Tuesday notebook: Staff issues challenge to Jackson, other demoted players

During Nebraska’s loss last week to Purdue, it wasn’t hard to pick out junior cornerback Lamar Jackson after he got pulled from the game.

The California native was benched by head coach Scott Frost after he received a defensive holding penalty that negated a Marquel Dismuke interception. Frost wasn’t necessarily upset about the penalty itself, but instead how Jackson reacted after the play. He was seen dancing and celebrating, which was the final straw.

The former four-star corner was pulled from the game and didn’t see the field again. Junior Eric Lee was his replacement, and when the new depth chart was released on Monday, Jackson was still listed a co-No. 2 along with true freshman Braxton Clark.

In a lot of ways, the coaching staff has issued a challenge to Jackson, and they want to see how he responds.

“Hey man, when adversity hits you can do one of two things,” secondary coach Travis Fisher said. “You can either stay on the ground or get up and fight. One of the two.

“Right now, he’s not fighting.”

And defensive coordinator Erik Chinander said this challenge doesn’t just go to Jackson. It’s to any player that has seen their snaps decrease the last few weeks.

“The message to a guy like that or to anybody on our team is: practice better than anybody else, and you’re the starter. Period,” Chinander said. “I don’t have 11 (guaranteed) starters. I don’t care who starts. Practice better than everybody else, and you’re the starter. You don’t practice as good as everybody else, you’re not the starter. You need to earn the team’s back, not mine.”

Fisher is hoping this will get Jackson or any player for that matter to respond going forward, and it was all part of Frost’s message this week.

“(Jackson) got pulled out of a game just like everybody else would get pulled out of a game,” Fisher said. “You got one of two things to do when adversity hits you in life. Coach Frost said it the best I probably heard it in one of our team meetings. He said you either are going to lay on the ground and accept it, or you are going to get up and swing. This is what he needs, and this has been part of his development with a new coaching staff. This is just a test for him, and he needs to get up and keep swinging.”

- Sean Callahan

Among Nebraska’s many problems this season has been its defense’s inability to consistently get off the field on third down, especially when opposing offenses are facing difficult third-and-long situations.

The Huskers currently rank 12thin the Big Ten in third-down defense, giving up conversion rate of 39.3 (24 of 61) on the year. What’s even worse is that 12 of those conversions came on third-and-8 or longer.

Chinander said there were plenty of reasons why NU has struggled in that area, but it would have to come down to the defense figuring out how to fix itself before those poor third down numbers could improve.

“I don't have the exact numbers in front of me, but we have way too many penalties, way too many rush lane errors, way too many busted coverages,” Chinander said. “That about sums it up… We can't get out of our own way right now."

The task facing Chinander and the rest of the defensive coaches now is finding out the best way to build up their players’ confidence while also making sure those same mistakes don’t continue to happen.

“We are not a disciplined team right now, plain and simple,” Chinander said. “We bust (assignments) too much, we have too many penalties period, and I told the kids, your job is you need to execute better. You need to play harder. I need to coach you better, and I need to love you harder. Sometimes loving you harder is hugging you and telling you how nice you are, other times it's putting my foot in your rear end and telling you the truth.

“So we need to get some things fixed. We're getting there, but this is not an overnight process. I know everybody wants us to win right now and win big. It's just not where it is right now, and we need to get to the discipline (level) of Wisconsin. We need to get the championship attitude that they have, the championship discipline that they have, the championship mentality that they have."

- Robin Washut

Nebraska’s players were supposed to have Sunday off to rest and recharge after a frustrating 0-4 start.

But the Huskers’ four team captains had other plans for the day.

Frost said seniors Mick Stoltenberg, Luke Gifford, Jerald Foster, and Stanley Morgan Jr. came to his office on Sunday and wanted to talk about ways they could help their team get back on track. Based on the past two days of practices, the players seemed to have relayed Frost’s message fairly well.

“I had four captains come into my office (Sunday) on their day off to talk about what needed to be done to get it fixed,” Frost said. “I think the guys get it, and that’s all part of building the foundation I talked about. Sometimes it doesn’t matter how much the coach says it, if it doesn’t come from in the locker room there’s not a lot of power to it.

“Now we have leaders that are excited to get some of these things changed and fixed. It’s still not going to get fixed overnight, but I think we have guys that are going to hold other people accountable to make sure the right things are happening.”

After meeting with Frost, the Huskers then called a players-only meeting to address what had been going wrong over the first month of the season and what needed to happen to correct those issues.

