Head coach Scott Frost on Husker Sports Nightly
After Wednesday's early signing period, the Huskers secured 23 players, ranking Nebraska's recruiting class in the nation's Top-25. Tonight head coach Scott Frost joined Greg Sharpe on Husker Sports Nightly to talk about the day, as well as to preview the team's upcoming months.
Head coach Scott Frost:
Recruiting talk:
***Scott Frost credits his staff for all of the hard work they did over the year and says they feel great about who they have.
***On signing 5 players from Nebraska, more than any other state: "We're not going to overlook people who are right under our nose... There's a lot of good football players in this state." Frost mentioned Garrett Nelson as someone he thinks who will add a lot to the team and the locker room.
***Frost said he'd prefer to get the signees on campus as soon as possible, but he understands the want of some of the guys to finish off high school. Kids like Garrett Snodgrass, who are multi-sport athletes, are in the midst of basketball season right now, and Frost said he appreciates the work ethic of kids who are heavily involved.
***Frost said that players like Ethan Piper, could play on either side of the ball. They are leaning toward him starting on defense but Frost said that coaches both sides of the ball are fighting over him. Frost said he's underrated. Frost also mentions Burke athletes Chris Hickman and Nick Henrich as "guys we can't let out of the state."
***Frost said that lack of depth at inside linebacker was a real problem last year, but he's happy who they signed today to join the room. "We need those guys not only to be players, we need them to be players early on."
***Frost: "Running backs really another position that we need more guys... We're getting a little thin at that spot so we need to add some players." Mentions Ronald Thompkins and Rahmir Johnson as players who can "fly."
***Frost said that wide receiver was a spot that they're hurting at this year. "We were way down in numbers then where we wanted to be when we got here last January." He said they need to gain more depth and find a way to replace Stanley Morgan Jrs production. Mentions Jamie Nance, Wandale Robinson and Darien Chase as guys who could help with this.
***On Wandale Robinson: Frost said usually if they don't get a guy to commit they move on and find the next guy, but they really wanted Wandale so they kept trying, and it worked in their favor.
***Frost said that he doesn't know if anyone works as hard to get his room right as coach Greg Austin. Size was an issue last year, but many of the guys that signed today can make an immediate impact. Frost even mentioned a couple of the recruits as having "Sunday potential."
***The Huskers also secured the commitment of Arizona native Ty Robinson. Robinson was being recruited by Alabama, USC, Oregon and Stanford, but ultimately chose to spend his college career in Lincoln. Last Thursday, the entire Husker coaching staff paid Robinson a visit in his hometown. "We wanted to have a show of force down there so he knew how important he was to us." Frost said that Robinson, along with most of the defensive recruits, visited Nebraska when the Huskers played Michigan State and "won the game on defense."
***Frost said the defensive line is led by the Davis twins, and also mentioned Ben Stille as another big part of the line. Deontre Thomas broke his hand during the season, but they were able to redshirt him. Frost also mentions returns Casey Rogers and Tate Wildeman as guys who can make a big impact.
*** Frost: "If I had to pick a guy in this class who I think is underrated it's Myles Farmer." Frost added that he could be a safety or an outside linebacker.
***On Luke McCaffery: "Luke's awesome. He's a phenomenal athlete and great kid. We were thin at quarterback and we're excited to have them." Frost said they recruited him as a quarterback and that's where they want him to contribute to the team.
***Nebraska also added eight walk-ons during the early signing period and will likely add more by the time it's all said and done. Seven of the walk-ons are from Nebraska, and one is from Georgia. Frost said that these players are a big part of the program and will be treated the same and given all of the same opportunities to contribute.
On the coming weeks/season:
***Frost said the team will get a week period to work out on their own before jumping straight into winter/spring conditioning. He said that even after the Iowa game, guys were back to work almost immediately.
***The Huskers lost a lot of leadership, but said that the team will look to the quarterback to take on that role. He also mentioned Mohamed Barry and Dicaprio Bootle as two guys on defense that could take on that role.
***April 13th is the spring game date. Frost said that because of the way the semester falls, they will have to split the spring practices around spring break this year.
***Frost on the young team: "We're just going to keep building... We're in the middle of construction here."
***Frost said the schedules are mainly set for the next few years, but he would like to see a yearly, big, non conference game against one of the old Big Eight or Big-12 opponents.
Callers:
***Caller congratulates coach Frost on getting "the best from the state" and said it's been awhile since that's happened. Caller also asks about what it will take to get a dominant defense. Scott Frost said how he defines dominant defense has changed over the years. "A dominant defense to me is a defense that can hold a team to under 21 points" and also get the ball back to the offense.