LINCOLN, Neb. -- They were admittedly curious -- old men, young women, teenagers, even children -- to watch one of the most boring aspects of college football.
A spring practice.
But necks craned, whispers were exchanged, oohs and aaahs were uttered last week at Nebraska.
"This is my first time back since everything went on," said former Nebraska center Dominic Raiola, who flew in just to watch a scrimmage, "but yeah, this is (interesting)."
Notorious for slobbering over their football anyway, they haven't been able to get enough since spring drills started March 24. New coach Bill Callahan is changing a culture, not just an offense. It has begun, modestly, with 15 practice sessions that end with Saturday's annual spring game.
"I feel this urge, this compulsion to measure up to the previous teams here," the Huskers' first-year coach said. "There's a lot to go along with that."
Might as well prime away the face of the Ten Commandments tablet. That's basically what Callahan, 47, is doing at Nebraska. Three months ago, he was announced as the school's new coach after a whirlwind courtship -- a stranger really to the usually provincial Huskers.
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| New Huskers coach Bill Callahan is shaking things up in Nebraska.(AP) |
Now it's the players' turn. They are learning the offense of former NFL MVP Rich Gannon, the routes of Rice and Brown. They are learning at the pace of the NFL.
"At least now it will be a better transition for guys going to the NFL," said Raiola, a three-year veteran with the Detroit Lions. "Why not? This is great for these guys, an NFL coach coaching them."
That is the theme of Callahan's first spring in Lincoln. Win, lose or get run out of town, he has the Huskers looking like pros, from meetings to teachings to formations.
"We brought in, as you can see, a pro tempo, speed of operation," Callahan said. "On the pro level, the more veterans you have, the more you can. The less experienced you are, you're developing them. On this level, it seems like you're developing all of them."
Cramming is important for both parties. Callahan hasn't coached in college since 1994 (Wisconsin) and has been a head coach for only two of his 23 years in the profession. Career record: 17-18.
For the Huskers, the West Coast offense will be the same one that set Oakland records for pass attempts, total yards, first downs and completion percentage in 2002. And, they hope, not the same one that plunged to No. 25 in the NFL last year amid injuries and dissension that eventually contributed to Callahan's firing.
"I entered the NFL in 2001 and I was running this offense here," Raiola said. "I had to learn a West Coast offense in a year. By the end of the year, I knew it pretty good.
"This system is an NFL system, and it's so hard to defend. This guy, he's a winner. It's hard to go wrong with somebody like that."
While Callahan watched coolly detached up the field, players sprinted from station to station. More passes were thrown in Friday's scrimmage than in some of Tom Osborne's seasons, it seemed. The change is coming quick, fast and hard. Almost all of them are square pegs trying to fit into round holes, but those who don't get it will be left behind.
"People were tired of seeing the option run to the sideline," sophomore quarterback Joe Dailey said. "They wanted to see balls flying in the air, a first down every new play. Get first downs and touchdowns, that's our philosophy now."
That was athletic director Steve Pederson's idea, even if he didn't say it like that after firing Frank Solich with one game left in a 10-3 season. The culture had to change. Pederson saw the Huskers being lapped by Oklahoma, Kansas State, Texas and Colorado in recent years in the hyper-competitive Big 12.
They hadn't won a conference title since 1999. Solich was OK, part of the Nebraska family, but his offense -- virtually the same one Osborne ran for a quarter century -- was outmoded. Even great running backs didn't want to play in the I-option, judging by recruiting.
Callahan's upside at the time was that he was available. Perhaps unwisely, Pederson waited 40 days to replace Solich because he didn't want to distract other coaches involved in bowls or NFL playoffs. Suddenly relieved of his paycheck by Al Davis on Dec. 29, Callahan came to Lincoln armed with a Super Bowl on his resume and was handsomely rewarded at $1.5 million per year.
At least Pederson got what he wanted. The rest of Husker Nation seems patient enough to give Callahan a chance. He is supposed to be captain in the middle of a perfect storm between changing offenses and a changing culture.
Since Vince Ferragamo was drafted in the fourth round in 1977, only one Nebraska quarterback has been drafted at his position. That was current receivers coach Turner Gill in 1984. Heisman Trophy winner Eric Crouch was taken as a receiver in 2002.
"When you're an athlete playing quarterback, you don't have a great feel, a great grasp," Dailey said. "But when you're a quarterback playing quarterback, you can feel things, you can see things. It's the difference between watching someone on film and meeting someone in person."
Dailey has met confusion at times. He spent most of Friday's scrimmage running for his life behind an inconsistent offensive line. Plays seem to take a moment longer to call in the huddle because everyone is still learning them. Strapped to his left wrist are Callahan's Commandments -- a laminated, multilayered, multicolored, Velcro-ed list of 177 plays.
"Every time they signal in a new play," he said. "I gotta go to this."
Dailey was recruited to the old system but feels reborn. He was used sparingly as a freshman but is, for now, the No. 1 guy. The staff is excited about the arrival in the fall of junior college transfer Jordan Adams, who ran a similar offense at Grossmont Community College in El Cajon, Calif.
For now, the climate is still one of both training and transition.
"We can't be the Oakland Raiders come Saturday," Dailey said of the spring game that could draw 50,000 curious onlookers. "We have to be the Nebraska Cornhuskers. It's going to take time to develop into that offense we need to be. Rome wasn't built in two days. Rome wasn't built in 15 days."
That's all the time in spring practice Callahan will have to put in his system before the fall. That means the 2004 Huskers could be much like Solich's last team: heavy on defense, spotty on offense. Look at Notre Dame for an example. Ty Willingham is going into his third year at Notre Dame, and his West Coast offense is still struggling.
Because the West Coast is based so much on tempo, a quarterback can start out 0-for-6 and still end up 23-for-30. Will Nebraskans have that kind patience?
"They're going to have to," tight end Matt Herian said.
A year from now, "the ball will be off the floor more," Callahan said. "There will be less wasted plays, fumbled quarterback exchanges, less offsides, those little things that can hold you back."
Herian's ears perked up the moment Callahan was hired. A 6-foot-5, 240-pound junior from Pierce, Neb., he tied for the team lead in catches last season (22) and knows the importance of a tight end in the West Coast. At 20, he wasn't even born when 49ers tight end Dwight Clark made "The Catch" in the 1981 NFC Championship Game, basically ushering in the West Coast era.
"At Nebraska you always think you're going to be in an offense running and running," he said, "and then it changed.
"That's why a lot of kids go to college to play for a coach like Coach Callahan. He's going to get kids ready for the NFL. He knows what it takes to get there and play there."
Now Callahan has to learn what it's like to stay there at the top, at Nebraska.
"There's a difference in changing the culture," he said. "We're not changing the tradition. We're changing the way we operate, but not what we believe in and stand for."
