Monday notebook: Spielman continues to flourish in NU debut

A year ago J.D. Spielman was being praised by his coaches and teammates as a player who could potentially have made an immediate impact as a true freshman before ultimately deciding to redshirt last season.

Based on his production 10 games into his redshirt freshman campaign, it’s easy to see what all the fuss was about for the electric wide receiver and kick returner.

Highlighted by his school-record 200-yard receiving game against Ohio State, Spielman has already hauled in 40 catches for 593 yards and is pushing to etch his name further in the NU record books.

In fact, with three games remaining, the Eden Prairie, Minn., native needs just six more receptions and 49 yards to break Nate Swift’s freshman records (45, 641) set in 2005.

Head coach Mike Riley said he had a clear vision of how the 5-foot-9, 180-pound Spielman could flourish in his offense at the slot receiver position, and so far all of that has come to fruition.

“J.D. has a really good football IQ, so the understanding of what he’s doing, it’s pretty neat to see,” Riley said. “He is one of those guys who kind of has a football maturity that is beyond his years a little bit.

“When you think about it, he was mostly a runner and a defensive back in high school… But he has been a very good individual route runner vs. man-to-man coverage, and he has gotten a good feel for how to play against zones. That’s not necessarily ordinary.”

The list goes on for other records Spielman could claim before the season is done. Already with 1,254 all-purpose yards, Spielman is just 105 shy tying Ahman Green’s Nebraska freshman record of 1,259 set back in 1995.

Among FBS freshmen, Spielman ranks fifth in receiving yards and receptions and third in all-purpose yardage at 128.2 yards per game.

What has made him especially important to Nebraska’s offense has been not only his production but the timeliness of his catches.

Of his 40 catches on the year, 23 have come on either third or fourth down. His five fourth-down grabs this season lead the nation, and his 18 third-down catches are tied for seventh. Also, 290 of his 593 receiving yards have come on third downs, tying for third in FBS.

“I think just his consistency,” junior quarterback Tanner Lee said of the trust he’s gained in Spielman. “Whenever we’ve needed him, he’s been there. On any down and any situation in the game, J.D. can bust a big play and get your team moving and get some first downs. It’s been really nice to have him.”

- Robin Washut

As if Nebraska didn’t have enough problems on its hands at the moment, the Huskers haven’t done themselves any favors in recent weeks by continuously shooting themselves in the foot with penalties.

Over the past three games, NU has been flagged 28 times for 267 yards, including nine for 95 at Purdue and 12 for 104 vs. Ohio State.

That’s an especially frustrating trend in that Nebraska had only committed 31 total penalties in its first six games combined.

Despite the past few sloppy outings, Riley said he’s felt his team has been “better” with penalties overall this season.

“We’re at the point where we can probably really focus in on some of the things that have happened,” Riley said. “They’re pretty well-defined and in our control for how we could even make it better than it is, but I think in general we’ve been better.”

The Huskers currently rank tied for 79th nationally with 59 total penalties committed for 566 yards (93rd nationally) on the season, an average of 6.56 penalties and 62.89 penalty yards per game.

It’s a slight improvement from where NU left off last season when it committed 75 penalties for 695 yards and 53.5 yards per game. It’s also a solid step up from Riley’s first year in 2015 when the team was flagged 94 times for 829 yards and 63.8 per game.

“At certain times this year we’ve hurt ourselves with penalties and stalled out drives,” Lee said. “I think weekly we’ve been focusing on when we’re going on drives, let’s finish in the end zone and not hurt ourselves with those critical penalties, no matter what it is.

“That’s something the coaches have definitely been focusing on with us, and we’ll continue to do that this week.”

- Robin Washut

As Riley and his staff make their way through the month of November, they will face some unique hurdles and questions about their future, particularly with recruits.

Over the weekend Nebraska hosted eight official visitors, including five that were ranked four stars or higher.

It was an interesting approach for NU to take considering the smoke that’s out there, but Riley gave his reasoning on Monday.

“The one thing that we are doing as a stuff is we are going forward with the things that we are supposed to do,” Riley said. “Coach our team and recruit the next one. So that’s what we are focusing on.

