Barney Cotton Relishes His Roles as Teacher, Big Picture Thinker and Dad

[n.e.husker]

http://www.huskers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=100&ATCLID=205244876

 

Q: Hard work and togetherness always go hand-in-hand. You have a lot of offensive linemen with big dreams. How much will they push each other to greater heights?

 

A: I hope they push each other a lot because competition is still the greatest motivator. Competition will motivate guys that aren't necessarily self-starters. We do whatever it takes. We played a fair amount guys our first year here, and injuries and other factors over the last two years have put a lot more scrutiny on us. People want to know why we aren't playing a lot more guys. Well, we make decisions on what we see. But this year, hopefully, we'll get back to where we're playing more than two guards. Last year, we played three tackles. We're going to be running at a faster pace and have more plays than we did last year. We plan to get more guys on the field. If we keep showing fresh legs, that has to help us be more productive.

 

Q: I'm not trying to put you on the spot but son Ben is a physical blocker, and younger brother Jake has positioned himself as a possible starter. Can you describe their drive and determination?

 

A: Jake is in the mix, but he has a lot to earn. As a dad, it would pretty cool to have two kids out there starting at the same time, but that's way premature. Jake has to earn a spot, and Ben has to earn it to keep his spot. Whether it's practice or a game, outwork everyone. A big part of being physical is outworking people. It's one thing to hit 'em hard and not finish. The finish is where all the hard work comes in.

 

Q: Where did you come up with that family mantra?

 

A: Every time I'd go out and compete, my dad told me the same thing. He (former Omaha Burke athletic director Dick Cotton) was a four-year starter on that UNO football team that played in the Tangerine Bowl. He was a good basketball player and baseball player and played at Omaha Tech High School with (Hall-of-Fame pitcher) Bob Gibson. They had some great players at Tech, and for him, it was always all about playing hard. That's always the most important message out of my mouth - how hard you play. That's the one thing you can control.

 

Q: Where does their drive and determination come from?

 

A: If you asked my kids what I said to them when they were little, they would probably tell you that before every practice and every game they ever played, I just told them to be the hardest working guy out there. I still say that. Before every game, I hug Ben and tell him to be the hardest working guy out there. I tell Jake the same thing, and I tell Sam (the youngest of three Cotton brothers) the same thing.

[The Dude]

Barney Cotton punches kittens on his lunch break.

[NUance]

Q: True freshman Tyler Moore's dad didn't start, but he lettered. So did a cousin. Why are our defensive coaches raving about Tyler as an offensive lineman?

 

A: He has very good feet and is pretty developed for a young guy. He was one of those guys that amazed us with his technique when he came to camp as a 10th-grader and an 11th-grader. It's kind of nice to have guys like Ryne Reeves and Tyler Moore come in the same freshman class. You think, oh my goodness, when half your recruiting class commit so early. We try to be two years early whenever possible. Tyler is a very athletic guy.

 

Q: I haven't even mentioned Jeremiah Sirles, Marcel Jones, Brent Qvale or Andrew Rodriguez. They're all prominent in the picture, aren't they?

 

A: Oh sure. Sirles started as a redshirt freshman. Marcel really hasn't played for a whole year, but we expect him to come back and have a fine senior year. We're going to see what Qvale can do at tackle rather than at guard. And Andrew is a guy I wish we could have redshirted last year. We played him in the K-State game, and he didn't really play much after that. As I look back, I don't know if that's ever happened where we played a guy like that. You want a freshman to play 20-some snaps a game or redshirt him. We didn't do that with Andrew. Hindsight's easy, but the decision was made because we were fighting injuries and weren't deep enough, so we had to go ahead and play him. Then we didn't play him. We can't do it over, but three years from now, we'll be kicking ourselves because Andrew will turn out to be what we hope he will be.

We got a lot of GREAT young O-linemen on the roster. It's about time our offensive line start showing some improvement. We need pancakes instead of excuses.

[okaive]

NUance, if we get excuses again this year, we better see Cotton relish...... er I mean relinquish his resume.

