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Both an 'infuriating and encouraging' season to Frost, the Husker coach hits on many topics
ByBRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON 16 hours agoScott Frost is trying to make the most of every minute, which included walking into his appearance on the 'Sports Nightly' radio show Thursday night with his plays in hand for this weekend's game against Wisconsin.
"We've got a lot going on. It's an exciting time. It keeps us busy. I just walked in with the call sheet trying to get it done, while we're trying to get a lot of other things done," Frost said during the hour-long radio appearance. "I really like the game plan that we've put together. I really like where the kids' heads are at. Feels like a long time since we played. Feels like an eternity since we've played Wisconsin.
"But I think if you asked the kids before the season the two games that they're most excited about playing, they'd probably say Wisconsin and Cockeye."
Frost spoke again about the changes to his coaching staff, acknowledging he misses having those guys around the office.
"I just wanted to take another swing at it with a little different combination, and I think the changes have a chance to help us get better at some areas that we need to get better," he said of the tough decision.
Frost agreed that the task ahead also charges up the battery some.
"This year has been infuriating and encouraging at the same time. We're doing so many things so much better. Just the results haven't come. I just wanted to try to do everything I can to get that to change. I don't think wholesale changes are needed. We've gotten better every step of the way, and certainly done a lot of things infinitely better this year, but we got to try to find the right formula to get over the hump and start winning some of these close games."
PLAYER REACTION
It has been tough for players losing their coaches."If it wasn't tough, I'd be concerned," Frost said. "It was tough because the guys that aren't here are such good people. I can't say enough about Greg Austin, and Mario Verduzco, and Ryan Held and Matt Lubick as coaches and people. And the kids were sad to see them go. In some cases, angry and frustrated about the season and the result and what happened. It's tough. I've been heartbroken too because those are some of my best friends.
"It's certainly not their fault that it hasn't popped yet. But I think we can do some things different, and hopefully a little better."
Frost said he's had a lot of one-on-one conversations with players about it.
"Some of them feel like I probably would as a player. Feel a little bit of guilt that their coach is gone and put it on themselves a little bit. Hopefully we can use all of that as motivation and band even closer together."
COACHING ROLES THIS WEEK
Frost called Ron Brown a special guy who is a mentor to him. He's working with the running backs.The coach added that Steve Cooper and Steve DeMeo are talented young coaches who have stepped in and done a good job getting ready with Wisconsin, while Frank Verducci has worked with the O-line.
"The guys are still getting coached well. We've got a good team to put together a good game plan and give these two games our best shot."
Frost said "he really trusts Steve Cooper." He's been an offensive coordinator before and will be the primary guy in Frost's ear against Wisconsin. Most of the rest of the guys will be on the sideline "to try to get guys right" down there during the game.
DOMANN'S INJURY
Frost applauded JoJo Domann for playing against Ohio State despite a hand injury."JoJo was told he probably shouldn't play in the Ohio State game. He needed to get his hand fixed. He tore a ligament. It's not going to be a long-term deal but he was advised not to play, and he wanted to play... I'm grateful for him for doing that and for all the sacrifices he made for Husker football."
NOUILI'S IMPACT
Scott Frost has really been happy with Nouredin Nouili's play at left guard.On scholarship now, Nouili has played well enough that Frost said, "Looking back, I wish we could have gotten Nouri on the field faster. He's really made a difference on the left side of the line since he's been in there. He's a physical presence. He's going to keep getting better. Him learning the offense and making sure we were comfortable that he knew everything was kind of what held that up.
"But he's been one of the best players on the offense since he's been in there. I expect him to keep going, and I'm glad to see him get rewarded."
PORTAL PARTS
Frost reiterated what he had said about keeping some spots in the pocket for the portal this cycle."We're really going to focus on trying to find some pieces that I think can complete the team, whether that's young kids or transfer portal or junior college. We're kind of saving spots in our back pocket to try to take advantage of those things."
Frost noted that "there's teams around the country in our league who have taken a lot of those guys and fixed rosters fast and kind of propelled their team a little quicker. We weren't able to do that when I first got the job here because that wasn't in existence. Now that it is, I think it's going to be a good way to try to add some pieces to the really good players and young players we have on our roster to try to take the next step."
WHAT ABOUT ADRIAN IN 2022?
Asked if there were conversations yet about Adrian Martinez returning or not in 2022, Frost said he's been having them with the QB for a long time and will continue to have them."Obviously he's poured a lot into this. I believe in him so much. I see him every day, and believe in him. I think we can still get a lot better around him. Obviously if he's back he's going to have a new coach and some new ideas. We'll figure that out in about nine days."
Frost said the QB seems to be "back to full strength and full speed now" after the bye. "He does some special things on the football field. Whether it's him or other people, we just need one or two more."
'MOVING PIECES'
Frost said there are a lot of one-on-one conversations ahead."There are going to be some guys that have eligibility that don't want to come back and keep playing. I think there's going to be some others with eligibility that do come back, and I think it's going to be one-off decisions and one-off conversations with everybody and we got to figure out how many spots we have."
