Pre-Indiana
Press Conference
Opening Statement
“We’ll use this week to reset, refocus and improve. As we get back into Big Ten play, our kids have to look at this as a fresh start. Big Ten play, this will be our second Big Ten football game. Indiana’s offense presents a lot of problems. They had 104 snaps versus Cincinnati last week. They’re the third fastest team in the country snapping the ball. So they’re going to present a problem for our defense. But at the end of the day, it’s homecoming, it’s a night game, and we’re excited to get back in front of our fans in Memorial Stadium.”
On how to counter Indiana’s offensive pace
“My thing is we have to get the calls in. Bill (Busch) has to get the calls in and we have to execute the call.”
On how he’s brought about a reset
“We gave them off Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and brought them back Sunday. So we gave them time to let the body heal. We let them get away from football and let them get together with their families. That’s the things we did just this past weekend.”
On the o-line
“(Ethan) Piper will start at left guard. Kevin (Williams) will be out. He had high ankle sprain surgery so he’ll be out two to three more weeks. At the end of the day, the ball is going to kick off Saturday so we have to get our best five on the field. But, Piper will start at left guard.”
On the competition in practice and if he saw “Nebraska vs Nebraska”
“Yes, I did. It was really good competition and we got after each other. And today, we were getting ready for Indiana. I was happy with their effort today because we talked about effort being between you and you. And they gave us that today and last week.”
On how he’ll make sure calls are getting in on time
“Sometimes with tempo teams, you’re going to get a call in. The next call, they have to get their eyes over to sideline right away and get the call. One word has got to tell you everything- the front, the coverage, the blitz. We do a lot of one word things but the linebackers have to really get the call from the sideline and the safeties have to get the signals so we can get going.”
On his first night game as head coach
“No, it doesn’t feel different. At the end of the day, football is a football game. I’m not trying to be disrespectful. But night or morning, we have to play football, and everything’s special. It’s always special to me when I can walk into Memorial Stadium. It’s always special – night, morning, afternoon. But it’s homecoming, it’s a night game. Like I said, we’re going to be excited to get back in front of fans.”
On what Bill Busch could do in two weeks to transform the defense
“Well, he eliminated some things that we did in the past. But Bill’s not out there by himself. The d-line coach, the linebacker coach and the secondary coach – they’re all working together and they are working together. I told those guys yesterday that I appreciate them jumping on board. So they’ve been meshing, and sometimes it’s hard to do that, but they mesh. Bill’s sharp. He’s a really good football coach. He understands what I want. I got to see him in action at LSU with Dave Aranda, so he knows what I want. He knows what he’s doing.”
On how the experience at LSU helps Bill be built for the role
“Like I said, I competed against him every day. I went against him every day. He was thorough about what he was doing and we shared notes all the time. He was detailed in what he was doing. And he coached some really good football players, but he also coached some kids that were average that looked good, because he’s a great teacher. That’s what you have to be to be a good football coach. You have to be a great teacher.”
On what makes a good teacher
“Detailing things, knowing how the kid learns. It goes back to teaching. That’s why teachers are special people in this world. Because they have to look at a kid and say, this kid learns this way and this kid learns this way. Bill’s doing that. Bill’s breaking it down. So are the other guys on the defense staff and the offensive staff. They’re doing the same thing.”
On the reception of new coaches by recruits
“It was great. It was great. Everybody still loves Nebraska. All our commitments are still in. We had one decommit, but we can understand that. The reception was great with all the coaches.”
On if he’s gotten more comfortable
“I think that coming back from New Orleans, it slowed down for me because I got to get out on the road as the head coach. I got to have an off week as the head coach. I got thrown into the fire the first week, that’s okay. That happens. You just have to bow your neck and get going but it has slowed down for me. And I had to do that. I had to sit back and just think about things and then slow it down myself and I did that.”
On if he got to see friends and family over the break
“Yes. I saw my dad, but everybody wants a job. Everybody wants a job. Everybody had answers. It was good to see old friends, it was good to see old coaches, but everybody had all the answers and everybody wanted jobs. Typical New Orleans.”
On the running back situation
“You know how we feel about AJ. (Anthony) Grant’s a really good player and really confident. Gabe (Ervin) ran the ball really well at the end of the game against OU. Let me tell you about Gabe. Gabe is a high character kid. When things didn’t go his way he didn’t sit on our sideline and pout. He bowed his neck. He waited until he got his opportunity. And he took advantage of it, so we have a lot of confidence in Gabe.”
