Nebraska defensive coordinator talks ‘Husker Speed’

“It’s exactly about the reps. You can even tell by the way I look I need to get my butt in shape. Coach has us running after the guys and making sure we know how to run to the ball, but it’s great you know. The only way you can develop is getting meaningful reps and whether it’s teaching individuals, whether it’s half line stuff, whether it’s full team or 7-on-7, a lot of guys are getting a lot of reps in a lot of places, so it’s really good.”

“I think it’s daily competitions. From red to black. With the A team. With the B team. So we’re going to move guys around constantly. We want to reward guys who do it the right way and make sure we send a message to guys if you’re not going to do it the way it’s supposed to be done, you’re not going to play.”

“Right now, we’re focusing on the operation. Whether it’s individual work or it’s full team competition, we know how we’re supposed to act. So far it’s been good but we still have a long way to go.”

I’m glad you brought that name up. That is truly what represents the process of what Coach Rhule has brought here. You talk about a guy like Buck. We identified, hey, he needs to be closer to this weight.” White praised the strength coaches, Kristin Coggin in nutrition and the sports science department too. “Constantly giving him the resources he needed in order to get himself in the best shape he’s been in. He’s flying around. He’s happy. He’s being a leader out there. I’m really excited about what he’s been able to do and that’s representative of what’s here now.”

“Right now, we’re getting into playing shape. You can see they’ve gained 10, 12 15 pounds. They’re leaner. They’re explosive. Now we’re getting into actual football shape. Coaches included. It’s a lot of moving parts and we have to make sure we do our job so that then those guys can go out and do their job.”

“However many we can. It’s really when you get to those championship months in late October, November and December. If you have great depth and you have a lot of guys playing, chances are the injuries are down, you got guys that you can throw them in there and we’re still playing at a high level.”

“The older guys see the game. They know they are supposed to be over here, but they saw the ball, so they took a hole over here and they took their chance over there. It’s cool to see them still have that confidence and let it loose. Again, it comes back to the moment when you see the young guys do that. The young guys would be like, ‘oh, I can do this’ and we’re harping on the guys for going fast. We had an incident where a guy was trying to be correct versus playing fast, so I yelled at him because I’m not worried about that right now. Just catch it, let loose, go and play with it.” 

“When you look up and you see Buck out there, you see Nash, you see Blaise and you see Cam. And then you see guys down the line – A.J. Rollins and Kai, and you see Sua out there. You’re just like, ‘Wow.’ Wave after wave, you’re trying to get those guys to know what to do. And there’s a point in practice where a guy makes a play and he did it the right way – and he used Husker Speed and he used dominant contact – and it’s like, ‘That was it.’ And you can see it in their face, ‘That’s what it feels like.’ We’re trying to get everybody to that point.”

“We had an incident where a guy was trying to be too correct versus playing fast, so I yelled at him because, ‘Hey dude, I’m not worried about that right now. I just care that you let loose and you go and play with, I’m going to keep on saying this, ‘Husker Speed.’