Saturday notebook: Frost has former Huskers address team

It didn’t take very long to figure out there were a lot of former players present at Saturday’s Nebraska spring practice.

The entire North Stadium parking lot was filled with an overflow of pick-up trucks and SUVs. In all, around 100 former letter winners took in Saturday’s two-and-a-half hour full-padded practice that featured some elements of live to-the-ground scrimmaging.

Following practice, head coach Scott Frost had former offensive lineman Aaron Taylor and former defensive linemen Adam Carriker and Chris Kelsay address the offense and the defense.

“The brotherhood with the former Husker guys, it’s awesome,” current Husker running backs coach and former NU running back Ryan Held said.

“I tell you what, when you look at them even to date, we had some dudes now – guys that look good still. When you see Kelsey and Carriker and all those o-linemen and everybody else, we had some really good players here, and that’s our job as coaches when we go out recruiting. We have to have guys that have good length, toughness and physicality that we’ve got to get to change the culture here.”

Frost also understands what this program means to the people in this state, and most importantly the former players.

“After practice Coach Frost brought in the old Blackshirts and they told us what it meant to them,” sophomore defensive end Ben Stille said. “That had a lot of impact on us. They definitely had a heartfelt message.”

Growing up in Fremont, senior offensive lineman Cole Conrad said it put an extra pep in his step seeing so many former players at practice.

“It gets me excited,” Conrad said. “It just gets me juiced seeing those guys there – the guys like Aaron Taylor and former o-linemen, especially guys from Nebraska you want to look up to. You kind of want to play up to the level they did.”

Senior defensive tackle Peyton Newell added anytime you can have former players share their message like that, it’s always a good thing.

You’d be hard-pressed to find any school in the country that has over 100 former players attend a spring practice, which tells you just how much Nebraska football means to them.

“They were just telling us what it means to be a Blackshirt and the attitude you bring every single day,” Newell said. “It was awesome to be able to see them and have them at practice, it gives you an adrenaline rush, because those guys knew how to work, and they lived their life to the fullest.”

- Sean Callahan

Saturday was not the best practice Nebraska’s offensive line has had this spring by any stretch, and Greg Austin would be the first to admit it.

The first-year o-line coach said his group struggled through the team portion of practice, when the competition turned up to one of the first scrimmage settings of the spring.

But while some coaches might be overly critical of such a showing, Austin chose to look at it as far more of an opportunity than a setback.

“Today was not a good day. I can just be honest with you on that,” Austin said. “Today was not our best day. But generally speaking, up until this point, we’ve been competing our butt off. I wanted to see what today looked like, because I think that in a scrimmage, it brings out the real character of your offensive line and the real character of your unit, whether it be offense or defense.

“But I liked what happened today. When I say that, I mean if we came out there every day and everything was tit for tat and (the defense) had their plays and we had our plays and things weren’t really at game speed, I’d be kind of leery. Or if we came out there and we just won everything every day I would also be leery, just because we didn’t have any adversity.

“Today was our day of adversity. I brought the guys in and I said, ‘Hey, what are we going to do? What are we going to do when faced with adversity? Are we going to get our butt back in the meeting room, find out what we need to do to get better, and then come out here and attack it? Or are we going to put our tails between our legs and sulk about the things that happened to us today?

“So I’m really excited. Today, in my opinion - and just in terms of the offensive line, I can’t speak on any other position - was certainly a day of learning and I think one of the days that’s going to go down as one of the days that made better us overall.”

- Robin Washut

You knew several of Nebraska’s players made some pretty sizeable gains this off-season, but Saturday was the first time we got some real hard data on the gains themselves.

No player arguably made more gains in the winter than Newell.

“Last year I gained one pound of muscle,” Newell said. “In the first seven weeks with Coach (Zach) Duval I lost three percent fat and gained 23 pounds of muscle.

