Husker Dan: Spring Practice Begins

Will Frost's ‘experiment’ work this fall?

Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Spring is the time of plans and projects. 
Leo Tolstoy

Everyone in Huskerland knows that in the off season, Scott Frost retooled his offense. He fired four of his former offensive assistants, hired four new ones, added a full-time special teams coach (Bill Busch) and tweaked the Husker D-line coaching responsibilities. Frost also parted ways with several players, some to the NFL and others to the transfer portal. Frost also parted ways with four-year starting QB Adrian Martinez, who transferred to Kansas State.

The question is can Frost and all his new hires and new offensive schemes be enough to save his Husker head coaching career?

To be sure, this year Frost is in a race to save his Husker job. If he fails to significantly improve the Nebraska football program, he won't be around for another year at Nebraska. It's as simple as that. And if Frost doesn't succeed, it won't be because Nebraska Athletic Director Trev Alberts didn't give Frost the opportunity to succeed. Getting a one-year reprieve from Alberts after four consecutive losing seasons under Frost is more than any other school would have given him.

Will Frost's "experiment" work by this fall? To be sure, the revamped offense will have to hit the road running by Aug. 27 when Nebraska faces Northwestern (a conference foe) in Dublin, Ireland.

The new offensive coaches (new to the Nebraska coaching staff) include offensive coordinator (Mark Whipple from Pitt), WR coach (Mickey Joseph from LSU), RB coach (Bryan Applewhite from TCU) and O-line coach (Donovan Raiola from the NFL Bears). For the new coaches, the future is now.

Talent upgrade

In the off season, the Huskers needed to upgrade their roster and they seem to have done it mostly through the transfer portal. There are 11 transfer portal players who are new to the program. There are also 10 recruits who have signed letters of intent (eight of them are already enrolled) and four juco transfers.

The new coaches and new players need to develop quickly. For that reason, this spring camp might be the most intriguing in Husker history.

With just about every position up for grabs, this also may be one of the most competitive spring practices. It's going to get brutal.

During the next few weeks, we'll take a closer look at how the competition is going.

How the races for QB, RB, O-line and the WR spots develop will tell us a lot about what to expect this fall.

Oh, and can Frost & Company find a way for the Huskers to stop self-destructing? Solve that problem, and Scott Frost may be at Nebraska for a very long time.

How ’Bout Them Huskers!

This week's podcast features former Husker tight end Tom Banderas. Tom played for the Huskers during the '85, '86 and '87 seasons. Tom talks about how he was recruited by the Huskers, his thoughts on the NIL and transfer portal rulings and what the new Husker coaching changes might mean come this fall. You'll also find out what Husker school record Tom shares with the likes of Clarence Swanson, Johnny "The Jet" Rodgers and Tracey Wistrom.

Here's how you can listen to our "How ’Bout Them Huskers" podcast (the brainchild of my 16-year-old grandson, Will). Just Google "How ’Bout Them Huskers" and you'll be taken to all the podcasts Will and I have done.