Even though the Nebraska football team won its season opener against Cincinnati, a lot of Husker fans were left a little flat with the way the Blackshirts played in the 2nd half...especially against the run. The Bearcats averaged over 6 yards per carry in the 2nd half, albeit mostly from the starting QB, Brendon Sorsby.
Still, there are many questions with the defense going into Akron week. Defensive Coordinator, John Butler was at the podium today, here are 3 things we learned from today's Press Conference!
DC John Butler wants more from the Nebraska football defense
The game last Thursday against Cincinnati, obviously being the first game of the season, left plenty of learning moments on tape to review. Defensive Coordinator, John Butler, said that "Especially in the 2nd half, it comes down to diagnostics...is it run, is it pass"? Butler said he obviously would like the defense to be "going" when it's either run or pass. He added, "there's a subset of that effort, which is just playing fast and trusting what you see".
Butler also said that the players graded themselves after the Cincinnati game, which is something they've been doing for quite some time! "Them grading themselves is actually a standard operating procedure here, they grade themselves in the scrimmages, and they grade themselves in the games". The idea being that the players will be the hardest on themselves than any one coach is, to ingrain a winning culture at Nebraska!
The interior defensive line needs to get off the ball, and get off blocks
Coach Butler reiterated something he said last week, which was "The defensive line is not a thinking man's position. It's a get off the ball...create a new line of scrimmage...get off blocks, make tackles...be disruptive"! He thought that the guys were a little too "fit oriented", thinking too much, meaning that the processing wasn't quite up to snuff. He doesn't want the guys to play reckless, he just wants them to play the way he's been describing, and says they're going to be "preaching that from now until the final game of the season"!
Specifically, a reporter asked about Riley Van Poppel, and Butler replied, "It comes down to 3 things, is he playing as hard as he thinks he can? And then, we gotta make sure, if that's how hard you think you can play, we're gonna get you to play harder physically at the line of scrimmage, getting off blocks, I think with ALL of these guys, we're not singling out anybody, you just happened to ask about one of them. That's what our biggest step has to be, from week 1 to week 2, our ability to get off the ball & get off blocks!
Donovan Jones has impressed the Nebraska football coaches
The coaches talk about "Finding the winners and getting them on the field". It appears that Donovan Jones has checked those boxes so far, and then some. Butler stated "when we're evalutating players, we want big, fast, physical, and tough, and that's what he is. He's a 200 pound corner, he tackles like a linebacker, he's got a processing element to him...that he plays fast, he plays well in games, so when you're able to play a kid like that at corner, for however many snaps he played, and then at dime, he's covering the best receiver in the slot. We feel like we've got 2 pretty good corners in Ceyair & Marshall, so, we think Donny is one of those guys that's a winner, so, just like Marshall & Ceyair.
I think they're 3 of our better players on defense. He then stated, "when you've only got 2 positions, it's your job a coach to find a way to get that guy on the field"
Butler has said time and again that they're going to try to get the best 11 guys on the field. Specifically the guys that are going to play well, and practice well, from week to week. He also said that the system is going to be evolving around the players that are playing hard, physical, and executing the system from week to week. Akron scored 0 points in their home opener against Wyoming, let's hope that the Big Red can continue the Zips scoreless streak this Saturday!