teams, we got to play more than two guys. I think that's a big deal."
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Besides Luke Reimer, Henrich and Kolarevic, Ruud mentioned Garrett Snodgrass, Eteva Mauga-Clements and Jackson Hannah as possible options. "But I think we're still looking for more guys that have that trust factor to go out there if someone breaks a chin strap or something like that, to run out on the field."
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Ruud doesn't think Reimer has a big-time weakness. "But he's got to improve everything," the coach said of the challenge ahead. "I think that's a good way to put it. He's a really good athlete. I think he really understands football. The worst part of the game, I don't know if it's a weakness, is probably the pass rush. But overall he doesn't have a glaring weakness in the game. But it's all about having the mentality to improve each aspect on a daily basis."
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Outside linebackers coach Mike Dawson said it has been nice having senior JoJo Domann back on the field this fall. Domann missed most of the spring and Dawson said Domann’s energy is infectious to the defense and noted that Domann has been flashing in the early points of fall practices.
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Dawson said Nebraska has begun each of its practice begin with a special teams period, and that they have been able to focus on each of the four core special teams groups, while also putting specialists through the paces. Dawson said there has been one day where they’ve had the spotlight on the kickoff specialist role.
“We’ve had some good kicks,” Dawson said. “We need to keep working that and figure out the depth chart as we go.”
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Dawson said there are three tiers of players in the mix for potential returner roles — guys who have done it before at Nebraska, guys who have been on the roster, but are still learning, and those who are new to the team now.
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Dawson said there is still time to figure things out at punter and the kickoff specialist spot. Dawson said there are practices where the whole team, plus coaching staff, are watching kicks and punts to test how players react in the spotlight. After those take place, he said the staff will whittle things down.
1COMMENTS
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Dawson said Isaac Gifford is on all four core special teams groups and has been seeing reps behind JoJo Domann at the outside linebacker spot. Dawson said Gifford has been taking pride in special teams work.
“He’s not a guy who is going to let us keep him off the field,” Dawson said.
