10 things we learned from Nebraska's weekly press conference

Nebraska’s final 2018 record will fall well short of what the 19 seniors on the roster had hoped, but their impact in changing the Huskers’ culture over the past 11 months has been undeniable.

Saturday’s final home game against Michigan State will be Senior Day. Maybe just as much as finishing the year with two more victories, NU has embraced the goal of sending its seniors out the right way as a primary source of motivation.

For several of the seniors, the arrival of head coach Scott Frost and Co. marked the third coaching staff of their careers, including some who had even more position coaches during their time in Lincoln. But looking back they wouldn't change a thing.

“I have learned a lot about myself the last few years," senior defensive lineman Mick Stoltenberg said. "We have fallen short plenty of times. I have been told the loser is not the guy that gets knocked down, the loser is the guy who doesn’t get back up. I have continued to fight and I know a lot of these seniors have throughout the last five years...

"Through everything that has changed, the one thing that has stayed the same are the good people of this university and the fans. They have never wavered and they have always had our back, which I knew that coming in here being a kid from here. Nebraska is always going to be that way no matter what, whether we’re winning or losing. Definitely blessed to have that kind of opportunity.”

On Nov. 15, 1997, Nebraska held its annual Senior Day celebration before kicking off against Iowa State.

A senior quarterback for the Huskers, Frost hugged head coach Tom Osborne as his name was announced, and he took the Memorial Stadium field for the final time as a player.

It’s a moment Frost still remembers vividly to this day, and he even has a picture of his program moment with Osborne. That’s why Frost, now the coach sending off his first group of NU seniors, knows exactly how special Saturday will be.

"I remember my Senior Day; emotional walking out," Frost said. "I saw a picture of Coach Osborne and I coming out of the tunnel and it means a lot to me. I’ve talked a bunch about these seniors, it’s a great group.

"I feel bad the season hasn’t gone better for them, but at the same time, these are going to be some of the guys that the foundation for what we’re going to do going forward is built on. I think they know that and can feel it, and I’m going to be sorry to see a bunch of them go.”

Devine Ozigbo is on pace to have the best season by a Nebraska running back in years, but it wasn’t until this past weekend that the senior made the rest of the Big Ten finally take notice.

With 11 carries for 162 yards (14.7 yards per carry) and a career-high three touchdowns in NU’s win over Illinois, Ozigbo took home his first Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week honor and also the Huskers’ first conference offensive weekly honor since Tommy Armstrong on Nov. 14, 2016.

The Sachse, Texas, native now leads the Big Ten and ranks eighth nationally with 12 rushing touchdowns this season, and he’s also fifth in the country in yards per carry (7.5) and 21st in rushing yards (958).

With two games still to go, Ozigbo is just 42 yards shy of becoming Nebraska’s first 1,000-yard running back since Ameer Abdullah in 2014.

Being the humble person he is, though, Ozigbo credited nearly all of his individual success to his offensive line.

“The offensive line has probably been, in my whole entire football career, the most pleasurable to run behind," Ozigbo said. "The holes have been bigger than I’ve ever seen them. So I’m just extremely grateful for those guys’ hard work they’re putting in. Without that, I wouldn’t be anywhere close to the things I’m doing right now.”

After yet another impressive showing on Saturday, Adrian Martinez was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week for the second straight week and the third time this season.

The true freshman quarterback shared the honors as Co-Freshman of the Week his first two times, but Monday marked his first outright award. Martinez now becomes the eighth player to earn the title three times in a season and the first quarterback to do so since J.T. Barrett in 2014.

The Fresno, Calif., native tied the school record with his sixth game of more than 300 yards total offense against Illinois (345) along with tying his career high with four total touchdowns.

“He’s as good as it gets," senior receiver Stanley Morgan Jr. said. "He’s a guy that when he first came in he was very humble beyond his years. Just the way he comes about his game every day is something special.”

Former Nebraska receiver Kenny Bell made his way back to Lincoln for Saturday’s game for the first time since his final game as a player in 2014.

Before kickoff, he caught up with his former Husker teammate Morgan, and NU’s all-time leading receiver made sure to give his blessing to the player who could very well be his successor in the school record books.

"I saw him before the game, we dapped each other off and he told me to go get it," Morgan said. "He told me to go get the record and to be my best and just go get it. I respect that. That shows the bond and brotherhood we have with each other. If I’m not the one breaking the records, the guys behind me will and I’m proud of them, too.”

With 2,599 career receiving yards, Morgan is just 90 yards away from Bell’s record of 2,689. He’s also now only three catches shy of matching Bell’s career receptions record of 181.

