Following his main podium interview, Nebraska head coach Scott Frost spoke with reporters for about 10 minutes on the side at Big Ten Media Days.
Here’s a quick recap of what he had to say…
***In comparing Big Ten Media Days to the Pac-12’s, Frost said of the Big Ten: “This is the big time.”
***On the hiring of Dave Ellis and Nebraska’s new Director of Performance Nutrition for the Nebraska Athletic Department, Frost said it was “key” addition to get the program back to where it needs to be.
“Nebraska, when it was great, did more to help football players be the best they could be than anybody else in the country. We had the best strength and conditioning and the best nutrition in the country. We were pioneers as far as that went, and we were probably 10 or 15 years ahead of people. We’ve fallen behind, and Dave is the best in the business and we’re thrilled to have him back.”
***On the large number of JUCO additions this offseason, Frost said Nebraska had “to fix everything” with the talent and depth on the roster, and there were some “areas immediate need” that had to be addressed right away, and they feel like they’ve added some new guys that will help the team this season.
***Frost said there was no new injury or roster attrition news to report and that “a lot of the guys who were question marks look like they’re up and ready to go.”
***Included in that group is running back Tre Bryant. Frost said he went back and watched the first two games of last season and said Bryant “jumped off the screen immediately.”
“He’s progressing really well, and we’re excited about the possibility if he is back,” Frost said. “We’re going to have to be cautious with him and make sure we’re not overloading him, but he’s a special player.”
***Frost wouldn’t give any hard win-loss expectations for this season, but said he was confident Nebraska was going to get really good again “in the very near future.”
“We’ll see how this first year goes, but people better get us now, because we’re going to keep getting better.”
***Frost said he would like to have a starting quarterback named by a week before the first game.
“We’ll make the decision when it’s clear who the best guy is, and not before,” Frost said. “We won’t wait after it becomes clear. I’m excited to see those guys compete, and we’ve got a long way to go. But we’ve got good talent.”
***Frost said there were some things he and his staff had to modernize from the old Nebraska formula to get the program back, but there are also plenty of things they can do the same way that still will be very effective.
Those include: getting “The Pipeline” back, winning the fourth quarter by “wearing people out through your strength and conditioning program,” and developing your entire roster by getting more players involved in practice.
***Frost was asked if he’s seen his players “find their love of the game again” over the past six months.
“We’ve got a lot guys who love the game; we don’t have enough. We’ve got a lot of guys who have found it again; we need more of them. This game’s too hard, there’s too much work that goes into it that if you don’t love it and are passionate about it, it’s not going to work. Sometimes you go through a season like they went through, it’s easy to lose that passion because you’re going through a lot of hard things. But we’re going to go to work in a way that the kids enjoy it and are going to care about each other. The ones that do are going to have a great time, and the ones that don’t we’re going to move on from.”
***Asked about the status of freshmen Dominick Watt and Maurice Washington, Frost said it was still a work in progress with both players to get them enrolled and on campus.
“There’s two or three kids we’re still waiting right up until the end with, but we’re really optimistic about those two. Hopefully, they’ll be in our program. We think they’re both special players who can help us.”
***On his desire to talk about Nebraska’s past and embrace its history when other NU coaches seemed to want to move on from it, Frost said: “we’re not going to run from the past.”
“From afar I got the impression for quite a few years, at least recently, that Nebraska has abandoned the past and turned its back on the past.”
***On Ron Brown coming back to Nebraska as Director of Player Development, Frost said he’s seen Brown do “unbelievable things” to help players as a coach, and they want “to get the best people we can back in the building.
As for the obvious topic of Brown’s off-the-field comments, Frost acknowledged that he did speak with Brown about the issue and feels there is a clear understanding of what is expected.
“Certainly there’s ideas that a lot of people that work for me have that not everyone agrees with, and I understand that. There will never exist in my program or our program any kind of discriminatory talk or anything like that. We’re going to have a program that’s open and comfortable for everybody that’s involved in it. But we’re going to build the program with the best people we can possibly get involved.”