“The workouts are awesome pushing yourself every day, but something we have all gotten great at is our nutrition. Tommy (Jensen) is a great nutritionist for us. He’s done an amazing job demanding us, but making sure we eat the right things and are knowledgeable about the right things to eat.”

Conrad had similar gains to Newell.

“I gained 12 ½ pounds of muscle and five pounds of fat loss,” Conrad said. “That was pretty big for me. I think I have the most muscle on my frame right now that I’ve ever had. That’s definitely a good thing.”

- Sean Callahan

When it comes to Brenden Jaimes, Austin has to take a step back and remember just how green his left tackle of the future actually is sometimes.

The sophomore to be is coming off a 2017 season where he started the final nine games, becoming just the fifth true freshman offensive lineman to start a game at Nebraska since freshmen regained eligibility in the early 1970s.

Jaimes also became only the 11th NU o-lineman to play as a true freshman.

Given Jaimes' fast start and obvious potential, Austin said he occasionally has to remind himself that the former Austin (Texas) Lake Travis standout is still less than a full year into his collegiate career.

“Jaimes is an athletic, long guy, and I lose track of how young he is because he’s a true freshman,” Austin said. “He’s in his second semester of college and he’s our starting left tackle. So he’s doing a pretty good job there.

“We’re asking him to do a lot more every single day. We’re coaching him through the ground up, and when I say that, I mean everything we coach, we coach from the ground up. So he’s learning the body posture that he needs in the run and the pass, the foot strike he needs, the foot quickness he needs, etc., and he’s been very comfortable.”

Austin noted that from what he’s seen over the first week of spring practices compared to the game film he watched of last season, Jaimes is a much better fit working at left tackle than at right, where he played all nine of his games in 2017.

But Austin said the experience Jaimes gained in his immediate action last year gave him a huge edge versus most other players at his point in their careers.

“Any time you get game reps, whether it’s trial and error or it’s a guy going out there and really excelling, there’s nothing that can compare to the actual game reps you get,” Austin said. “Certainly he knows the speed of the game, he knows the expectations, so I think he’s going to go out there and excel next year as he continues to get better.”

- Robin Washut

If you expect to get much information about Nebraska’s quarterback race this spring, good luck.

As it stands, they continue to rep the quarterbacks equally, and nobody has an upper hand at this point through seven spring practices.

“All the guys are getting their reps right now,” quarterbacks coach Mario Verduzco said. “We are splitting them up as evenly as we possibly can, so there’s a rotation. From their vantage point and from anyone else’s vantage point, they can’t read anything into it.

"Get your reps, let’s go and be as productive as you possibly can.”

Verduzco reiterated nobody has the edge right now in the quarterback race.

“They are doing real well and they are working as hard as they can to be effective and efficient in our offense,” Verduzco said.

- Sean Callahan

Nebraska had two centers with playing experience on its roster as spring football began, with Conrad missing the first handful of practices and Michael Decker will miss the entire spring while recovering from injuries.

Conrad said it was tough to be sidelined those first few practices, but it allowed some younger players like redshirt freshman Hunter Miller and true freshman Will Farniok to get solid reps and experience.

“It’s tough because you want to be out there and taking the full team reps and things like that,” Conrad said. “You’ve also got to look at it, and you’ve just got to help the younger guys. Especially Will and Hunter from the center position and kind of teach them what you’ve learned a little bit and just let them go, let them cut it loose.”

The young centers have taken advantage of their opportunities this spring, according to Conrad. Those reps and experience will pay off for both players down the road, Conrad said.

“I definitely think in the first couple of practices he’s done some good things,” Conrad said when asked about Miller. “I think that getting that tape and building up his resume has been pretty good for him because he’s done a lot of good things.

“I think just the reps, and it’s nice during spring ball where you get a day of practice and a day off to look at what you’re really doing and recover and things like that. Like I said, just the reps more than anything for me what has helped the most back when I was starting.”

