INDIANAPOLIS — Garrett Nelson acknowledges the chip on his shoulder — on the shoulders of all of Nebraska football players. The Nebraska outside linebacker — and likely captain of the 2022 Husker team — is plenty motivated to win games, and defend coach Scott Frost, after multiple losing seasons in a row.
“Everything’s right in the world when you win football games, and that hasn’t happened in my life in college yet,†Nelson said. “When you have professors or students or campus tour guides talk trash to you or your teammates all the time when you’re just around campus, just the media and everybody, just to hear that constantly, berate your university that you love and the players that you love and the coaches who are father figures who you love and are around every day, it destroys you as a player and as a man.
“So, growing that chip on your shoulder every day, from stuff like that, it’s time to play.â€
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A reporter then asked Nelson if 2022 was “the year†for Nebraska.
“It’s time to play,†Nelson said. He conceded that Frost — who took severe criticism as a player in the 1990s when the team won national titles — probably would advise Nelson not to care so much about the critics.
“I love him too much not to worry about (the critics),†Nelson said.
At a national reporter’s prompting, Nelson described a class “with 10 players†where a professor “threw up a trivia question†along the lines of: “How many more incompletions can Adrian (Martinez) throw until he gets cut?â€
Martinez, Nelson said, was in the class. In another situation, Nelson said, a tour guide was leading a group of people near Memorial Stadium.
“He said, ‘This would be a lot cooler stadium if we actually won games,’†Nelson recalled.
All three Husker players at Big Ten Media Days — including Quinton Newsome and Travis Vokolek — agreed that Frost is closer to this 2022 team since he hired offensive coordinator Mark Whipple to oversee the offense and call plays. Frost has hung out in the weight room and locker room more often, they said. Frost agreed that he’s been freed up to spend more time getting to know players.
“It’s good,†Frost said. “I’m a football coach — that’s what I love to do. The reason I love it is being around the guys, so that part’s been great. I definitely don’t want to ever be just a figurehead. I love the game too much and I love the players too much. I’m going to have my hands in everything we do. That’s probably just going to be more things I’m able to touch.â€