[The Dude]

Q: True freshman Tyler Moore's dad didn't start, but he lettered. So did a cousin. Why are our defensive coaches raving about Tyler as an offensive lineman?

 

A: He has very good feet and is pretty developed for a young guy. He was one of those guys that amazed us with his technique when he came to camp as a 10th-grader and an 11th-grader. It's kind of nice to have guys like Ryne Reeves and Tyler Moore come in the same freshman class. You think, oh my goodness, when half your recruiting class commit so early. We try to be two years early whenever possible. Tyler is a very athletic guy.

 

Q: I haven't even mentioned Jeremiah Sirles, Marcel Jones, Brent Qvale or Andrew Rodriguez. They're all prominent in the picture, aren't they?

 

A: Oh sure. Sirles started as a redshirt freshman. Marcel really hasn't played for a whole year, but we expect him to come back and have a fine senior year. We're going to see what Qvale can do at tackle rather than at guard. And Andrew is a guy I wish we could have redshirted last year. We played him in the K-State game, and he didn't really play much after that. As I look back, I don't know if that's ever happened where we played a guy like that. You want a freshman to play 20-some snaps a game or redshirt him. We didn't do that with Andrew. Hindsight's easy, but the decision was made because we were fighting injuries and weren't deep enough, so we had to go ahead and play him. Then we didn't play him. We can't do it over, but three years from now, we'll be kicking ourselves because Andrew will turn out to be what we hope he will be.

We got a lot of GREAT young O-linemen on the roster. It's about time our offensive line start showing some improvement. We need pancakes instead of excuses.

Was Andrew hurt or something? This doesn't seem to gel with his story about having to play injured guys later in the season, because we didn't have any depth.

[zoogs]

Yeah, that's a very good question.

[Landlord]

Q: True freshman Tyler Moore's dad didn't start, but he lettered. So did a cousin. Why are our defensive coaches raving about Tyler as an offensive lineman?

 

A: He has very good feet and is pretty developed for a young guy. He was one of those guys that amazed us with his technique when he came to camp as a 10th-grader and an 11th-grader. It's kind of nice to have guys like Ryne Reeves and Tyler Moore come in the same freshman class. You think, oh my goodness, when half your recruiting class commit so early. We try to be two years early whenever possible. Tyler is a very athletic guy.

 

Q: I haven't even mentioned Jeremiah Sirles, Marcel Jones, Brent Qvale or Andrew Rodriguez. They're all prominent in the picture, aren't they?

 

A: Oh sure. Sirles started as a redshirt freshman. Marcel really hasn't played for a whole year, but we expect him to come back and have a fine senior year. We're going to see what Qvale can do at tackle rather than at guard. And Andrew is a guy I wish we could have redshirted last year. We played him in the K-State game, and he didn't really play much after that. As I look back, I don't know if that's ever happened where we played a guy like that. You want a freshman to play 20-some snaps a game or redshirt him. We didn't do that with Andrew. Hindsight's easy, but the decision was made because we were fighting injuries and weren't deep enough, so we had to go ahead and play him. Then we didn't play him. We can't do it over, but three years from now, we'll be kicking ourselves because Andrew will turn out to be what we hope he will be.

We got a lot of GREAT young O-linemen on the roster. It's about time our offensive line start showing some improvement. We need pancakes instead of excuses.

Was Andrew hurt or something? This doesn't seem to gel with his story about having to play injured guys later in the season, because we didn't have any depth.

 

 

Wasn't someone else injured that he had to step in for?

[The Dude]

Q: True freshman Tyler Moore's dad didn't start, but he lettered. So did a cousin. Why are our defensive coaches raving about Tyler as an offensive lineman?

 

A: He has very good feet and is pretty developed for a young guy. He was one of those guys that amazed us with his technique when he came to camp as a 10th-grader and an 11th-grader. It's kind of nice to have guys like Ryne Reeves and Tyler Moore come in the same freshman class. You think, oh my goodness, when half your recruiting class commit so early. We try to be two years early whenever possible. Tyler is a very athletic guy.

