Here are some quick notes to pass along following Nebraska's final spring practice on Wednesday before this weekend's Red-White game...
ROBIN'S NUGGETS
***Associate head coach/receivers coach Mickey Joseph had no update on the format for Saturday's spring game. All he was concerned about was getting through it healthy.
***Joseph said it would likely be "a little weird" for him returning to Memorial Stadium with fans in the stands on Saturday for the first time in 30 years. He said the last Husker game he'd been to in Lincoln was his Senior Day game against Oklahoma.
***Joseph said he still keeps in contact with Zavier Betts and would continue to do so after spring ball. He said Betts' future status with the team would ultimately be head coach Scott Frost's decision, but added, "Zavier will always be a part of me."
***After Betts left the program, Joseph said Omar Manning went back to working primarily on the outside at the X receiver spot. Joseph added that Alante Brown also moved into the slot role.
***Joseph said Oliver Martin didn't have a lot of self-confidence when the new offensive coaches took over. But Joseph said Martin was a good player who was "explosive" with good hands and a high football IQ.
***Joseph said Trey Palmer has been catching the ball a lot better compared to the start of the spring and has been especially good on deep routes.
***Joseph mentioned Ty Hahn as one of the most improved receivers this spring. He said Hahn's work on special teams had him on track to play in games this season.
***Joseph said quarterback Casey Thompson was starting to understand his receivers and all their differences and was "seeing it" in the passing game a lot better.
***Joseph said Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda had a lot of catching up to do with his strength and conditioning after missing most of the spring with an injury. But Joseph wasn't worried at all about Garcia-Castaneda's knowledge of the offense.
"He's going to know what to do," Joseph said.
***Defensive backs coach Travis Fisher there hasn't been a day all spring where he could "relax" and say, "we did this last year" on offense. He credited Mark Whipple's scheme for being unpredictable and a great challenge for his DBs.
***Fisher said Javier Morton has played exclusively at cornerback this spring.
***Fisher said DaShon Singleton was "a little bit ahead" of the other safeties because of his experience and how much of what he did in JUCO carried over with Nebraska's defense.
***Asked who were the DBs that had embodied the "dog" mentality he always talks about, Fisher named Singleton, Myles Farmer, Tommi Hill, and Marques Buford as guys who had brought that attitude every day.
He said Noa Pola-Gates was a guy who had shown flashes of that, but just not all the time.
***For the first time since he's been at Nebraska, Fisher is not keeping a "production chart" for his defensive backs in practice. Rather than keep track of interceptions, PBUs, tackles, etc., Fisher wanted the focus to be more on building the right culture in his room.
***Fisher said he was excited to see how some of his new and younger guys responded to playing on a stage like the spring game. He said he would view the scrimmage as a valuable evaluation tool for how well guys are able to block out the fans and environment and keep their focus on assignments and execution.
***Fisher said Quinton Newsome was "starting to turn into a pro" with how he prepared and practiced. Fisher said Newsome knows exactly what he's doing on every rep, and if he moved him from cornerback to safety today, Newsome would still have a full understanding of his role.
Fisher said what he wanted to see from Newsome going forward was him stepping up more as a vocal leader and getting stronger in the weight room this summer.
***Fisher said he wanted Hill to "be just like Quinton" to where he knows what he's exactly doing on every snap and there was no hesitation. From an ability standpoint, Fisher said Hill had "the highest skill level" of any DB.
***Fisher said Braxton Clark was a guy he was interested in seeing play on Saturday. Fisher said Clark was in a group with players like Tyreke Johnson, Buford, Morton, and Jaeden Gould that he wanted to see respond in the spring game stage.
***Fisher said Koby Bretz had been dealing with a nagging injury but was still practicing and going through live periods. Fisher said Bretz was another guy who didn't need to focus so much on his physical development as he did getting up to speed mentally.
SEAN'S NUGGETS
***Defensive lineman Ty Robinson feels like after 14 practices Saturday is really going to show things are moving in the right direction and a good look at what they are doing now on offense. Robinson is very pleased with how the defense has played at times this spring.
***Robinson has no idea how the spring game will be formatted.
***When looking at the defensive line, Robinson said there has only been seven guys going this spring - him, Colton Feist, Nash Hutmacher, Jalin Weaver, Mosai Newsom, Marquis Black and Ru'Quan Buckley.
It's required guys to play a lot of snaps. He said they all have logged 400+ game type snaps and his body has taken a pretty good beating this spring. This clearly is the position group where NU is short bodies, which may require the game to be offense vs. defense.
