Dillard cuts weight, bulks up on optimism
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BY BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON / Lincoln Journal Star
Mike Ekeler spoke Friday of a rumor that had been circulating in recent Husker linebackers meetings.
The chatter was that Subway might have a new spokesman to try to sell the company’s sandwiches.
Jared, out.
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Phillip Dillard, in.
“We were worried about losing him actually,” joked Ekeler, Nebraska’s linebackers coach.
No worries. There was a trim-looking Dillard bouncing around at Friday’s practice inside Memorial Stadium, a mere 238 pounds.
Consider that in early January the Husker junior linebacker was creeping close to the 270 mark.
Not good. Phil knew it and coaches called him on it.
Dillard worked his tail off and the scale responded in kindness, a total of 30 pounds shed since the beginning of the year. He’s loving life at his new size.
“Thirty pounds less makes me feel a lot faster,” Dillard said.
Dillard hopes a smaller size serves as an ingredient to bigger things this year. On a defense that brings back no starting linebackers, Dillard is the most prominent returning player to the position.
It’s now up to him and names like Latravis Washington, Blake Lawrence, Thomas Grove, Nick Covey, Tyler Wortman, Austin Stafford. …
Of course, the competition pool will grow deeper when freshman recruits Will Compton, Sean Fisher, Micah Kreikemeier and Alonzo Whaley show up in the fall.
There are those who believe the linebackers are maybe the biggest question mark for Nebraska this year, but don’t count Dillard in that crowd. After Wednesday’s first spring practice, he was already high on optimism.
“Honestly, after today, I really didn’t see any question marks,” Dillard said. “Everyone was running hard to the ball. Everyone was getting (ticked) off if they didn’t do the play right. They were mad and they wanted to get back out there: ‘Can we run it again? Can we redo it?’ Everyone wants to learn. Everyone wants to win.’”
Last year, Dillard was 10th on the team in tackles with 37. But with seniors Bo Ruud, Corey McKeon and Steve Octavien on the team, he started only a pair of games at the MIKE spot.
Now, he’s the veteran, the sage upperclassmen, the leader?
“I hope to feel I have leadership because I don’t want to be seen as not a leader,” Dillard said. “But I think everyone on this defense wants to be seen as a leader and that way everyone can look at the man beside them and know, ‘I know he’s doing what’s he’s supposed to do.’ And then we can just play ball.”
Given that only two spring practices are in the books, (the third is today), Ekeler said it’s far too early to rank any player above another.
“It’s wide-open,” he said. “We don’t even have pads on. We’ve got so much more ball to go here and so much learning and to see how guys react. You can’t tell much when guys don’t have pads on. You can’t see the guys who are physical, who understand how to move, how to get off blocks. That will all come.”
But Ekeler does know he likes what he’s seen in his first few months of knowing Dillard.
The fact that the linebacker did so well at the challenge of losing weight before the spring season was certainly a good sign.
“He’s got his head screwed on right,” Ekeler said. “We’re moving in the right direction, but it’s got to be every single day. We got a long way to go. He knows it. He’s doing a good job leading, taking control. He’s doing everything we’re asking of him right now.”
Dillard doesn’t worry anymore about last year, that 5-7 season full of so many humbling and hurtful Saturdays for the Husker defense.
He said he honestly hasn’t heard anyone on the team mention last season since last season.
Looking ahead seems a more beneficial option anyway, especially considering the new teachings being thrown at players by a new staff.
“It’s a mental game. You got to catch on quick,” Dillard said. “You got to listen to coaches, get in the books. And you got to play fast. Every play is a fast play. There’s no slacking off. If there’s one slack off, there’s probably going to be a touchdown.”
It’s a group of linebackers, Ekeler believes, that will be aided greatly by head coach Bo Pelini.
“I said, ‘You guys are the luckiest guys in the world. You’ve got a head coach who coached backers for six years in the NFL,” Ekeler said. “That’s his baby, too, so they’ve got a lot of sets of eyes on them right now. It’s a pretty good deal.”
What Ekeler likes best is he thinks he’s got a group of players who really want to learn. What they lack in experience, they’ll attempt to make up for in ambition.
“We don’t have one ‘me guy’ in our room,” Ekeler said. “We’re all in it together and we’re going to work hard to be the best good group in the country.”
Reach Brian Christopherson at 473-7439 or bchristopherson@journalstar.com.
