Here’s a quick recap of what Nebraska head coach Scott Frost had to say following the Huskers' 44-8 win over Northern Illinois on Saturday night...
***Frost was very pleased with the progress his team made from Week 2 to Week 3, saying Nebraska did a lot of things better than the first two games “and, really, going back a lot further than that.”
Frost said he feels like the Huskers’ “rounded a corner” this week, mentioning that NU only committed one penalty, had the big goal line defensive stand, scoring the touchdown at the end of the first half, and the solid production from No. 2 units to end the game as good examples.
***Frost declined to comment on the injuries to Cam Taylor-Britt and Brenden Jaimes, only saying he hopes they’ll be OK and that the injuries weren’t anything serious.
***Frost did say that Maurice Washington “got bumped up a little bit, but he’s going to be fine.” Washington left the game early in the third quarter and did not return.
***Frost said he hoped to be at full strength at kicker again soon, but in the meantime, it sounds like Lane McCallum will continue to handle the placekicking duties going forward.
Frost said McCallum kicked well in practice all week, but he didn’t trust the Air Force transfer to kick in a game yet. McCallum hit all three of his extra points on Saturday and impressed Frost enough to keep the job for now.
***Frost said it’s hard to remember that Adrian Martinez was still just a true sophomore and was still growing as a player. While Martinez has been off and on so far this season, Frost did not doubt that “he’s going to be really good.”
***Frost said one thing that gave Nebraska’s offense problems was Northern Illinois using a 3-3-5 defense whenever NU went into 11 personnel. Frost said the Huskies hadn’t shown that at all in the first two games and the Huskers had to adjust on the fly.
***Frost he challenged himself and his coaches to coach “with no fear of failure” just how they ask their players to play. He didn’t want to talk about last week’s overtime loss at Colorado but did say he reflected this week and realized what made his staff so successful was “keeping our foot on the gas” with their play calling.
***Frost said Dedrick Mills took a big step forward tonight and looked much more like the guy the coaches had seen all fall camp.
***Frost said the aggressiveness on the punt blocks came from Jovan Dewitt seeing something in NIU’s punting scheme that they could attack. Frost said Dewitt convinced him to go after a couple of punts early and Frost gave him the green light to “let it rip.”
***With the extent of Taylor-Britt and Jaimes’s injuries unknown, Frost said he thought No. 2 left tackle Broc Bando did a good job and that young defensive backs Braxton Clark and Quinton Newsome stepped up nicely.
***Frost praised walk-on Isaiah Stalbird, who caused both of Nebraska’s blocked punts. Frost said Stalbird was “going to be one of those poster boys for walk-ons that Nebraska’s used to having… If he keeps playing like that, he won’t be a walk-on much longer.”
