Tuesday notebook: Senior Blackshirts determined to finish strong

Of Nebraska’s 19 seniors this season, eight play on the defensive side of the ball. All eight of those players are either starters or key reserves.

That’s why Saturday’s Senior Day game vs. Michigan State is going to be tough for NU defensive coordinator Erik Chinander, as so many of the guys who helped build the foundation for the Blackshirt culture he wants will be playing their final home game as Huskers.

"Yeah, I think it'll be bittersweet,” Chinander said. “Those guys have done a great job of helping transform the direction of the program, the culture of the program. Setting the stage for what's to come in the next few years. They understand that, but it's going to be kind of bittersweet to have them go the last time without them experiencing what they've created.

“I hope they're back forever. I hope they feel like they can come back to any meeting, any practice, to any game and be a part of this team because they're always going to be a part of this team no matter where it goes. I think it's going to be really good in the future, and I hope they realize how big of a part of that they're going to have in that."

After a rough start to the season, the Blackshirts have come into their own over the past few weeks, particularly in adopting the aggressive mindset to force 11 of their total 18 takeaways over the past three games.

Senior linebacker Luke Gifford admitted it had been tough to balance the emotions that come with playing his final home game as a Husker with staying focused on finishing out the season on a high note.

But just as they have all year, Gifford said he and the rest of NU’s senior defenders would be ready to keep building the Blackshirts for the future.

“It’s been hard,” Gifford said. “I’ve been thinking about it this week, and it doesn’t seem real that this is my last game at Memorial Stadium. But at the end of the day, we still have a job to do and need to finish this thing out the right way.”

- Robin Washut

Michigan State seemed to have one of the top returning quarterbacks in the Big Ten entering the season with junior Brian Lewerke back under center.

But a lingering shoulder injury has led to a lackluster season for Lewerke, to the point where the Spartans have gone back and forth between him and redshirt freshman Rocky Lombardi.

Entering this week’s trip to Lincoln, MSU is dealing with more quarterback uncertainty than ever. But as far as Nebraska’s defense is concerned, the offense it will see on Saturday won’t change much regardless of which quarterback is in the game.

If anything, Chinander said maybe the biggest wrinkle the Blackshirts will see will be when the Spartans utilize top running back Connor Heyward as a Wildcat quarterback in certain situations.

"With their two guys it's kind of what plays they run,” Chinander said. “I don't know if the skill set is completely different. I mean, they both do a good job running that offense. Their third guy (Heyward) is obviously a guy that we recruited at UCF that's more of a Wildcat guy.

“So I think you have a few things to prepare for, but you kind of have to do some of it in the ‘good-on-good’ periods against our offense and some of it through the scout team work. I think there's a lot to prepare for not only that but a lot of different personnel groupings they present you with."

- Robin Washut

Nebraska quarterback Adrian Martinez earned Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors for his performance against Illinois, marking the third time the true freshman has earned the award and the second time he has done so in as many weeks.

Tight end Austin Allen said the leader the fans and media see Martinez as on Saturdays was the same type of leader he was during practice. In fact, Allen gave an example of that leadership from Monday’s practice.

“Martinez is a great leader on Saturdays, and you guys all see that,” Allen said. “He’s a great leader in practice, too. He’s always getting us going. Yesterday it seemed like it started off as, not a sluggish practice, but a quiet practice. Everybody was doing their job still, but he was the first one to say, ‘Hey, let’s get it going. Let’s crank the music a little bit, let’s turn up the tempo.’ So he’s the same leader he is on Saturdays as he is in practice day in and day out.”

Allen went on to say Martinez came in with the proper mindset to be Nebraska’s quarterback and a leader of the team as soon as he arrived last winter. Allen thinks not being able to play as a senior in high school may have helped Martinez prepare himself mentally to take on that role and not let the nerves of being NU’s signal-caller get to him.

“I mean, there are nerves at the tight end spot, but at quarterback, all eyes are on you,” Allen said. “I think the biggest thing is he stepped in with confidence. He took his senior year off, I believe that got him to think that his next step is college football, like he needs to get his mind right. He came in here with the right mindset.”

- Nate Clouse

During the summer, nobody knew what to expect from senior safety Aaron Williams after he underwent shoulder surgery following the Red-White spring game.

Williams was told he was on a recovery process to return by October, but he was able to expedite that process and get back to the field by August. Williams feels like that entire experience will make him better in the long run.

