With kickoff a little more than two weeks away, Nebraska running backs coach EJ Barthel likes the way his room is coming together. Camp, as he put it, is camp - the true evaluation starts later - but after Wednesday’s practice he sounded encouraged by how the group is trending.
“Just really happy with where we’re at right now,” Barthel said.
What stands out to him isn’t only the burst his backs are showing with the ball. He likes the way they’re handling the details when they don’t have it, too. Barthel said it’s a young group, but one that’s already “playing above their age.”
“But when the ball is not in their hands, being very detailed - I love it,” he said.
Isaiah Mozee is one of the players Barthel singled out, and the coach doesn’t think much has changed in the way Mozee creates problems for defenses.
“Nothing changed. That kid right there, you put the ball in his hands in space and he's going to make plays,” Barthel said.
“That's just the reality. He has those natural instincts to make somebody miss and go create explosive runs.”
Barthel said Mozee looked like a true running back in the spring game, and he believes that has carried over as Mozee enters his second year at the position.
Mekhi Nelson, meanwhile, has Barthel’s attention for a different reason: focus. The coach said Nelson is really locked in, and he expanded that praise to the entire group.
“The whole room,” added the coach. “Those guys really are locked in. Watching Emmett (Johnson) two nights ago, that really has got some added motivation.”
Barthel said the backs have seen Emmett Johnson apply the same lessons from his Nebraska days at the next level, and that has resonated with the room.
“The same eyes, the same coaching points, the same belief system, the same evaluation - it's all the same stuff,” Barthel said. “For them to see that, it's been awesome for me. Especially for guys like Mekhi who have been with Emmett for that long.”
Jamal Rule has also made a strong impression, and Barthel said his edge matches what Nebraska heard during recruiting. The Huskers got feedback on Rule from Luke Kuechly and Greg Olsen, and even Chad Grier, the head coach at rival Providence Day, gave him a ringing endorsement.
“Hey, this kid is as tough as I've seen in North Carolina,” Grier said.
Rule’s time in bowl practices helped him get past the nerves, and Barthel said he’s not carrying himself like a freshman anymore.
“He's not practicing like a freshman. He's not preparing like a freshman.
He's first to meetings. He knows his assignments, he knows his alignments, he's playing at a high level,” Barthel said.
Dana Holgorsen said last week that Rule will play, and the offensive coordinator made it clear he sees a mature, ready-made player.
“He doesn't look like a freshman to me,” Holgorsen said. “He was nervous in the spring because he just got here.
He was anxious, he was nervous. He settled in over the summer and just does not look like a freshman to me.
He's 6-2, 210, runs fast, has breakaway speed.”
Barthel also pointed to Emmett Johnson as the standard in pass protection. He said Johnson’s command of identification, technique and physicality has stood out, and he added that Kwinten Ives has a strong grasp of protections after three years with him.
“That’s a benefit to him. He’s got to capitalize on that,” Barthel said.
“All the guys are going to need to be able to be effective in pass protection - not just the technique. That’s the easy part.”
For Barthel, the real challenge is the mental side of it.
“It’s where do my eyes go pre-snap and where to my eyes go when the ball's snapped?” Barthel said.
So far in camp, he’s liked what he’s seen in that area.
“But we'll see here in the season when they get the live bullets here in a couple weeks. I know they'll be prepared. They've showed on the practice field that they can do it.”
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