Chinander Discusses Takeaways from Live Scrimmage

Football
3/28/2022 11:50:00 AM

NU Athletic Communications

Nebraska defensive coordinator Erik Chinander met with members of the media following Monday’s spring practice. Chinander discussed the takeaways from the team scrimmage.
 
“It was good to see some guys tackle that we have not necessarily seen tackle a whole bunch,” Chinander said. “We needed to get some more reps especially with the younger guys taking people all the way to the ground. I think our running backs are running really hard right now so it is a really good practice for us. Also got us in some good situations some red zone work some stuff by the goal line third down situations. I think the kids had a better understanding of those situations after scrimmage number one after reviewing the film and moving on to scrimmage two.”
 
Chinander talked about the importance of the defensive lineman position to the overall defense.
 
“I think it does not matter what defense you play and it does not matter what league you play in,” he said. “If you do not have a good defensive lineman you will never be good on defense. I think those guys are very critical in your success no matter where you are at. If it is high school whether it is the NFL whether it is college whether the Big Ten or ACC or SEC it does not matter. Those guys are super critical to the success of the defense.”
 
He was also asked how comfortable he is with Nebraska’s defensive linemen right now.
 
“I think we are comfortable with the players,” Chinander said. “It is just that we have got to see some separation. Some of those guys have got to go earn that spot.”
 
Chinander closed by explaining how the offensive and defensive units balanced each other out during the scrimmage.
 
“The thing I liked about the scrimmage was I thought it was fast and physical on both sides of the football,” he said. “I did not see any dumb stuff out there penalty-wise. I just thought both sides were operating really good at certain points in time. Sometimes it was kind of a stalemate which is okay too just good players on good players but I thought both groups did a really nice job offense and defense.”
 
The Huskers will continue their spring practice on Wednesday. The annual red-white spring game is set for April, 9 at 1 p.m. (CT) with national television coverage by the Big Ten Network.