 

Q: I haven't even mentioned Jeremiah Sirles, Marcel Jones, Brent Qvale or Andrew Rodriguez. They're all prominent in the picture, aren't they?

 

A: Oh sure. Sirles started as a redshirt freshman. Marcel really hasn't played for a whole year, but we expect him to come back and have a fine senior year. We're going to see what Qvale can do at tackle rather than at guard. And Andrew is a guy I wish we could have redshirted last year. We played him in the K-State game, and he didn't really play much after that. As I look back, I don't know if that's ever happened where we played a guy like that. You want a freshman to play 20-some snaps a game or redshirt him. We didn't do that with Andrew. Hindsight's easy, but the decision was made because we were fighting injuries and weren't deep enough, so we had to go ahead and play him. Then we didn't play him. We can't do it over, but three years from now, we'll be kicking ourselves because Andrew will turn out to be what we hope he will be.

We got a lot of GREAT young O-linemen on the roster. It's about time our offensive line start showing some improvement. We need pancakes instead of excuses.

Was Andrew hurt or something? This doesn't seem to gel with his story about having to play injured guys later in the season, because we didn't have any depth.

 

 

Wasn't someone else injured that he had to step in for?

Yeah for K-State. Then he said Andrew didn't really play much after that. Which I found odd because before he was talking about having to play injured guys towards the end of the season.

[da skers]

Q: True freshman Tyler Moore's dad didn't start, but he lettered. So did a cousin. Why are our defensive coaches raving about Tyler as an offensive lineman?

 

A: He has very good feet and is pretty developed for a young guy. He was one of those guys that amazed us with his technique when he came to camp as a 10th-grader and an 11th-grader. It's kind of nice to have guys like Ryne Reeves and Tyler Moore come in the same freshman class. You think, oh my goodness, when half your recruiting class commit so early. We try to be two years early whenever possible. Tyler is a very athletic guy.

 

Q: I haven't even mentioned Jeremiah Sirles, Marcel Jones, Brent Qvale or Andrew Rodriguez. They're all prominent in the picture, aren't they?

 

A: Oh sure. Sirles started as a redshirt freshman. Marcel really hasn't played for a whole year, but we expect him to come back and have a fine senior year. We're going to see what Qvale can do at tackle rather than at guard. And Andrew is a guy I wish we could have redshirted last year. We played him in the K-State game, and he didn't really play much after that. As I look back, I don't know if that's ever happened where we played a guy like that. You want a freshman to play 20-some snaps a game or redshirt him. We didn't do that with Andrew. Hindsight's easy, but the decision was made because we were fighting injuries and weren't deep enough, so we had to go ahead and play him. Then we didn't play him. We can't do it over, but three years from now, we'll be kicking ourselves because Andrew will turn out to be what we hope he will be.

We got a lot of GREAT young O-linemen on the roster. It's about time our offensive line start showing some improvement. We need pancakes instead of excuses.

Was Andrew hurt or something? This doesn't seem to gel with his story about having to play injured guys later in the season, because we didn't have any depth.

 

 

Wasn't someone else injured that he had to step in for?

Yeah for K-State. Then he said Andrew didn't really play much after that. Which I found odd because before he was talking about having to play injured guys towards the end of the season.

I think the plan was and continues to be to burn the red shirts of every promising young man that we recruit to play the O-line by playing him 6 snaps a year. That way we never really develop depth but can say we have a guy coming up who's seen game action.

[zoogs]

I think the plan was and continues to be to burn the red shirts of every promising young man that we recruit to play the O-line by playing him 6 snaps a year. That way we never really develop depth but can say we have a guy coming up who's seen game action.

 

That is a great plan. Can't wait to see Klach referred to on the radio twice this year.

[Hunter94]

I think the plan was and continues to be to burn the red shirts of every promising young man that we recruit to play the O-line by playing him 6 snaps a year. That way we never really develop depth but can say we have a guy coming up who's seen game action.

 

That is a great plan. Can't wait to see Klach referred to on the radio twice this year.

 

 

we should be thankful we only have one big picture thinker like Barney!.........uh, one too many...

[billdozer15]

Barney is brutal........that is all.