Nebraska Football: In risky move, Scott Frost staying loyal to his coaches

All Nebraska football assistant coaches will get another shot.

As the week goes on, we continue to hear more interesting news about the Nebraska football program. Friday, Scott Frost revealed that he plans on bringing back all 10 of his assistant coaches.

However, there is going to be a bit of a change in terms of playcalling duties. Matt Lubick started to get more responsibility in terms of playcalling in the back half of the 2020 season. As noted in a report from Sam  McKewon of the Omaha World-Herald, Frost noted that it was “actually refreshing” to be able to relinquish some of the playcalling duties.

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For starters, let me get to what I like with these bits of information. I like that Lubick is going to be able to have more say in playcalling. I did notice a bit of improvement in that area the second half of the season. The offense was definitely more up-tempo and it seemed like they got more out of each play. I’ll be interested to see what this offense looks like with Lubick calling plays for the entirety of the season.

What I don’t like from these pieces of information is that all assistant coaches are going to come back. Sure, they have been solid in recruiting and roster-building. However, the development of certain players and the execution on-field has been lacking.

For instance, I believe that Mario Verduzco would be a coach that would fit that category. He has proven to be a decent recruiter. However, Adrian Martinez regressed in 2019, and it was only until the backend of the 2020 season that he really began to play like we knew he could. I think there is something off with the development portion for Verduzco.

Greg Austin and the offensive line struggled last year. 2020 was supposed to be the year that the line would take a big leap. Instead, it sort of stayed the same. This was a little bit concerning, because again it goes back to the development of the players. There definitely seems to be a disconnect with some members of the staff and helping players get better.

The good news? Lubick will be taking over more of the playcalling duties. I believe he is valuable to this staff.

The bad news? There may be more continuity of the same things that have plagued the program over the past couple of seasons. That is not necessarily ideal. We’ll just have to wait and see how things go. However, one thing is clear. Frost is going to ride or die with this coaching staff.