Spring Practice

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Zack Carpenter • InsideNebraska
Publisher
@Zack_Carp

We are in the final week of spring ball as the Huskers put final preparations into Saturday's Red-White Spring Game.
Nebraska offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield and offensive line coach Donovan Raiola met with the media following Tuesday's practice – the 13th of the spring – to put a bow on the action.
Here are the quick hits from their time at the mic:

Marcus Satterfield​

>>> Satterfield, who says that the team has been “durable” and “practicing hard” over the past four weeks, has noticed how much Raiola’s guys “play hard for him” and says that the offensive line “is a true unit” that does “everything together.”
“It’s a brotherhood in that room, and it’s just been really neat to watch because it’s kind of bleeding over into the rest of the offense.”
>>> Matt Rhule said recently that quarterbacks play better when they’re live, for a multitude of reasons, and his offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach is aligned with him in that philosophy.
Satterfield: “It’s a lot harder to not be live and play quarterback just because of the timing and the sense of urgency in the pocket. Sometimes you get seduced by that green jersey, so when you go live, the natural timing starts to speed up. So I think it’s been really good for them. If you play football, you should be fine. If you go out there and play passive, that’s when you start to get banged up and get hurt. But if you just play football like you do when you’re a little kid in the backyard, you can usually come out pretty healthy.”
>>> Satterfield says that the team has been “really pleased” with Heinrich Haarberg’s development so far and that Haarberg is pushing Jeff Sims in practice.
>>> The offense is still progressing. That much was evident during Saturday’s scrimmage as Satterfield said the unit is still seeing some “highs and lows.”
>>> This weekend’s spring game will give the entire team, but especially the quarterbacks, the opportunity to get in a competitive environment that has a game-like feel to it. That’s one of the main things Satterfield says he is most looking forward to at the spring game — how the quarterbacks conduct themselves and lead the team in an atmosphere like that.
>>> The plan for the Husker offense coming into the spring was to “throw a lot of stuff at these guys” to see what they can handle, and Satterfield says “they’re anxious to get out there and show what we’ve got on Saturday.”
>>> As a group the running backs are getting better, especially in pass protection, which was a key focus over the last week and they performed well in pass pro during the scrimmage. Individually, Satterfield says each back has “a certain thing they can do” that makes it a good top-to-bottom group, but he didn’t want to give individual standouts by name yet.

Donovan Raiola​

>>> Spring ball has been a time for the offensive linemen to work at multiple spots and try different positions and combinations. Raiola said that the fall will be the time when players get locked into individual spots and the main rotations will be set: “We’re just seeing different combinations right now. Just working guys in different spots, getting them reps wherever we need them right now. I think that’s good. You build depth in a different way, and you have guys that have been playing one spot play another spot, so they get good at different things.”
>>> Ben Scott was back in a white jersey and not wearing a green jersey that designated him as limited. Raiola says that Scott is “doing real well.” Scott has been practicing, but he was being held out of team drills.
>>> Raiola on Scott: "He comes in and he's got a lot of experience. ... The biggest thing for Ben was assimilating to the unit, and that's the (best) thing he's done since he's gotten here."
>>> Nouredin Nouili talked last week about the offensive line’s togetherness and mentioned how Raiola talks about seeing through one set of eyes. Raiola doubled down on that approach Tuesday: “We talk about one set of eyes — five guys playing as one. They’re really taking ahold of it and running with it.”
>>> Rhule turned plenty of heads when he said that he believes Bryce Benhart is a future NFL player, and Raiola has likewise been impressed with Benhart’s improvement during spring ball: “Bryce has done a great job. We just focus on improvement with us every single day. All of those guys, I tell them to write down one thing to improve on in the run game, one thing in pass pro, and that’s our focus. And you can see the difference in how he looks and how all of them look. They’re really attacking that weight room, the nutrition and all of that stuff.”
>>> Turner Corcoran’s increases in power and strength have caught Raiola’s eye, but those increases have not changed Raiola’s outlook on what Corcoran can bring to the table in terms of versatility along the O-line: “I think he’s one of our most versatile guys. He can play all five, I think.”
>>> Raiola said that the coaching staff feels like "a family. ... No matter what we do, we're all in together."