***Robinson has taken over the leadership role now in the room for the interior defensive linemen. He still would like to improve his pass rush.
***Robinson is not too worried about the defensive line numbers. He knows there is more to come this off-season with recruits and transfer portal guys.
***Robinson said the team will get a week off and then get back into strength and conditioning. The winter program was cut short by two weeks because of the installation the new field turf forced spring ball to start two weeks earlier.
ABBY'S NUGGETS
***Tight end Travis Vokolek said he has been tight end coach Sean Beckton’s ‘sidekick’ this spring as he is recovering from a shoulder injury. He said he’s been helping coach the young tight ends that are getting their shot this spring due to four injuries in the position group.
***Vokolek said he has been in all the quarterback’s ears to “just throw one up to (the tight ends) and we’ll make a play.”
***Vokolek said his goal for this upcoming season is the break all former Husker tight end Austin Allen’s records and to do that, he needs to catch more balls in general, bring down the 50-50 passes and deal out some big blocks to help his running backs and team.
***He said he would like to think he’s made a stride in the catching department as he said he is typically considered a blocking tight end, but he says he’s a threat in the pass game as well.
***Vokolek’s father, D.J., is now a senior defensive quality control coach for the Huskers. Travis said he was weird at first to see his dad around the facilities, but he’s gotten used to it. He said he loves talking football with him, but they keep the football talk on campus and try not to talk too much about it at his parent’s house.
***Cornerback Quinton Newsome said the DBs are no longer split up into a new and old player group as they were at the beginning of the season and that everyone has always played with the same standard.
***Newsome said his favorite part of practice is going one-on-one with the wide receivers. He said DB coach Travis Fisher and WR coach Mickey Joseph “go at it” too which makes the players even more competitive.
***Newsome often covers receiver Trey Palmer in practice and said he loves Palmer’s confidence. He said that only increases the competitive between Palmer and the defensive backs.
***Newsome said the next step for him and the team is to sharpen their mental focus on learning the playbook and the techniques.
***Newsome said the typically faces two wide receivers during a single drive because the new offensive moves them around so much.
***He said receiver Omar Manning has been moved back out outside from slot and plays their most often.
***Newsome said cornerback Tommi Hill is like his little brother even though they are roughly the same age. He said Hill has a lot of potential and he’s excited to see what he grows into.
ROBIN'S NUGGETS
***Associate head coach/receivers coach Mickey Joseph had no update on the format for Saturday's spring game. All he was concerned about was getting through it healthy.
***Joseph said it would likely be "a little weird" for him returning to Memorial Stadium with fans in the stands on Saturday for the first time in 30 years. He said the last Husker game he'd been to in Lincoln was his Senior Day game against Oklahoma.
***Joseph said he still keeps in contact with Zavier Betts and would continue to do so after spring ball. He said Betts' future status with the team would ultimately be head coach Scott Frost's decision, but added, "Zavier will always be a part of me."
***After Betts left the program, Joseph said Omar Manning went back to working primarily on the outside at the X receiver spot. Joseph added that Alante Brown also moved into the slot role.
***Joseph said Oliver Martin didn't have a lot of self-confidence when the new offensive coaches took over. But Joseph said Martin was a good player who was "explosive" with good hands and a high football IQ.
***Joseph said Trey Palmer has been catching the ball a lot better compared to the start of the spring and has been especially good on deep routes.
***Joseph mentioned Ty Hahn as one of the most improved receivers this spring. He said Hahn's work on special teams had him on track to play in games this season.
***Joseph said quarterback Casey Thompson was starting to understand his receivers and all their differences and was "seeing it" in the passing game a lot better.
***Joseph said Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda had a lot of catching up to do with his strength and conditioning after missing most of the spring with an injury. But Joseph wasn't worried at all about Garcia-Castaneda's knowledge of the offense.
"He's going to know what to do," Joseph said.
***Defensive backs coach Travis Fisher there hasn't been a day all spring where he could "relax" and say, "we did this last year" on offense. He credited Mark Whipple's scheme for being unpredictable and a great challenge for his DBs.
***Fisher said Javier Morton has played exclusively at cornerback this spring.
***Fisher said DaShon Singleton was "a little bit ahead" of the other safeties because of his experience and how much of what he did in JUCO carried over with Nebraska's defense.
***Asked who were the DBs that had embodied the "dog" mentality he always talks about, Fisher named Singleton, Myles Farmer, Tommi Hill, and Marques Buford as guys who had brought that attitude every day.
