DBs Know Sanders' Methods

[Husker_x]

LINCOLN - Marvin Sanders had all this energy, all these ideas, all this stuff he wanted to get done.

 

Spring practice couldn't come soon enough last year for the Nebraska assistant coach. Sanders had taken a season off before Bo Pelini hired him to handle the secondary.

 

Understandably, Sanders came out of the chute pretty fast with his new players - and his cornerbacks and safeties tried to keep pace.

 

"You've got a new coach, you want to impress your coach and when I talked to them, it was a bunch of nods," Sanders said. "It was like, 'I got it, Coach, I understand.' You start a new job and you're not going to tell your boss, 'I don't know how to do that.'

 

"What I did as a coach, and to my detriment, was I threw too much at them early on. Those first couple practices we made a lot of mistakes, and it was more on me."

 

In another practice, Sanders was throwing something at his players - a defense based on the offense's placement of a back - and getting a blank stare at how he described it.

 

"I said, 'Anybody know what I'm talking about?'" Sanders said. "I think it was Larry who said, 'No, Coach, we've never heard that before.'"

 

Was it a process? So much so that Asante and cornerback Anthony West said the learning carried into fall camp, and the secondary wasn't playing its best until the latter half of last season.

 

Asante says Sanders can go as fast as he wants Wednesday when Nebraska starts spring practice.

 

"It's never easy going through a coaching change," Asante said. "All the work you invested as a player, you kind of have to throw it out the door and start from scratch again.

 

"Going into this spring and this season, we know our coach, what he expects, how good he is. He also knows your potential, and if you're not playing up to your potential he's going to let you know about it."

 

Nebraska started tightening its defense after a three-game skid dropped it to 3-3 last October. Its last three opponents all managed less than 300 total yards, including just 210 for Clemson in the Gator Bowl.

 

By then, last March and April seemed miles away.

 

"The whole beginning was a learning process we had to go through," West said. "There were things we'd always have to stop and go back on, and that's something that'll be different this year. Now it's just up to us to go out and fly around."

 

West said Sanders had different philosophies on press technique, footwork, keying to receivers' hips and use of hands. Sanders admits there were some things fundamentally he wanted his players to know or expected them to know without actually going through and teaching it.

 

Sanders has equipped them with a glossary of terms that he expects them to know, and they'll refresh next week before going forward. Asante and West are returning starters, Matt O'Hanlon and Rickey Thenarse split time at free safety last year and Eric Hagg, Prince Amukamara and Anthony Blue all have seen time the past two seasons.

 

"I think they caught up about the fifth or sixth game last year, and it shouldn't have been that way," Sanders said. "I should have brought them along a lot slower.

 

"I'm more excited this year because now it's kind of like they know me, I know them."

 

Charting the defense

Returning starters: Six (Pierre Allen, DE; Barry Turner, DE; Ndamukong Suh, NT; Phillip Dillard, LB; Larry Asante, SS; Anthony West, CB)

 

All-Big 12: Ndamukong Suh, NT (second team)

 

Total defense (Big 12/NCAA): 349.8 yards per game (2nd/55th)

 

Rushing defense: 116.5 (3rd/21st)

 

Passing defense: 233.4 (2nd/89th)

 

Scoring defense: 28.5 (6th/80th)

 

Notable: In four NU losses, opposing passers were 69 of 94 (73.4 percent) with 10 touchdowns and just one interception.

 

Quotable: "You can't ever get comfortable because nobody has a starting spot. We still have to go out there and compete. If I were to sit here and tell you I have a starting spot right now, I wouldn't be correct." - safety Larry Asante In the process of installing a new defense, Sanders also had his secondary relearning techniques and fundamentals. Strong safety Larry Asante said Sanders was amazed during one of those first spring moments at how they were backpedaling.

 

LINK

[HuskerJen]

Yes but as a coach you can really only go so slow because of the extremely limited practice time.

 

I'm excited though because the Nebraska defense is only going to get better from here on out.

[teamster]

And..........that's why those that are always asking if the summer arriving true freshman can contribute early just don't get what playing at this level involves.

 

If you 'have' to play a bunch of true freshmen, you're in a deep hole.

[Danimal]

This article did interest me, it took forever for our db's to get with it last season. Props to Marvin for having the balls to admit he had the players trying to run before they could walk. The last staff wouldn't do that, and speaking of the last staff, THANKS FOR LEAVING MARVIN SUCH A BIG FREAKING HOLE TO DIG OUT OF. Marvin wouldn't have needed to go totally remedial if these kids had been coached well to begin with.

[Touchdown Tommie]

It is going to be fun watching these guys play with the confidence they had at the end of last season. I bet Sanders was about to kill someone at different points last year. I know coaches coach different, but the fundamentals should be the same. It is interesting that he was questioning their backpedaling.....kind of shows how bad it really was at NU with the previous staff.

[redout22]

Whatever works well is good for me.

[Husker_x]

The thing that really depressed me about last season's DB play was the lack of interceptions. There were a few, but when Big Suh is tied for team INT leader, you know someone's not doing their job in our pass happy conference. Our line got pretty solid pressure all season. I'm wondering if it's just a technique/talent issue that stems back to Cosgrove/Elmo.

 

Anyway, I hope it's better this season. We need a D that dominates in the takeaway game.

[Blackshirt316]

One thing about the INT's for the secondary is while we played several teams that were very pass oriented, the quarterbacks we faced as a whole were not very interception prone period, against us or anyone else.

 

I enjoyed this article though as it definitely relates to what took place on the field.. there were clear indications that the secondary, and the entire defense as a whole seemed to get it after the Baylor game and I can't wait to see how these guys do with a full year in the system.

[Husker_x]

One thing about the INT's for the secondary is while we played several teams that were very pass oriented, the quarterbacks we faced as a whole were not very interception prone period, against us or anyone else.

 

I enjoyed this article though as it definitely relates to what took place on the field.. there were clear indications that the secondary, and the entire defense as a whole seemed to get it after the Baylor game and I can't wait to see how these guys do with a full year in the system.

 

While true, even in our noncon schedule we were pretty inept at ball hawking. I think everyone would agree that our secondary has much room for improvement however good the competition was. We really need at least one guy back there QBs are afraid to throw at. Our coverage in general got busted to sh#t left and right, so there are contributing factors. With the state of the North this season, I expect to see some improvement in that area.