Young NU secondary seeks answers
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BY BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON / Lincoln Journal Star
When he looks at his guys, Marvin Sanders sees youth and inexperience. But there is also this: bright eyes, willingness, a cornerback taking notes.
It’s a start.
“I believe they’ve bought in. I really do believe it,” says Nebraska’s secondary coach. “Boy, they spend a lot of time up in the office asking questions.”
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Youth is rarely a valid excuse at a program like Nebraska, and no one has to tell this to Sanders. He played as a safety here in the late ’80s, and now he stalks the practice field with much the same cool he had as a player.
Yes, cool. That’s the word sophomore cornerback Anthony West chooses when describing his coach.
“He’s the type of coach who knows how to joke around and at the same time teach,” West says. “He’ll correct a mistake, but he’ll be the first one there to tell you that you can do this, ‘Come on, you got this.’”
Sanders has done his share of correcting this spring, something that could only be expected. This is a secondary that returns two starters — junior safety Larry Asante and senior cornerback Armando Murillo — but even those guys are just in their second years of big-time college football. And that first year was not exactly one to inspire confidence.
Surrounding Asante and Murillo are guys who could be tagged with that oft-used word “potential,” but also all guys who have played minimal downs at this level.
There’s Anthony West working as a No. 1 corner opposite Murillo. Competition from Anthony Blue will be coming when the sophomore returns from a torn ACL holding him out of spring ball.
There’s Prince Amukamara, another corner prospect, also seeing plenty of work in the nickel package. There’s Major Culbert and Eric Hagg pushing for playing time.
There’s Rickey Thenarse and Matt O’Hanlon getting their chances at safety.
There’s inexperience galore. Combine that with a new defensive system, and there are plenty of plays this spring that can leave a secondary coach scratching his head.
When the mistakes come, Sanders says, “The first thing I like to look at is myself. If they’re making mistakes over and over again, maybe it’s something I haven’t communicated with them.”
The positive Sanders sees is that he doesn’t have to do much to convince guys to work hard. There’s an eagerness to learn. Sanders will look out during meetings and often see West jotting down notes.
“You talk about some intelligence now,” Sanders says. “That’s one of the smartest players, as a (sophomore), I’ve been around.”
Then there’s a raw talent like the junior Thenarse that just needs to be cultivated.
“Rickey knows a lot of football,” Sanders says. “Sometimes you look at Rickey and people think, ‘Well, he’s not getting it.’ That’s not it. Rickey’s so eager to make plays. He believes in the old philosophy: tackle the man with the football. But Rickey knows football. I don’t want to throttle Rickey’s excitement, but I just want to get him to understand that he doesn’t have to make every play.”
During practice on Friday, Thenarse put a hit on Niles Paul that knocked the helmet off the receiver.
Sanders smiles when recalling the scene. “That hit he made, he was totally out of position, but he made a heck of hit. That’s what Rickey wants to do. So like I told Rickey: ‘I want you to keep that aggressiveness, but you’re supposed to be over here.’
“Rickey’s going to be OK.”
Someone needs to emerge. Last year, this defense had just eight interceptions. When Sanders was here as a secondary coach in 2003, safety Josh Bullocks had 10 all by himself. That defense had 47 takeaways, a school-record 32 interceptions.
Obviously, Sanders wants interceptions, but he reminds that interceptions are the product of total team defense, not just the work of the secondary.
“Turnovers are created by guys flying around the football and getting themselves in positions to make plays,” Sanders says. “Secondary gets a lot of credits for interceptions, but when they get interceptions a lot of time the D-line factors into it.”
West has been anxious to fly around. He spent most of last season watching from the sidelines. Now, as he says, “it’s time to step up and perform.”
No excuses. Those won’t do this spring.
“We’re in a situation where those young guys got to play, so they got to grow up fast,” Sanders says. “It’s my job to get them to grow up in those 15 practices we have.”
Reach Brian Christopherson at 473-7439 or bchristopherson@journalstar.com.
