Brian Buschini, Timmy Bleekrode are embracing ‘NFL mindset’

For anyone interested in the art of pooch punting, Ed Foley had a story to share.

The task from the Nebraska special teams coordinator to Brian Buschini at a recent practice was harder than it sounds. Punt the football — amid swirling wind and defenders — so it lands on the 8-yard line. Then do it over and over.

Of the 10 attempts, Buschini stuck four of them on that exact spot.

“He put on a clinic on Saturday,” Foley said Tuesday. “…That’s like Johnny Hekker stuff.”

That last line carries significant weight.

Foley worked with Hekker — a four-time NFL Pro Bowl punter — with the Carolina Panthers last season. Perhaps 20 yards away, Buschini was calling Hekker the best to ever put foot to falling football, accurately reciting how the 33-year-old owns seven of the top 50 single-season performances in net punting in league history. On advice from Hekker last offseason, Buschini began aiming for the air nozzle on the football on punts in a tweak that produced better results.

“When Coach Foley has come from that to here the standard is super high and I love that,” Buschini said. “He pushes me every day to be better.”

Bring an NFL mindset. It’s a reminder Foley delivers often, especially to his specialists. Nebraska has two aspiring ones in Buschini and kicker Timmy Bleekrode, both former FCS-level transfers who provided immediate on-field upgrades for the Huskers last season. As NU transitions to new long snappers, kickoff men, returners and schemes, a pair of soft-spoken upperclassmen with big legs have been spring constants.

Both are running relatively unopposed — at least for now. Bleekrode fielded questions Tuesday about another incoming scholarship kicker this summer in Omaha Westside product Tristan Alvano. Bleekrode technically has two seasons of eligibility remaining but the fifth-year player said he’s looking to graduate in December with a masters degree in business.

“Competition never hurt,” Bleekrode said. “Iron sharpening iron, really, in my opinion. It will be fun to work with him, bringing in a young kicker and getting to know him and kick with him. It never hurts having good kickers on the roster.”

Nebraska kicked relatively few field goals last year — at 13 attempts, only 12 FBS schools out of 131 tried fewer — and Bleekrode was good on 9 of his 12. He misfired from 37 against North Dakota and 32 against Iowa but also hit on seven straight in the season’s second half.

Buschini, meanwhile, navigated his Big Ten debut while spraining an ankle on three separate occasions. He still punted 68 times — tied for 16th most nationally — landing 14 inside the opponent 20-yard line and sending 16 for distances of 50-plus yards. Only six went for touchbacks as NU finished with a net punting average of 39.24 yards, 48th in the country and ninth in the league.

The challenge this spring, Foley said, is for both specialists to improve even with a finite number of actual kicks they will put on their legs. They spent some time inside Memorial Stadium on Tuesday tinkering with onside kicks and a few kickoffs. Bleekrode is perfecting a 10-step approach on kickoffs, down to where exactly his plant foot lands. Both are experimenting with “aiming points” beyond the goalposts to use to account for wind.

“We just try to replicate (details) as specialists,” Bleekrode said. “We know what he wants, we know what the NFL wants if that’s our goal — which, our room it is. It’s been good working with Foley in that sense.”

Foley had been a career college coach before following Matt Rhule to Carolina in 2020. Now he’s “much better” with specialists, he said, because of the sheer amount of time he spent with the likes of Hekker, kicker Zane Gonzalez and long snapper J.J. Jansen with the Panthers. Tuesday the coach emphasized to Nebraska long snappers Camden Witucki and Marco Ortiz about getting their heads up quicker after releasing the football to get into protection quicker.

It is but an example of the NFL nuances he’s bringing to Lincoln.

Buschini is embracing the culture as well. He explained in detail his commitment to a daily pro-style process spanning warmups, strength training, physical recovery and nutrition. The former taekwondo disciple made an impression on the new coaching staff and team during winter conditioning, often working with the top group. Foley said though he’d like to create competition for Buschini this spring, it seems unlikely.

“I like being a football player,” said Buschini, who still has two years of eligibility remaining. “I don’t like being kind of a glorified soccer player.”

Bleekrode too is immersed in the finer points of his craft. He said his range for field goals is about 55 yards with no wind and perhaps 60 yards with a gust at his back. More interesting to him is solving the wind inside the stadium so it’s advantage on game days.

When former Husker kicker and NFL specialist Brett Maher told him last summer Memorial Stadium was the toughest place to accurately boot a ball, the Furman transfer took note. Now he’s taking plenty of them with a coach and teammate who are taking their jobs just as seriously.

“I like the challenge,” Bleekrode said. “I actually enjoy that this is the windiest stadium to play in in the country. … My mindset is if I can kick in this stadium, I can kick anywhere.”