New look, new attitude: Phillip Dilliard

[HuskerfaninOkieland]

NE Statepaper

 

New Look, New Attitude

Commentary: Dillard In Fighting Shape for Senior Season

by Samuel McKewon

 

August 10, 2009

 

Rocky Road ice cream. That was his weakness. And Lamar’s Donuts. Eating late at night. Maybe a little frustration and stubbornness.

 

It landed Phillip Dillard in the doghouse of Nebraska’s football staff. OK, so head coach Bo Pelini said at the Big 12 Media Days he doesn’t believe in the concept of a doghouse. But when Dillard reported to spring camp at 248 pounds – 15 pounds more than coaches believe is his ideal weight – he landed at the back at of the drill line, the bottom of the depth chart.

 

“We ask certain things,” linebackers coach Mike Ekeler said then. Dillard, meanwhile, wasn’t talking.

 

Just a few months before, Dillard had been Nebraska’s starting middle linebacker. Trailing 20-17 at halftime to Baylor, it was Dillard who addressed the locker room, who cut to the chase, who lit the Cornhuskers’ fire for a second-half comeback. And it was Dillard who helped make a crucial stop on third and goal when he tackled probably the fastest quarterback in the nation – the Bears’ Robert Griffin – on a speed option around the end. BU missed the ensuing field goal try, and NU scored 15 unanswered points for a 32-20 win.

 

Dillard suffered a severe ankle injury at the end of that win, and was sidelined for the rest of the season. He was cleared to suit up for the Gator Bowl, but got no action. In his absence, the “Farm Dog,” Hastings walk-on Colton Koehler, filled in, and played well.

 

And then, the spring. Koehler at the front. Dillard, the last guy through.

 

“This game will come up and bite you,” Pelini said after Saturday’s practice.

 

It sunk its teeth in hard on Dillard.

 

“It didn’t surprise me,” Dillard said. “I’m the one that came in and didn’t do exactly what they asked of me. It’s not like I was in trouble with the law, I just didn’t handle my business as far as taking care of business as a man should. So I got punished for it.”

 

And challenged. Ekeler preached a clean slate for his unit this fall. But for Dillard to earn even a shot at playing time, he had to drop the weight.

 

He talked to reporters Saturday looking more cut than he ever has. Almost small, if a 6-1, 234-pound rock can be considered small.

 

Dillard had a summer to rescue his career, apologize to teammates, and join the race for playing time at NU. He did it. On a day that probably would have finished off the Dillard of 2007, the Dillard of 2009 was smiling and seeming thankful he had a team to motivate him.

 

This is the best shape I’ve ever been in,” Dillard said. “I feel great out there, running around. I’m not tired, I wasn’t breathing hard or nothing. So losing the weight was for my good.”

 

Not that Dillard wasn’t a hard worker before. But the transition from Kevin Cosgrove to Pelini was arguably tougher on him than most defenders. Dillard, after all, was playing nose tackle in Cosgrove’s third-down defense. Like a lot of Huskers, Dillard was bigger by design. Nebraska was probably the paunchiest team in America in 2007. By design.

 

And so, when that switch flipped, and Pelini was suddenly playing safety-sized players, like Matt Holt and Matt May, at linebacker – and the smaller guys were flourishing - Dillard was on the heftier end.

 

A victim of the previous culture – and his own weaknesses. That’s the story of a lot of folks in and out of football.

 

So, too, is redemption, and credit a new system of player-driven accountability for Dillard’s new physique. He had to apologize to his teammates, and they, in turn, kept giving words of encouragement.

 

“They’d tell me ‘Man, just keep working hard.’ Because they’d see me working hard. You don’t want to let those guys down. Everyone works hard. But I wanted to work harder, and that’s where I got my drive from. I didn’t want to let them down.”

 

It’s feel-good story thus far. Yet it doesn’t mean Dillard is going to be handed his job back. Ekeler and defensive coordinator Carl Pelini both called the race for all three linebacker positions “wide open.” Koehler had a good spring, and while redshirt freshman Will Compton still has to nail down the playbook, he’s the fastest, and most physically gifted, of the three. Bo Pelini had to bite his tongue pretty hard not to burn Compton’s redshirt in 2008; if he had, the Bonne Terre, Mo., native would probably be the favorite to start.

 

But Dillard brings an important emotional element to the defense. Even with the tough spring, he’s still a leader, and he, along with returning defensive end Barry Turner, bring some personality back to the field.

 

“I want to play with a lot of emotion,” Dillard said. “I can’t just hit somebody and get up. I’m trying to run through somebody. Like I can’t stand the opposite person. That’s just the kind of spark defensive coaches have. You’ve seen Coach Pelini on the sideline. He’s got that fire and spark.”

 

Dillard’s off to a good start.

 

[knapplc]

A senior like Dillard, with all his potential, is exactly what the LB corps needs in a leader. The guy's contribution to this team will be incalculable if this is all coming together like it seems.

[HuskerfaninOkieland]

Yeah it's great to read about this stuff but I'm more interested in seeing it on the field. I hope all this talk translates to success during the game.

[missouri_husker24]

To be honest, I think we all have put to much into Dillard being put in the "dog house". The media has to write about something during the offseason and this was a interesting story. But when all is said and done, I wouldnt be surprised in the least to see Dillard starting and having a great season.

[808Husker in KCMO]

Lamars donuts are over rated.

[HuskerJen]

Dillard, after all, was playing nose tackle in Cosgrove’s third-down defense.

 

I do believe that quote sums up quite concisely everything that was wrong with our former DC.

 

To the point of the article: A motivated, and dedicated, P. Dilliard will only make the Nebraska defense better. Goodness knows they're going to need his senior leadership.

[junior4949]

Not only that, but with the spreads of the Big 12 we are going to need something besides a strong Dline. The LB's will be the difference between stopping the spread and not as in most cases with the spread the Dline doesn't have enough time to get to the QB before the ball is released with the quick 3 step drops.

[Hunter94]

we will need speed and depth at LB, we will need everyone of them to be ready to go.....