New Staff Selection

[Huskers93-97]

We could first look at how many reps our special teams unit and punters have in practice relative to other B1G teams with successful special teams. I mean, I couldn't, but I'd assume a quality special teams coach could and would figure that out.

But the most obvious answer is that you prioritize looking for a punter out of the transfer portal, if a guy is at all available. That one is so obvious that it's almost physically painful.

Then for the "couple odd bounces that the punt returner made a bad decision on" part, again my completely uneducated guess is that we might not be putting in enough reps on special teams plays.

Throwing up one's hands and just saying "not even sure how to improve some of these things" kind of seems like roughly what Frost has been doing - and it is clear that isn't cutting it, right?

I noticed the #1 receiver for Alabama plays on special teams. They put their best players in positions to make plays on EVERY play.

 

[TheIronCheek86]

And most of our issues were the result of one player not successfully executing their one job.

Yes, the kickoff return for a TD was a team failure.  The punt block was probably on a couple guys.

I don't know how focusing more on special teams is going to prevent last year's B1G Kicker of the Year from falling off the ledge.  Or how you prevent a guy from punting it 62 yards one time and 7 yards the next.  Or a couple odd bounces that the punt returner made a bad decision on.

At some point the players have to make the plays.  Especially when they are (mostly) routine plays.

I've been struggling with this for years... even before Frost during Riley's tenure. There's something mentally weak about the team that is REALLY difficult to pin down. They've clearly got the talent to compete with anyone on their schedule - which wasn't the case when Frost took over - but ever since eating that hail mary against BYU in Riley's opener, the team has crumbled under pressure and cannot stop a surge of momentum from the other team.

The fact is every football game has momentum swings - a fumble, INT, specials teams play - that turn the tide of a game for better or worse. When a bad things happens in a game, good teams rally and find a way to come up with a key play that swings the momentum back in their favor. Nebraska can never do that no matter who they're playing or who is on the field and they absolutely will not recover until the game is comfortably out of reach. How many times in the last few years has NU experience a bad momentum swing and suddenly the offense, defense, or special teams goes from adequate to wholly incompetent until they're down 10, 14, 17 points? Then when the pressure is off, Martinez turns into a miracle worker and brings us all the way back to within one score before choking again when the pressure is back on.

Every time an opponent does something important, I'll turn to whoever I'm with and say something like "This next drive is crucial" and NU without fail soils themselves.

I've been wondering if the issues are less about coaching, technique, Xs and Os, or talent and more about emotional stability and maturity. Is there someone on staff - a team counselor, psychiatrist, etc. - that is in charge of making sure players are in the right head space?

 

[84HuskerLaw]

With regard to special teams generally, this is one area that, overall, Neb has been pretty good, for half a century until the past 6 years or so.  
 

We have recruited the punters and place kickers on those teams.  Some scholarships and quite a few walkons I believe.  I am not sure NU has ever had a real expert kicking coach per se but past coaches have taken the time to go and learn.  Maybe our kickers need to go to camps or get outside help (QBs have done this)?  
 

There have to punters in colleges all over.  Any level punter D1, D2, D3 etc would suffice. A consistent 40 yard kick in the area we prefer with the simple ability to kick shorter (chip & roll), to pin teams inside the 15.  A boomer is handy but control and reliability is vital.  
Field goal kicks inside 45 is reasonable. Long ones are nice but a bonus imo. 

 

[Mavric]

We could first look at how many reps our special teams unit and punters have in practice relative to other B1G teams with successful special teams. I mean, I couldn't, but I'd assume a quality special teams coach could and would figure that out.

But the most obvious answer is that you prioritize looking for a punter out of the transfer portal, if a guy is at all available. That one is so obvious that it's almost physically painful.

Then for the "couple odd bounces that the punt returner made a bad decision on" part, again my completely uneducated guess is that we might not be putting in enough reps on special teams plays.

Throwing up one's hands and just saying "not even sure how to improve some of these things" kind of seems like roughly what Frost has been doing - and it is clear that isn't cutting it, right?

I've never said we can't be better.  We absolutely have to be.

What I've said is that I'm not convinced it accurate to claim that we simply don't focus enough on it or if we'd just do xxxx it would be fixed so we're stupid for not doing xxxx.  We previously had a dedicated special teams coordinator and were terrible at special teams.  It's not a magic bullet.  

We've tried a lot of different things that haven't worked.  That doesn't mean that it hasn't been a focus.

