Dvoracek on the radio: Returning to the standard, physical Big Ten and more
The Huskers’ defense didn’t live up to its own standard last week against Michigan State. The team gave up 20 points which isn’t that much. Yet the talk around Lincoln this week has been pretty critical from defensive players and coaches about the performance. That continued on Tuesday night. Linebackers coach Rob Dvoracek was on Sports Nightly.
Dvoracek felt the team responded well in the second half which was something to be proud of. However things didn’t start the way anyone wanted them too. That was something that coach Matt Rhule noted this week. Dvoracek gave his thoughts on the sluggish start.
"Sometimes it's hard for me to tell. Obviously, the first drive of the game was really not typical of our defense in the past. So that happened, we get on the sidelines, 'Hey, what happened? This is what happened. Let's fix it and let's move forward.'
"So maybe, to that sense, you kind of feel like oh, shoot, what just happened? I think it's important as a coaching staff that we get with the guys and say, 'this is what happened, this is how we fix it, and this is how we're going to move forward.'"
Just as we heard from defensive coordinator Tony White in today’s media session, the players and coaches own the performance that was put on the field in East Lansing. The unit will get an opportunity to get that bad taste out of their mouths on Saturday when Maryland comes to town.
OTHER NEWS AND NOTES
On the physical brand of football in the Big Ten:
"No doubt, it's a physical brand of football and it's also the type of football that we want to play. You know, that's our brand. That's what we want to be. So, every week you got to show up, you got to take care of your body, you got to have the right mindset, you got to practice the right way and get yourself ready to go so that we can be the best version of ourselves and go out there and play well."
On Dvoracek’s leadership style defined
“That’s a good question. I’m not sure what they would say. If I were to reflect on myself I'd say that I am someone who is always trying to have a relationship with the players and guide them in the right direction. I’m not really a yeller and screamer. There’s a time and a place in my mind for that. I really try to make sure the players understand the how and the why. I try to lead them by communicating at a really high level. I’m not sure what the players would say.”
On the method to the madness on rotating players:
There is some situational and personnel driven rotation involved. I won't get in that too much to give things away. But there is a little bit situational and personnel based off of the game. Some of it is also fatigue. Some of it is 'hey, we want to rotate guys. It's something that we believe in. We always talk about as a staff what the plan is going to be as far as who's going in the game. We try to do our best to manage it. Like I mentioned earlier, in my mind, when somebody's in the game, it's all the same. There's no drop off when we put people in the game. There's a standard in which we play. So there is a rhyme or reason, sometimes we just rotate them in as well.”
