Husker Notes: Stille Sets Accountability Example

Ben Stille said he expressed sincere surprise when he saw a black practice jersey hanging in his locker Tuesday morning.

For the first time in weeks, Nebraska football coaches had awarded new Blackshirts for those defensive players they felt deserving. Defensive linemen Khalil Davis and Carlos Davis, cornerback Lamar Jackson and safety Tre Neal also earned new Blackshirts.

Then Stille, a redshirted sophomore defensive end from Ashland, remembered what his head coach, Scott Frost, had preached about accountability. He remembered the words from the mouths of former Blackshirt players Jason Peter and Grant Wistrom when they addressed the team in August.

“They just talked about every day in practice, every snap of the game, going 100 percent all the time,” Stille said, “and just off the field as well, earning it, and just living your life like a Blackshirt.”

Stille had just watched film of Saturday’s game against Minnesota, a 53-28 Nebraska triumph, the team’s first victory under Frost, and wasn’t pleased with what he saw from his personal performance.

The whole situation bothered Stille. So he donned his regular gold practice jersey and went to work, leaving the Blackshirt behind.

“From the definition of what I’ve been told what a Blackshirt was from Grant and Jason and those guys who had come and talked to us,” Stille said, “it didn’t just sit right with me putting that jersey on if I didn’t feel like I had lived up to that in a game.

“I wasn’t going to put that on and fake it, you know? In front of my peers, my closest brothers that were in the film room with me. I’m not going to be one way in the film room, when they know how it was, and then go out there and put a Blackshirt on and pretend like everything was good.”

If you want a sign Frost’s culture change is taking shape, well, you’ve got it.

“If you’re going to be the person trying to hold people accountable, the first person you’ve got to look to is yourself,” Stille said. “If other people aren’t going to hold you accountable, you’ve got to do it yourself. That was definitely a big part of it.”

A couple of players, Stille said, asked him about his decision, and respected him after he told them his reasoning.

Specifically, Stille said his effort in the Minnesota game could’ve been better. He felt he wasn’t running as hard on the backside of plays as he would’ve been had the play been right in front of him.

“They’re all just as important,” Stille said. “The little things add up. For me, that was a lot of it.”

 

Block Party

Speaking of signs that Frost’s culture change is taking shape, you may have seen other in Saturday’s game against Minnesota.

Running backs coach Ryan Held sure did, and he had a poor view from the opposite sideline. But all he needed to see was a Minnesota defender go flying through the air, the victim of a crushing block by … freshman running back Maurice Washington.

Not only did Washington’s block free quarterback Adrian Martinez for a big gain, the handclapping and celebration from Washington told Held everything he needed to know.

“If I can help my quarterback get a big block and be excited over it? That’s where we want to get to,” Held said. “When you have guys that love to block for your teammates, that’s a sign, the mark of us building a championship program.

“I saw their guy go flying and I’m like, ‘OK, that’s what we want.’ We talk about that all the time. And (Washington) did it in a good way. He didn’t target the guy.”

Such passion, Held said, is what Nebraska coaches want from all their players.

“That’s what we need,” he said. “We need guys that are passionate, that love the game of football.”

 

Stoltenberg Returns

When Mick Stoltenberg, already battling serious knee issues, limped off the field at Michigan a month ago and walked around on crutches the following week, you may have wondered if we’d seen the last of the senior defensive tackle.

Not so fast.

Stoltenberg participated in a pads-free practice late last week, and on Wednesday talked to reporters after going through a half-pads practice. He’s intent on returning, probably for Saturday’s game against Bethune-Cookman.

“I practiced yesterday, practiced today. I took full speed with pads on reps. Real football reps,” Stoltenberg said. “So I’m hoping in can contribute Saturday. I might not go out there and play 45-50 snaps, but I’ll play what they give me and do what I can to help as far as that goes. I’m feeling ready to go.”

Stoltenberg admitted he probably had hurt his knee before the season began but played through pain until the discomfort became too much in the season’s third game, at Michigan. He had minor surgery that next week.

“I’m blessed it wasn’t a season-ender,” he said. “I’m blessed I haven’t missed too much time in my career, even despite all the injuries I’ve had. You kind of just try to take it with a grain of salt, put it aside and try to finish up strong.”

 

Jackson’s Redemption

Lamar Jackson is a black-and-white, yes-or-no type of person who doesn’t mind showing his true emotion.

He knows everybody saw it on the sideline of Nebraska’s Sept. 29 game against Purdue, when coaches sent Jackson, a junior cornerback, to the bench, and demoted him on the following week’s depth chart.

After that game, Jackson received text messages of support, including from Nebraska football staff members Ron Brown and Zach Duval.

“They saw it on my face,” Jackson said. “Like I said, I wear my emotions on my sleeve. I can’t hide it.”

That anybody cared is all Jackson needed to regroup himself before meeting with Frost, and also defensive coordinator Erik Chinander and position coach Travis Fisher, to clear the air. Part of the gist of the coaches’ messages to Jackson – if you want to be a pro, act like a pro.

“I left the meeting with a good feeling,” Jackson said. “That’s what makes it a lot easier, just knowing the coaches are on my side, knowing it wasn’t to spite me, that it was for myself and my future.”

Today, Jackson has a Blackshirt, and he’s reclaimed his No. 1 spot on the depth chart.

“You’ve got to be a man to play this game,” Jackson said. “You can’t be a kid about it. You can’t be immature about it. If you’ve got a problem or something on your chest, you’ve got to go talk to the coach, or talk to whoever you think is holding you back.”

Jackson has learned, in taking that approach, that nothing is as it seems.

“It’s easy for us as players, with young minds, to make assumptions,” Jackson said, “like, ‘Oh they’re against me, they don’t like me.’ Most of the time, there’s a reason for what you’re going through. As long as you can see that, understand that and be a man about it, you’re pretty much good.”

To see a Blackshirt in his locker “put a smile on my face,” Jackson said.

“I just put it on and went to work,” he said. “I’m growing with the program. I’m buying into everything they want me to do. I had to put my ego to the side and stuff like that and just go to work.”

Reach Brian at brosenthal@huskers.com or follow him on Twitter @GBRosenthal.