Inside Nebraska football’s competitive practice format

The units of each team rotate across three practice fields, competing within a given scenario each day. Each team has its own song. Injured players serve as administrators.

The idea of the setup is to create a fresh, competitive atmosphere amid the grind that is spring football. Nebraska coach Matt Rhule noted the effect of injecting the morning with an extra dose of competition. Players wouldn’t enthusiastically receive the instruction to do 36 straight reps of third-down situational work. Drop it into a format with a winner and loser, and the vibe changes.

High-level athletes are, by nature, competitive beings. Rhule and the coaching staff are trying to tap into that, channel it into development in the coming weeks of spring ball.

“They love to compete, and so we did it and it almost got a little too competitive at times,” Rhule said. “It was fun for the first day. We’ll see how it continues, if we have enough bodies to continue it.”

Said linebacker John Bullock: “It makes us go even harder because you want to be the guy that wins. You want to be the team that wins. I think it helps bring us into a game setting where you’re going against another team and you gotta get a stop in order to win.”

Thursday, the clash revolved around third down. Each team’s defense rotated fields to face an opposing offense, playing out third downs from a short, intermediate and long distance. The Rattlesnake Boys won the day, tight end Thomas Fidone made sure to note.

“Any time they say there’s a competition it just raises our level of the game, and that’s a good thing,” Fidone said. “It can be a bad thing because it shouldn’t always have to be a competition for you to be at your 100%, but it’s been really fun. I thought it’s a cool way to get everyone to have a different edge to them.”

The division of teams gives each player a chance to get reps against a variety of opponents. It also forces each of the three inexperienced scholarship quarterbacks, Daniel Kaelin, Dylan Raiola and the incumbent Heinrich Haarberg, to lead their groups and simulate the less tangible aspects of playing quarterback.

Nebraska is still five months away from the real competition, the games that count for more than bragging rights among teammates. As the Huskers work toward Aug. 31, when the season kicks off against UTEP, the added edge in practice keeps the gears turning and breaks up the monotony, the slow build of preseason work with the regular season still off in the distance.

“Everything’s just centered around compete, compete, compete, and that’s a culture that we love to have here. I could see it throughout the locker room,” offensive lineman Teddy Prochazka said. “The guys love it. You go out for two hours at practice and just compete, smack into each other, get into the locker room, talk a little smack about who won, who lost and then you just kind of grow together.”​