“When I reflect on my senior season, I’m kind of happy that I went through that adversity,” Williams said. “It will prepare me for life outside of football. Knowing how to cope with it and deal with it to mentally inside drive myself to personally overcome it and get right back to it. I think I really needed it, so I’m grateful for it.”

The other unknown fact about Williams is he was never guaranteed he was going to get his spot back after his quick recovery.

With guys like Tre Neal and Deontai Williams added to the roster this year, Aaron Williams was on the outside looking in until he got his first chance against Colorado when the Huskers were struggling.

“I had to actually earn my spot back,” Williams said. “With my shoulder surgery, I actually came back two full months early. I really wasn’t supposed to start playing until last September or early October. Being able to work with Mark (Mayer) and still have a relationship with coaches is kind of helpful.

"Being down so long and not being able to contribute, you have to find your way and work your way back up. I needed that to build back the hunger back inside. I’m happy that happened.”

-Sean Callahan

During Nebraska’s win over Illinois on Saturday, linebackers Mohamed Barry, Dedrick Young, and Gifford played every single defensive snap. At Ohio State, Gifford also played every snap, while Young and Barry played all but two of NU’s 75 snaps.

When the Huskers first started the season, this wasn’t the situation the defensive coaching staff wanted, but injuries to Tyrin Ferguson and Will Honas have put them in the situation they are in right now.

“It’s not always ideal, but they are tough kids,” inside linebacker coach Barrett Ruud said. “We didn’t play our best game, not even close to our best game last week. Those guys are very prideful, and they took the corrections to heart, and they’ve had a good week so far.”

Something that has helped the linebackers get through this is it hasn’t been as hot.

“One thing that’s nice about playing in the coldest game since 1993 is you don’t get tired out there,” Ruud said. “So they weren’t tired. But depth has been a little bit of an issue. Obviously losing Will (Honas) early in the year hurt us. Those guys have kind of had to go the distance. Jake (Weinmaster) and Collin (Miller) have been good when they’ve needed to go in. They are a little tired right now, but at the same time those guys are ready to go.”

Going forward, Ruud hopes with more bodies added in recruiting, along with getting Ferguson and Honas back down the road things will change.

“I guess the only negative is we knew that as coaches, and sometimes you have to watch how hard you go in practice as far as the live reps,” Ruud said. “We’d like to do a little more live reps and stuff personally, but we just haven’t been able to the last four or five weeks. To those guys credit, they’ve done a good job of preparing and spending time on their own get ready.”

- Sean Callahan

***Nebraska won’t see a quarterback run game like it did against Illinois the rest of the season. Chinander said the mistakes they made last week in that regard were easily correctable but still disappointing to see. He said a lot of AJ Bush’s success came as a result of the Huskers not having their eyes in the right place – which he said happens a lot against triple option schemes – and then just not tackling well.

***Gifford said the defense was preparing itself for an old-school Big Ten defensive battle with Michigan State. Knowing how good the Spartans are on defense, the Blackshirts know they need to match that level on Saturday.

***Gifford also said the cold weather didn’t really bother the defense much at all last week. It might be just as cold, if not colder, this week, and Gifford said the Huskers would be ready. Gifford was actually hoping the chance of snow for Saturday holds up.

“Going into the (Illinois) game, everyone was talking about how cold it was going to be, and then you get out there in warmups, and it’s just, your mindset’s got to change," Gifford said. "As a football player, as a defender and a Blackshirt, that’s something you just don’t think about when you’re out there. Once you step on that field, it’s game on.”

***Defensive line coach Mike Dawson said the biggest things keeping Damion Daniels from playing more are his conditioning and being more mentally consistent. Dawson was confident both of those areas would improve in time.

***Left tackle Brenden Jaimes said he really dialed in after a bad game at Michigan and felt good about the progress he’d made since then. Jaimes gave a lot of credit to senior left guard Jerald Foster for helping him along and dealing with all of his young mistakes the past two years.

***Ruud played in three straight Nebraska Class A state championships at Lincoln Southeast, and he said he thinks they need to play every state championship game in Memorial Stadium.

***Allen, a former standout at Aurora, said he had a class scheduled during the Huskies’ Class C1 championship game vs. Ord next Tuesday. Allen convinced his professor to let him get out of the class and said he hasn’t missed an Aurora game (whether watching it in person, streaming it online, or listening on the radio) all season.