Scott Frost
Nebraska Football Coach
Pre-Georgia Southern
Press Conference
Opening Statement
“Excited to get back on the field with the guys today. We had a good Monday as a far as install goes and getting the first step of preparation ready for the game. Looking back on the game I thought there was a lot of good things we could take from it. Usually when you watch the tape nothing is as good as you think or as bad as you think. We did some good things in the first half. Did some bad things in the second half. Obviously the second half really started to click for us. It has been a process to get everybody working together and on the same page and new pieces and knowing little details and things it takes to make plays work and plays on defense. That is what we are going to continue to work on. I think the kids are in a good spot understanding and feeling confident in where they can go, but we still have a lot of things we can fix.”
On the offensive line
“I do not really want to single out the offensive line because to me it is the run game in general. I will say this, the running backs played well. Everybody that got in played well. Running backs make offensive line look better and the offensive line makes the running backs look better. Sometimes receivers and quarterbacks are part of that too. The first half we gave up two sacks and that was all we gave up. But that two is too many. I thought one of the promising things to see was we controlled the ball when we needed to at the end of the game and just be able to run it. That is a team effort not just one person or one unit.”
On areas that can improve
“Consistency. When you watch the game even being on the headset with those guys we will knock out a run for one and then one for negative two. We have had too many that have decreased. That is just detail. We are going to do a little more ones versus ones this week. Some ways I feel as the head coach watching the defense needs to see those plays being run at the speed at the one offense can give them. And even though we do not get perfect looks on either side, trying to give each other a look is important to continue to do those things. We will do a little more of that. We were not able to do that last week coming off a trip overseas.”
On the safety position
“I think they have both been solid. I think one of the keys is making sure that whoever else is the third and fourth guy are ready to go in. They feel confident. We feel confident in them. We have a lot of guys capable and they are working their way towards that. I do not want to put that many plays on those guys every week. Myles (Farmer) has been really solid. Marques (Buford Jr.) has made some really good plays for us. I feel good about those two guys. We need to make sure the third and fourth guys can relieve them a little bit.”
On tackling
“We work on tackling all the time. The one thing you can’t get is too many live reps in practice. I think we get as many or more than most but at the end of the day there is really no substitute for actually live looks and getting those reps. We have a lot of guys who have made a lot of tackles in their career that I am less worried about some guys that are newer that have not made as many tackles. When you watch college football and I am working too hard to watch a lot of it but you see a lot of early season stuff going on that teams have to fix. And we are no different from anybody else. There are things that we have to continue to improve on.”
On Ernest Hausmann
“First major play for Ernest. I thought he held up well. He has a chance to be a special player around here. He is going to provide depth along with (Eteva Mauga-Clements) for us and (Garrett) Snodgrass when he gets back for the starters. We moved Chris (Kolarevic) to inside for the game to make sure we were good there. Feeling good about that position. (We) have (Isaac Gifford) and (Grant) Buda and Chris. It is great to have a guy like Chris who can move inside or out.”
On running back Ajay Allen
“I have said this a bunch we have a lot of running backs I trust to go in that can make plays. I hope they all get their shot. (Anthony Grant) has done a great job with his plays and Ajay has done a great job with his plays. I have no doubt there are some other guys that will too. That is going to continue to be a competition.”
On some positives from the first half of the North Dakota game
“One of the positives and I do not want to jinx it but our first drive of both first halves have been touchdowns. Our first drives in the second halves have been touchdowns. So when we have a plan and go in and we have been executing it pretty well. I think familiarity with scheme and adjustments and everything as kids get more familiar with scheme hopefully some of those drives can take place after first drives with a little more frequency. I did not realize until after the game that we only had four possesions on offense in the first half. They did a good job at picking up a couple of first downs and keeping the ball away from us. The punt block by Jayvin Wright was certainly a big play for us and it was good to see us make an impact play on special teams. Other than the one drive, I thought the defense held up real well in the first half. But you have to play complete games. The offense defense and special teams has to play well. We will definitely have to play more complete games to get wins down the road.”
On the tight end position
“They gave (Nate) Boerckircher a lot of crap for being nervous and dropping the first ball but he settled in and played really well. Chancellor Brewington is a special kid. He is tough. He will do about anything that we ask him. He played really well too. Ajay (Allen) got quite a few snaps and that was good to get him experience. We are looking forward to getting Travis (Vokolek) back soon.
On getting talent into the game
“It is tough because there are a lot of guys who deserve to play and guys just have to be ready when they get their opportunity. The one thing we cannot do is ever make it about an individual. The team is bigger than any of us. We are going to put the guys on the field that we think are going to give us a chance. There are a few positions where we have a lot of guys capable and sharing those reps is going to be a challenge.”
On Chancellor Brewington
“I can make a highlight tape already of him making some impactful and impressive blocks. He is a selfless kid. He does anything we ask him. He is one of the toughest guys on the team. I have a ton of respect and admiration for him.”
On Brandon Moore
“Brandon is one of the players that I have coached that I am the closest with. He is like a son to me. I said it when he came, if he ends up helping us a lot that is great. If we end up helping him it will be worth it for me.”
On Anthony Grant
“I thought the vision of the running backs in general everybody that got a chance was really good. They saw some cracks and hit some seams to get extra yards that were hard to see. I thought Anthony’s patience was really good on a couple of runs. Not just running blindly up in there but watching for blocks to develop. With a lot of these guys if we can get them on the second level we have a chance to make big plays now. It is kind of up to the offensive line and coaching staff to get them in the right place and the right scheme that some of these backs can get in space.”
On Rahmir Johnson
“He had an unbelievable last week of practice at receiver. There is still some detail as you are spending a lot more time with that position that just takes awhile to learn. He is one of the guys I feel the worst for right now. But I have no doubt that he is going to be a part of what we are doing through the course of this season. He is too good of a player not to. We kind of had a plan to get him in more than we got him in Saturday but we will keep looking for spots to use him because he has a lot of talent.”
On Georgia Southern’s quarterback Kyle Vantrease
“It helps. He is familiar with this place. He has been around this environment before too. So that probably helps him. Little different scheme on offense and different uniform. He is a good player. Buffalo gave us everything we wanted to handle last year and he was a part of that. We have a challenge coming in here.”
On Head Coach Clay Helton
“A little bit. Have a ton of respect for him for everything he accomplished there as a coordinator and head coach. I am sure coming into a new place that had run a different scheme on offense there was a lot of challenges there. Judging on the way they played first week, they have done a really good job.”
On special teams
“I feel good. Our punter has been really good. Punt protection has been good. Kickoff coverage has been good. There was one that almost got out. Cooper Jewett made a good play and was in the right place. It was a lot of effort and detail going on. There is a lot of situations that can come up in special teams. If you watch games around the country this week there are special team plays that won and loss games for teams. Couple of the things that happened the other day were sloppy mistakes that I know have been covered several times and a couple of rare things but we need to be smart enough to make the right play when that happens. We will just keep covering them.”
