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Nebraska football: 3 takeaways from the Huskers’ Spring Game

Oliver VanDervoort
Oliver VanDervoort

Husker Corner

LINCOLN, NE - NOVEMBER 24: Fans of the Nebraska Cornhuskers sit behind a sign in support of coaching prospect Scott Frost (not shown) during the game against the Iowa Hawkeyes at Memorial Stadium on November 24, 2017 in Lincoln, Nebraska. (Photo by Steven Branscombe/Getty Images)

Nebraska football scott frost coming
(Photo by Steven Branscombe/Getty Images)

Glorified practice or not, there’s plenty we can take from the first spring game under Nebraska football head coach Scott Frost.

In case you hadn’t been paying attention, Nebraska football’s Spring Game took place on Saturday morning. Also in case you hadn’t been paying attention, nearly 90,000 people went to watch it in person.

Yes, there’s a little bit of excitement surrounding the Scott Frost era. After watching his first Spring Game, there plenty of reason to be excited. There are also still some reasons to be worried.

It’s important to note that the Cornhuskers last year went 4-8. As much as we’d love to see one heck of a turnaround, Frost and company are coaching that team.

It’s a team that has even talked about not having a ton of effort at all times. It’s possible that showed a bit in this spring game.

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There is a lot of work to do on the defensive side of the ball. There’s bound to be a little work on the offensive side of the ball.

it’s not surprising that the Red Team was able to dominate the game. They had most of the first-teamers on that side of the ball. Here’s hoping that at some point Frost will be confident enough in his group that we can see the 1’s vs 1’s that we got more often than not under Tom Osborne.

For today, it’s clear Frost and his staff wanted the first team Huskers to get a bit of confidence in themselves. I’d say the numbers they were able to post should indeed give them some confidence heading into the summer and fall.

Even though the Huskers first-teamers were going up against 3rd and 4th teamers, there was still plenty of things to work on. As Frost said late in the game the Nebraska football team is “staying vanilla but still making mistakes.”

So just what exactly looked good and looked bad at this first Nebraska football Spring Game under head coach Scott Frost? Read on.

Good: The quarterbacks are learning the Nebraska football offense quickly.

When Scott Frost was named as the head coach of the Nebraska football team, all everyone could talk about was the offense. Considering the team is installing a brand new offense, it was very nice to see the quarterbacks play the way they did.

Every quarterback who stepped on the field on Saturday had their own personal highlight reel. That includes Noah Vedral, who won’t be able to play in games this fall.

Not surprisingly, the Red team QBs had a better day. Both Tristan Gebbia and Adrian Martinez put up big numbers. They both shone in different ways, while still looking like they could make the offense hum if called upon.

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Gebbia completed 12 of 17 passes for 125 yards for two touchdowns and no picks. On the ground, he did have a couple of decent runs, though he ended the day with eight carries and minus one yard.

Adrian Martinez, on the other hand, showed why Scott Frost went out and got him. Martinez completed 10 of 13 passes for 114 yards and a TD.

It was on the ground where he really shone, carrying 14 times for 60 yards and three touchdowns. It’s worth pointing out that he had to stop a few runs because he got “tagged.”

All the quarterbacks were wearing green jerseys and could not be tackled to the ground. I’ve got to think he would have turned a few runs into bigger runs had tackling been a thing.

Andrew Bunch and Vedral struggled a bit the longer the game went on, but they also had flashes of brilliance, against the first team defense. None of the quarterbacks looked confused. They all played rather quickly and that’s very good news for a Nebraska football fanbase that might be nervous about a transition to a brand new offense this fall.

Nebraska football running backs looked like real weapons on the ground and through the air.

It’s important to remember that the Nebraska football offense is not going to be what fans remember from Tom Osborne. That doesn’t mean the running game is going to be non-existent.

In fact, it appears that Greg Bell and Mikale Wilbon are finding their stride in the new offense already. Bell, especially looks exactly like the running back we had hoped we got from the JUCO ranks.

Bell carried eight times for 54 yards. He also caught two passes for 41 yards. Even better than the stats is the way he took off once he got past the line of scrimmage.

The kind of speed Bell has is something the team has been missing for a while now. As I said during the game, it’s going to be fun to watch him when the runs count this fall.

Wilbon had himself quite the game on the ground as well. Though he wasn’t as much of a weapon through the air, he did carry 10 times for 54 yards.

He didn’t break off the big runs Bell did, but Wilbon was certainly solid. Coming into the game, there has been an argument who might actually be the backup running back.

From what I saw Saturday, Wilbon is absolutely the number two back right now and Bell is very obviously the starter. Things can and will change when Tre Bryant is back but it’s a place to start.

That’s not even taking Wyatt Mazour’s run, which was the longest of the day, went for 43 yards. The Nebraska football team has some good backs.

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Nebraska football’s defense was the big loser today.

While there was plenty of good for the Nebraska football team on Saturday, there was also a glaring bad. It was the defense on both sides of the ball.

Quarterbacks were picking the defense apart for most of the day. Running backs were running through giant holes.

Wyatt Mazour was able to bust off a 43-yard run because the secondary was very much out of position. We knew coming into the season that the defense was going to be a problem.

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There were sometimes when the defensive line showed flashes. They got to the quarterback more than people likely expected.

Beyond the pass rushing, pass coverage and rushing defense all had all kinds of holes. Perhaps what makes that a bit more concerning is the fact that Andrew Bunch was able to pick the defense apart in the first half.

That’s a walkon quarterback picking apart the starting defense. That’s a 4th or 5th running back breaking a 43-yard run against the starting defense.

We knew there was going to be work to do. We knew that the problems the defense had last year were far from fixed.

The Nebraska football defense is going to be a problem this year and that was underlined during the Spring Game. How Chinander decides to fix it, and whether he can fix it this season is going to be a real interesting question.

Oliver VanDervoort

Oliver VanDervoort

Oliver has loved the Huskers since could get his pudgy little hands to hold a red balloon. Now he gets to write about them for a living. You can contact him at olliev34@outlook.com, and read him on Huskercorner, and see him talk about anything and everything on Twitter @originalovandy