Corey Campbell lays out Huskers’ three summer goals, gives details on ‘The Ten’

Nebraska head football strength and conditioning coach Corey Campbell made an appearance on Huskers Radio Network this week – his first time in front of the media since February when he gave a snapshot into his own philosophies and plans for the Huskers.

During the broadcast, Campbell laid out the three goals the Husker football program set for summer conditioning, which is currently in the middle of Week No. 4 since the players returned from a break throughout May.

1: Elite conditioning and movement
2: Assignment and technique mastery
3: Building a brotherhood

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With Goals No. 1 and No. 2, a lot of Campbell’s explanation goes back to what he originally broke down four months ago during that February radio show.

“That’s a huge priority,” Campbell said. “We wanna be the most conditioned team whether we take it four quarters, overtime, second overtime, whatever. We wanna be able to thrive under those conditions. Number two was assignment and technique mastery. Attributing what we do in the weight room and how that correlates to their on-field play. During the summer, we have OTAs – right now every Tuesday and Thursday – so they get out there doing (individual drills), they’re practicing football skills, they have seven-on-seven. Things that we incorporate into our training, we wanna see that translate to the field of play.”

When it comes to No. 3, that’s one that Matt Rhule and his staff have been emphasizing since essentially their very first day on the job.

“Lastly is brotherhood, continuing to build that bond, continuing to build those relationships. Those are the best teams – when you have a purpose outside of yourself for why you push through the difficult tasks,” Campbell said.

Campbell has commented before about the philosophies in the Huskers’ conditioning and strategies for better movement.

The staff has had “a collaborative effort,” Campbell says, in creating all of that, and it’s included individualized plans this offseason of target goals for each player’s weight.

“Our dietician, Kristin Coggin, she leads the way on that,” Campbell said. “She reviews their DEXA scans (dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry) to see what their body composition is, we know what norms look like from a positional standpoint – not only in the NCAA but in the NFL as well. That effort between myself and my staff, her and her staff, and then the coaching staff – like, ‘Hey, these are the weights that we want these guys to play at.’ We take those into account, and then we come up with a plan to achieve those goal weights in a healthy manner. Because you can put on weight and not all weight is good weight. We wanna be systematic in how we do things so that the weight that they do put on is good weight so that they can go out there on that field and accomplish the goals they have for themselves.”

Campbell said that he “can’t ask for a better group of guys” as the players have continued to “attack” the workout regimens each day and have established the right mindsets in putting in daily work. The staff having set standards during winter conditioning helped to lay the foundation for the summer, and things are rolling smoother now.

“I wouldn’t say it’s easier from a work standpoint,” Campbell said. “You have the ability to push them harder. Coming into the winter, it was figuring out what you had, and we did push them hard. But I think they understand how we do things, so the learning curve wasn’t as vast as it was coming in during the winter. From that standpoint, it was more efficient with our time. Like, hey, get in, dust off and now we’re rolling. But now we’ve got the young guys, the young pups, coming in. They’re going through right now what the rest of the guys were in the winter. So it’s teaching them, bringing them along and teaching them the way we do things here at Nebraska.”

There have been innumerable interesting storylines and tidbits throughout the offseason since Rhule took over and began to put his fingerprints over the program.

One of the more interesting implementations was Rhule carrying over one of his previous traditions of single-digit jersey numbers being dished out to the 10 hardest-working players on the team.

Nebraska then started releasing a graphic called “The Ten” on its social media platforms this summer, which led many to believe those were the guys being selected for single-digit jerseys. That belief was debunked shortly afterward as it became clear “The Ten” was acknowledging the team’s top 10 percent of players who were performing the best throughout summer conditioning. Those lists have been released weekly, and Campbell was able to give some more insight into what they mean.

“So that was a huge topic,” Campbell said with a big grin. “Coach Rhule actually hit me up on that like, ‘Coach, these guys really aren’t understanding.’ So with ‘The Ten’ – We talk about the 10-80-10 Rule with that top 10 percent being your elite guys. They do everything the right way, they hold themselves to a high standard, they hold their teammates to a high standard, they do whatever it takes to be successful, and they bring guys along with them. That’s where we aim for everybody on this team to be – that top 10 percent. You have the middle 80 percent that essentially could be swayed either way, and then you have that tail end – that bottom 10 percent who are guys that really don’t understand or buy into the way in which we wanna do things. We wanna be a team of individuals who strive to be in that 10 percent but also bring others along with them. When you see that number raise above 10, we want a culture where as guys climb they lift each other up and pull them into that 10 percent. If you have a team full of guys who have that 10 percent mindset and work ethic, you position yourself to be a really good team come August.

“We talk about how the standard continues to be raised every week. What was good enough the week before, that’s the bar. That’s the standard. It won’t be good enough next week. We go into an evaluation of that, and we take a lot of factors into account. It is as much the weight room and conditioning as it is being on time to study hall, showing up to your meals on time. That criteria is hard, and those guys wanna be a part of it. When they’re not, they’re questioning, ‘Hey Coach, what more can I do? What more do you need to see out of me to be a part of that list?’ I love the way the guys are buying into it. My hope is that list continues to grow because if we have a list full of 10-percenters, we’re gonna be a really tough team to beat come fall.”

Overall, Campbell believes that the implementation of “The Ten” has made a team-wide impact and that players are continually pushing themselves.

“They see the example their teammates are setting,” Campbell said. “Those guys who do make ‘The Ten,’ their teammates are looking at them like, ‘what is he doing that I’m not doing? How is he impacting others? How is he influencing others to work a little bit harder and push themselves a little bit more?’ And then they go out there and do that. We talk about it all the time: when you as an individual set that precedent and then you hold your room accountable to it, then your side of the ball accountable to it and then your entire team accountable to it, then you have a team full of 10 percenters.”

All of Campbell’s details in his breakdown of “The Ten” circles back to one of the program’s highest-priority goals this offseason: creating a culture where it’s a player-led team and establishing a brotherhood and unity in the locker room.

Campbell also shared his thoughts about the staff’s first camp season with the Huskers in which they found some hidden gems throughout June.

“Yeah, we did (find some future Huskers),” Campbell said. “That’s another part of it, too. It’s as much evaluation on our standpoint as it is wanting to be a presence in the community. Kids come out, and they put their best foot forward in hopes to get noticed. And we did (notice). We had some really good athletes come out, put up some good numbers, put some good things on tape, and coaches took notice. Camp season was good. It’s our first one, so I’m only expecting them to improve from here.”

He wrapped up the night with comments about the Huskers’ new weight room facilities, flashing a big smile while saying he’s very eager to get into the new building and get to work.

“I’m hoping to get in there (by the fall),” Campbell said. “But if we’re not, we have a really good weight room to train in now. My hope is we’re in there as soon as we can be but not a minute before it’s built and done in proper fashion. I’m excited about it, I can’t wait to get in there, but at the end of the day we still have a really good weight room where we can get some really good work in. A 45-pound plate is gonna weigh 45 pounds whether you’re in a new facility or you’re in the one that we got now.

“It’s massive. That’s the one thing I’m looking forward to is the amount of space we’re gonna have. If we ever needed to get the full team in there, we have the ability to do that and the ability to not be congested. I’m looking forward to having a lot of space to work around in.”

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