On the most difficult part of taking over as head coach
“Just learning. Just learning everything and kind of taking everything in, it’s a lot. It’s a lot to do. I don’t really enjoy this. I really don’t, to tell you the truth. I’m not the type of dude that wants to be in front of the cameras all the time, but that’s what the job brings. So I have to do it, but I have to depend on my guys – Keith and everybody, and Matt to help me with this. I’m always open, and the people that helped me the most are the players because they bought in and there was no resistance. They bought into what we’re trying to do. But it wasn’t easy. It’s not easy.”
On if there are younger guys that are on the cusp of having a bigger role
“Well, we have some young guys that we want to look at. Malcolm (Hartzog) is one of them. Malcolm is going to play some corner, (Jaeden) Gould is going to play some safety. We try to find the best 11 guys and get them on the field. And so we have to find those guys. We’re going to go through those young kids and see if they can get it done. And if they can get it done, we’ll get them some reps on Saturday, but they’ve been great. Today and last week, they’ve been great.”
On his message to young players with the portal and how to stick with it
“Well, you have to keep encouraging them and you have to let them know when the time comes, that they have to be ready to go. And then you have to put them in the game. And that’s what we’re going to do. We have to put them in a game and see what they can do. You have to recruit your team right now with the portal.”
On the importance of the team getting a win
“I think it’s important. Beating Indiana is the number one goal, but it’s really important for this football team, just to get some confidence that they can start something and finish it. And that’s how we’ll go and beat Indiana.”
On if Ernest Hausmann will help with defense or just special teams
“He’s going to be both, but he’s still in the mix. He’s still in the mix at linebacker also.”
On where Ernest Hausmann needs to improve the most
“With all those young kids, it has to slow down for them. Slow down in their head. This game is a fast game. He is an intelligent kid and a great athlete. He just has to keep working but he’s always going to be in the mix.”
On what’s he doing to prepare the team for this weekend’s tempo
“Working with the scout team, lining up quick, having the guys recognize the formation and snapping quick. Then let’s go and let’s play football.”
On the importance of Casey Thompson as a veteran
“Casey is 24? Man. I’ve been knowing Casey since he was a baby. It’s good. It’s like the old Nebraska days when you had all those fifth-year seniors out there and they were 24 years old. That’s ok because it’s no rush to get out there in the world. I know the NFL says they want them to be young. It’s good to have a veteran quarterback at 24. That’s old.”
On how the defense has responded to the changes
“They’ve been receptive because we’ve talked to them Sunday about team unity by being one and having everyone do their job. They’ve been receptive of what’s going on. Like I said it’s been great. The kids have bought in. With everything that they’ve been through they’ve been great. They haven’t blanked and they’re moving forward.”
On his communication the past week with Vice Chancellor, Director of Athletics Trev Alberts
“We talk like the normal talk before I took this job. We meet on Sundays but we don’t talk every day. I talk to my brothers every day but I don’t talk to people every day.”
On what he wants to see from the offense during this week of practice
“We want to be more consistent and keep the drives going. We have to be better on third downs. We talked about that and Whipple understands that. The kids understand that also but I’m sure that we will be better Saturday.”
On how to get punt returns going
“We got to hold up on the outside. We have to force the return. We are looking for someone on special teams to make a big play this week. We need one of them to make a big play and we challenged them with that.”
On if he talk to the guys about the coaching staff rumors
“We always talk about blocking out the noise. We aren’t going to worry about who the search firm is talking to. Like I said before Nebraska deserves to have a national search. Our interview is now and the next eight games. That’s your interview. We can’t do anything about that. We also talked about controlling what you can control. We can’t control that. Black out the noise and we are going to focus on Indiana.”
On if there has been improvements after changing the practice schedule
“They’re flying around. Tremendous improvement. Like I said they bought in.”
On what Omar Brown brings to the nickel spot
“He’s very athletic and we wanted to get him closer to the ball.”
On if he watched college football on Saturday
“No, I was recruiting. I was at nine o’clock practice then I went to a two o’clock game and a six o’clock game. I don’t have time to watch other guys play. I didn’t even watch my brother. I didn’t find out they lost until Monday morning. I’m focusing on what’s going on at Nebraska. I don’t really have time to watch games like that.”
On Malcolm Hartzog’s play
“Malcolm is a go-getter. He is a tough kid from Mississippi that doesn’t blink. It’s not too big for him. He was a really good kid coming out of high school. He’s a smart kid. We’ve got to get him reps and have him get the chance to play.”
On if Hartzog was on LSU’s radar
“No, I don’t think so. When I left LSU I didn’t know who they were recruiting. I didn’t care who they were recruiting.”
