Nebraska Football: Mickey Joseph throws shade at Scott Frost’s recruiting

Interim Nebraska football head coach Mickey Joseph is earning himself quite the reputation as being plain-spoken. On occasion, that means that the former wide receivers coach might not watch what he says as much as he should. That seemed to be the case when he made some comments about recruiting that could bee seen as a bit of a shot at his former boss.

Joseph spoke about a range of topics during his Tuesday press conference and a large part of the topics centered on recruiting. When the topic turned to Malachi Coleman and his commitment, things got interesting.

Coleman has made no secret about the fact that a major part of his decision to commit to the Nebraska football team was his relationship with Mickey Joseph. Knowing that relationship was strong, a reporter in the press conference asked Mickey if he had a chance to talk to Coleman after Saturday’s announcement. The head coach said he had and when he was asked how the conversation went, he responded: “well, he said that six months ago, he wasn’t coming here here, so you put the pieces together.”

The several seconds of silence that followed as the Nebraska football coach looked for the next question allowed the response to really land. Obviously, six months ago, Mickey Joseph hadn’t put his fingerprint on the program, and Scott Frost was still the head coach.

It’s hard not to see that comment as a little bit of shade. Mickey is clearly proud of landing a Top 100 player in the country when there still isn’t a guarantee that he’ll be the head coach come January. The Coleman commitment can also be pointed at as a reason why he, in fact, should be the head coach come January.

For those who think this is a criticism of Mickey’s comments, let me be clear that it is not. Football is a competitive business. Mickey wants the Nebraska football head coaching job. He needs to point out why he deserves it. And showing that he is better than the man that came before him, is one way to do that. It doesn’t mean his comments weren’t shade.

One thing is clear, Mickey Joseph has no problem throwing some punches when he feels like its warranted. He’s good at it too, without being heavy-handed. After going through four-plus years of ill-advised verbal gaffes from Scott Frost, Mickey really is a breath of fresh air for Nebraska football fans.