With Conrad back on the field and Decker expected back in the fall, the Huskers should have some solid depth built at the center position going forward.

- Nate Clouse

***Nose tackle Mick Stoltenberg remains out with an undisclosed injury, but he was not on crutches on Saturday.

***Offensive coordinator Troy Walters said the majority of the offensive playbook was installed, and now it was a matter of refining all of the details within it and getting the players to master it.

Walters said that would only come with more reps in practice, which is helped by how many reps NU runs each day in this system. Walters “it’s going to take some time” for the players to fully master the system, and said it took all the way into Year Two at Central Florida before it was running at 100 percent.

***Walters said he was very excited about Tyjon Lindsey’s potential in this offense, saying he was a versatile and dynamic player who had a great football IQ. While Lindsey still has a way to go yet, Walters said the sky was the limit for the sophomore wide receiver.

***Walters said it’s been hard to know what exactly to do with the former fullbacks on the roster given that they don’t use a fullback at all in their offense. He said those players have really been utilized on special teams, and the staff’s message to them is that the players who travel for games during the season are the ones who can play special teams.

***Neither Walters nor quarterback coach Mario Verduzco would tip their hat on how the quarterback battle currently stands, saying all the players are doing well and competing. Walters said the main thing they're looking for is which guys step up as leaders on the field and take command of the offense.

***Offensive line coach Greg Austin said Cole Conrad had been slowly working his way back into the mix since returning from injury this week. Despite his return, Austin said Hunter Miller has still been getting reps with the top offenses at center.

Austin said Miller had done a good job of taking care of his opportunity with Conrad and Michael Decker out, especially for a guy who’s first collegiate practice ever was NU’s opening spring practice.

***Walters and Austin said the overall athleticism and mobility of the offensive line has been good this spring, but Austin said it needs to get even better over the course of the summer. He said better “eye training” with knowing assignments and who to block would help the guys play faster, and that could only come with time.

***Austin said the backup guards behind Jerald Foster and Tanner Farmer were, in no particular order, Boe Wilson, John Raridon, Broc Bando, and Jalin Barnett, while Will Farniok has been working at both guard and center.

***Conrad has been impressed with how Farniok has held up, considering he should still be in high school right now.

“The kid is 17, it’s crazy to think he’s that young,” Conrad said. “For him to step in and go against the one’s and two’s, he’s doing a fantastic job. He just has to keep going and keep grinding and so does everybody else.”

***Lindsey said he lost 20 pounds during his medical situation at the start of winter workouts. However, now that’s he’s physically back on track, Lindsey said he’s currently in some of the best shape of his life.Lindsey said he’s down 5 percent in body fat, and he replaced 10 pounds of fat with 10 pounds of muscle.

***Lindsey said his medical issue definitely made him question his future at Nebraska at first, but said Frost, Walters, and Duval immediately reached out to him and constantly checked in to see how he was doing. He said that let him know the staff really cared about him and reaffirmed he was in the right place.

***DaiShon Neal said he’s up to 290 pounds (he was listed at 275 last season).

***Deontre Thomas said he’s much more comfortable since moving outside to defensive end from nose tackle. He said it allows him to utilize his speed and explosiveness much better.

***Thomas also said he’s really taken to new defensive line coach Mike Dawson. In fact, Thomas used the word “love” about four times when talking about his relationship with Dawson.

***Conrad said he continues to take snaps at center this spring.

“I think that’s where they need me, but wherever they want me, that’s where I’ll go,” Conrad said.

***Stille wouldn’t too technical when it came describing Erik Chinanader’s 3-4 defensive scheme compared to Bob Diaco’s.

“I’m not going to get into our scheme, but it’s not the same at all,” Stille said.

***Stille said he’s been impressed with defensive newcomers Will Honas, Breon Dixon and Deontai Williams this spring.

“They have been welcomed with open arms,” Stille said. “They are out there making plays, and that’s what matters.”