He said Noa Pola-Gates was a guy who had shown flashes of that, but just not all the time.
***For the first time since he's been at Nebraska, Fisher is not keeping a "production chart" for his defensive backs in practice. Rather than keep track of interceptions, PBUs, tackles, etc., Fisher wanted the focus to be more on building the right culture in his room.
***Fisher said he was excited to see how some of his new and younger guys responded to playing on a stage like the spring game. He said he would view the scrimmage as a valuable evaluation tool for how well guys are able to block out the fans and environment and keep their focus on assignments and execution.
***Fisher said Quinton Newsome was "starting to turn into a pro" with how he prepared and practiced. Fisher said Newsome knows exactly what he's doing on every rep, and if he moved him from cornerback to safety today, Newsome would still have a full understanding of his role.
Fisher said what he wanted to see from Newsome going forward was him stepping up more as a vocal leader and getting stronger in the weight room this summer.
***Fisher said he wanted Hill to "be just like Quinton" to where he knows what he's exactly doing on every snap and there was no hesitation. From an ability standpoint, Fisher said Hill had "the highest skill level" of any DB.
***Fisher said Braxton Clark was a guy he was interested in seeing play on Saturday. Fisher said Clark was in a group with players like Tyreke Johnson, Buford, Morton, and Jaeden Gould that he wanted to see respond in the spring game stage.
***Fisher said Koby Bretz had been dealing with a nagging injury but was still practicing and going through live periods. Fisher said Bretz was another guy who didn't need to focus so much on his physical development as he did getting up to speed mentally.
SEAN'S NUGGETS
***Defensive lineman Ty Robinson feels like after 14 practices Saturday is really going to show things are moving in the right direction and a good look at what they are doing now on offense. Robinson is very pleased with how the defense has played at times this spring.
***Robinson has no idea how the spring game will be formatted.
***When looking at the defensive line, Robinson said there has only been seven guys going this spring - him, Colton Feist, Nash Hutmacher, Jalin Weaver, Mosai Newsom, Marquis Black and Ru'Quan Buckley.
It's required guys to play a lot of snaps. He said they all have logged 400+ game type snaps and his body has taken a pretty good beating this spring. This clearly is the position group where NU is short bodies, which may require the game to be offense vs. defense.
***Robinson has taken over the leadership role now in the room for the interior defensive linemen. He still would like to improve his pass rush.
***Robinson is not too worried about the defensive line numbers. He knows there is more to come this off-season with recruits and transfer portal guys.
***Robinson said the team will get a week off and then get back into strength and conditioning. The winter program was cut short by two weeks because of the installation the new field turf forced spring ball to start two weeks earlier.
ABBY'S NUGGETS
***Tight end Travis Vokolek said he has been tight end coach Sean Beckton’s ‘sidekick’ this spring as he is recovering from a shoulder injury. He said he’s been helping coach the young tight ends that are getting their shot this spring due to four injuries in the position group.
***Vokolek said he has been in all the quarterback’s ears to “just throw one up to (the tight ends) and we’ll make a play.”
***Vokolek said his goal for this upcoming season is the break all former Husker tight end Austin Allen’s records and to do that, he needs to catch more balls in general, bring down the 50-50 passes and deal out some big blocks to help his running backs and team.
***He said he would like to think he’s made a stride in the catching department as he said he is typically considered a blocking tight end, but he says he’s a threat in the pass game as well.
***Vokolek’s father, D.J., is now a senior defensive quality control coach for the Huskers. Travis said he was weird at first to see his dad around the facilities, but he’s gotten used to it. He said he loves talking football with him, but they keep the football talk on campus and try not to talk too much about it at his parent’s house.
***Cornerback Quinton Newsome said the DBs are no longer split up into a new and old player group as they were at the beginning of the season and that everyone has always played with the same standard.
***Newsome said his favorite part of practice is going one-on-one with the wide receivers. He said DB coach Travis Fisher and WR coach Mickey Joseph “go at it” too which makes the players even more competitive.
***Newsome often covers receiver Trey Palmer in practice and said he loves Palmer’s confidence. He said that only increases the competitive between Palmer and the defensive backs.
***Newsome said the next step for him and the team is to sharpen their mental focus on learning the playbook and the techniques.
***Newsome said the typically faces two wide receivers during a single drive because the new offensive moves them around so much.
***He said receiver Omar Manning has been moved back out outside from slot and plays their most often.
***Newsome said cornerback Tommi Hill is like his little brother even though they are roughly the same age. He said Hill has a lot of potential and he’s excited to see what he grows into.
