Latest / Return to Glory - Nebraska / Episode 35 | Running Back Deep Dive

Transcript

Episode 35 | Running Back Deep Dive · Return to Glory - Nebraska

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Go Big Red! The takes, the numbers, the chaos. Hunter
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Austin Dack.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: Talking Cornhusker football, basketball, and everything Nebraska sports. Welcome to
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: the Return to Glory Podcast!
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: Return to Glory Podcast. Hunter Zabernicki here. Tuesday solo episode.
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: Michigan State Week Conference Week. Well, you will see what
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: we are made of. I did make the last-minute decision
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: that I am traveling to East Lansing. For those of
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: you that know my road record, prior to last year,
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: it has been really poor, I think 2-15, but we
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: got two wins last year.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: We're on a hot streak. So maybe I'm no longer
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: the bad luck charm. But anyways, today... I want to
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: do a couple of quick things.
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: One, I want to talk about our running back room
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: here and get a little deeper into what we have
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: and what to expect moving forward and what I think
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: gives us the best chance to win here as we
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: enter Big Ten play. And then have a few mailbag
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: type questions just in more general around the team and
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: where we're at. So first off, We know Nebraska's 3-0.
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: We know that the games have gone pretty well. I
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: think we can all say we're in the B or
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: A category grading-wise and did what we're supposed to do
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: against these non-conference opponents. And with that, going into the year,
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: This running back room was one of the positions, not
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: the only, but maybe had some question marks in what
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: it was going to look like. And we knew we
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: were bringing in this Jamal Rule freshman kid. We had
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: a couple of guys back, but losing Emmitt Johnson, who's
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: now off in the NFL, and by the way, doing well,
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: backing up Kenneth Walker for the Chiefs, but had a
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: couple of big plays on Sunday night.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: And they're just questions.
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: We didn't really know what was going on here in
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: the running back room, what we were going to see.
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: And through three games, I don't think it's an argument
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: right now if you are watching the games that Jamal
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: Rule has performed the best. His stats were the best
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: as well, but not just his stats. His eye test
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: passes that as well. So I guess the question is,
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: what are we going to see moving forward? We no
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: longer have a problem or question mark, I would say,
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: but we have an answer. Jamal Rule's averaging 8.7 yards
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: per carry. Yeah, caveat the opponents.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: He's had two.
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: 100-yard games already, and that's with carries getting splits and
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: two explosive touchdowns, which is something that Nebraska fans at
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: running back, like, we want to see.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: He had a 59-yard touchdown and a 55-yard touchdown.
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: So, obviously, rotation and rotating backs can be healthy, and
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: I think that is okay for a lot of teams
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: when there's not really a guy that stands out. And
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: I I think that you're seeing that in the NFL
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: and college as well, but as I believe it was
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: Austin that might have pointed it out before the year,
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: it's nice to have somebody that is the number one
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: back because they're that much better. And if you have that,
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: then yeah, give them more carries and have it be
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: the RB1 versus more of a rotating backfield. I think
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: what we've seen so far this year that that can
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: be true here for Jamal Rule as RB1. So I
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: think having an RB1 too, one thing to point out,
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: doesn't mean he's getting 25 carries. I don't know that
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: that's what we're saying, but it means you're getting probably
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: the first carries, the high leverage, the bigger play carries.
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: In the red zone, the ball's going to this guy.
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: You know it's going to this guy because he's the
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: one that can find the end zone. And when the
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: game becomes a little bit uncomfortable, The ball is going
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: to him when we are running the ball.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: That's what having an RB1 means.
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: I think over the course of these three games, it's
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: hard to argue that Jamal Rule has not become that
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: guy so far. I'm not saying that Isaiah Mosey and
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: Mekhi Nelson.
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: Have had poor games. I don't think they have. I
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: just think that Jamal.
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: Rule has stood out as this top back in the backfield.
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: And heck, even Fitzgerald said it this week. He compared
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: him to Lawrence Phillips. I mean, that's a pretty big
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: thing to say and compare him to here when you
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: know Nebraska's history at running back.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: So we will see.
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: I guess the question is, why have we not done
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: it yet? And if this is really the case in
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: Jamal Rule, we saw the spring game as fans, but
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: in practice... You still had to see him play meaningful games,
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: and I think that now we've seen that. Being a
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: true freshman, I mean, put this into a coach's perspective, too.
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: When you have two guys that have came back that
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: played last year here and there behind Emmitt Johnson, and
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: obviously you're going to give them a fair shot.
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: They aren't horrible running backs.
