Nebraska football is working on simplifying things.
As we continue to hear from Nebraska football coaches, there was a segment from offensive line coach Greg Austin that I really liked.
Too many times last year, we saw the Nebraska football program get in its own head. Sometimes, they would overthink a play that only required one yard. Other times, they lacked simple execution. That was last year. It appears that they are trying to simplify things now, and that’s what I love to hear.
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Austin indicated that Nebraska football has been working on sticking with things that work and improving upon them. It doesn’t sound like they are adding a ton of new big plays, just focusing on the basics. This is what I thought they should have done last year. Nevertheless, the past is the past. Now, it’s all about moving forward.
I love the idea that they are reinforcing key concepts and simplifying things. Working on the little things is what is going to help them down the road. Sticking to what works is going to be an asset for them in the long run. Especially as they get into the tougher part of the schedule, sticking to the little things may be more important than ever.
So far, it sounds like that’s exactly what the Nebraska football program is doing to this point. In just 23 days, we will see it in action against Ohio State. With the Nebraska football program overmatched, that will certainly tell us a lot about the program moving forward.
"“We’re going to hang our hat on a few schemes, and we’re going to run them and we’re going to get really good them,” Austin said. “And the guys know, because we preach it on a daily basis. Our practice, my individual (work) begins with the main run scheme and then it goes from there. Our meetings begin the main thing and the technique and the scheme that surrounds it. We’ve kind of beaten it into these guys heads … we’ve been really enforcing it for those guys to know that there’s more of a singular point: ‘Hey, here’s what we’re doing, here’s how we’re going to do it.’“Here’s the many different ways that we’re going to do it. Here’s the many different fronts, here’s the many different looks that we’re going to get to it. We have to be really good at ‘this,’ right? And we’re going to be really good at ‘this’ and we’re gonna be really good at ‘this’ and we’re gonna be really good at ‘this.’ And then we’re going to certainly have some things that change up our tendencies."
I love that they are focusing on the simplicity of things. Hopefully, the schemes will be effective enough to keep opponents off-balance. Too many times last season, they were too predictable. That undoubtedly needs to change if they want to win in 2020.
We will have to see if the players have paid attention to the little concepts. It’s one thing to hammer it into the players’ heads, it’s another thing for them to go out and do it. Things are a little bit more difficult when the game is going in real-time speed. I’m sure these players can attest to that.