As if Morgan didn’t have enough incentive to hit those milestones, he knows even if he does break the records, they might not stand very long with sophomore teammate J.D. Spielman already on a record pace of his own.

“We joke about that all the time," Morgan said. "That’s why I have to get it and enjoy it for this time, because I know guys like J.D. and the guys they’re recruiting are going to shatter those records.”

Nebraska’s offense is clicking at its level yet under Frost, but this week will be a much different animal against the best defense in all of college football in Michigan State.

The Spartans boast the nation’s top run defense at just 76.5 yards allowed per game, nearly 20 yards fewer than any other Big Ten team.

Michigan State has also held its opponents to under 100 yards rushing seven times this season, and they’ve also only given up 22 rushes of 10-plus yards, the second-lowest total in the country.

“This is close to or as good as the best defenses we’ve faced all year," Frost said. "I’ve only watched them for one day and I’ve got a ton of respect for what they do. They know their schemes and they know their issues, places that people try to hit them and they have answers for that.

"Best thing about them, they get 11 guys playing hard and sprinting to the football, they don’t give up big plays, we have to be on our game to create them and have to be ready to sustain some drives if we need to.”

Nebraska’s defense is still giving up quite a few yards and points, but the difference the past month has been its ability to counter those numbers with multiple game-changing turnovers.

The Huskers now rank fifth in the Big Ten with 18 forced turnovers on the season, but 11 of those have come in just the past three games.

Frost said that has always been the picture he’s wanted of his defense – one that is OK with an unflattering final box score as long as it can shift a game’s momentum with takeaways.

“We’re just ball-aware now," Frost said. "You can preach it until you’re blue in the face, but you have to have it in the back of your mind when you come in and you’re the first or second guy coming into a tackle to not just clean up the tackle but try and get a hand on a ball. That mentality’s got to be ever-present to keep getting balls out."

Stoltenberg credited the recent turnaround in the turnover department to the players putting much more stock into takeaway drill in practice.

"It’s effort, it’s attitude and also the drills in practice, making sure we are taking those more seriously," Stoltenberg said. "We do all sorts of turnover drills, it is kind of the first thing we cover every day in practice. I think guys are starting to realize that those will actually pay dividends in the end and they are not something we do to just stay busy.”

Nebraska has been dealt a handful of notable injuries this season, but in the grand scheme of things – especially considering it’s now played 10 straight weeks of football – the team is about as healthy as could be.

Having been plagued with numerous soft-tissue injuries and other relatively mild ailments in previous years, the Huskers have held up pretty well considering the grind this season has been.

“We’ve had some unfortunate ones but those are ones that are going to happen... (But) just talking to (head trainer) Mark Mayer who’s done a great job and deserves a lot of credit for that, we haven’t had anywhere near the number of injuries that they’ve had in the recent past," Frost said.

"Most of the credit goes to Mark and to Zach Duval. When you’re not as big and strong as you can be or as big and strong as other teams, you get beat up and get hurt. We gained a lot of ground in that area with Zach working with guys for a year. We’ve stayed healthier than most teams, and I think most of that has to do with the strength and conditioning staff.”

As far as recruiting is concerned, 11 a.m. kickoffs are not kind to Nebraska. The logistics of trying to get an out-of-state high school recruit who plays a game on Friday night to Lincoln by Saturday morning are nearly impossible.

The Huskers must deal with that situation once again this week, as it was announced on Sunday that the Michigan State would another morning kick. Including the regular-season finale at Iowa, eight of NU’s 12 games this season will have been 11 a.m. starts.

“Well, we win more games we’ll be in better time slots, right?" Frost said. "It’s tough getting kids here from out of state when you play at 11 in the morning. Selfishly I like 11 in the morning, I can get home and have dinner and see my son, but from a recruiting standpoint, we’re going to be able to get most of the guys in this week. There’s a couple I think that’ll probably show up after the game’s started.”

Players like Morgan, Ozigbo, and Stoltenberg will get the bulk of the attention heading into Senior Day, but there are many other Nebraska seniors who have been just as important to the program’s rebuilding this season.

Senior offensive lineman Jerald Foster pointed to a guys like walk-on running back Austin Rose and defensive lineman Matt Jarzynka, who came back to the team after a summer internship in his future profession in order to be with his team for the start of fall camp.

"Two of those guys that are seniors that deserve the praise as much as the rest of us," Foster said. "I’m so excited for this last game, it’s going to be hard with this being the last one, I can’t believe it’s already here. It’s truly an honor to be around guys like Jarzynka or Rose when we get these last cheers.”