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: But from a coaching standpoint, from a meaningful mind standpoint,
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: you've got to keep them feeling confident, feeling good, right,
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: and give them a shot as well, and like I said,
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: they've done well, but when you have Jamal Rule who's
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: shown that, yeah, he's probably better than those two, you know,
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: just throwing a freshman in there and just saying, yep,
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: you two are now two and three, take the back seat,
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: deal with it, it's not always the best approach, so
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: I think Rule has now showed, I mean, not just
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: to the fans and the coaches, but To the backup
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: running backs, too, that know that Jamal Rule's pretty good.
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: And he does a lot of good things. And now
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: that move, that switch to being more of an RB1
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: type of role makes a lot more sense. And this
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: is a perfect three games to do it on. And
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: I think, I mean, I hope that that's what this
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: coaching staff, their plan was. And now here, as we
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: hit Michigan State, you might see a more heavy Jamal
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: Rule workload. in meaningful snaps. And that's not to say
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: that Nelson and Mosey cannot see the field at all.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: They're going to.
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: They're going to have different opportunities in different packages. But
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: Jamal Rule clearly has shown that he deserves that piece there.
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: And again, remember, these guys are all young, like very young, freshman, sophomore.
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: So for the future, you also want to try to
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: keep guys around where you can, but at the same time, right?
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: The most important guy in this backfield too, it's probably
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: Jamal rule and, and whether you're, how much you're going
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: to pay him this year, next year to keep him around.
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: It might end up being a lot. If he pans
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: out the way that maybe I.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: Think he could.
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: So anyways, that's my little spiel here on the running backs.
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: I want to see a lot more Jamal rule this week. He,
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: the other thing that has been pointed out and it's
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: true to like, Watch these running backs when contact happens.
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: Jamal Rule is constantly falling forwards. When he takes contact
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: or finishes runs, he is falling forwards, gaining an extra
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: half yard to a yard. That's not always the case
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: happening with these other two guys, and part of that's
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: just bodybuilding the style of running that they have. But
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: as a fan and as a coach and as a
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: teammate and as anything with Nebraska football, you want guys
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: that are that are falling forwards, I think, for an
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: extra yard or half a yard. Moving on here, a
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: couple of mailbag questions that were pointed out or things
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: I just want to talk about. One thing, defensive line.
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: We got five sacks last week. You know, is that
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: enough to be fixed? Do you feel good about the
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: defensive line? I guess maybe good's an okay word. Not thrilled,
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: not like this D-line's fixed. I still think that we
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: need to see closer in these Big Ten play games,
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: is a lot of these sacks coming from blitz pressure
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: or is it one-on-one matchup winning those? I don't think
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: there's a right or wrong answer to either one of those.
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: But if you can find a way to get pressure,
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: however you do it, the better, obviously. blitzing three or
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: four guys and having more guys in the back end
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: and getting to the quarterback on that better because you
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: have more guys in coverage. But I do think that,
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: you know, getting some disruption in the backfield is going
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: to be key this week as well. And maybe even
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: if we can get a turnover off a strip sack
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: or something there as well, that's even bonus points. Another
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: question is going back to the Kind of what Austin
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: mentioned yesterday, but the bad, the complete four-quarter game, and
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: if we can overcome and put together a complete four-quarter
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: game against Michigan State, that more I thought about this
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: that question's very tough like because your opponent comes into
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: play too and so when you mention a complete four-quarter
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: game against North Dakota or Bowling Green are you expecting
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: like zero mistakes almost like a perfection type of game
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: yeah they they all these teams score points against us.
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: So does that mean we didn't put together a four-quarter game?
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: I wouldn't necessarily go there. But if you look back
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: at the first half of the Ohio game, like there's
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: a whole half potentially. I mean, there was some good
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: in the half too, but that you just felt uneasy
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: the whole time because of the things that were happening,
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: whether it be penalties or drop passes or just things
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: that aren't very clean. And I think that's the word
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: that you've got to go back to when you're talking
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: about a complete game. There's going to be times where
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: other teams just have good players, and they're just going
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: to take advantage of the opportunity there. But what you
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: don't want to happen is for you to have self-inflicted mistakes. Yeah,
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: that word that we go back to.
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: Over and over.
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: So when we're looking at this Michigan State game, and
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: Rule mentioned it yesterday in his Monday press conference, right?
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: Michigan State's not going to beat themselves. They're going to
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: run the football. They're going to do what Pat Fitzgerald
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: teams do a really good job of. And we got
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: to match that. And we got to do a better
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: job of that because we have more experience with this
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: coaching staff, with a lot of these players and the
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: experience on the roster. We got to do a better
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: job of that. That's how we're going to win this game.
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: And so while it's not maybe going to look pretty
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: and perfect all the time, I think a complete four-quarter
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: game is going to look ugly. And finding a way
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: to win this game in any way, shape, or form
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: is what is most important.
