1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - One-On-One with DP: November 17th, 3pm - Sean Callahan (Husker Online)

Episode Date: November 17, 2021

One-On-One with DP: November 17th, 3pm - Sean Callahan (Husker Online)Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

It's time to go one-on-one with D.P. Coming at you live from the Coppull Chevrolet GMC Studios, here is your host, Derek Pearson, presented by Beatrice Bakery, on 93-7 The Ticket and the Ticketfm.com. Happy Wednesday, everybody. We are live at Tanners. We will be here until 6 o'clock, so stop through. We'll get a nice little sign, Jason Peters jersey.

that we'll give away through at right around 6 o'clock. I want to thank the folks from Beatrice's Bakery for what they do for us. We delivered a wonderful strawberry daiscake to the bar. So they are actually getting to enjoy themselves today. You guys know the deal. You know how to engage 402, 464. 5685, the starter hayman text line. If you have statement, something you want to vent, you want to call in 402, 464.

5685 is the Honda Lincoln hotline number as well. You can do that. You can follow us on the Sartaghanen Video Street. YouTube, Facebook, Twitch. Get to it. Those chat rooms are open and you can communicate with us. Nick, if you would, if you will fire up the YouTube link so folks can have that, post that as well, so folks can see what we're doing and how are we getting it down.

How are you doing, guys? You know the deal. Hit me up on the text line. Hit me with a What's Up DP. And in this case today, you can hit us up with a What's Up Sean, because Sean Callahan from Husker Online. is going on with me, Sean. How are you today, brother?

I'm doing great TP. Ready to get out to Madison. You've been to Madison before? I've been out to Madison. I'm not sure I'm allowed back in Madison. That's a whole nother story for a different podcast. I mean, it is probably, honestly, my favorite place in the Big Ten to go. I love going to Happy Valley because it's so isolated.

Yeah, I like Happy Valley. Right. It's so isolated and it's their thing. With Wisconsin, Camp Randall feels like it's their thing. It's just, it doesn't seem as all day. It's great for the game,

but it doesn't feel that way all day. I feel like the before and after they offer, if you're traveling just on like a trip and it's drivable from Lincoln, six and a half hours. But you drive in? No, we're going to fly. Okay.

Well, I mean, most guys in the media, We'll drive, but we can get there in three and a half hours through O'Hare. I mean, from here to O'Hare, then you're there. And then what's the drive from O'Hare? Then we'll fly O'Hare to Madison. Okay. And Madison's airport is bigger than Omaha's airport. It's a good-sized airport.

Really is. Kind of surprised by that. So, yeah. A lot of Nebraska fans went there. So 2011, the first year of the Big Ten. Nebraska played Russell Wilson, when Bonte Dave was playing for Nebraska. And it was the first Big Ten game, and everybody went.

Tickets were hard to get. Huskers were picked to win the Big Ten. I think they were still undefeated going out there, top ten on top ten. We went in there. Nebraska fans went in there, took over all the bars, kind of popped their mouths off. And Wisconsin fans didn't like that. And so if you win on that 11 trip, you're still upset about it because, I mean, people were not treated well from Nebraska. but I can tell you, every trip since has been great.

My dad has gone with me on a lot of them. He's going to go with me on this one, but he couldn't find anybody that wanted to go. Is the Wisconsin fan base the most similar to Nebraska's in the Big Ten? No, gosh. Who would you give that to? Man, that is a great question. Ohio State, in the sense of the loyalty and how they travel, and even the media, how much media travels, it's really similar.

In Wisconsin, I don't think the fans care as much as like Nebraska fans. I mean, the recruiting coverage there isn't that sexy. They don't have like, you know, like the Internet sites that cover, like, are my side and other ones. They don't have a big market site there. You know, it's like I just feel, I even feel like the recruiting coverage there locally. There's a lot of good players there, but there aren't guys like me or Mike Schaefer necessarily, in my opinion, that roll around and, you know, scout the.

talent out. I mean, that's why Barry Alvar has won so much. He found a lot of under the radar kids and turned them into NFL players from Wisconsin. Is that still who they are, though? Are they still kind of the uncovered gym when it comes to talent and how they recruit? Or is that, are they fully engaged in being a developmental program? They're both. I mean, like, they have had runs of success in Florida and St. Louis and New Jersey. but I think it starts at home first. And, you know, it's hard to compare Wisconsin to Nebraska because the population is, I think, triple the size.

