Nebraska Football: More Teams Should Take the Huskers' Approach to Testing

When I came across this article about the Nebraska Cornhuskers putting their defense through the paces by testing, it was one of those rare times when I clap my hands and scream, "Yes!" at my computer screen. This is not uniquely Nebraska—it was done at UNC back in 2004, but it is a practice not done nearly enough at the collegiate football level.

Tests, on the regular, whether they are expected or not, help play a major role in the learning process that is football. Ordinarily you go through a process that generally looks more or less like this: install, walk-through, practice, film review, chalk talk and scrimmage. All of those steps really work to further the knowledge. Adding in the testing process only serves to improve the understanding of the concepts and the scheme.

I especially love this on the defensive side of the ball because defense is such a fluid existence. You adjust on the whims of the offense from a personnel, formation and shift standpoint. These tests help get kids into the mode of thinking quickly and recognizing personnel, formations and what their immediate checks should be. If a player can be drilled in the meeting room through a test and chalk talk, he has a better chance of getting that answer right in practice and games when it really matters.

These tests help combat three things that are absolutely crippling on the football field: missed alignments, missed assignments and paralysis by analysis. Missed assignments are the first thing that will sink a defense quickly. If your players are not aligned in the right spot before the snap, they are behind the eight ball when it comes to stopping the opposition. A defensive back with an outside alignment on a receiver, when he should be inside, is giving up the slant before the play even starts.

Missed assignments are the major issue that fans recognize. Wide-open wide receivers streaking downfield. Two linebackers closing on a gap, being washed down by one guard and a hole the size of a Mack Truck in the alley for the running back to escape through. A defensive end crashing down inside and letting the quarterback keep the option for a good 15 yards. Those are guys doing the wrong things once the play starts, and those are killers. 

Paralysis by analysis is the silent enemy of every defense. The players are aligned correctly and they are doing the right things—sort of. Victims of this crippling attribute are always a step or two behind. They make the tackle but they don't get the stop at the line. They can get a hand on the running back, but they are not in front of him. They get there a step or two after the ball instead of picking it off or breaking the pass up. They're spending too much time thinking about what they are supposed to do instead of moving naturally; that time is brutal when it comes to making the play your defense needs.

By testing their athletes, teams like Nebraska are helping ingrain the teachings in their head. Timed tests require quick thinking, just like the fast decision-making process required on the field. Tests require accuracy, just like the accurate decisions needed to make a defense work.

The last great benefit of the testing is the peer element. The tests rev up the accountability that occurs on the field, in film and during chalk talk. Players all know who screws up in practice and in games and don't think twice about clowning their peers when they screw up the drawing of a defensive scheme and adjustments during chalk talk. Now that accountability is put in hard numbers. You know if the second-team safety knows what he is supposed to do on the red-zone check for the Cover 2. Everyone knows.

In position groups there is a hierarchy that does not always line up the way fans or media understand. It is not always best players at the top and scrubs at the bottom. Everyone understands abilities differ within the room. Players are expected to pull their own weight, and by testing the coaching staff is helping prove who is and who is not doing their part. Sure, that walk-on linebacker may never start, but he takes his job serious enough to keep scoring 100s on the tests. Meanwhile, the stud redshirt freshman is continually in the bottom; there is a real pressure on the kid from his peers to elevate his levels so that everyone benefits.

This testing move is one of the things about the inside of college football that just gets me pumped for the season. Nebraska will see the benefits in the way the team understands what it is supposed to do to. Coaches can punish those guys who don't have their heads in the playbook and recognize those players who do take it upon themselves to learn.