The quarterbacks had a ton of success in Nebraska football’s first scrimmage of the spring, which should raise some eyebrows early on.
This early on in the spring practice, it’s natural for one aspect of the Nebraska football team to be well ahead of the other. In this case, new Huskers head coach Matt Rhule said that the offense is very clearly ahead of the defense.
To say the offense being ahead of the defense this early on is a concern would be an overstatement. After all, it appears that Marcus Satterfield’s offense isn’t going to be a big departure from some version of what Jeff Sims ran at Georgia Tech and what returning Huskers have seen as part of Scott Frost’s regime. And while Tony White’s 3-3-5 defense sounds similar to what Erik Chinander and Bill Busch were running, there are some very subtle differences that might have kids on that side of the ball needing to relearn their jobs.
So no, there isn’t a reason to overreact to Rhule’s comments. At the same time, the way the offense seems to be ahead of the defense is unquestionably eyebrow-furrowing.
"You get to practice and the quarterback drops back and they blow it dead. Well, today, they had to try to hit Heinrich, try to hit Chubba, try to hit Jeff, try to hit Richard..."
— Hail Varsity (@HailVarsity) April 1, 2023
The QBs were live in the #Huskers' first scrimmage of spring ball. 👀 pic.twitter.com/LGnd79RmvK
"“Today, they had to try to hit Heinrich, they had to try to hit Chubba, they had to try to hit Jeff (Sims), they had to try to hit Richard. They bounced off it, and ran for big, long plays.”"
The bouncing off and running for big plays should be a little concerning.
Of course, on the one hand, you love to hear that the Nebraska football quarterbacks are playing as well as they are. It’s also fun to hear quarterback running plays featured in the Satterfield offense.
But after five years of mostly watching the defense get run over, around and through the comments might have been a reminder that there’s still plenty that needs to be fixed in the Blackshirts before they are really Blackshirts again.
It’s early. There’s nothing to really be worried about. But while Rhule’s comments were tilted towards positive, the Nebraska football team’s defensive coordinator has some work to do.