Big Red Diary: Blake Lawrence
Print
digg it!
Facebook
del.icio.us
Seed Newsvine
Fark It
Reddit
By the Lincoln Journal Star
Blake Lawrence was trying to help. Cody Glenn had moved to linebacker, from running back, and needed a smart individual to help him learn fast.
Enter Lawrence and his 4.0 GPA. A sophomore from the greater Kansas City, Kan., area, Lawrence was a reserve linebacker a year ago. He helped Glenn with the basic concepts ... then watched as Glenn, a senior, surpassed him on the depth chart.
Entering Saturday’s game, Glenn is Nebraska’s No. 1 WILL linebacker, and Lawrence is No. 2.
Lawrence visited with the Journal Star’s Brian Rosenthal about helping Glenn, and about both players’ progress through fall camp.
“The biggest story for me would be switching from strongside to weakside linebacker. I’d say it’s a highlight, too, because I think I found out I felt more natural at that position, and the coaches noticed that I played more naturally there.
“I think in high school I was given a lot of freedom as an outside linebacker and as a safety. I play in space a lot, and the opportunity to play weakside linebacker kind of puts you in space more often so I can flow more often to the left side of the ball, to the right side of the ball, all over the place. It’s a little bit more freedom to make plays, running down the ball from the backside — certain things that I used to do in high school, and now that I’m given the chance to do it at the college level, I’m pretty excited about it.
“I think every position is inexperienced at the beginning of the year, especially with a new staff. We’re all going through this thing together. It’s our first year with the new staff. Maybe we don’t have the statistics or the starters, but we’re all in it together. When we step on the field, our inexperience shouldn’t show. I think they prepared us in a way this season — Coach Bo and Coach Ekeler — so that we’re going to go on the field and maybe look like we’ve been doing it for a long time, even though physically we haven’t.
“The freshmen this year have a lot on them, because they’re coming into a situation where we are pretty inexperienced at linebacker. We don’t have that much depth. Instantly, those guys are put into situations where they have to perform right away, so Bo can just evaluate away and say, ‘Can we use this guy this year, or do we have to make other plans?’
“(Sean) Fisher really had a great fall camp. He had an outstanding fall camp and impressed coaches with the way he understood the game and the way he played. He’s a big, strong kid. He’s got size and speed that sometimes you don’t see from a freshman. He’s further along than I was last year. He’s ready to contribute. And Will Compton’s also a good specimen. He loves the game and he loves to study the game. He’s got the mental side of it down. Once he gets his feet going to where his mind wants him to go, he’ll be pretty dang good.
“It’s quite of a bit of irony that the day Cody Glenn made the switch over to linebacker, I helped him learn most of the base concepts and put him through a lot of situational things. And right now, you look at that depth chart, I’m behind Cody Glenn. It’s funny. I think I must’ve done a pretty good job if he surpassed me. I was thinking about that the other day, like, ‘Man, I wish I would’ve taught him something wrong.’ (laughs)
“It was just very basic things I got him to understand about the defense and things I had grasped when Coach Ekeler helped me out. But then he took those base things and took them into something he could mold. He could use those concepts and make his game work with them. Cody Glenn’s an outstanding athlete. All he needed was a basic understanding of the defense, and then his game would just flow.
“There was a day during fall camp where finally things clicked for him, where he was using outstanding technique instead of just looking like a running back playing linebacker. There was one day where he turned into a linebacker. As long as he stays focused and tries to maintain that form of a linebacker, I think he’ll play great this year. He’ll really, really help us out. His switch over was a very unselfish move.
“I like to talk. I’m a marketing major right now, and I’d kind of like to go into that, just dealing with sales people and that kind of thing. I think I can talk somebody into doing something pretty easily. But coaching is something — my friend is really aspiring to be a coach, and he always tells me that I would be a good coach. I don’t know. I have a hard time getting angry at people. I think that should be a part of coaching.
“I love these coaches. They came in and it seemed like there wasn’t even a period where they were getting acclimated to the situation. It seemed like right as they came in they were just full-go Nebraska coaches, and they understood the tradition and everything they’ve been trying to do here. I’ve put a lot of trust in them, and I think they put a lot of trust in us. We have their backs, and they always have ours.”
Most Commented Football