How Nebraska football is reaping the benefits of identity

On this March weekday after an early spring practice, Fidone the tight end sounded more like Coach Fidone. No longer does the 21-year-old get questions about past injuries — two ACL tears wiped out nearly all of his first two college seasons — or playing time or knowing the offense. Most of his six minutes at the podium were about younger teammates.

Those true freshman quarterbacks? They’re handling the speed of college workouts well and delivering reliable balls, Fidone said. Redshirt freshman tight ends Ismael Smith Flores and Cayden Echternach are coming along. So is early enrollee Ian Flynt

“I’ve been happy with Ian and impressed with Ian,” Fidone said. “He’s a really smart kid. He’s almost so smart that he overthinks things sometimes. But that’s normal, and he’ll get used to it.”

Such are the thoughts of a veteran, not just of college football but within a team that finally knows what it is — and what it wants to be. The Huskers a year ago were a mishmash of holdovers from a previous coaching regime, teenagers new to college and transfers dropping into a different situation than they’d known. Coach Matt Rhule and his staff had standards, but players mostly learned them through trial and error. Peer leadership isn’t so easy when expectations can hit like a blindside blitz.

The first week of practice reminds that the Huskers have a growing contingent in the cross section of on-field experience and institutional knowledge. NU could roll out an entire offensive line of upperclassmen who started games last season. Same with its top tight ends.

Nearly the entire defense fits that category, too. Ty Robinson, Nash Hutmacher and Jimari Butler on the defensive line. Malcolm Hartzog, Tommi Hill, Isaac Gifford and Marques Buford in the secondary. Even John Bullock, Mikai Gbayor and Javin Wright — replacing longtime starters Luke Reimer and Nick Henrich at middle linebacker — began games and saw major snaps.

“We know how (the coaches) are now, and it’s going to help us take it to the next level because we already know how they go about things and how we should go about things,” Hartzog said. “We’re going to help lead the team to a great place.”

Said Rhule: “I’m not the culture. Those guys are the culture. They’ve brought the newcomers along really, really quickly.”

The value of not starting from scratch becomes more obvious when checking on those who are doing just that at Nebraska. Linebacker and Syracuse transfer Stefon Thompson has endured a “difficult transition,” Rhule said, arriving in Lincoln unaccustomed to the in-house standards of strength training and nutritional body composition. And this is a junior who had previously been a playmaker within Tony White’s 3-3-5 scheme while with the Orange.

“He didn’t come in in the best of shape, hadn’t really done our offseason program before, all very new to him,” Rhule said. “It’s been a struggle. Stefon’s a wonderful young man, but he’s worked hard to catch up physically. His body looks significantly better  —you can see in the last two weeks.”

Offensive guard Micah Mazzccua — a former Baylor and Florida blocker and Philadelphia native Rhule has known since the lineman was 16 — has needed time to onboard this winter, too. The 6-foot-5, 325-pound senior has always loved the actual football, Rhule said, so this week has been better. But the not-so-fun winter mat drills and other off-the-field rhythms Nebraska asks of its players challenged the big man.

Now, Mazzccua is among those with a condensed timeline to answer questions from NFL scouts about their respective games.

“I have six months to be your coach,” Rhule said. “… We’ll get him there. And he’s come a long way.”

Other newcomers are riding their own growth curves. Transfer wideouts Jahmal Banks and Isaiah Neyor are experienced but “rookies in our system,” Rhule said. Same with former Oregon running back Dante Dowdell and FCS cornerback arrival Blye Hill.

Nowhere is that reality more high profile than quarterback. Heinrich Haarberg is back after starting eight games a year ago but remains relatively unfinished as a passer. Dylan Raiola and Daniel Kaelin are only now getting their first college snaps. Quarterbacks coach Glenn Thomas — while having a previous history with Rhule and offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield — has been on the job in Lincoln only a few months.

The goal after spring is for each QB to be ready to start, Rhule said. The freshmen can do it, he added, because they’ve put in the extra work to know what they’re doing. NU coaches now know what their players can do. They know how they want to navigate winning in the Big Ten.

“It’s a marathon, not a sprint, for young players,” Rhule said. “It’s not about where you are today, it’s about where you are 3-4 years from now that determines your future. But we are accelerating the pace for all of our young players because just like we need those guys (at quarterback) ready to play, we need some of those young receivers ready to play. So we’re, as a coaching staff, taking that personally.”

Part of that quickened process will play out in a new wrinkle to Rhule’s emphasis on relentless competition. NU has divided into three practice teams — named Bugeaters, Rattlesnake Boys and Old Gold Knights in honor of previous university monikers — each with an offense and defense that rotate playing one another to produce a winner. Quarterbacks can lead their own offenses. Leaders can emerge. Everyone can stack reps.

Left tackle Teddy Prochazka called his position group “mission focused” for the spring and beyond. The same is true all over the roster.

It helps knowing what the mission is.

“Everything’s just centered on ‘compete, compete, compete,’” Prochazka said. “That’s a culture that we love to have here. I could see it throughout the locker room. The guys love it. You go out for two hours of practice and just compete, smack into each other. Get into the locker room, talk a little smack about who won, who lost. Then you just kind of grow together. Iron sharpens iron. It’s awesome.”