Search at center continues, but Conrad making his case
Looking at the list of Nebraska’s offseason player attrition thus far, the only real notable contributor to move on has been center Michael Decker.
Even though the junior missed all of spring practices while recovering from knee surgery, he still boasted significant experience at center with 19 career appearances and five starts under his belt. Decker announced last month he was retiring from football.
But as far as offensive line coach Greg Austin is concerned, it’s hard to consider Decker’s departure a major loss seeing how he had never even played a single practice snap in NU’s new offense.
“Michael Decker was never in spring ball, so you don’t miss something you never had,” Austin said. “It’s like a girl you never had; you can only look at the magazine and say, ‘Gol-ly!’ We had established a relationship, but I never established a playing relationship with him, so he was never in the mix.”
Because of Decker’s absence and senior Cole Conrad also being shelved for much of the spring with a shoulder injury, the Huskers had to get creative with the center position.
Players that might not have normally seen significant first and second-team reps like true freshman Will Farniok and walk-on Hunter Miller were suddenly thrust up the depth chart.
Other veterans like guards Tanner Farmer and Jerald Foster even took reps in the middle to help provide depth during spring ball.
Austin said that while it was a bit difficult to manage the position at the time, the situation allowed for NU to build up some much-needed depth entering the summer.
In fact, the staff already has a pretty good idea of what the center group is going to look like this season.
“We have a plan in place, trust me…” Austin said. “Certainly we’re going to miss (Decker) because we knew what he potentially could be, but it’s just like in recruiting - you don’t worry about the guys that you don’t get, you worry about the guys that you have an opportunity to work with.”
While Austin didn’t come out and name him the projected starter, he certainly set the table for Conrad - who made seven starts at center last year but missed five games to injury - to be at the forefront of that discussion entering fall camp.
Austin said Conrad has bounced back extremely well physically from his surgery and, more importantly, has established himself as one of the clear senior leaders of the offensive line along with Farmer and Foster.
“I think Cole can hold down the middle,” Austin said. “My expectation is for him to play at a high level and to know all the calls - which he does - to take ownership and have a leadership presence. But he hasn’t played a live snap in our offense, so the only things I can speak on are his intangibles, and he’s done an awesome job with that.
“Tangibly, we’re going to have to continue to work some of the technique that he missed on going full speed this spring. He played some OK ball last year, and I was really excited about his potential coming into spring ball. So I think he can do it, and I’m excited to see him work.”
