As Nebraska football kicks off spring practice, it has been interesting to hear what some of the coaches have had to say. Sifting through all these reports and information, one of the coaches who I really enjoyed reading about was running backs coach Brian Applewhite. He seems very attentive to detail, and that’s a great thing.
There is no doubt that the running game was productive last year. They ranked fourth in the Big Ten conference with 2,174 total rushing yards on the season. If anything, they didn’t use the running game enough. Now, we may see them use it to their advantage, with a bunch of new running backs in the fold.
For his part, Applewhite has been very thorough at how he prepares for each practice. He will watch a practice at least two times by himself before watching it with his players. As noted in a report from Brian Christopherson of 247Sports, Applewhite is not only keeping track of how many times his running backs ran a play, but how often they ran it correctly.
This excites me, because it means to me that the running game is going to be involved a lot more. I know that is something we heard during spring practices last year. However, this time I believe it. With a new offensive coordinator in the fold, there may be more favorability towards running the football. All things considered, Nebraska football did well last year with it. Perhaps the biggest take away from this is that Applewhite will be equally as prepared as his running backs.
I’ll be intrigued to see how that translates onto the football field. Nebraska needs to have a more balanced offense. Brian Applewhite should help them do that. At the very least, he will be as prepared, as his players, which is something that will only benefit them in the long run. His attention to detail is certainly a major positive.