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: And it was funny.
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: One of the things is if we squeak out a win,
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: are you going to feel a little bit hesitant as
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: we get deeper into Big Ten play?
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: No, not at all.
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: This is a road game that we need to prove
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: that we can win one of these games. Another one
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: of these, we beat Maryland last year. I saw that
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: the S & P or SP, whatever the ratings are,
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: this is the highest road game. If we were to
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: win this, the highest road game win in the Matt
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: Rule era. If we were to find a way to
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: win this game, I don't care how we win this game.
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: It doesn't have to look pretty at all. It can
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: be the ugliest, just disastrous game.
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: As long as we win.
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: As long as we have one more point better than
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: the other team on Saturday. So, like, there's no style
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: points when it comes to these games. And not where
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: we're at. Maybe if we get to a consistent 9
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: or 10 win team, we can start to nitpick stuff.
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: After a win. But find a way to win. Now,
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: here's the second part.
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: And I don't want to go too deep into this.
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: But if we end up losing this game, the question
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: is going to be why.
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: And.
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: It goes back to the talent. Is there a lack
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: of talent discrepancy here? I don't think that's going to
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: be the answer. If we lose this game, it's going
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: to be because we made probably more self-inflicted mistakes than
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: Michigan State. That's what it's going to come down to,
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: and that's turnover and penalties. Those are two big things
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: here that are going to matter in this game. Again,
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: year four, Matt Rule. Year one, Fitzgerald. You would hope
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: that we... have an edge in that category, but I, I,
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: I don't think it's going to be a matter of, well,
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: Michigan state's better than us. They got a better receiving group.
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: They got a better offense. I don't, I don't think
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: that that's, that's going to be the reason it shouldn't
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: be the reason here with where we're at. So, uh,
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: keep it clean and you know, don't, don't hurt yourself.
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: And I think we're going to end up on top
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: on Saturday. Uh, last quick question here.
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: Um, We'll go into.
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: Just the rest of the Big Ten and looking at
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: that picture of do we think that we feel better
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: about ourselves after last week and just setting expectations. I'm
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: pretty unchanged from last week to this week that a
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: lot of these teams did. There weren't a whole lot
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: of games that implied that like, oh yeah, I feel
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: better or worse about our schedule. I guess the USC
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: Rutgers game was interesting and Maybe going out to Rutgers
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: now looks a little bit tougher.
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: We'll see.
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: Oregon this week travels to USC. And I think Oregon's
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: a three-point favorite right now. That's kind of a key
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: game to watch as we get closer to Oregon. Indiana
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: hosts Northwestern as a 21-point favorite this week. I'm intrigued
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: on how that game goes. Northwestern took care of Colorado
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: this week pretty handily. I think that.
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: If Indiana comes out and just.
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: Blows Northwestern out by 40 or 45, I think they could.
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: It'll be interesting as we get closer to playing them.
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: And then Maryland this week, I believe, has a one
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: and a half point spread game.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: They are playing....
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: Pulling it up here now because I forgot. They are playing, yeah, UCLA.
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: And they're hosting UCLA, which will be an interesting game,
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: kind of a pick-em type of spread there as we
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: get one week out from Maryland. So not to look ahead,
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: but just to think about where we're at after the
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: 3-0 start. Most important game is Michigan State. And like
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: I said, finding a way to win that game I
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: won in any way, shape, or form that we can
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: against the Pat Fitzgerald coach team that tends to know
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: how to beat or stay close to Nebraska regardless of
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: what type of team he's had while he was at Northwestern.
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: I'm glad we catch him at the beginning of the
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: season as they're still developing and installing that culture there.
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: Better than playing him, I think, than November in my mind.
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: So I think that's a plus that we have going
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: for us too.
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: Anyways, that will do it for today.
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: Dak will be here tomorrow for Wacky Dacky Wednesday. And
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: Thursday will be an Austin Dak preview as I'll be
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: traveling to East Lansing.
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: Go Big Red.
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: The headlines change, but the mission stays. From Memorial Stadium
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: to PBA days. Football Saturdays, basketball nights.
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: Every story chasing red and white.
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: Recruiting buzz, big time commits. Camp battles, coaching hits. Transfer
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: moves and rising stars.
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: The road to glory's never far. This is Return to.
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: Glory, where every headline tells a story. Big Red pride
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: every season. Husker Nation's got a reason. From touchdown dunks
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: and championship dreams, we'll be back with the latest from
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: every team.
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: Until next time, keep the faith.
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: Keep believing, because the Return to Glory is just beginning.
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: Go Big Red! See you next episode!