Mike Dawson is leading Nebraska's special teams efforts this season. He kept mum when asked for names at the specialist positions.
Under only very slightly different circumstances, Isaac Gifford’s second collegiate football season might have looked much different from the way it's currently shaping up.
The freshman from Lincoln Southeast arrived on campus at Nebraska in relatively unheralded fashion in 2020 — remember, NU had to get a little bit creative with its scholarship numbers to be able to offer him one instead of asking him to walk on for a year — but then quickly set about impressing the coaching staff.
He appeared on special teams in all eight games the Huskers played, changed positions defensively and might have pushed to be the starting nickel back this fall had super senior JoJo Domann not decided to return for a sixth season.
Nobody — least of all Gifford — is complaining about Domann’s presence, of course.
For Gifford, it clarified what his job looks like this fall.
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“Coming into this year, with JoJo coming back, I know my role," he said. "Special teams is going to be huge. So getting those snaps last year is going to help me a lot this year.â€
Earlier in camp, outside linebackers coach Mike Dawson praised Gifford for his willingness to accept that role.
“I think he understands that JoJo’s got a pretty significant role coming up this fall, but he’s a guy that’s not going to let us keep him off the field,†Dawson said. “He’s going to want to get out there as much as he can. Every role. No role is too small for him. He’s one of those guys that you love about it. Especially a guy like him that has a high football IQ and understands the game.â€
At the same time, Gifford (6-foot-1 and 205 pounds) is preparing along with Javin Wright to be able to man the nickel spot if Domann either needs a break or misses time. The staff has said they’d prefer not to have Domann play every single defensive snap as he did during the eight-game campaign last fall.
The other interesting element is that Domann’s skill set is so unique that defensive coordinator Erik Chinander deploys him differently than he might a different player, even one playing ostensibly the same position. Domann, Chinander said, “is kind of his own entity.â€
“We ask JoJo to do some not ordinary things for that position just because of his size and strength,†Chinander added. “We can leave him in there in base defense. As we move forward with that nickel package, I think we’ve got it tailored down so we can use the skill set of the DB. JoJo’s got the movement skills of a DB, so he can do it. Normally, however, you want to do it — when we were at UCF, we had two corners and two safeties and when we went nickel, we brought a (starting) corner inside to play the slot and a third corner in to play the ‘field.’ That might happen, it might be a safety.
“Depending on the skill set of those guys, you’re going to tailor your calls a little bit more toward them, but you’ve still got to be able to bring them off the edge and do some of the things that JoJo does.â€
That might make being Domann’s backup a tough duty, but Gifford said he’s just trying to learn as much as he can.
“Just watching how he plays the game." Gifford said. "He’s been playing for what, five, six years? The way he plays on the field, I can really watch how he plays a coverage and then I can mimic that. He knows what he’s doing and I can really follow that. … JoJo, he’s very versatile. He can play a lot of different positions. I think I can do the same. I’d probably have to put on a few pounds, I’m a little smaller than JoJo. But he can play a lot of different spots. It’s a little different for me right now, but hopefully, I can grow into that.â€
Like Domann, Gifford started his college career as a defensive back. Gifford said he still feels like he could play safety if Nebraska needed him to, but “right now, it’s mostly nickel.â€
And special teams, naturally.
“Everything is written in sand. Coach Dawson says it all the time. Every day we fight for a spot,†Gifford said. “I know my role this year. It’s going to be a lot of special teams. So I’m going to come and compete every day to get on the field.â€