So you talk about, oh, walk-ons, well, they have triple the amount of people, and there are just bigger people in Wisconsin. And, you know, like, when you go out in the – I remember the first time I went to Madison, and I'm not exactly – I'm not tall, but I'm not a small dude. Right. And I felt small walking around –

Like, this is not a place you want to get into a bar fight at. Because there are some big people walking around Wisconsin everywhere you go. And Barry Alvarez made a program off of them. Yeah, I mean, cheese and beer will do that for you. If you're living your life with cheese and beer, that'll do that for you. This trip seems to be subdued in spite of all things, right? I expected this trip to be on fire. But the stories would be rampant about who's going to fill in

and how is this going to look and what are the operations going to be? And are we going to get on the depth chart and see things? Are you looking forward to next year? I expected this week to be fire. And it hasn't been, at least from my perspective, it hasn't. I just feel like there's been a lid kept on some of these newer storylines. You know, on the offensive side of the ball, we talked to Adrian. I think we talked to some more a Torre, Austin Allen.

And I don't know if we talked. You know, we didn't get to talk to an offense flyman. Which was odd, right? Well, they took it hard. Those guys, I can tell you, they took it hard with the Greg Austin thing. So I don't know if it was Frost's decision or the lineman, whoever, but we didn't hear from any of the O linemen this week. But, yeah, we obviously didn't hear from, you know, if Ron Brown would have given a session. But none of the interim assistants are stepping in to do an interview at least this week.

So I think that really tamps down, you know, some of the new information you would get if you were able to talk. to Ron Brown or, you know, Berducci or some of these guys stepping in these roles, that would maybe add to it, but they really kept a lid on that. Even Sean Beckton had been interesting to hear from him, but it's been a tough week, man. Like, four guys got fired. I mean, that's a hard thing to go through with two games that go still. For you, when the announcement came out, were you surprised by any of it, the time, the people involved, any of it at all?

I guess I'm always surprised because it's never happened before in Nebraska, like where they've done it like this. But there's also never been an early signing day until just recently, and a transfer portal to just recently. So there are some factors that I think they needed to get the ball rolling. There was bi-week recruiting and some other things going on that I just think if you're going in a different direction, and why fake it, you know, at that point? You know, the season is where it's at.

You're three and seven. You're not going to a bowl, at least right now. I mean, maybe five and seven there's a slim chance, but we're talking slim, obviously, right now. So I think the season is where it's at, and they need to move things forward. And, you know, I don't think extending this into the Thanksgiving weekend would have done anything.

And I don't think you'd be like, oh, if they beat Wisconsin and beat, IOR split these two games, that changes the fate of that coach or this coach. I think they knew that, hey, this is what we got to do. We got to do something to get things over the top. Were you surprised at all about this 3 and 7? We had taken the Sean Callahan temperature in August and said, what's the likelihood of this team being 3 and 7 going into Wisconsin?

What would you have said? I wouldn't have said, I mean, I thought Nebraska was. a six, seven win team going in with the schedule. I thought if they could beat Illinois and get to three and oh, I thought seven wins was very doable, even though the schedule was brutal. And what's unique about the schedule, we didn't know Michigan State was going to be that good. We didn't know Purdue was going to be as good as they are.

We didn't know necessarily Minnesota. I guess we thought Minnesota would be about where they're at right now. I mean, they're going to go seven and five. But Michigan, we didn't know that they would kind of step up in weight class and be a Jim Harbaugh, Michigan that we thought Jim Harbaugh. while Michigan would be. So there's so many things about the schedule. Nebraska's played the toughest schedule maybe in the country.

You know, and you can't deny that. And Sipola said this. I know it's the toughest schedule he can remember in his lifetime covering or being around the program. And that's a factor. And Nebraska has played toe to toe with these teams. Unfortunately, they have not gotten over the top. And the ones that you thought they should get, they've played some of their worst football.

