The few seconds it takes for you to read this paragraph is all the time a linebacker gets to trust his instincts.
Any longer, and a running back might have that crucial extra step on a wheel route. A pulling guard gets a cleaner look at a crushing block. Or a tight end is breaking free in the secondary.
Will Compton knows all that. And yet, when he watched film of his redshirt freshman season at Nebraska, he and his defensive coaches both saw the same thing.
"I was being hesitant," Compton said. "Not pulling my trigger."
In fall camp last year, the sophomore from Bonne Terre, Mo., earned raves from position coach Mike Ekeler and defensive coordinator Carl Pelini. Before the season opener, Ekeler symbolically handed Compton "the keys" to the Huskers' defense.
By the second half of the Missouri game, Compton was replaced by senior Phillip Dillard in NU's dominant dime alignment. Compton started again vs. Texas Tech, but was badly burned in the first quarter by Red Raider running back Baron Batch on a 16-yard swing pass for a touchdown.
Dillard took over on the following drive, and never relinquished the dime linebacker job again.
"I feel like I was second-guessing myself and that's what (the coaches) believed," Compton said. "They said: Just go with my instinct the first time and pull the trigger. Trust myself. Be confident."
Husker fans who mistakenly presume Compton disappeared during the last half of 2009 are wrong: He still played in base, nickel and goal line defenses, tallying 40 tackles.
But-
"You don't really look at the good stuff," Compton said. "There's always flashes and things. Coaches tell me I did a good job and they saw flashes for the future."
Which is now.
"There are a lot of open spots," sophomore Eric Martin said. "It's just time to step up. Everybody's expecting our defense to be at the top and that's a lot of weight for football players who are still young…especially guys who only have three years of eligibility left. That's something I have to pick up now."
In Nebraska's new
Peso base defense, there are just two starting jobs, and their responsibilities are interchangeable based on how the offense's formation. Compton and fellow sophomores Sean Fisher, Martin and Alonzo Whaley are the four primary competitors for the two spots as two Huskers - Matt Holt and Micah Kreikemeier - come back from injuries, Mathew May is currently out with an injury and 2010 recruit Lavonte David awaits to enroll in the fall.
Thus far, Compton has been paired with Martin. Fisher has been paired with Whaley. That's so the less experienced Martin and Whaley can get some quick on-field advice from Fisher and Compton.
Martin said he spent "two or three hours" per day in the film room during the offseason with Ekeler. Even then, Martin has to take a two-dimensional lesson on the screen and turn it into a three-dimensional application on the field.
"I can guarantee you I'll make mistakes," Martin said. "It's about not making the mistake again."
And when he does mess up, Martin said he'll at least do it
"going 100 miles per hour."
"If you mess up - don't stop," Martin said. "Go make the play, the tackle."
Defensive coordinator Carl Pelini isn't about to handicap the race between the four.
"As far as who's going to be on the field, on the first snap, really doesn't matter," Pelini said. "They're all going to play. They're all proving they can play."
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