Freshmen DBs Benefit from Increased Summer Coaching Hours

[Mavric]

An NCAA ruling in December 2013 allowed college football coaches to make eight hours of “summer activity” mandatory per week during the summer school period. This time could be spent on conditioning and weight training, as well as up to two hours of film study per week.

Had the NCAA waited another year to make this ruling, you may not have seen true freshmen defensive backs Josh Kalu, Chris Jones and Kieron Williams play during cleanup time in Nebraska’s 55-7 drubbing of Florida Atlantic.

“We were able to meet with them, we were able to teach them, so when they came into fall camp it wasn’t like they were hearing things for the first time,” defensive coordinator John Papuchis said. “They had already been taught it all, it was more of a review.”

The added meeting time during the summer might be what set these true freshmen over the edge of a redshirt season – a practice typical for defensive backs under Bo Pelini. Papuchis noted the quality of their high school coaching and experience in multiple defensive strategies, saying it created a foundation of knowledge that many kids don’t have.

The extra supervised summer workouts allowed the coaches to to stress Nebraska’s attitude for football early.

“Part of the culture of this program is that if you want to be great, that football can’t be a 2:30-6:30 extracurricular activity,” Papuchis said. “It has to be for this six-month period, it has to be, other than your schoolwork, the most important thing that you’re doing.

Hail Varsity

 

[Mavric]

And some time playing video games never hurts either:

Kalu said he, Jones and fellow freshman Trai Mosley got a leg up by meeting up to study the playbook and coach each other on technique. They turn on a game of “NCAA Football”, running through plays to watch the schemes, talking through their keys, and what they’d do in a given set.

“Every day after practice, we’ll be there,” Kalu said. “We’ll turn on NCAA and look at the schemes and stuff, like ‘this is where the sellouts are, this is how you’re supposed to drop a cover-3, and things like that… It helped a lot”

What helps, Kalu said, was having a controlled environment without “coaches on your neck.” After all, playing video games with your buddies (with some playbook and game film study mixed in) doesn’t really feel much like studying he said.

Upon hearing about the XBOX-assited method of “studying” from the defensive backs, Papuchis gave a wry smile, as if to say “it’s better than nothing.”

 

[Mavric]

Why is this group making an impact so quickly?


“All those guys are good kids, very mature kids, high-character young men,” Pelini said.

That’s the foundation. Then consider that they joined the program with a football-first mentality, a determination to reach their potential. They didn’t spend time talking about goals because they all had the same objective: Use every opportunity to get better.

That was the idea behind hangouts in dorm rooms during preseason camp. Kalu, Jones and Mosley all got together.

They’d review concepts within the playbook. Quiz one another on everything. They’d watch one guy’s practice film, then critique his performance. They’d play football video games to relax, but even those battles would get interrupted with Xs and Os talk.

“We learn together,” Jones said. “We all teach each other.”

OWH

 

[Cougar74]

Liked Coach P's comment about the the high school instruction that Kalu and some others got at their former teams. It's interesting to reflect on when evaluating players for future needs. What these kids have been exposed to prior as far a schemes and technique beforehand can be a tell along with their physical ability dictating performance at higher levels. If anything a leg up on the competition. Very interesting!