The Nebraska Football team will have a lot of questions heading into the 2017 season. One of the biggest questions surrounding the squad is whether or not Bob Diaco and Bob Elliott can bring the 3-4 Defense to the Huskers and make it a success. While one scrimmage does not come close to answer that question, it appears there are certainly players on Nebraska's defense that are picking up the new scheme quickly. After the first padded scrimmage of the Spring, the defense is reportedly ahead of the offense and so far it's not really close.
Gains and losses far from definitive
Once this first Nebraska football scrimmage was over, head coach Mike Riley talked to the media. Landof10 reports he appeared rather impressed with what the defense was able to do, even if they weren't keeping score. “I thought that it was a very good indicator of overall what you have to do to win,” Riley said of his defense. The blackshirts allowed just one touchdown scoring drive in the 68 plays of the scrimmage. This was despite the fact that the coaches weren't allowing the defense to take quarterbacks to the ground for a sack. It should be pointed out that the quarterback who led that drive was true freshman Tristan Gebbia. That leaves the very real question as to whether the Nebraska defense is ahead of schedule, or whether the Nebraska offense is behind schedule as it attempts to find its next quarterback.
Linebackers stand out
If there is one group that needs the most big plays in the 3-4 defense, it's the linebacker corps. Riley said after practice the group stood out. That's good news for more than one reason. If there was a group that struggled and underperformed expectations in 2016, it was also the linebacker corps. With mostly new faces in that group this spring, there are going to be big questions right up until opening day.
Riley and Diaco said Sophomore Mohamed Barry had a fantastic day as did true freshman Avery Roberts. Sophomores JoJo Domann and Tyrin Ferguson were also pointed to as standing out. Now the questions about whether the Nebraska football offense can win some of these battles becomes even more prominent.
