Why Nate Gerry Helps 'Quarterback' the Blackshirts

Husker Corners, Safety Helped Launch 'Lockdown U'

Kiron Williams Talks about Growth in Huskers' Scheme

Randy York’s N-Sider

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Nebraska Defensive Coordinator Mark Banker has been fundamentally involved with safeties for all but three years of his coaching career, a fact which probably explains why he embraced a tighter role with the position that he understands best.

The Huskers’ defensive scheme requires adjustments that run through safeties and linebackers, so awareness and understanding sets and formations become clues that help solve problems.

Fortunately, a big chunk of Nebraska’s scheme and techniques depend on Nathan Gerry, a 6-2, 220-pound safety from Sioux Falls, S.D. Gerry has the speed, instinct and physicality to cover someone faster and more agile because he can diagnose on the run and piece things together.

Sophomore safety Aaron Williams (24) is "very versatile and very football savvy," according to defensive coordinator Mark Banker.

Gerry Understands Football, Has Great Instincts and Gets Players Lined Up

“Nate is our quarterback back there,” Banker told me. “He understands football and has great instincts. Once you show Nate something, he takes it to memory. He needs to see it one time. That’s all he needs to get players lined up and ready for what play the offense is going to run.”

Gerry's two tackles for loss in last weekend's 27-22 win over Indiana epitomized his nose for the ball and reinforced his knack for big plays. His career tackles for loss total reached 19, enabling Gerry to replace Ciante Evans for the school record for defensive backs.

That feat makes a nice bookend to Gerry's 11 career interceptions, and that's not all. Gerry's eight tackles against the Hoosiers increased his season total to 37, which ranks second on the team...not bad for a tough-minded throwback who battled stomach flu throughout the weekend and required intravenous medication.

Film Study Guy Kieron Williams Uses His Motor to Reinforce What He Learns

Kieron Williams, Nebraska’s junior safety starter from Sheveport, La., is also elevating his Blackshirt status. “Kieron’s a film study guy, who has a really good motor,” Banker said. “You can’t ask for more from someone who’s really into what he does. He knows what he has to do and understands what it takes to be successful.”

Aaron Williams, a sophomore safety from Atlanta, Ga., is “very versatile and very football savvy,” Banker said. “At a young age, he understands and is really working on his technique to a fine-eyed level. He’s heavily involved in man coverage just like a corner would be.”

Improvement has been the primary theme for Nebraska’s safeties, opening the door for Antonio Reed, a 6-2, 220-pound safety from Memphis, Tenn. Slowed down in the spring because of injury, Reed is “trying to increase his role a little bit more,” Banker said. “He has pretty good football instincts and has improved more physically, which should help him increase his role.”

Junior safety Kieron Williams is a "film study guy who has a really good motor," Mark Banker said. "You can't ask for anything more."

Kieron Williams: I Feel Like We’ve Grown in the Scheme; We Were Coached Up

Kieron Williams likes the direction Nebraska is going with its 6-0 start, the best in 15 years. “I feel like we’ve grown in the scheme,” Kieron said. “Our coaches have coached us up, and we’ve had more time to learn the ins and outs of the scheme. We’re working together and we know what each other is good at.”

“Aaron’s Williams is a great coverage guy, and I’m a good over-the-top guy,” Kieron said. “When you put everything together like that, it’s working well and it’s been helping us to play great.”

Confidence is the result from making adjustments, picking up blitzes, and inherently understanding when to use man coverage or zone coverage. Results depend on the execution of the slightest intricacies.

"Coach Banker wants the best out of everybody,” Kieron Williams said. “When we came in and looked at film, there were spots they weren't happy about and they made that known, so even when you win you have to look yourself in the mirror and say that wasn't good enough.”

Sophomore safety Antonio Reed (No. 16) has good instincts, has improved physically and that should help him increase his role.

‘If We Don’t Get Better, We’ll Come Up Short When It's Time to Make Big Plays’

Husker safeties weave that into the culture. “We have to get better every single day because if we don't, we're going to come up short when the time comes for us to make big plays,” Kieron said. “When you give your best to do the small things right, that's what matters in the end."

Banker preaches the same philosophy. “That’s what’s great about our approach,” he said. “Each week is in its one little capsule. You’re aware of the overall scenario from beginning to end of the season, and there are times where you set that up and lay out the groundwork in front of you.

“The group needs to hear it, but you quickly pull it back to the present,” Banker said. “We always talk about having one opportunity each week. You get one opportunity to play Purdue. You get one opportunity to play and win a game, and you get one opportunity this season to be 7-0.”

One game at a time “makes sure that you focus on the task at hand and then when it’s all over, you can do the same thing,” Banker said. “You open up the book again, look at what’s out there in front of you, look at the road map on how to get from point A to point B, and then do the same thing again. In football, you close the book up again and then focus on that next chapter.”

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