“We had all the captains who led the meeting, we have all the players that usually stand out on defense and offense, but it was just a group understanding of what we need to do, what our mission still is and going out every single day in practice and getting better,” senior defensive end Freedom Akinmoladun said.

“We know that we need to get back on the right foot. We know that this season hasn’t been exactly how we wanted it, but we know exactly what we need to do.”

- Robin Washut

It goes without saying that Nebraska’s defensive line will be tested this weekend against Wisconsin.

The Badgers do what they do, and they do it well, as they currently lead the Big Ten in rushing behind their massive offensive line. Huskers defensive line coach Mike Dawson says with Wisconsin, what you see is what you get.

“I don’t think it’s a secret; when you put on the film and watch these guys I think everyone in the country probably sees the same thing and knows how big they are right off the bat,” Dawson said. “They are a very physical offensive line, they’ve got great running backs, they get downhill at the line of scrimmage very quickly. We have got to do a good job at trying to control the line of scrimmage and get after the run game.

“I think that each team that you play will have its nuances and different things that will make it challenging. When I first put them on, I thought they looked like the Dallas Cowboys' offensive line. They are that size, that mentality and all that kind of stuff. They are a great sized team, and they do what they do, and they aren’t going to get off of that. When they hit you with something that’s working they are going to keep trying to do that, so we have to be really sharp in what we’re doing.”

For the Huskers, this week is all about getting hands on Wisconsin’s linemen and trying to knock them back instead of being the ones to be knocked back according to Dawson.

“The bottom line with us up front is we’ve got to be able to knock people backward,” Dawson said. “You’ve got to be able to get your hands on people. Up front, if you’re not putting your hands on people every single play, then something is going wrong. We have to do a good job of putting our hands on guys and make sure we’re not trying to jump through or swim through gaps or trying to, quote, unquote, ‘make a play.’ Just do your job, get your hands on your man, and they will help tell you where the ball is going to go.”

- Nate Clouse

Nebraska's defensive front seven will see a completely different type of challenge this week at Wisconsin compared to what it faced a week ago with Purdue.

The Badgers will come at the Huskers with a physical brand a football that will test them up front, putting a lot of pressure on the defensive line and linebackers.

“It’s similar to Michigan,” senior linebacker Luke Gifford said. “Big line with big backs and then they throw some shots. We are kind of fortunate in the fact we’ve seen a little bit like that. They definitely have their differences, but it’s going to be a big challenge for us, and I think we are ready to step up.”

The last time NU played at Wisconsin, the Huskers fell in overtime. In fact, the last three meetings between these two teams have all gone into the fourth quarter with the Badgers winning them all.

Gifford knows playing in Madison won’t be easy, but it’s a challenge the team is looking forward to.

“It’s a sweet atmosphere,” Gifford said of Camp Randall. “It’s a really fun place to play, especially in good games. That game a couple of years ago was awesome. That game a few years ago was awesome. We are looking forward to it. It’s a great place to play and a good team to play. We are excited.”

- Sean Callahan

***With Will Honas out for the season, Chinander said former walk-on Jacob Weinmaster would take a big jump up the inside linebacker rotation going forward. While Weinmaster still needs more reps, Chinander said he was a smart player who knows what he’s supposed to do, and his experience as a key special teams player would help him adjust to a bigger role on defense.

***Chinander said they were also getting walk-on linebackers Joey Johnson and Chris Cassidy more reps this week as emergency backups.

***Chinander said the overall tackling has been “OK”, but the Huskers still needed to improve their leverage and pursuit angles, especially on the perimeter.

***Chinander said there were several guys who were playing hard enough, noting Mohamed Barry, Dicaprio Bootle, Aaron Williams, Carlos and Khalil Davis, Ben Stille, Freedom Akinmoladun, and Luke Gifford as the first who came to mind. But while guys were playing hard, Chinander said no one was playing well enough.

***There have been no changes regarding the Blackshirts this week. Chinander said there might be a couple guys who have made a strong case to get one, but he had no interest in giving out more Blackshirts after giving up 42 points at home to Purdue on homecoming.

***Walk-on receiver Kade Warner said he moved outside to the perimeter early last week after some other receivers got dinged up and learned by Thursday that he would be in line to start vs. Purdue.

***Warner said he texted his dad, former NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner, as soon as he found out he was starting, and his parents were able to scramble up a trip to Lincoln to be there for the game.

***Cornerback Cam Taylor, who missed the Purdue game with an injury, was suited up for Tuesday’s practice.

***Wide receiver J.D. Spielman, who head coach Scott Frost said on Monday was dealing with an undisclosed injury, was also in pads on Tuesday.