Nebraska running backs coach Ryan Held has a good handle on what the outside world is saying about his position group.Â
"There's a lot of stuff out there (saying) we don't have a very good group," he told reporters following Wednesday's practice. "What is the group? Everything's unproven. So, our guys want to go out and prove that we have talent in the room and can be a position of strength on the football team.Â
"There's a nice little motivation there to be a position that helps our football team. We need to be."Â Â
Held was brutally honest in his media session. It was refreshing. Nebraska coach Scott Frost and his staff receive their fair share of criticism. The program's 12-20 in the last three seasons. The staff clearly should be criticized at times. But Frost has thick skin. He handles criticism well. His staff does the same. They understand the inherent pressure attached to their jobs.
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They know the score entering the 2021 season. There's some pressure on all of them. Some people call it a "put up or shut up" season for Nebraska. That seems rash. A better way to put it this: It's time for the program to earn patience from its loyal fan base. It's time to show in clear terms that the program is headed in the right direction.Â
Held spoke with a sense of urgency that Nebraska fans should hope is prevalent throughout the program.
"We have a chip on our shoulder," he said of his running back group. "We haven't done anything."Â Â
Held himself is under a level of scrutiny from the Nebraska fan base. He gets it. Or at least seems to get it.Â
When asked if his group had a chip on its shoulder last season, he said, "We always are going to have a chip, right? But when the season ended, we weren't satisfied with what that position needs to be at Nebraska. So we went out and got more guys in the room, got guys who were in the room healthy.Â
"We've got to be able to run the ball in this league. We can't rely on Adrian (Martinez) to run the ball all the time. There's times we'll need him to. But we've got to be able to run the football. The nice thing is, we're talented at other positions, and that can really open up some things. But this league (Big Ten) is tough. Three yards is a good play in this league.Â
"So we've got to be physical. I'm on our guys. You can't tip-toe through the tulips."Â Â
At this point, Held was on a roll. He even invoked the movie "Days of Thunder," noting an especially memorable exchange between Harry Hogge (Robert Duvall) and Cole Trickle (Tom Cruise).
"You've got to drive through the smoke," Harry told Trickle.Â
Said Held to reporters: "We can't tip-toe through the smoke. We've got to drive through that deal."Â Â
Held gets it. He gets the magnitude of his job. He gets it because he played at Nebraska in the mid-1990s when the running back position was always a position of strength. It hasn't been strong enough of late. Oh, mind you, it hasn't been awful. But Martinez led the team in carries (91) and rushing yards (521) last season. That's not ideal. Running back Dedrick Mills, in his final season in the program, was good-not-great. He rushed 84 times for 396 yards, or 4.7 per carry.Â
The third-leading rusher was another quarterback, Luke McCaffrey, who since has transferred. Â
Bottom line, Held wants his group to produce the team's leading rusher. Now, the conversation gets a little nuanced at this point because it's up to the play-caller (Frost/Matt Lubick) to, you know, highlight the running backs in the game plan. I think Frost is more inclined that way now. We'll see.Â
We'll see what materializes Aug. 28 at Illinois. Held said he has four backs who have emerged as potential starters, but declined to name them. That said, it seems meaningful that USC transfer Markese Stepp and freshmen Gabe Ervin and Sevion Morrison were among the players on hand for the post-practice media session. Held likely wouldn't allow them that privilege if they were lagging behind in the competition.Â
The 6-foot-1, 230-pound Stepp has recovered well from offseason foot surgery. He took part in heated goal-line work Wednesday, Held said.Â
Ervin (6-foot, 215) established himself in the spring as a potential starter, and Morrison (6-foot, 210) has made a move this month after being slowed in the past by COVID-19 and various injuries.
"A couple guys need to pick it up, or they'll be left behind," said Held, wearing a hoodie on a sweltering day.Â
Yeah, this stuff is serious. August is serious. It's always serious, but Nebraska carries a bit more of an edge this year, it seems.Â
A prove-it mentality makes sense under the circumstances, and not just for the running back room.Â
"We're rolling, a lot of competition, we're grading every play," Held said in his opening statement.
The closing statements — the ones in autumn — are much more meaningful.Â
Held definitely wants more from his group. I'm guessing we'll see it. Â