Monday nuggets: White details Blackshirts, Foley updates Nebraska’s kicker battle
Nebraska continued its first game week of the season with an afternoon practice on Monday. Defensive coordinator Tony White and special teams coordinator Ed Foley spoke afterward to give the latest on the Huskers.
Here is a full recap of what they had to say…
Nebraska defensive coordinator Tony White
***White said it was “pretty obvious” for him and Rhule to select their first Blackshirts. Along with being the 11 projected Week 1 starters, White said it was a “testament” to those guys for how much they’d bought into the program.
***White said the door was open for other players to earn Blackshirts as the season went on. There could also be more than 11. He said the Blackshirts would be a “week-to-week” evaluation to “keep guys competitive.”
***One of White’s former defensive assistant coaches at Syracuse, Nick Monroe, is now the co-defensive coordinator at Minnesota. White said UM would have “a general idea” of Nebraska’s defensive scheme, but all that mattered was player execution.
***White added some new wrinkles to the defensive game plan on Wednesday, but that would be it before game day.
***On Chief Borders earning a Blackshirt, White said it came down to his “consistency” all offseason. White said Borders stood out with his attitude, effort, and talent. “That’s a big deal around here.”
***White expected Nebraska’s inside linebackers would play both spots during games. Some guys could play all three linebacker roles.
***White said the light was starting to come on for Javin Wright since moving to linebacker this offseason. He added that Mikai Gbayor had some come on lately and was working at all three LB spots.
***On which player’s consistency had come the furthest this offseason, White said Blaise Gunnerson was “up there.” White called Gunnerson an “OOU guy” who was low-maintenance and did everything right.
***He said DeShon Singleton had always flashed his ability but was now doing it consistently every day.
***White said playing multiple special teams was a “huge role” in paring down Nebraska’s 74-man travel roster for Minnesota.
***White said true freshmen Dwight Bootle and Sua Lefota had gotten noticeably better since the start of camp.
Special teams coordinator Ed Foley
***Foley would not reveal who Nebraska’s starting placekicker would be at Minnesota. He said he’d leave that up to head coach Matt Rhule. But Foley added that he had “a pretty good idea” of who it would be.
***Foley said 90% of the special teams preparation was in. It was the other 10% you can’t prepare for that has kept him up at night. Most of that is unexpected situational stuff that you don’t know how guys will handle until it happens.
***Foley said punter Brian Buschini had “a really good” camp. Foley was fully confident in what Buschini would bring to the table this season.
***Another one of Buschini’s roles could be kickoff specialist. But Foley said Buschini, Tristan Alvano, and Timmy Bleekrode could all do kickoffs. Foley said that job would “evolve over the year” and still wasn’t sure who the KOS would be at Minnesota.
That decision might not come until pre-game warmups. Foley wants to evaluate the wind speed and direction and see who’s “hitting the ball well” in warmups.
***Foley said Emmett Johnson and Rahmir Johnson would both be back at kickoff returner. He felt confident in either player taking the ball out.
***Foley said special teams were a great way to get true freshmen and young players game experience and confidence. That said, he also loves having veteran starters in his unit.
Foley said almost the entire punt team was made up of Blackshirts and single-digit players.
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