The Nebraska football team wants to get its swagger back.
If there is one thing the Nebraska football team has been missing the last couple of years, it’s been the attitude the program picked up in the 1990s. Even when the Huskers were winning ball games, they seemed to be missing a step on your neck mentality.
Swagger, these days tends to be something that is frowned upon. If there’s one place it’s still celebrated it’s in football.
That swagger is especially celebrated in college football, where you have the added bonus of school spirit and pride. The last few years the Cornhusker players and coaches have absolutely felt pride and school spirit, that’s not in doubt.
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What is in doubt is the killer instinct Tom Osborne, Charlie McBride and those great Husker teams had. The coaches the last few years appeared to be coaching not to lose rather than looking to win.
That tentativeness might be one of the reasons the winning came at such inconsistent instances. Now that Scott Frost and his crew are in Lincoln, there’s been a lot more talk about not just winning, but winning big.
There’s been more talk about not just beating their opponents but beating them up. It seems strange that this is the first time in a long time anyone related to the program has been talking like that.
One case in point are the words linebacker Mohamed Barry spoke in a recent interview with KLIN. Barry was asked about the mentality his position coach, Barrett Ruud was trying to instill in the defense.
“Just the mentality of being vicious. He’s not happy with a simple tackle. He wants us to run through our tackles and make the ball carrier pay.” He said.
Barry and Ruud are far from the only guys that are talking about using the killer instinct. While other coaches have talked about how the Nebraska football team is going to get back to playing Nebraska football, none have talked about dominating, about running through opponents.
Quarterbacks coach Mario Verduzco thinks he knows why Scott Frost can do it when Bo Pelini, Bill Callahan, Mike Riley and even Frank Solich haven’t been able to do it.
He gave a speech last week where he singled out why Frost can get the job of getting that Osborne-era swagger back.
"“He knows what needs to get done culturally, bringing back Husker Power, bringing back the walk-on program, bringing back that grit and that toughness, and let’s go kick somebody’s ass on defense, and the Blackshirts, and the frickin’ tradition, the work ethic that makes the people of Nebraska great, that made this football program great.”"
Verduzco also made it clear he understands there’s skepticism but thinks this time it’s not warranted. “Dammit I’ll tell you what, Scott Frost is one of a kind. That’s all I have to say.”
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It’s safe to say that if the new Nebraska football coaching staff can get even a little bit of the attitude the program had in the 1990s back, the turnaround is going to be faster than people expect.