The "obvious" answer may be to take a transfer but we've taken a bunch of transfer kickers and punters and yet here we are.  All you can do is try again.  It's not like the NFL where you just sign another guy mid-season if they're not getting it done.

 

[ActualCornHusker]

Whipple does seem to be a good football coach.   I just don't know about the timing and the fit.  Moving to a pro style offense?  In this economy?

Seems like it sets us up to struggle for a couple years before it clicks.  I don't know if we have that kind of time.

We will see what happens, but I fully expect the offense to be somewhat of a blend between Frost and Whipple's systems. With somewhat limited knowledge, it appears from Whipple's coaching history that he has run a variety of styles of offense that fit to his personnel. 

 

[Stone Cold]

We will see what happens, but I fully expect the offense to be somewhat of a blend between Frost and Whipple's systems. With somewhat limited knowledge, it appears from Whipple's coaching history that he has run a variety of styles of offense that fit to his personnel. 

I mean you really made it to easy

 

[swmohusker]

I noticed the #1 receiver for Alabama plays on special teams. They put their best players in positions to make plays on EVERY play.

They almost lost the Iron Bowl bc he got ejected for targetting while covering a punt.  Need to have the WR working tackling drills to avoid that costly penalty. 

 

[Undone]

@Mavric - It just seems to me that there's an opportunity to make space for the 10th coach to be a dedicated special teams coordinator. And if that guy has the right resume, he can look at the film of what has gone wrong and then make  a plan to fix it.

I actually have nothing bad to say about Culp at all because as you pointed out, there's nothing that can be done there.

And the inaccurate punt in the Michigan State game can be chalked up to being a fluke.

But the kickoff return against Wisconsin and the blocked punt against Iowa? Completely, completely avoidable with the right reps. No doubt in my mind. So, two games were lost off of those two plays.

This is the lowest hanging fruit to grab and to fix for next year and I truly hope Frost gets his a** fired if we look even remotely like we did this last year on special teams next year.

 

[PasstheDamnBallGuy]

@Mavric - It just seems to me that there's an opportunity to make space for the 10th coach to be a dedicated special teams coordinator. And if that guy has the right resume, he can look at the film of what has gone wrong and then make  a plan to fix it.

I actually have nothing bad to say about Culp at all because as you pointed out, there's nothing that can be done there.

And the inaccurate punt in the Michigan State game can be chalked up to being a fluke.

But the kickoff return against Wisconsin and the blocked punt against Iowa? Completely, completely avoidable with the right reps. No doubt in my mind. So, two games were lost off of those two plays.

This is the lowest hanging fruit to grab and to fix for next year and I truly hope Frost gets his a** fired if we look even remotely like we did this last year on special teams next year.

I think hiring a ST coach is a good idea if we can work out a RB coach somehow, but what if the thought is that Frost hired exactly the type of OC where he doesnt have to focus as much on offense all game. They have said exactly that they want Frost to take a more CEO role and be watching the game for details. Maybe he is watching and sees that punt block formation is wrong vs Iowa instead of trying to draw up the next series on offense. My major concern is if they go this route and dont hire a ST coach I really dont think just using Ron Brown is the way to go.  We need to go out and get someone fresh for that role. 

 

[Mavric]

@Mavric - It just seems to me that there's an opportunity to make space for the 10th coach to be a dedicated special teams coordinator. And if that guy has the right resume, he can look at the film of what has gone wrong and then make  a plan to fix it.

I actually have nothing bad to say about Culp at all because as you pointed out, there's nothing that can be done there.

And the inaccurate punt in the Michigan State game can be chalked up to being a fluke.

But the kickoff return against Wisconsin and the blocked punt against Iowa? Completely, completely avoidable with the right reps. No doubt in my mind. So, two games were lost off of those two plays.

This is the lowest hanging fruit to grab and to fix for next year and I truly hope Frost gets his a** fired if we look even remotely like we did this last year on special teams next year.

I don't necessarily think we HAVE to have a STC, but I'm not against it either.  I think we're set up really well to have Busch step into that role and fill in around it.  I hope it really helps.  But I don't think it will necessarily mean we're doing all that much differently, we might just get guys to make more plays.

