Ekeler's exuberance for the game is constantly evident
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By BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON / Lincoln Journal Star
He’s called everything from Ek to the Energizer Bunny to Coach Red Bull.
Mike Ekeler runs up and chest bumps players after big tackles. He crashes into linebacker mosh pits in pre-game warmups.
“He’s been dinged up after a couple of games,” Husker senior linebacker Tyler Wortman said.
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Wortman once caught a peek of Ekeler’s office fridge. It was full of Red Bull.
As if Nebraska’s linebackers coach needed the energy drink.
“I believe that you have to coach to your personality,” Ekeler said Thursday. “I enjoy what I do and that was part of my personality when I played. And that’s kind of my personality when I coach. All I try to do is teach our guys the best I can and put them in the best position possible.
“I get a thrill when Farmdog (Colton Koehler) gets a safety and Wart (Wortman) makes a 10-yard tackle for a loss on second-and-1. That’s the stuff that makes it worthwhile for me.”
Ekeler returns this week to his alma mater, Kansas State, where he played from 1991-94.
The Blair High School graduate walked on at KSU, winning hearts with his fearlessness on special teams and, of course, his personality. Bill Snyder thought enough of him to name him a team captain in 1994.
And there are funny stories of purple mohawks and a pet piranha that Ekeler kept in the K-State locker room. He named the piranha Carl Spackler after Bill Murray’s character in “Caddyshack.”
Those were fun years, but Ekeler isn’t looking at Saturday’s game any differently because of his past allegiances.
Asked what it would be like going back to Manhattan, he said: “I think it’s supposed to be like 42 degrees.”
Hey, Ekeler said, this game is a big game just because it’s the next game.
“It sounds like coachspeak. But when you’re coaching guys like Farmdog and Wart, those are the guys you’re focused on.”
A strong focus is needed because it has no doubt been one of the more challenging weeks since the 37-year-old Ekeler joined the Husker staff.
Nebraska will have to do without its top two linebackers. Phillip Dillard is out with an ankle injury and Cody Glenn is indefinitely suspended.
“There’s always different dynamics and if someone says it’s not different (this week), they’re lying to you. Yeah, it’s different,” Ekeler said. “You’d love to have those guys out there. But the fact of the matter is during the course of the season some guys get dinged up and as a group you have to stick together and you got to have each other’s back.”
If the situation isn’t ideal, it is an opportunity for others to show what they have, Ekeler said.
It’s a chance for players like Wortman, Koehler, Blake Lawrence, Latravis Washington, Thomas Grove and Matt Holt.
“When you’re playing in those games you’re going to have opportunities,” Ekeler said. “And your window of opportunity at the University of Nebraska is very small. And if you don’t jump through it, then someone else is right there on your heels. And that’s what our guys understand.”
There have been ups and downs for Ekeler’s linebackers, but he said he wouldn’t trade their lack of effort and preparation.
“Those guys have worked their tails off.”
But how’s it been for him? In his first year as a full-time assistant? Tough stuff, right?
Ekeler said the adjustment to his new role actually hasn’t been that hard.
He was used to heavy responsibilities while serving as a grad assistant and intern at LSU the past three years and at Oklahoma the two before that.
“It wasn’t like I got here and was like, ‘Holy cow,’” Ekeler said.
“You’ll learn for as long as you coach. And when you stop learning you should be done. You can’t ever coast because somebody will catch up with you. You always have to look up for the next thing.”
Reach Brian Christopherson at 473-7439 or bchristopherson@journalstar.com.
