Nebraska Football: “No block, no rock” doesn’t fly in today’s game
Frost’s philosophy for Nebraska Football is outdated.
In his press conference on Monday, Nebraska football head coach Scott Frost had an interesting phrase used to describe playing time for his players.
Apparently, blocking is paramount to the Nebraska football program when it comes to receivers. As Frost sort of implied in his press conference, he indicated that blocking is what the Nebraska football program wants to do.
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To some extent, I agree with the coach. Blocking is important. Especially when you consider that Nebraska football normally has a ton of players that bounce to the outside, blocking could indeed be very important. However, I do not like his quote. To me, it implies that unless you block on outside plays, you won’t get the football.
"“We have a saying, ‘no block, no rock,’ so we want all our guys to block for us and earn their right to be out there by what they do in the run game and that will give them chances to catch some passes,” Frost said."
This is all well and good. I certainly appreciate blocking. However, not all wide receivers may be good blockers, and you may be limiting the most explosive players on the field if they cannot block well.
I get where the coaching staff is coming from, but to me this seems a little short-sighted. Does this mean that because some receivers cannot block, they will not see the field? That’s certainly what it sounds like.
The game has changed to where blocking is not as important from a wide receiver standpoint as it used to be. Now, the focus is on the wide receivers being able to get downfield and making plays. That is what I would want to see from my receivers. Do I want them to block well? Yes, I definitely would.
However, I would definitely want to see them be able to make big plays and get down the field quickly. Are big plays the end-all, be-all? No, not necessarily. But these days would rather my receivers be able to use their speed efficiently or get down the field in a timely manner.
The “no block, no rock” mentality is a bit outdated. If it is keeping playmakers off of the field, that could make it even more troublesome for Nebraska moving forward. Nebraska football needs to be able to get the ball downfield. Blocking right now is not the highest priority.