“We have put a ton of time into this ’18 class and like you mentioned we had a number of real good visitors this past weekend and a lot of success with that ’18 group as we have gone forward, and we are going to continue to recruit those guys and hopefully get them signed in December.

“So, we are doing exactly what our job description describes. Coach our team and recruit our next one and that’s what we do all the time.”

- Sean Callahan

One factor you can often count on in November Big Ten football games is the impact of cold and snow.

The elements have played a part in deciding many victors over the years and look to surface again Saturday in Minneapolis.

With a chance of snow Saturday – and cold weather virtually guaranteed – at Minnesota’s TCF Bank Stadium, the Huskers will likely spend significant time outdoors at the Hawks practice facility this week. Nebraska hasn’t played a true snow game since November 15, 2014 in Madison, Wis.

Lee, however, is no stranger to playing in weather from his time at Tulane. In addition to rain and heat in New Orleans, Lee detailed a game at Army in a driving sleet and temperatures in the 20s.

Even with a bigger challenge in throwing the ball, Lee said he’s looking forward to a classic weather game.

“I think it just puts a bigger emphasis on completing the ball and doing my best to make accurate throws when they’re needed,” Lee said. “It will be something I focus on so I think it will be good for us, something we can use.

“I think we have played some cold games this year but that prepared us a little bit for what we are going to see in Minnesota. So it’ll be fun.”

One stigma around weather game is the idea that teams will be run heavy, a trend senior linebacker Chris Weber said he was looking forward to facing.

But Lee isn’t afraid to sling it around the yard with a heavier pigskin than usual.

“When you’re throwing a wet ball,” Lee said, “you know you don’t want to squeeze it as tight, just kind of let it roll off your hand is what I found in the past. So I’ll practice that a little bit this week.”

- Matt Reynoldson

***It was only a helmets, jerseys and shorts practice, but linebacker Luke Gifford (groin), running back Jaylin Bradley (ankle), safeties Antonio Reed (knee) and Aaron Williams (neck) all practiced on Monday.

***Linebacker Tyrin Ferguson (foot) was still wearing a protective boot on his right foot, and holder Zach Darlington (illness) was able to practice in a green no-contact jersey.

***Offensive coordinator Danny Langsdorf said Bradley was still slowly working his way back from his sprained ankle, and they would have a better idea of his status for Minnesota after Tuesday’s practice and definitely on Wednesday.

***Langsdorf said he’s been really impressed with how quickly Brenden Jaimes has caught on since taking over the right tackle job. He said Jaimes hasn’t gone through nearly the typical learning curve as most true freshmen, which speaks to his maturity for his age as a player.

***Langsdorf said having two freshmen on the right side of the offensive line in Jaimes and Matt Farniok makes pre-snap communication extremely important, which largely lies on center Cole Conrad.

***Langsdorf said running back Devine Ozigbo has been running hard, but he needed to show better patience on his runs to allow holes to develop and then hit them when the opening is there.

***Minnesota comes in ranked as one of the worst rushing defenses in the Big Ten, but Langsdorf said those stats can sometimes be deceiving. He said the Golden Gophers were still physical front, and with the expected bad weather in Minneapolis on Saturday, Langsdorf said NU would have to be able to run the ball consistently.

***Michigan was able to rack up nearly 400 rushing yards on Minnesota last week, and Langsdorf said part of that was the Wolverines loading up on heavy personnel but more so on them breaking several explosive runs. Langsdorf said NU had to find ways to reach the second level in the running game to get more chunk plays on the ground.

***Langsdorf said he’s not worried at all about receiver Tyjon Lindsey’s slow start to his freshman year. Langsdorf said Lindsey is just going through the normal freshman growing pains and said Lindsey was at the same level at this point as some of the great wideouts he’s coached in the past like Brandin Cooks and Markus Wheaton.

***There was some talk that redshirt freshman Boe Wilson got in the game on Saturday, but offensive line coach Mike Cavanaugh said Wilson didn’t play an offensive snap. He was on the field celebrating after Jack Stoll’s touchdown because he was coming on for the extra point.