Here’s a quick recap of what he had to say…
***In comparing Big Ten Media Days to the Pac-12’s, Frost said of the Big Ten: “This is the big time.”
***On the hiring of Dave Ellis and Nebraska’s new Director of Performance Nutrition for the Nebraska Athletic Department, Frost said it was “key” addition to get the program back to where it needs to be.
“Nebraska, when it was great, did more to help football players be the best they could be than anybody else in the country. We had the best strength and conditioning and the best nutrition in the country. We were pioneers as far as that went, and we were probably 10 or 15 years ahead of people. We’ve fallen behind, and Dave is the best in the business and we’re thrilled to have him back.”
***On the large number of JUCO additions this offseason, Frost said Nebraska had “to fix everything” with the talent and depth on the roster, and there were some “areas immediate need” that had to be addressed right away, and they feel like they’ve added some new guys that will help the team this season.
***Frost said there was no new injury or roster attrition news to report and that “a lot of the guys who were question marks look like they’re up and ready to go.”
***Included in that group is running back Tre Bryant. Frost said he went back and watched the first two games of last season and said Bryant “jumped off the screen immediately.”
“He’s progressing really well, and we’re excited about the possibility if he is back,” Frost said. “We’re going to have to be cautious with him and make sure we’re not overloading him, but he’s a special player.”
***Frost wouldn’t give any hard win-loss expectations for this season, but said he was confident Nebraska was going to get really good again “in the very near future.”
“We’ll see how this first year goes, but people better get us now, because we’re going to keep getting better.”
***Frost said he would like to have a starting quarterback named by a week before the first game.
“We’ll make the decision when it’s clear who the best guy is, and not before,” Frost said. “We won’t wait after it becomes clear. I’m excited to see those guys compete, and we’ve got a long way to go. But we’ve got good talent.”
***Frost said there were some things he and his staff had to modernize from the old Nebraska formula to get the program back, but there are also plenty of things they can do the same way that still will be very effective.
Those include: getting “The Pipeline” back, winning the fourth quarter by “wearing people out through your strength and conditioning program,” and developing your entire roster by getting more players involved in practice.
***Frost was asked if he’s seen his players “find their love of the game again” over the past six months.
“We’ve got a lot guys who love the game; we don’t have enough. We’ve got a lot of guys who have found it again; we need more of them. This game’s too hard, there’s too much work that goes into it that if you don’t love it and are passionate about it, it’s not going to work. Sometimes you go through a season like they went through, it’s easy to lose that passion because you’re going through a lot of hard things. But we’re going to go to work in a way that the kids enjoy it and are going to care about each other. The ones that do are going to have a great time, and the ones that don’t we’re going to move on from.”
***Asked about the status of freshmen Dominick Watt and Maurice Washington, Frost said it was still a work in progress with both players to get them enrolled and on campus.
“There’s two or three kids we’re still waiting right up until the end with, but we’re really optimistic about those two. Hopefully, they’ll be in our program. We think they’re both special players who can help us.”
***On his desire to talk about Nebraska’s past and embrace its history when other NU coaches seemed to want to move on from it, Frost said: “we’re not going to run from the past.”
“From afar I got the impression for quite a few years, at least recently, that Nebraska has abandoned the past and turned its back on the past.”
***On Ron Brown coming back to Nebraska as Director of Player Development, Frost said he’s seen Brown do “unbelievable things” to help players as a coach, and they want “to get the best people we can back in the building.
As for the obvious topic of Brown’s off-the-field comments, Frost acknowledged that he did speak with Brown about the issue and feels there is a clear understanding of what is expected.
“Certainly there’s ideas that a lot of people that work for me have that not everyone agrees with, and I understand that. There will never exist in my program or our program any kind of discriminatory talk or anything like that. We’re going to have a program that’s open and comfortable for everybody that’s involved in it. But we’re going to build the program with the best people we can possibly get involved.”
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