And that's the hardest part of this year, D.P. Illinois, Minnesota. up Purdue because we care about football a lot more here than those places care about football. And when, you know, you lose to teams where you don't necessarily see the level of investment with the fan base and the financial commitments to the program, that stinks. I mean, it's like in baseball when you're a really, really good franchise and you lose to, like, the Tampa Bay raise. I mean, that upset you because, you know, you're investing a lot into this thing to make

sure you win. And when you lose those games, I think that's what obviously adds to the frustration of this season. Talk to Sean Callahan Husker online. And Sean, if I asked you to tell me who has surprised you on a positive note from this Husker team? What player has stepped up and given you some bright light, some great moment that you were surprised by? Ramir Johnson to an extent, but sample size is still not complete. Man, that's a good question as far as surprise guys. I mean, Jojo's not a surprise, but he played at a higher level than anybody would have thought.

I mean, he finished 11th all-time in solo tackles at Nebraska. And, you know, if you would have played these final two games, he would have been inside the top 20 of all-time tacklers in the program. So I think just when you sum up his career and what he's done, I mean, that's a pretty remarkable career that is going. going to get overshadowed, obviously, by the wins and losses of these teams. Were you surprised that he chose to also opt out of the last two games? Did you feel like from a leadership standpoint, from a player standpoint, from a resume,

a career resume standpoint, that it might have behooved him to play two extra games? Well, the problem is, I mean, I do his show, obviously, every week. He was medically advised to have the surgery, and right now it's a repair that would take about eight weeks to recover if he had it. if he would have played these two games, you could risk further damage, and it could possibly lead to full reconstruction of the hand. What was the actual injury?

The middle finger, like his metal carpal, I'm not a doctor. I can't pronounce these things. I was like, I'm not going to try to pronounce it. He explained it, but his middle finger, the knuckle came out of joint, and it tore up some stuff in there.

And, you know, if it got worse, it could cause more damage. and then you'd have to fully reconstruct the hand. He'll be a 25 NFL rookie next year, 25-year-old NFL rookie next year. So he can't really withstand that kind of major injury. So it was a tough deal for him and his future because, yeah, he could have played with a big club on his hand,

but I don't know how that would have, you know, really gone. I mean, he wouldn't have played his best football at that. We might have hurt Nebraska by doing that. What are your thoughts on replacing and filling in a guy that does a a little bit of everything for this defense. And they've thrown the name Gifford out. But to me, does Gifford do all the things that are going to be required? Or is this going to be a Jojo replacement by committee?

Well, it's going to be based on the personnel. Isaac was up in our office yesterday for a podcast yesterday. And he doesn't really know what to expect because a lot of it will be how Wisconsin comes out. And, you know, if they're heavy, you're going to see a lot of Caleb and Garrett together. Okay. with the two inside line backers, and then JoJo wouldn't be out there. So a lot of it is situational, but there's also another theory, like, you know what, we might go three wide because we want to see what Isaac Gifford could do.

And I wouldn't be surprised if early in this game, Paul Chris tries to throw it a little bit with short, controlled passes to loosen up the front of Nebraska. Because I do think Nebraska will have success, you know, when you know, when you know they're going to run, and they know what Wisconsin does and they don't have a mobile quarterback, they're good against those types of teams. And I think they'll have some success early. So I wouldn't be surprised if Chris tries to throw it a little bit to loosen up the front of Nebraska.

And maybe that gets Isaac Gifford out on the field. But he won't be out there unless it's like a three-wide set is my read right now or a passing down. Sean, with all the coaching changes, that means game day operations changes. So different people on the headset, different people on the sideline, different people in the boot? How do you think that's going to happen for Nebraska on Saturday?

Yeah, the play calling and all that will be interesting how that all works. Like, you know, in the booth. Steve DeMayo, I think, will be up top, even though he's not one of the interim coaches. But Scott Frost is going to call the plays, obviously. And I think he'll have people up there that communicate the looks and what they're seeing. But this will be Frost's show completely. in my opinion with how they do things. You know, I'll be curious, like, if Breducci is up top or down low,

I would fully expect Ron Brown on the sidelines. He's a guy you want on the sidelines with his fire personality and what he brings. But, yeah, it's a very unique thing this late in the year to kind of have that kind of change. So what happens? The same play caller, different coaches and different positions, Do you expect the same Nebraska offense that's existed for the past couple of weeks?

