If you watch football, then you know there is a game happening within the game. Offensive coaches try to out scheme what a defensive coach has put in front of them. A defensive coach works at shutting down an offense that is having success. The game is being played on the field but there is a chest match occurring between the coaches as well. That same chest match is being played between players, defensive linemen and offensive linemen, linebackers and running backs, wide receivers and corners. There are physical and mental matchups happening throughout the game.
But don’t make the mistake of thinking the games end there, they started months ago. The real game within the game is coaches preparing their players mentally. And I’m not talking about knowing their responsibilities or the play sheet.
The game I’m talking about is the game of knowing people, knowing personalities, and knowing what drives an individual. This requires coaches to know their players at a level that few people achieve anywhere else in their lives. The coaches must know what buttons to push with each guy, and the head coach must know his team. Without that, the coaches have no clout, no validity – nothing. The players won’t believe what they’re hearing. Belief requires a coach getting close to his players and learning the polarity that exists within each of them. Like magnets, players respond differently to positivity or negativity. Some players need to be built up while others need challenged and torn down. It can be a fine line to walk, and it’s why a coach must truly know and understand his guys.
That’s why a couple of weeks ago you heard Matt Rhule say, “This defensive line is going to be hell on wheels.” There is a narrative out there that Nebraska’s defensive line this season is going to be weak against the run. Rhule needs his players to ignore that noise and believe the opposite. He’s not being braggadocios. He’s trying to instill confidence.
And with good reason. Things are tricky on the defensive line this fall. Former defensive line coach Terrance Knighton left for Florida State with defensive coordinator Tony White. Most of the guys on the defensive line were recruited by Knighton and White. Players had a belief in them and that’s something that was built over time.
John Butler is unproven as defensive coordinator and new defensive line coach Terry Bradden has only been on campus for the last seven months. They must get to know their players and win them over, make believers out of them. That can be difficult to establish until you go to war together. Rhule’s comment helped set that foundation.
In another example offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen recently talked about running back Mikhi Nelson. Holgorsen recognized something in Nelson last fall and in the spring, he let him know the areas that were holding him back. Nelson addressed those concerns over the summer and has put himself in a good position to be the next man up behind Emmett Johnson. That was clear when Holgorsen spoke about Nelson last week.
“I’m going to say this stuff, then I’m going to go straight and find him and tell him what I said and if he does anything wrong, I’m going to kick him right in the ass,” Holgorsen said. “Mekhi has done good. Mekhi had a great summer. He’s matured. He looks very explosive out there. He’s had no busts. His assignments and stuff have been good. He’s doing a good job.”
With his honesty Holgorsen reminded me of Mike Leach, but his comments put Nelson and Holgorsen’s relationship in perspective, admiration, demanding, and a level of expectation. If you’re a player, it’s the kind of relationship you want with a coach, and the remark tells you Holgorsen knows Nelson.
Mike Ekeler also didn’t hold back this week in letting his players know he believed in them with comments like this, “You gain confidence by having success. And that’s what we’re gonna do.”
Later when asked about the comment Jacory Barney made, Ekeler replied, “So, for him to come up and say, ‘I’m going to lead the country,’ that ought to be his mentality, that’s my mentality. It comes back to our head ball coach, I mean think about, if I was in a dark alley and there’s four guys coming at me, I can pick one head ball coach to be with me, it’d be our guy. I’d say, ‘Coach Rhule you got those three, I got that one.’ We’d be just fine.”
It’s not just coaches building up players, its coaches building up coaches as well. Rhule doesn’t need to be put on a pedestal, but Ekeler made it clear how strongly he believes in Rhule and his leadership. It’s good for players and fans to hear that.
One last take, you heard Mike Ekeler and Matt Rhule shower new Aussie punter Archie Wilson with praise. The media may have thought the comments were for them and that they were over hyping Wilson, but their comments were aimed at one individual, Archie Wilson. Being new to the country, just turning nineteen, playing a new sport, and smart enough to recognize what is expected of him, they are trying to reassure him and take the pressure off.
Rhule had this to say, “He’s one of the coolest dudes around. He’s got so much juice, sometimes I’ll say something, and a lot of guys are afraid, he’ll come back at me with the most witty retort, he’s just the most interesting man in the world to me.”
Ekeler added, “Man, that guys special. I mean he truly is. Eighteen years old leaves home for the first time, goes to a different country, leaves his family which he is unbelievably close to, and what coach said about him, everything is accurate. That kid, that guy, knows every one of his teammates, and his teammates love him. Because of the energy he brings into the building, not just because he’s able to do what he can do with a football, but the guy’s special. And I said it at the last place I was at, and I’ll say it about Arch, the guy is gonna be a damn weapon. And you gotta understand this, in punting, special team in general, every punt he hits isn’t going to be a fifty-five or sixty yarder. He’ll miss hit one, that’s gonna happen, and when he does, I’ll take it – alright. But I’m telling you, when you look up at the end of the year, with his body of work, you’re gonna go, holy cow, this guy is the real deal.”
This is a freshman punter who has never played a single snap in an American football game. So, to heap that much praise on him this early means this staff is working on not only building his confidence but explaining to Wilson’s teammates they need to get behind him.
One of the strong suits of this staff is communicating. Listening to these coaches talk about their players and this program is why I’m high on the 2025 Huskers. I like what I’m hearing. They have created positivity without hype. Players take on the personalities of their coaches and you can see it in this team.
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