Ron Brown Interview

H

HuskerFanCO

Walk-on
I am so glad Ron Brown is back:

Q: "What will be the philosophy of this staff?"

A: Relentless. There will be a relentless pursuit to the football on defense. There will be a relentless physicality on offense, where players will not only block, but every player will block. When Tom was coaching, even quarterbacks blocked on the backside of a toss sweep. Nobody runs out of bounds. You don’t just run out of bounds unless you’re in a two-minute drill. You take on ball carriers, and you fight for extra yardage. And you don’t take punishment – you give punishment. Everybody blocks downfield. Wide receivers block like crazy on the perimeter. Linemen get up off their block at the line of scrimmage, and they go downfield and block. "

http://www.huskers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB...;ATCLID=1431189

Almost brings a tear to my eye. Can't wait until fall.

From the Pagan Buffalo Lands,

T

"Don't wear the Red if your Husker Pride is dead."

 
HuskerFanCO said:
I am so glad Ron Brown is back:

Q: "What will be the philosophy of this staff?"

A: Relentless. There will be a relentless pursuit to the football on defense. There will be a relentless physicality on offense, where players will not only block, but every player will block. When Tom was coaching, even quarterbacks blocked on the backside of a toss sweep. Nobody runs out of bounds. You don’t just run out of bounds unless you’re in a two-minute drill. You take on ball carriers, and you fight for extra yardage. And you don’t take punishment – you give punishment. Everybody blocks downfield. Wide receivers block like crazy on the perimeter. Linemen get up off their block at the line of scrimmage, and they go downfield and block. "

http://www.huskers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB...;ATCLID=1431189

Almost brings a tear to my eye. Can't wait until fall.

From the Pagan Buffalo Lands,

T

"Don't wear the Red if your Husker Pride is dead."
Click to expand...
That is what I am talking about....getting physical!! :box :box

 
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For a little perspective, I found a Ron Brown interview from 1995 that just helps show the guy's philosophy has never changed:

When you're the No. 1 team in college football, it's the little things that count.

 

Like "Blazers." And "Stones."

No, we're not talking about land vehicles and rock groups. These are the working definitions of the Nebraska receivers, the best-kept secret in college football.

 

They are reconnaissance agents, sneaking ahead of the attack to plant land mines and traps to spring a big run. It's a thankless job, but someone has to do it.

 

"My favorite is a `stone,'" split end Brendan Holbein says. "The best is if you can lay a crack-back block on a guy and he's not looking. Sometimes a cornerback or safety will see a little speck of red out of the corner of his eye and prepare for it.

 

"But when the guy isn't looking and you blow him up, it just feels good."

 

Most fans probably aren't aware Nebraska even has receivers. Why would they? There isn't a Cornhuskers receiver in the top 10 of the Big Eight statistics. They are the unsung heroes on a national championship team - even more obscure than offensive linemen, but every bit as important in Coach Tom Osborne's grand scheme of offense.

 

"(Viking defensive coordinator) Tony Dungy once told me that if receivers in the NFL blocked like we did, it would change the way defensive coordinators approached the game," receivers coach Ron Brown says.

Since his arrival in 1987, Brown has created a phenomenon at his position: receivers who love to block. It's hip to be square.

 

He started with five categories: "Stones (taking the defensive back totally out), "Blazers" (clearing a path for the runner), "Extra Effort" (tripping up a defender away from the ball), "Knockdowns" and "Point of Attack" blocks. Brown keeps individual tallies; the players compete in each category. If there were NCAA records kept for such things, Nebraska's 72 knockdowns against Washington State this season might be one. Huskers receivers are averaging more than 50 per game.

 

Meanwhile, Brown is just as proud of the fact that receivers had only six drops by early November. The Huskers attempt about only 20 passes per game, but blocking is tough on the hands, especially when you spend half of each practice doing it.

 

"They don't really tell you (during recruiting) how much you have to block," wingback Jon Vedral says. "But if you don't know that already, you're an idiot."

 

Says Brown: "We lose guys in recruiting every year because of it. Most of them are the best receivers in the country, pretty boys who say they'll maybe screen for the backs but they aren't getting dirty. The ones who come here get a linebacker mentality."

 

They do, he says, "because as they saw last year it translates into a national championship."

 
Great article! Reading all the Spring Practice notes/articles is getting me psyched for the new season to start. I am anxious to see the revamped Nebraska team under Pelini's leadership (leadership was a huge characteristic missing from last season's team).

Physicality is obviously very important. Something I am looking forward to will be the amount of turnovers this defense can rack up (I think this is directly correlated with how physical a team plays). In my opinion, creating turnovers should always be a top priority for any defense. Not only creating turnovers, but if a team can create turnovers early, the team definitely will start to build momentum while deflating the other team.

What would have happened if NU created some turnovers early in some of the blowouts? Who knows? However, if NU can keep the momentum in their favor by playing physical football and create some turnovers early in the game, I think even some of the better teams on our schedule may be in trouble.

 
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I've met Ron Brown and he is just a stand-up guy. One that if I was a parent with a top notch recruit, and he was the coach recruiting my kid, I would not hesitate to send my kid to Nebraska. I would feel pretty comfortable and at ease knowing that a man of this caliber is coaching my son.

 
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