I'm most interested in the substituting of personnel because the position coaches control that. And what will that look like, particularly at running back? What happens after Ramir Johnson? How do they kind of rotate in? Now, Scott Frost said this week, teams are only averaging 58 snaps a game against Wisconsin. That's not a lot of snaps. Nebraska is a team that would like to snap it between 80 and 100 a lot of games, and then I can get that many.

So that's that many fewer plays. And of those 58, how many throws are going to be in there? You've got to figure 25 throws. So you're looking at in the 30s of runs, and Martinez might take up six or eight of those. So how many carries are there going to be for running backs in this game? Ramir, I would think, is a guy that's going to get at least 15. So then who's that other guy that they decide to roll out there this week?

Could it be Marvin Scott? And you mentioned his name? I think there's some stuff going on on, Joaquaz Janant, that's kind of behind the scenes. I don't know if we'll see him out there this week. We'll see. That's always interesting me that going into a game like this. And this is, it's the constant week-to-week with this team, like not knowing that, okay, this week. The soup of the week.

Maybe next week it won't be the game of the week. Maybe next week it won't be the most important game that's there. But for the players, how are the players going through this thing, not knowing what voice to hear, that they've never heard before. Adrian's going to get different voices in his head. Linebackers, I mean, the running backs are coming to the sideline, and a different person will get them through their reads and get them through. How's that going to play out for the players?

Well, I think the voices are not as different as you think, because these gentlemen taking over have all been in the position room and the structure of the staff, it's almost like the NFL now. You have the position coach and then you have an assistant position coach. All of these gentlemen stepping into the roles were essentially the assistant position coaches. I mean, Frank Verducci was an offensive coordinator for Hayden Fry. His coaching resume and background is deeper than Greg Austin. He's a guy that's been coaching for a long time.

Mike Casano at the receiver spot. He's been with Frost all six years. he was a position coach at Georgia Tech, UMass. I believe he was in Miami. Have they been on the headsets previous? I believe so. Yeah, I believe some of these guys have. Yeah, and I don't think it says you're limited, though.

You know you can only have so many headset people. Well, that's why I was saying. It just I didn't want to assume that all of these coaches were already on headphones. It's the Sabin rule because he had so many all-star guys making six-figure non-coach money. that it is an advantage. When you have that many brains talking, you're going to see stuff together. Which room are you watching Saturday the most offensively

with all the new coaches? Which one will let you know that this thing's working right? Because some have said the offensive line would be the group to look for. I would say, well, no, look at Adrian Martinez is the quarterback group because that dude's not there. That voice that was in his head is not there. Yeah, Frost, though.

You got Frost still. And Adrian's a fourth-year guy. I'm not worried about Adrian. and Steve Cooper was an offensive coordinator at Portland State. So he's, I've heard Steve talk before at a clinic, and he's an impressive guy. Like, you know, he's right there close to being like a Power 5 level assistant as it is. So I think he's more than capable to be in that role, and he's a very dynamic guy. I'm interested if they change up much at the receiver rotation, how that looks.

Obviously, we talked about running back. And those offensive line guys. How will they come out? Because I think of the position rooms they took it the hardest of the coaches being fired. Why is that? Greg Austin just kind of had this mother hint about him, you know, where I think, you know, they loved him, you know. And that's common. Offensive line guys always have, like, typically a tight bond with their coach in the room.

I just think that's how the culture of that room was. and, you know, that's great, but unfortunately they weren't playing very well. And it's hurt the whole offense this year with the lack of protection, the inconsistencies at times in the running game. Now, there's been moments, as we know, where they've run it well, but just the, you know, the second and twos that they've constantly been in that they can't, you know, convert on. Who's more responsible for the outcome, for the 3-7 record?

Those coaches or those players from those rooms? I'm sorry, what was that again? So for the four coaching groups, four coaches got remote. Those rooms themselves, offensive line, receiver, quarterback, etc. Of those groups, is this a player thing? Does a change in coaches fix the problems that existed in those rooms or not? It's a short-term fix. I mean, I think it's more about what they do after.

