Running back Maurice Washington is a big play waiting to happen, Nebraska coach Scott Frost says. Greg Bell has already made a pretty big one, a 45-yard run against Colorado that is the Huskers’ second-longest play of the season.
Running backs coach Ryan Held has several things he likes about how Devine Ozigbo, Washington and Bell have played. But the reality is that Nebraska hasn’t won a game, and only one Husker running back has scored a touchdown as the Huskers head into the third game of the season on Saturday against 19th-ranked Michigan. Ozigbo has the only TD for the backs, on an 8-yard run in the first half of the first game.
“We’re getting bigger plays at times,†Held said on Wednesday. “Obviously I want the 70-yarder. We haven’t got that one yet; we’ve only got one rushing touchdown out of the running back spot, so we got to be able to get that shored up. We get down in the red, we’ve been hit or miss on that, so we got to be better in the red zone so we can get these touchdowns."
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The backs are running hard, Held said. Now the next step is to get to the next level of the defense, and make the second defensive player miss, instead of just the first one, and turn a short run into a long one.
Washington, a true freshman from Stockton, California, rushed for 34 yards in the first game, and then 92 in the second game when he got six more attempts than he did in the first game. Washington ranks third among all FBS freshmen with an average of 5.73 yards per carry. Bell averages 6.2 yards per run.
The thing about Washington is he just arrived on campus in early August, so he’s a work in progress in both strength and conditioning, and in learning the offense.
Each week they’re trying to build Washington up, Held says, and he’s getting better. One thing you can’t necessarily teach is an attitude for the game, and Washington has it.
“He loves football. I mean he’s a competitor,†Held said. “He’s not going to back down to anybody. He’s just not going to back down. He’s going to go and he wants to score every time he gets the ball, which is what we love about him.â€
While Washington has shown he can make plays getting to the outside of the field, Held also wants Washington to take the next step and trust that the inside run play will be there.
“I want to see him be able to press it a little bit more at times,†Held said. “On some runs, like the one where he ended up bouncing it, we just got to press it up in there. There’s a collision between the tight end and the defensive end and trusting that guy is going to get the block, and not getting spooked.â€
Bell has carried the ball 27 times in two games, Washington 22 times and Ozigbo 23. True freshman running back Miles Jones is No. 4 on the depth chart, but hasn’t played yet. The top three backs will probably get the most touches, Held said, but he wants to have fresh backs so they can really attack each time Nebraska is on offense.
Through player development and then recruiting, Held says the Huskers need to have as many “home-run hitters†as they can.
“We have a lot of weapons, but we’ll obviously continue in recruiting to go out and find guys that can make plays, that can run, that are smart, that are physical and love to play the game of football. That have the cleats in the car and when somebody calls them out at Applebee’s in the parking lot they’re ready to go one-on-one in the parking lot,†Held said. “Those are the guys we want on this football team, and we’ll continue to find that whether we work it within or as recruiting keeps working, we’ll find those guys as well.â€