 

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Brother if you're trying to get the drop on Minnesota you're muff cabbage

 

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Steve Marik • InsideNebraska
Staff Writer
@Steve_Marik

Saturday will be a special day for Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule.
The 48-year old’s wife and kids will be in town for the spring game. They’ve been away in Charlotte while Rhule works to build Nebraska a good football program. But it’ll also be the first time he coaches the game he loves since he manned the sidelines for the Carolina Panthers, the organization that fired him after 38 games.
Gratitude fills Rhule, who said he wouldn’t be the person or coach he is today without going through those difficult years in Carolina.
“I’m just very grateful to be in this position, to be here,” Rhule said Thursday at a press conference ahead of his team’s 14th spring practice, which was under the lights in Memorial Stadium. “So I only hope that my work honors the people that come.”
While some spring games are a celebration of sorts to end spring ball, Rhule understands the situation he's in. He was hired to build a winning program, so it’d be wise to make every practice available count.
“What I know is, the fans are going to show up next year no matter what, and that scares me,” Rhule said. “That drives me. Because I’m like, ‘I want to do my part.’ They’re going to do their part, the fans have been doing their part here for a long time. But I want to do my part, and I want our team to do our part. I want to make people excited about the way we play.”
There’s work left to do in the spring game. That’s why Rhule wants to stress his players and see how they react in an environment that includes thousands of fans watching them inside Memorial Stadium.
Rhule doesn't want to catch his players taking in the stadium's vibe and not focused on the job at hand because that would remind him of his first game at Temple as head coach.
The Owls were on the road at Notre Dame, and someone had gone up to Rhule and told him to look at the Touchdown Jesus statue and to take in the moment.
“I was like, ‘Wow, this is really special,’ then we got our face kicked in,” Rhule said. “Then I was like, ‘Alright, Matt, just get to work. So I’m hoping our guys get to work.”
Here are the quick hits from Rhule’s press conference:
>> Nebraska will play a “traditional game” Rhule said, with a few modifications and special teams quirks. There will be 15-minute quarters and NFL-style timing will be used, where the clock won’t stop after first downs other than with two minutes left in the first half and five in the fourth. The offensive linemen will all wear gray jerseys so they can rotate and play on both teams, depending on who’s available.
And, the big one: the quarterbacks will be live.
“We’re trying to learn how to win,” Rhule said. “There’s an ebb and flow to a football game, and I think it’s really important as you react to situations, so we’re going to play it out.”
>> Rhule said he doesn’t think his team has been “super physical” this spring. So on Saturday, in a game-like atmosphere with a big crowd expected, Rhule wants to see what his players have.
“I need to figure out which quarterback, or how many of the quarterbacks, can go move us in the fall,” Rhule said. “And the defense needs to figure out if they can tackle a mobile quarterback.”
>> Thursday’s practice will be at night under the lights inside Memorial Stadium. Rhule said the session will be devoted to situational football, where the coach will grab a microphone and bark out the scenario, and the players will need to execute correctly.
“We’re in helmets and spiders by NCAA rule, so it’s not a physical day but it’s about reacting to the timing, the clock, the timeouts and try to make those plays,” he said. “It’s as much for the coaches as it is for the players.”
>> Rhule called Saturday’s scrimmage a “work day.” He continues to remind the team that it finished 4-8 last year, and Saturday is another opportunity to improve.
“We have to earn the right to even talk about winning,” Rhule said. “Games are lost in the fourth quarter. Games are lost with turnovers. All I want to see on Saturday is a team that is in the moment. There’s going to be a ton of people in the stands, and I’m very grateful for that. I don’t need a team that’s out there like, ‘Oh, wow,’ I don’t need all that. Let’s play football. Give them something to cheer about with our play. So I’m trying to take advantage of that by really leaning into it and seeing who can make plays in that situation, but also make sure it’s a work day as well.”
>> Rhule said Marcus Satterfield will call the offense and Tony White will call the defense. Will the coordinators keep their play-calling vanilla? Rhule said no.
“You know, a lot of times coaches will say, ‘We’re going to keep it vanilla,’ we’re not doing that,” Rhule said. “We’re going to run our plays. We’re going to run our plays on offense and defense. I certainly understand, like, ‘Hey, maybe we can surprise Minnesota with something,’ but we have to get good at playing football, so we’re going to play and do what we do and see who plays well.”
>> Rhule was asked about Isaac Gifford. The Lincoln Southeast product has been working at the safety positions, and Rhule told a story about texting him after watching a film clip of Gifford running the alley that the coach called “unbelievable.”
Gifford is an example of an older player who’s willing to listen to a new coaching staff.
“We teach running to the ball a little differently, we teach them different angles than maybe some guys are used to, or what they were taught before, and he did it like a clinic tape,” Rhule said. “That’s what I’m looking for, older guys who’ve had success to continue to buy into something new.”
>> DeShon Singleton was made available to the media on Thursday, and the big 6-foot-3, 205-pound safety is looking to make an impact this fall after primarily being a backup last season. Rhule said Singleton had an interception in the red zone recently and is a player full of potential.
“He has a really good future ahead of him and I love his physicality,” Rhule said. “He’s working to master all the fundamentals that we’re asking him to do. But he has a lot of upside and he’ll have a good future with us.”