We don't know what Frost is going to do with this staff. Until we know how he wants to move. move around the chess pieces with these positions, what duties, it's hard to really analyze what's next. I mean, we don't even know if he's going to have a special teams coordinator or if he's going to stick with Mike Dawson, the role he's in. Like, there's so many other pieces to that. And also the analyst part, how many of these kind of assistant position coach guys that

make anywhere from 60 to 175,000 a year, that's a big part of the staff, too. Will a lot of those guys be out as well? will the new coaches coming in want some of their own analysts and brain trust with them? So there's a whole lot to it because a lot of these guys like Casano and Verduci, they've been with Frost since UCF. I mean, all of these guys have. How do you think that plays out? I mean, if changes needed to be made, do you think that this is where it will show?

Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if guys like Verducci moved on. he was very close with Greg Austin. So we'll see where that goes. But, yeah, some of those other spots on the staff, too. I mean, it's not just the four coach spots. I mean, the analysts, and those aren't on contracts. I mean, those are, you know, 90-day severance type positions. Like, you know, and that's the unfortunate part of coaching.

If you lose your job as a non-coach, you don't get that full-year payment, you know, for another season. It was just a weird week. And I'm trying to get balance on it. And a lot of it's more complicated it appears. A lot of statements are being made about guys who we know now aren't going to come back. Cam Taylor-Brit takes, accepts the bowl bid situation. That's a statement. For any of the folks who could come back, Adrian Martinez, whether he could come back or not.

What are your thoughts? Do you think this is a, from your perspective, do you expect him to come back? Do you hope that he comes back? It's such a hard thing because the Purdue game just upset everybody so much. And I think before Purdue, you're like, this would be good. But, man, playing injured with a jaw and an ankle, the Minnesota and Purdue games particularly, it just soured anything good he had done earlier to the point where, you know, it's just like an old car.

You just want to get, you know, I want a new car. I'm just tired of this car. and it still works. It does a lot of great things, but I just wanted to switch. And I feel like that's how a lot of Husker fans are. It's like Adrian Martinez fatigue to an extent. And this program has had three different,

essentially four-year starting quarterbacks because Adrian Taylor Martinez and then Tommy Armstrong. Now, Tommy Armstrong took over during a Taylor senior year. They kind of switched up when, Taylor got hurt. But yeah, it's a weird cycle because before that trio of quarterbacks, there had never been a four-year start at Nebraska. Do they know?

Again, this is why it gets weird to me. You don't know who the coordinator is going to be. You don't have the quarterbacks coach. And yet you're going to dive into the transfer portal looking for a talent that you don't know if it fits with whatever system you're going to be running. What's the functional chart? for how they're going to figure out who their quarterback is next year. Is it quarterback's coach coordinator first and then make quarterback decisions?

Are you going to get quarterbacks and then try to fit them into the puzzle? You got to get a coordinator first, but they've got to get a transfer portal quarterback and the window to get one is essentially the month of December. It's Christmas shopping season for a quarterback because you've got to have a guy here for classes in January. You can't have a transfer portal quarterback. guy get here in June or May. You need them here in January. As soon as December ends, you got to know who you people

are. And if you remember last year, it was a later year, Nebraska played Rutgers on like the 18th or 19th. Then like the next week it was insane how much it was like a waiver wire week with the portal and everybody was you know after signing day adding and dropping adding and dropping guys

and Nebraska got Marquis Stepp and they got Samori Torre that week. I'm trying to think there was another guy in there. They got Chris Kalarvig earlier in the year. But I think that late December week will be kind of the week that decides a lot for a lot of teams as far as what they get and what they add. And there are so many names there going to this transfer portal in the next couple of weeks. All of this is fascinating. Like this weekend and how that plays out, what happens over the course of the first of, for the next three weeks, then heading into December.

Sean, it's going to be bananas. We'll throw it to break. We'll come back. Sean, I'll ask you about Husker basketball. We'll go up and down the checklist of all the things, all the questions about Husker hoops and things are going on. We're live at Tanner's. Bar and Grill 30th in Yankee Hill, be till 6 o'clock. Jersey offer is up on the table. You can see what it is.

Got a sign Jason Peter in Jersey that we will give away right at the 6 o'clock hour. And if you're traveling to Madison for the Wisconsin game, stop by Tanner's and Middleton, just off the belt line into Madison. Also lots of great hotels there, and they'll have the pay-per-view. Bud Crawford fight Saturday night for no charge after the Husker game. More one-on-one when we come back. Download our app by searching 93.7, the ticket in your app store. You're listening to one-on-one with DP on 93-7 the ticket and the ticketfm.com.