College football is a new game, Frost is sure.
"I think for the rest of the time that college football exists, it's not going to be the basic 25-man recruiting class anymore. It's going to be a lot of moving pieces and parts and you're going to have to figure those things out on the fly."
FROST ON THE B1G
Frost said the physicality of the Big Ten didn't necessarily surprise him upon arrival."I think this is the biggest, most physical league in the country. I think in my opinion it's the most well coached defenses in the country. There's just not a lot of holes, not a lot of tricks and schemes that you can find because people are sound and people are tough to move up front. It's just a big league."
Frost added that there are times places to let it rip on offense. "It was hard to do that early on and put our defense in bad spots in first downs if we weren't getting first downs ... We'll continue to try to tweak and evolve every year."
One thing Frost liked this year was getting the ball downfield more and getting some of those big pass plays. "Now there's some other areas that we need to continue to tweak."
EFFICIENCY OVER TRICKS
A fan asked if Frost might throw some more trick plays these final two games."We're going to get a little creative. I don't know how many trick plays there will be. These guys are really disciplined. Their running backers through the gaps all the time. Saw one team hit a flea-flicker on them and several other teams tried trick plays and take sacks and losses. Efficiency on offense is what's going to be important against these guys. Not turning the ball over and making sure you're not behind the chains if you can help it."
Frost said you're only going to get about 58 to 60 snaps against a team like this. "So you've got to take advantage of every play you run."
DON'T WANT TO ABANDON EVERYTHING
Some of what tweaks come next on offense is in waiting for the offensive coordinator hire."I certainly don't want to abandon everything we've done. We've been elite on offense when we've had the right guys and had it clicking. And this offense certainly works. But I think some fresh ideas could help too, so we'll figure that out down the road."
Frost reiterated what he said to the media on Thursday, that he's "been blown away by the amount of interest that we've had" for the open coaching positions. "I've been really excited about the people that have reached out and we're going to sort through them and put together the best team that we can."
S & C
Frost was asked by a fan if there were plans to help modify strength and conditioning to help the O-line move laterally better."There's a lot of areas I think we can get better. The process that (strength coach) Zach (Duval) goes through to get our guys right, I don't know if that's one we're going to want to tweak too much. At times, I agree. But we actually did change this year some and it was a little less lifting and a little more movement and speed and running, and we'll probably stick with that formula."
THE NIL PIECE
Frost said he thinks Nebraska is now just starting to see the benefit from the name, image and likeness rule."Nebraska ought to have as much benefit from it as any school in the country," he said. "There's so much interest in football here, and football players, and there's 1,000 ways for kids to take advantage of NIL. It doesn't just have to be television or radio commercials. There's other opportunities for our kids to go to kids' birthday parties or go to company junkets or do a lot of those things. Any business that's interested in doing something like that should probably reach out. We can't set up any of those deals. We can't really talk to the players about it, and we can't really use it as a recruiting enticement.
"But we certainly let kids know that there's going to be a ton of opportunities here and I think we're just scratching the surface on some of those opportunities."
HANDLING THE HEAT
A few callers offered their encouragement to Frost, and said they hoped he would be around in the job a long time.To one question about dealing with criticism, he said, "I can't believe everything I hear on social media. When I'm around people in the state of Nebraska, it's all so positive and there's so many good people. I don't pay any attention to that. You shouldn't pay any attention to the rumors that I'm not sleeping or eating. I'm going to go to dinner with my wife when we're done here, and probably have a steak, and go home and go to sleep.
"Football is really important. Football is not life. We tell our kids that all the time. Because I think when all your happiness is not wrapped up in it, it makes you even better at your job. And we know how many people are out there supporting us, and are working our tails off and doing a lot of the right things to get this going."
MORE OPTION?
Frost said he thinks the option has really helped the offense."We can probably do it a little bit more, and probably do it a little bit better. But that's been a pretty big part of what we've done on offense this year and I don't want to go away from that."
IN-STATE RECRUITING
Frost said if there's a great player in this state, he wants him at Nebraska."And we need everybody's help in Nebraska on that. It isn't just us. We need people throwing their arms around them and saying, 'We want them at Nebraska.' That could certainly help. We've gotten a lot of really good in-state players and we'll continue to recruit everyone that we think can play. At the end of the day, I'd rather have a kid from in-state than anywhere else if everything's equal."
BIG OPPORTUNITY
Frost called Saturday's opponent Wisconsin "elite on defense" with a really good player at every position. He said the Badgers' offense has improved much over the season too."They are who they are. They're going to try to hammer it at you and hammer it at you, and create some plays in the run game and be methodical. And then try to hit some big plays over the top in the pass game. Our defense needs to step up. Turnovers are going to be a huge part of the game. Got to be efficient on offense and try to hammer out some first downs and give ourselves some chance to make some big plays."
Frost thinks a lot of his players are pumped for this game.
"This is going to be a big opportunity for us."
