Husker offensive coordinator Shawn Watson was the guest speaker this morning at the Big Red Breakfast in Omaha.
Watson, who was quite impressive at the podium during Tuesday's press conference, had some interesting things to say about how difficult it was last year to rein in the offense while fielding what was sometimes intense criticism.
"You got a lot of pride in your work," Watson said. "It cuts you. It does. You don't go stupid overnight. And when you do stuff like that, the most important thing in my job, is to find wins. We had to die to ourselves in that staff room. We did. Because of what we were dealing with. So when we did that, we did it for the good of the team so we could win. That's what was most important. Because to call those kind of games, that was hard because I like throwing it out there and going for it."
More on that a little later.
Some other notes from Watson's talk:
Watson said there's been some added offensive focus given to Taylor Martinez running a two-minute offense this week.
"We did not do a good job of that. That was the one time we kind of stalled out," Watson said in reference to a couple no-huddle drives late in the first half that failed. "So we've worked hard this week at getting those things fixed."
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While at Colorado, Watson instructed Idaho quarterback and North Platte native Nate Enderle in one of his quarterback camps. "We were close to offering him," Watson said. "He's a really talented kid and he's putting that on film now. He's one of the better senior quarterbacks in the country."
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Good story by McKeever today about Yoshi Hardrick and his road to Nebraska. Watson spoke about the big potential of the big offensive tackle.
Hardrick, by Watson's account, had a really solid debut as a Husker on Saturday. Now the offensive coordinator wants to see Hardrick show that every day on the practice field.
"I told him on Sunday when I saw him, 'Bro, you play better in games than you do in practice.' He needs to become a better practice player because he played really well in that game. Really well. To get on the field more and become a starter, which is obviously what he wants to do, I was challenging him, 'Hey, you have to put it on film every day.'"
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About the quarterback position, Watson said: "To be honest with you, I was really upset with the way our position played last year. ... And I take that real personal. That's my pride, that's my coaching, that's me. I took it very, very personal. A year ago, we had two freshmen in backup roles and then we had Zac. And Zac never had a competition really because the two freshmen weren't able to give him competition. They didn't know the system well enough. Anyone who thinks you just put a helmet on and go out there, college is way different than high school. How many two-minute drills do you have in high school? Maybe one. Probably none. And then managing the red zone, managing pressure throw situations, they had none of that training. So we're starting from scratch with them."
But Watson said after winter evaluations it was clear to coaches they needed to open up the QB competition. He said Bo Pelini told him to put the competition together and figure out what he wanted to do.
"So I put together a plan that would put them in pressure situations that they're going to be facing every game," Watson said. "And those pressure situations were anywhere between three to five pressure situations that we would design during practice. And we gave them equal reps in those drills to see who would surface. And out of that competition .. they became better players."
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When he was at Colorado, Watson said he remembers Buffs' defensive coaches talking often about all the various elements Nebraska has in its run game.
So during the winter, Watson met with Tom Osborne and former Husker offensive line coach Milt Tenopir to learn how they taught their linemen.
Though the offense has evolved, Watson said "we've implemented the same method of teaching."
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What's the latest on Kody Spano? "We didn't bring him into the 105 (fall camp roster) because I could see this right at the beginning of spring, he was not back," Watson said. "He's had two major injuries. Anytime you get an ACL, it's a bad deal in this sport. When he got the second one, double bad deal. Kody is just not there physically yet. We gave him the summer to see where he would be. Didn't quite get there yet. So we didn't bring him to camp and we challenged him. And he was hurt by it, and I understood the hurt. But I said, 'Look, here's what you need to do. You need to go to work and fix what's wrong.' Because he just needs to get back physically, he needs to get his strength back because he's not even where he was at before he was hurt in terms of the numbers that he was lifting and putting up."
Watson is starting to see signs of progress from Spano. "This week, I see the old Kody Spano back out there throwing. He has pop on his ball and he's able to move around like he hasn't moved around since the first injury. So he's on the mend and he's on the comeback."