Maybe more reps fix the kickoff return and the blocked punt, maybe not.  I'd buy it more if it was the first couple games of the season.  By the end of the season, I can't imagine they didn't have enough reps in.  They started out practices with special teams in spring and I think fall camp.  If we run 10 reps with 15 suddenly be the magic number? I have my doubts.  But maybe someone specifically watching a couple more details would let us call a timeout to get something fixed but, again, at some point the players have to be able to execute what they've worked on.

If we were just slightly above average in both kicking and punting, I don't think people would care (nearly as much) about the lack of returns.

 

[Jason Sitoke]

I don't necessarily think we HAVE to have a STC, but I'm not against it either.  I think we're set up really well to have Busch step into that role and fill in around it.  I hope it really helps.  But I don't think it will necessarily mean we're doing all that much differently, we might just get guys to make more plays.

Maybe more reps fix the kickoff return and the blocked punt, maybe not.  I'd buy it more if it was the first couple games of the season.  By the end of the season, I can't imagine they didn't have enough reps in.  They started out practices with special teams in spring and I think fall camp.  If we run 10 reps with 15 suddenly be the magic number? I have my doubts.  But maybe someone specifically watching a couple more details would let us call a timeout to get something fixed but, again, at some point the players have to be able to execute what they've worked on.

If we were just slightly above average in both kicking and punting, I don't think people would care (nearly as much) about the lack of returns.

I'm sure I could probably look this up, but instead I'll defer to the more informed posters here....do we use our starters on our ST units (outside of returners)?  Would be a brute force way to improve ST play (Seahawks under Carroll, Beamerball at Va Tech late 90s/early 00s) and demonstrate a commitment to it.  Obviously it brings risk into play with injuries to key contributors, but it would be a pretty clear indicator to the team and incoming players that this unit is prioritized and holds as much accountability as any other phase of the game.

Maybe not a long term solution, but could improve things in the near term and establish a better approach.  As has been stated, I don't see how another hour of film session from a dedicated ST coach is going to fix things for next season.

If we already do this, I retroactively grant you the last 15 seconds of your life back.  30 seconds if you're a bad reader.

 

[Undone]

If we were just slightly above average in both kicking and punting, I don't think people would care (nearly as much) about the lack of returns.

Right. Culp's misses and the lack of returns really didn't lose a bunch of games. Maybe we win against Oklahoma by hitting 100% of our kicks & that PAT - but maybe they still find a way to come back.

But I'm stating that I believe the kickoff coverage team and the punt units have been pretty terrible since 2019. Doesn't really seem like it's being fixed - and those issues are actually costing us games (IMO).

 

[84HuskerLaw]

I noticed the #1 receiver for Alabama plays on special teams. They put their best players in positions to make plays on EVERY play.

This.   You need seven starter level of the 11 on most ST plays when the game is still in doubt certainly.  Mix in some young and walkons that need game experience but all need practice / live reps.  Injuries are a worry but losses are just  not acceptable.  We will return to power status where half our games should be decided by early 3rd qtr.  but not if we don’t get STs up to above average in the Big Ten.  

 

[BigRedBuster]

I'm sure I could probably look this up, but instead I'll defer to the more informed posters here....do we use our starters on our ST units (outside of returners)?  Would be a brute force way to improve ST play (Seahawks under Carroll, Beamerball at Va Tech late 90s/early 00s) and demonstrate a commitment to it.  Obviously it brings risk into play with injuries to key contributors, but it would be a pretty clear indicator to the team and incoming players that this unit is prioritized and holds as much accountability as any other phase of the game.

Maybe not a long term solution, but could improve things in the near term and establish a better approach.  As has been stated, I don't see how another hour of film session from a dedicated ST coach is going to fix things for next season.

If we already do this, I retroactively grant you the last 15 seconds of your life back.  30 seconds if you're a bad reader.

At the beginning of the season, it was talked about a lot that they were going to do that this year.  I remember an interview with Jojo talking about it and he was saying he's' definitely going to be playing special teams and a lot of other starters will too.  Not sure that's how it played out as the season went on.

 

[Mavric]

I'm sure I could probably look this up, but instead I'll defer to the more informed posters here....do we use our starters on our ST units (outside of returners)? 

I don't have any specific names or stats.  But I remember Fisher saying at the beginning of the year that all his guys were expected to play on special teams.  CTB and Martin were punt returners.  Rahmir and Betts returned kicks.  I don't have a lot of specifics other than that we we were definitely using starters.  Coverage teams are a lot of LBs and DBs so probably a mix of starters and reserves but there were definitely starters out there.