Sanders: Our guys will respond
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By BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON / Lincoln Journal Star
OMAHA — It was normally a line that would delight any crowd and ease the tension.
Husker secondary Marvin Sanders told the folks dressed in red that this was one of the team’s better weeks of practice. And to that, those at Friday’s Big Red Breakfast groaned.
“What? Don’t say that? Did they say that last week?” Sanders said, before changing course.
“OK, we stunk at practice,” he joked. “We absolutely stunk at practice this week.”
Humor aside, Sanders reminded the crowd that the Huskers were 4-3 last year before winning five of six games down the stretch.
“I’m not saying, ‘Hey, everything’s gravy by any stretch of the imagination,’” Sanders said. “But we’ve been through some ups and downs. And our young men in that program will respond. I know it.”
Sanders said last Saturday’s 9-7 loss to Iowa State was “the weirdest game as a coach I think I’ve ever been a part of. I don’t think I could script a game like that if I tried.”
The coach said he knows the loss was tough on fans, and added: “Imagine how we felt. It digs in our craw. But we understand, too, that we have to let it go and we have to get these young men prepared for next week.”
Sanders said people often ask him how head coach Bo Pelini is after a rough couple of weeks.
“He’s no different,” he said. “He’s no different than after we beat Missouri.”
* It’s tough to criticize the Husker defense for much. But one thing it hasn’t done is come up with a turnover in any of the three losses this year.
Sanders said he believes the interceptions will come, but also noted this isn’t the same type of defense the Huskers played in 2003, when they led the country in turnover margin while Pelini was the defensive coordinator.
“We were kind of a zone-coverage defense, dropping out and kind of reading the quarterback,” Sanders said. “We are not really that type of team anymore. We’re more aggressive. It’s more of an attack style. What matters to us is really completion percentage … average yards per catch, those types of things. Do we want interceptions? Absolutely. … We are getting our hands on some. We just have to catch them.”
* About the quarterbacks, Sanders said: “You can ask about the starting quarterback and I don’t know it and it’s the truth. I’ve seen both guys get reps.”
Sanders said it’s unfortunate that sometimes when things go wrong everyone just puts blame on the quarterback.
The coach said he trusts his fellow coaches to make the right decision in regard to playing either Zac Lee or Cody Green.
“I’m not smart enough to know what to do or give my opinion,” he said. “Bo didn’t hire me to coach offense.”
* Sanders offered high praise to senior free safety Matt O’Hanlon. “That young man has been one of the best safeties anywhere,” he said of O’Hanlon’s play this year. “Solid. Consistent. A young man I’ll trust with everything.”
* Alfonzo Dennard has been playing with a bum shoulder, but Sanders said the sophomore cornerback still has competed at a “very high level.” He said Dennard’s vertical leap is 41 inches.
* The coach said junior Eric Hagg “doesn’t get enough credit for some of the things he does. Nickel back. Dime backer. Safety. He even plays a little linebacker. He knows our system so we’re able to plug him in.”
* Nebraska works on ball-security drills every day, Sanders said. What do coaches tell defenders on a day like last Saturday, when the offense turns the ball over eight times?
“What we try to preach to our guys is when we’re on the football field as a defense, it’s another opportunity for us to shine,” Sanders said. “When we step on the field as a defense, our goal remains the same regardless of the score, regardless of the situation.”
About those turnovers, he said: “It’s an anomaly. I don’t really think you could see that happening … knock on wood … again.”
* Sanders said he was as surprised by Nebraska’s Tunnel Walk entrance against Iowa States as everyone else. The Husker players walked on the field arm-in-arm.
“That was something the kids took on themselves,” Sanders said. “In our Friday meetings, Coach Pelini always talks about how we’re a family. … What matters is this family and these guys on the field and we go arm-in-arm. So they probably took it literally.”
Reach Brian Christopherson at bchristopherson@journalstar.com or 473-7439.
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