Five takeaways from Scott Frost's first spring game with Nebraska

LINCOLN, Neb. – The starters beat up on the backups at Nebraska’s spring game, the first of the Scott Frost era, as a near-capacity crowd celebrated the return of the former championship-winning quarterback after his two seasons as coach at Central Florida.

Starters treating backups like traffic cones is a springtime tradition across the country, with Nebraska being no exception. Well, with one exception: According to Jay Sims, a former Nebraska running back from the 1990s, the only time the Cornhuskers’ backups have won the annual spring game was in 1995, when they were quarterbacked by – you guessed it – Scott Frost.

The Cornhuskers return to the field on Monday for the final practice of the spring, and then head into a brief hibernation before the kickoff of summer conditioning and workouts in May. Here are five takeaways from a few days around the program culminating in the spring game:

Frost's journey begins

Saturday’s spring game was “the first step in a journey for us,” Frost said. It’s one thing he learned at UCF: These things take time. While the Knights’ unbeaten 2017 season suggests otherwise, players there didn’t completely buy into what the coaching staff was pitching until deep into last August.

In comparison, the buy-in here has been smoother, offensive line coach Greg Austin said.

“They were ready for change, ready for newness,” he said. “I haven’t had one day where I walked in here like, ‘These guys don’t get it,’ or, ‘They’re not buying in.’ Not one day. Not one period. Not one instance. Not one iota.”

But the missteps and mental errors seen here on Saturday are a reminder of the work that still lies ahead. While the starting offense ended up with 508 yards and scored seven touchdowns, both sides combined for nine penalties and four turnovers.

So Frost and his staff walk a fine line. While preaching the need to play fast and not worry too much about mistakes, the coaches are simultaneously aware that improvement must be made in the next four-plus months before the Cornhuskers’ christen the regular season at home against Akron.

Offense a work in progress

Let’s not even talk about the defense, which was a disgrace under former coordinator Bob Diaco and has miles of room to grow before reclaiming some of the pride that defined this unit for decades. The predominate amount of attention this spring has been placed on the offense, perhaps for good reason: Frost’s résumé was built on this side of the ball, so expectations are high.

Nebraska isn’t very close to hitting its full potential. Again, UCF wasn’t a powerhouse in Frost’s first year; it took a full season and then some for the scheme to take hold. Look for the same timeline for the Cornhuskers. The full playbook has yet to be installed, and might not be until this time next year.

“Any time you’re turning a program around and getting your systems in, you’re not going to be as well-oiled,” said running backs coach Ryan Held. “We can’t install as much, just because we want to make sure they understand what to do and have details to go with it.”

There’s a QB competition

For now, it’s a two-person race between redshirt freshman Tristan Gebbia and true freshman Adrian Martinez. Gebbia’s background is in a pro-style system, and his arm and touch was evident in a few throws against the Cornhuskers’ second-team defense. Meanwhile, Martinez was Frost’s hand-picked quarterback in his first recruiting class and was able to enroll early to participate in spring drills.

The spring game won’t be the deciding factor in the competition, which will go deep into fall camp, Frost said. But you could see why Martinez was a top recruit – he can make the throws needed in the passing game and has the legs to make a major difference, as seen in his 74 carries and three scores. (Quarterbacks couldn’t get hit during the game, so maybe take those numbers with a grain of salt.)

But there’s another interesting question that needs to be asked: Will Nebraska take a graduate-transfer quarterback this summer? The coaches are weighing their options on the transfer market, but they are also wary of how adding a new face may alter the makeup of the quarterback room – as well as how adding one transfer may cost the Cornhuskers a transfer of their own. It would be wiser for Nebraska to stand pat and develop its younger pair unless a can’t-miss option hits the market.

These guys stood out

A few players who impressed on Saturday and throughout the spring:

LB Will Honas: The junior-college transfer was a huge addition for this Nebraska defense, which needed a fly-to-the-ball inside linebacker to make this system roll.

WR Tyjon Lindsay: The former top-100 recruit looks like a great fit for this offense, which can use his skill set as a receiver and runner coming out of the backfield.

WR Stanley Morgan:  The senior didn’t play in the spring game, but he was singled out this week by wide receivers coach Troy Walters as a returning contributor who has embraced the staff’s approach.

DL Ben Stille: Nebraska and coordinator Erik Chinader expect big things from the sophomore, who looks every bit of 6-foot-5 and 255 pounds.

Managing the expectations

Nebraska fans may be dreaming big about Frost’s first year. That’s unrealistic. Based on how the Cornhuskers have looked this spring, it’s more realistic to set the baseline for a successful debut at six wins and a bowl berth, and then start planning for more come 2019 and beyond.

Now, Nebraska could surprise a few teams in Big Ten Conference play and get to eight or nine wins, including bowl play. Again, that seems unlikely. To get there, the Cornhuskers need to address more than a few holes: quarterback play, the pass rush, special teams and, most of all, the play of both the offensive and defensive lines.

But once Frost gets his house in order? The program has a cohesiveness not seen in about a generation – what the staff calls a “unity of purpose.” At the very least, things seem pointed in the right direction.