Asante has drive to succeed
If Nebraska defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove’s cell phone beeps to signal an incoming text message, it might be a family member checking in.
Or it might be strong safety Larry Asante.
Asante’s sense of urgency is palpable this spring. He constantly seeks feedback on his practice performances. He’s eager, driven, determined. So, his text messages to Cosgrove aren’t just to say, “What’s up, coach?” It’s more like, “What precisely do I need to improve on?”
“I’m all about perfection,” said Asante, a transfer from Coffeyville (Kan.) Community College. “I want to know everything. When I’m out there on the field, I don’t want to have to think — just read and react to everything. If I know everything like the back of my hand, I’ll be good to go.”
Asante’s drive to succeed explains why he is among six members of Nebraska’s 2007 recruiting class who have gotten a jump on their classmates by enrolling at NU in January in time for spring drills. Asante is battling fleet and talented sophomore Rickey Thenarse for a starting job. If Asante would’ve arrived in the summer, when the rest of NU’s class of 2007 will arrive, his ascension to prominence would have been that much steeper.
“When fall camp starts (in August), it’ll be all carryover for him,” Cosgrove said. “Because, basically, our whole package will be installed this spring.”
Incoming Nebraska recruits typically face myriad adjustments: Faster practice tempo, faster players, a thicker playbook, a greater emphasis on getting timing right on plays. And on and on.
“It’s not like junior college,” said the 6-foot-1, 205-pound Asante, a native of Alexandria, Va. “Everything here happens so fast. You recognize the play, make the adjustment and go from there. You don’t have time to sit there and look at everything. It’s boom, boom, boom. So you have to read and react to all the motion the offense is doing. And we have a complicated offense.
“It’s just reading and recognizing the play,” he added. “You see it, hit it and go get it. That’s how you make plays. It’s not like junior college, where you’re faster than everybody else. Here, you have to be perfect with your timing.”
Asante is joined in practice this spring by fellow 2007 recruits Shukree Barfield, a nose tackle from Garden City (Kan.) Community College; Marcus Mendoza, a running back from Spring Woods High in Houston; Armando Murillo, a cornerback from Eastern Arizona Community College; and Patrick Witt, a quarterback from Wylie (Texas) High.
Quarterback Zac Lee, a transfer from San Francisco City College, also enrolled in January but is sidelined with a knee injury.
“I was determined to get here in the spring,” the 6-4, 310-pound Barfield said. “That’s why I took all of the summer classes I had to take at Garden City, just to be in the position I am now.”
Which is right behind sophomore Ndamukong Suh on the depth chart.
“There are a lot more plays in the playbook here — a lot more than at Garden City,” Barfield said. “I actually have to study my playbook. ... I never really looked at a playbook at Garden City.”
The 6-foot, 195-pound Murillo said he’s getting “a huge jump” by practicing this spring as opposed to waiting until July or even August to arrive in Lincoln.
“I’ve got time to learn — learn the playbook — and get used to the pace,” he said.
And get used to Phil Elmassian, Nebraska’s high-energy cornerbacks coach.
“The players told me before I got here, ‘Be ready, because he’s a technique machine and he’s in-your-face, get-it-done,’” Murillo said. “When he starts getting on me a little bit, sometimes I smile because I know the other guys are looking. ... Then I just go out and try to do it right the next time.”
Like Barfield and Murillo, Asante applied elbow grease in the classroom to clear a path to be on hand this spring. In addition to valuable practice time — the Huskers on Monday completed their fourth of 15 spring practices — Asante benefits from one-on-one study time with Cosgrove and safeties coach Bill Busch.
“You study every day,” Asante said. “You have to break it down and learn the basics first, and then go into the complicated stuff.”
Said Cosgrove: “He’s picked up things very well. He’s a physical presence out there, and he wants to get better. He wants to get better every practice. You see him improve every practice.”
Asante is regarded as a vicious hitter.
“I just like the positioning he gets into,” Cosgrove said. “He gets into an explosive football position. I’ll be very interested to see how he does this spring.”
Reach Steven M. Sipple at 473-7440 or ssipple@journalstar.com.
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