Spring Game Spectacular!

A new era begins…

If you have been watching and listening to everything about Scott Frost lately, he basically is a combination of Tom Osborne and Bob Devaney sent from the heavens to Nebraska to resurrect our proud program from its deep slumber.  I know how easy it is to fall in love. Frost makes it easy. Tomorrow is the first spring game of the Scott Frost era in Nebraska.

A new era for Nebraska begins, but for the first time in a long time it feels like an old era and most Husker fans would agree, it feels great!

Now that the fluff is out of the way, I’m going to be a bit of downer.  Only because our coach has properly conditioned us to not get too far out over our skis about a spring game.   Scott Frost is the head coach now. No more excuses from coaches about not understanding the Nebraska way. Scott Frost is Nebraska.  It’s in his blood, just like it is to almost any Husker fan. It’s probably safe to say that Mike Riley, Bo Pelini or Bill Callahan were never accused of being too much of a Husker.

Jolt Design Tees

Coach Frost has already warned us though, if you have been listening, that this isn’t an overnight turnaround job.  He knows how much work is going to be required to get the Huskers back into national prominence. He also has showed us at Central Florida that his words aren’t just something that he says, it’s something he lives by.  Influences from Tom Osborne to Chip Kelly, from Bill Snyder to Mike Tomlin, have prepared Frost to come home as ready as he can be, to make Nebraska into a place that fans can be proud of. We get to see our first glimpse of that this weekend.

There is a lot of newness with this staff, and yet it’s familiar.  Ryan Held, Greg Austin and Barrett Ruud are former Huskers on the staff, but Travis Fisher, Troy Edwards and Erik Chinander have already bought into the Big Red Kool-Aid.  Of course, they all have one common denominator, they are loyal to Coach Frost. Almost every assistant coach has talked about how they would follow Scott Frost to China if that is where he was going to coach.  When Coach Frost picked Nebraska, it turns out his entire staff helped him make the decision to come. That type of loyalty and leadership is a welcome change. Since Tom Osborne retired, I’ve been hard pressed to remember a staff that was on the same page with each other as much as this group seems to be.

What does all this mean?  We won’t really know for a few years.  This weekend is, to quote Star Wars, the first step into a larger world.  Nebraska fans want their program to be relevant again. We want to go to Orange, Fiesta and Rose Bowls again, not Carquest, Holiday and Gator.  We don’t mind not winning our conference, but we are tired of being blown out of our own stadium. We want to have a chance in every game if we can and if we don’t have a chance in a game, we want the team that plays Nebraska to regret it for the rest of the season.  Conference titles will come if the foundation is poured properly. It feels like this staff has all the stuff to do that.

That’s part of the problem.  I thought Bo Pelini was going to be the savior coach when he returned.  I talked myself into Mike Riley being the answer, if he was just given the right tools, surely, he could do it.  Most fans want success so badly, they turn blind eyes to issues in the program and the administration. Goodness knows I’ve done that myself.  Any bit of success seemed to be the turning point under the previous coaches. Success happens, only to come crashing down in a thunderous disappointment later in the season.

So, we wait.  We wait because we are jaded, because we have been burned.  We wait because in our hearts, we know Coach Frost is going to build this thing back to the Nebraska way, but we want to wait to be sure before we give too much of our Husker Heart away.  Saturday, we will all probably fawn all over this team and this staff, which is great. Just be prepared, it’s a long road to the top of the mountain. We should all be a little wiser, and hopefully enjoy this ride.

Carriker Chronicles

ON WITH THE REWIND…

I won’t give a scoring prediction for this weekend…ok, I probably will, but my last few predictions have been way off.  I felt like Nebraska would get up for some games last fall because they had pride in themselves and the program. That couldn’t be further from the truth.  This team has some serious mental health issues. This new staff has a lot to overcome from a simple stand point of teaching this group to be winners. Many have had very little success in college.  With any luck at all, the first part of changing that happened this spring.

Quick Notes:

Who to watch for…. The quarterback group should be interesting.  True freshman Adrian Martinez gets a chance to show why Coach Frost went after him so hard and Tristan Gebbia gets a chance to show why he was a four-star recruit from California.  A starter won’t be named after this spring, but it would be a nice little bump into the summer if these two had some success this weekend.

What else should we see… It’s hard to say how much we will see on Saturday.  It won’t be a bloodbath, but we should see some things on offense that we aren’t used to seeing at Nebraska.  Coach Frost runs an up tempo, push the ball up and down the field type of offense. It’s probably as dynamic as any offense in the country.  Whether we will see any of that Saturday, is anyone’s guess, but I think we will get a taste. Defensively, Nebraska will probably be vanilla.  If anyone really stands out, don’t take it to the bank that it will translate to next fall. Again, long way to go.

Players to be on the lookout for…. I hope to see some fire from a few new players and some old ones that should break out under this staff.  I’m excited to see Tyjon Lindsey. Lindsey is built for this type of offense, hopefully he has a great spring.  I’m excited to see Will Honas, the junior college linebacker. I want to see if wide receiver Mike Williams is as fast as everyone says, along with Greg Bell at running back.  Frost wanted to bring in speed, these two should provide it.

Husker Hounds

Score Prediction: Nebraska  Red 24 – Nebraska White 21

These games always have something crazy happen and the fourth string free safety from Thedford will be a fan favorite coming out of the game half the time.  I’m looking forward to some new faces and some great new coaching. For the last time until August, this is all the football we get…GBR!!