Steven Sipple: Young Nebraska QBs “building a new normal,” Matt Rhule says; and Grant Brix apparently making strong early impression
Things I know, and things I think I know: So, Matt Rhule sees Nebraska’s young quarterbacks “building a new normal.” That’s seemingly positive commentary.
If you’re a Husker fan, you hope the “new normal” involves a lot fewer interceptions.
Nebraska’s “new normal” apparently includes quarterbacks — Dylan Raiola, Daniel Kaelin, and Heinrich Haarberg are the scholarship guys — flipping protections at the line of scrimmage on a routine basis.
Raiola and Kaelin are true freshmen, mind you.
“We have quarterbacks doing things in protections that I haven’t had someone do in 11 years, you know, of college football,” Rhule says.
Note that Rhule has been a head coach for exactly 11 seasons, including three in the NFL. Just saying.
The way Rhule portrays it, his young Nebraska quarterbacks are pushing each other during spring drills, which is exactly what coaches want. Based on what I hear, Raiola should be legitimately regarded as the favorite to ultimately win the job. But Kaelin and Haarberg apparently are making strong impressions, and it’s important to note the Husker QB room also has walk-ons in Jack Woche and Luke Longval.
Nebraska on Saturday completed its ninth of 15 spring practices.
“My job is to make sure all the quarterbacks — all three and all five — are good enough to be the starter,” Rhule says.
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Rhule says rookie QBs operating at very high level
Nebraska’s first significant scrimmage action of the spring occurred Saturday, so Rhule and company still need a lot more information in sizing up the group. There’s plenty to think about in that conversation.
To wit: Rhule notices that as one quarterback excels in a certain area, another typically kicks into gear to catch up. It all seems healthy to this point.
“I see both (freshmen) doing things that are really, really high level,” Rhule says. “But they’re taking advantage of things within our offense that maybe haven’t been taken advantage of as of yet. I think all three (scholarship) guys are doing that.”
Rhule then shifted into big-picture mode. It’s usually pretty interesting when he does that. In this case, he noted a culture in which fans wait for practice highlights to come out via Twitter or some other godforsaken — my word, not Rhule’s — form of social media.
However, “The highlights haven’t been the reason why we haven’t been to a bowl game in the last (seven) years,” the coach says. “It’s the lowlights. And so I’m more of a eliminate-the-defects type of a coach. So, yeah, we’ve had some unbelievable ‘wow’ plays. But let’s talk about the amount of sacks we’re giving up, or the big plays we’re giving up, or the missed assignments that we’ve had, or missed opportunities in two-minute drills.
“It’s also a matter of making sure we’re coaching what not to do and what to avoid. That’s really the step for the quarterbacks.”
In case you’ve forgotten, three Nebraska quarterbacks last season combined for 10 touchdown passes, with 16 interceptions. That’s obtuse. That’s remarkable struggle.
On the bright side, that’s a low bar for Raiola and Kaelin to leap.
“Both guys can make dynamic plays,” Rhule says. “But the season will be dependent upon how many times we beat ourselves on a play and how many times we don’t. That’s really what you worry about with freshman quarterbacks, and what you have to teach freshman quarterbacks.”
The coach makes a lot of sense, doesn’t he?
Running backs have struggled in pass protection
Rhule mentions that Nebraska running backs this spring “have had a lot of errors” in pass protection. That’s partly because veterans Rahmir Johnson and Gabe Ervin are practicing on only a limited basis.
It also because Husker defensive coordinator Tony White routinely throws complications at offenses with his unique 3-3-5 system.
“If you can learn protection versus this group …” says Rhule, his voice trailing off.
Which brings to mind one of my favorite moments of the spring. It occurred Thursday when Husker third-year offensive line coach Donovan Raiola was asked about the benefits of his group facing White’s defense in practice.
“Oh, it’s the best, I love it,” Raiola said with what seemed like a dose of sarcasm.
It actually seemed like a heavy dose.
“It keeps you on your toes,” he added.
I’ve seen enough Nebraska practices over the years to understand it can get awfully heated. It’s a beautiful — and necessary — part of practice.
Nebraska’s offense is going to look different
Rhule touched on one glaring way Nebraska’s offense is going to look different than last season, when the Huskers used three QBs who each ran the ball well.
“When you have Danny and Dylan in, you’re protecting with a little different mindset than when you have Heinrich in or like last year when we had Chubba (Purdy) or Jeff (Sims) in. We were almost hoping to create some sort of interior seam,” Rhule says. “Or we were hoping defenders would come underneath and get them outside and let them see the field and run.
“These quarterbacks (Raiola and Kaelin) are elite at moving within the pocket and stepping up. So, you truly want to build an NFL cup-style protection where we’re never going to get beat inside-out. We’re trusting that the quarterback versus an edge rusher will step up.”
Rhule then takes you right into practice, where this spring his quarterbacks wear green “hands-off” jerseys, making legitimate sacks almost impossible to come by.
“The defense doesn’t like me sometimes because they’re coming off the edge and yelling ‘sack’ and I’m laughing like, ‘Yeah, right,’” Rhule says.
Grant Brix draws praise from head coach
Seems like a lot of Nebraska fans took special interest in Rhule’s praise of incoming freshman offensive lineman Grant Brix of Logan, Iowa, one of the most highly touted recruits of his class.
Rhule notes Brix is playing tackle — and not guard — and in his comments Rhule gave us some football education. If you listen closely to the coach, you can get a lot of education.
“Any time you recruit a tackle, you try to play him at tackle,” he says. “It’s harder to find tackles than guards.”
I knew that intuitively, but it was informative to hear it from a veteran coach.
Rhule continues, “Sometimes, you can go over and take a d-lineman who’s struggling and move him to guard, and all of a sudden he’s a great player. Tackle is a whole different animal.”
The coach’s comments about Brix make one wonder if he might be able to supply depth this season.
“Grant to me has a bright, bright, bright future at tackle,” Rhule says of the 6-6, 285-pounder. “He can play tackle at this level. He’s put on a lot of good weight since he’s gotten here. He’s extremely conscientious. Straight-A student. Going to do everything right on the football field.
“He just needs reps.”
With the way Rhule structures practice, Brix gets plenty of them.
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