Nebraska football: Tony White's motivational message is all about what's to come

One thing is clear about the 2024 Nebraska football season. The Huskers managing to keep defensive coordinator Tony White in the fold is already a win.

Of course, the second-year Husker DC wouldn’t agree with you if you told him that to his face. It’s not that he’s overly shy, or humble to a fault. He knows that NU had a heck of a season in 2023. It’s simply that he doesn’t want the focus to be what the team accomplished last year. He wants it to be on this coming season.

White said as much when he met with his team earlier this summer. And he imparted the tale of that meeting and what he told his players in hopes of getting them ready for the 2024 campaign.

Nebraska football DC has motivational message all about the now

“This group hasn’t done anything yet,” nose tackle Nash Hutmacher recalled about the meeting. “Whatever we did last year, that doesn’t matter. This group of guys, in this room, hasn’t done a single yet. I think that set the tone pretty well.”

“I was fortunate to be around some really good defensive coaches as well, and every year, it’s a new team, it’s a new attitude, so you go into it like the first year,” White said during his 10-minute press conference on Tuesday. 

“Put that chip on our shoulder and let’s roll,” White added.

That’s been a common theme of this spring and summer. The Nebraska football coaches seem to think they’ve pinpointed what can make this team finally get back to a bowl. Now we see if that’s true.