As I stated before, early in year one Rhule told us about some advice he once got from coaching legends Bill Belichick and Bill Parcells, “Your first staff is never your best staff. It’s usually about two years in when you figure out who everybody is and what they need.”
I believe that advice to be true. In Rhule’s first year in Lincoln what he figured out was that he had the wrong coaches and what they needed was more experience.
In year one, I listened to Garrett McGuire and Evan Cooper and thought, they’re young but ambitious and hungry. But we quickly learned they didn’t know what they didn’t know.
Then I listened to John Butler and Terry Bradden. I wasn’t blown away, but I thought, these guys are from the NFL, they know what they are doing, we’re going to learn something. What we learned was, the Big Ten isn’t the NFL and they were bad fits.
All along Rhule talked about developmental coaches and when listening to his new defensive line coaches, I think that is what he finally has.
As a fan I’ve thought Rhule has gotten it right each year, only to realize he hasn’t. But listening to Manning and Brown, there’s something different. They sound like coaches. I don’t care who you are, if listening to these two guys don’t make you believers, you aren’t true Husker fans.
Defensive Line Coach Corey Brown
Brown comes to Nebraska with 20 years of coaching experience under his belt and 18 as a defensive line coach. Having coached with new DC Rob Aurich at South Dakota, he commented that while Aurich has the same charismatic personality, he’s also shown significant growth in his philosophies and schemes since then. Brown seems excited about the possibilities that could come with Aurich’s new schemes.
“When you take into account that the defensive line play we had at South Dakota … I wouldn’t say vanilla … but it didn’t have the opportunity to make a bunch of TFL’s and negative plays,” Brown said. “So, the things he’s been doing up front, it’s fun to play in this defense as a defensive lineman. It’s not anything where we are going to ole’ blocks or anything like that. We’re going to take on blocks and defeat them. Learn fit. But there’s some different nuances to it that allows guys with a certain skill set to have success.”
Having been in the game as long as Brown has and working at FCS and lower-level schools, he’s gained experience with developing players, especially guys that weren’t recruited by Power Four schools. The knowledge he’s gained goes beyond working with elite players, as building depth was critical. Always the recruiter, Brown followed the paths of players like Tyson Terry and Malcolm Simpson through recruiting. He’s familiar with them and knows their potential. However, as both players recruitment blew up and bigger schools came calling, it became unrealistic for him to continue pursuing them. He no longer must, as he’ll get the opportunity to coach them both.
Like Manning when talking about the edge players, size can play a role, however as in the case of recent transfer Jahsear Whittington, Brown pointed out, “Sometimes a guy may be 6’1” but play like he’s 6’5”… play with great leverage and great knee band. So those aspects of explosiveness, power, and then strong hands as well, that brings something to the table. And the mentality. Because you can’t shy away from contact in that position.”
And again, like Manning, stopping the run comes first. “It’s built from the inside out.” Brown said. “These two positions that we hold ownership over, they’re important. Because we’ve got to make sure that we have a focus on stopping the run and then earn the right to rush the passer.” Not since Suh and Crick wore the scarlet and cream, have we given much thought about our inside guys getting to the quarterback.
When Bown was asked if the defensive line felt beat up after the season they just had, he replied, “I would not say that. I think that the attitude has been great. These guys have shown up with the right intent. Now the focus of it probably has to be a little bit better, which we know. But overall, in this room it’s been a great group to work with so far. I think everybody’s in the mindset to compete and get better this spring.”
With this group being as young as it is, it was good to hear there was no evidence of them hanging their heads. And while Brown has plenty of young blood in the room to work with, there are older guys like Riley Van Poppel, Gabe Moore, and Sua Lefotu who have work to do. Brown said focusing on technique would help their game grow in leaps and bounds. As much as anything he especially wants Van Poppel to improve his hand technique and fight off blocks.
Some of the work on technique could come from assistant D-line coach Dave Tollefson, Brown thought he had been a great asset in helping coach the defensive line. Tollefson’s experience as a player at the highest level and then coaching at the JUCO ranks gives him a unique perspective on development.
As are most positions in football, repetition will be key in developing young players. “Depth is key. When you have young talent, it’s about pouring into those guys, it’s about those consistent techniques.” With a young room it’ll be key that he sees development from multiple guys. Like Manning wanting five to six edge guys he can depend on, Brown is no different. He knows he’ll need five to six hard core anchors on the inside for sure. “It takes more than just one or two,” Brown said. “You have to bring guys along.”
Brown will rely heavily on some of the young guns to fill in the dept he is looking for. “You don’t want a drop-off. It’s a long season, it’s a big conference and interior guys have to hold down the fort.”
He’ll have plenty to work with in Dylan Berymon, Tyson Terry, Malcolm Simpson, Jahsear Whittington, Sua Lefotu, Gabe Moore, Riley Van Poppel, and Owen Stoudmire.
One thing I know, the talent along the defensive line is significantly better than they played last season. It simply has not been developed and utilized properly. With coaching from Brown that is about to change, especially with this group being another year older. I’m confident we will see vast improvement over what we’ve seen in the past.
GO BIG RED!! SIMPLE, FASY, VIOLENT!!
Photo courtesy of the Falls City Journal
Stay on top of Husker football at CarrikerChronicles.com