Jovan DeWitt's Replacement

Red Five said:
Just because Bruce Read sucked doesn't mean that a full time ST coach can't have value.
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I agree.  But just because you have a full time special teams coach doesn't mean your special teams will be significantly better either.

Personally, I think we need to do 1 of these 2 things:

1) Full time ST coach (and have Chin add OLB) that can also lend a helping hand to some position group during non ST part of practice (preferably LB/DB, and those guys will make up most of the ST units).  Say 80% ST/ 20% other position.

2) Hire a full time OLB coach.  And then hire a real ST analyst or grad assistant to be the one watching film/developing schemes and split up punt/kick teams ST duties to a couple different coaches.
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How much time do you think is the "non ST part of practice"?

 
ColoradoHusk said:
Walters does more work in the OC position that most people think.  Yes, he's not calling the plays during the games, but Frost depends on him a lot during the week.  Walters is Frost's right-hand man in developing the game plan and the key plays they want to focus on for each opponent, and I would think Walters is running the offensive practices when Frost wants to check out the defense/special teams.

I do agree that the current staff can probably absorb a position group, primarily on defense, as I also think NU needs a dedicated special teams coach.  
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I'd actually say offense is better situated to absorb a position group. A lot of teams don't have a QB-only coach, usually the OC or someone is also the QB coach. Most teams also don't have a TE coach. Having both is a little weird and takes up a lot of coaching slots for a few guys. It's a little unique where QB is Verduzco's life's work, and Beckton has great connections in recruiting. I don't see any changes happening there barring the other rumored departure, just seems like a unique setup overall.

 
Husker in WI said:
Most teams also don't have a TE coach.
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They don't?  Who does the TE meet with then, Oline or WRs?  I can see in practice where they would both have input into the TE position, but, for instance, what room do they meet in for game plan and pregame meetings?

 
Mavric said:
How much time do you think is the "non ST part of practice"?
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I should have worded that better.  Yes, I know that ST is a small portion of practice.  I was mainly thinking that he should be spending the vast majority of his non-practice time on ST stuff with a small amount of a position group.  Then during practice, he can do the ST stuff full bore, then help out as needed with a different position group.  Basically don't Bruce Read it and leave after 30 minutes, but be a meaningful member of the staff.

 
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Red Five said:
I should have worded that better.  Yes, I know that ST is a small portion of practice.  I was mainly thinking that he should be spending the majority of his non-practice time on ST stuff with a small amount of a position group.  Then during practice, he can do the ST stuff full bore, then help out as needed with a different position group during the drills portion.  Basically don't Bruce Read it and leave after 30 minutes, but be a meaningful member of the staff.
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Looking back at this, it's amazing at how Riley thought he could run the Nebraska program.  Did he actually think it was norma;l for a coach to just take off after 30-45 minutes of practice?  Maybe Read really needed to get that early bird dinner special at Denny's.

 
BigRedBuster said:
They don't?  Who does the TE meet with then, Oline or WRs?  I can see in practice where they would both have input into the TE position, but, for instance, what room do they meet in for game plan and pregame meetings?
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Eh, doing a little research I guess it's more common than I thought. I would think they would split time between OL and WR, but I probably should've fact checked before throwing that out there - just never hear about teams TE coaches I guess.

 
Red Five said:
I should have worded that better.  Yes, I know that ST is a small portion of practice.  I was mainly thinking that he should be spending the vast majority of his non-practice time on ST stuff with a small amount of a position group.  Then during practice, he can do the ST stuff full bore, then help out as needed with a different position group.  Basically don't Bruce Read it and leave after 30 minutes, but be a meaningful member of the staff.
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How is he supposed to help with a different position group in practice if he hasn't spent a bunch of time in meeting and film study ahead of time?

I'm just not sure it's nearly as big of a deal as people are making it out to be.  On offense you have probably hundreds of play variations to prepare for and execute.  On defense you have to be prepared for those hundreds of plays.  Field goals and PATs are basically one play.  Most teams only have one kickoff and punt setup with a couple tweaks and a couple fakes/specials off it.

It's not that special teams aren't important.  It's that there's orders of magnitude more variations to plan and prep for on offense and defense.

 
Husker in WI said:
Eh, doing a little research I guess it's more common than I thought. I would think they would split time between OL and WR, but I probably should've fact checked before throwing that out there - just never hear about teams TE coaches I guess.
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I think teams started having a dedicated special teams coach when the coaching staff was expanded by 1 coach in 2018.  Under Bo, Cotton and the other OL coach (I'm blanking on his name) also handled TE's, while under Riley, there was that popular GA who handled TE's.  He would have been named a full-time coach under Riley in 2018.  Again, I'm blanking on his name.  It sucks getting old.

 
Mavric said:
Not getting multiple kickers hurt will make our special teams a lot better.  Having a bunch of young linebackers and safeties will make our special teams much better.  There are several things that will help a lot more than having a dedicated coach.
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Sean Callahan got a question about if Dawson can get us to having "good" special teams.

His response?

Getting the 19 guys who redshirted last year and some four-game redshirts this year on the field for special teams is the answer.

I can't find it now but Chinander said basically the same thing around signing day.

 
Mavric said:
Sean Callahan got a question about if Dawson can get us to having "good" special teams.

His response?

Getting the 19 guys who redshirted last year and some four-game redshirts this year on the field for special teams is the answer.

I can't find it now but Chinander said basically the same thing around signing day.
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This.  Love that they get a shot to see the field, but I was pretty frustrated by what seemed like an all walk-on kick return team.  I have a hard time thinking we can't get somebody more explosive than Brody Belt to return a kick.

 
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