Nebraska football is trying to find solutions after the team’s 56-7 loss to Indiana on Saturday. Coach Matt Rhule covered multiple topics in his press conference on Monday, and one area he discussed was the play of his wide receivers.
The wide receivers struggled to get any consistent production on Saturday. The leading pass-catcher for the program was tight end Thomas Fidone. He caught six passes for 91 yards on the day. Jaylen LIoyd was the team’s leading receiver on the afternoon, catching three passes for 36 yards.
Lack of separation has been a problem for the wide receiver unit throughout the season. Rhule wants to work on improving this moving forward, especially when it comes to making things happen in press coverage. He elaborated on this during his press conference.
“I think we had a lot of guys open a lot of the day. I do think that when we’re getting pressed and pressed man, we’re not doing a good enough job. We’re not doing a good enough job of getting releases and getting off press. So I think it’s twofold. I talked to you guys about last year, if you give us zone coverage, we have guys running wide open. I do think we’re pretty good at running by people and throwing the ball.”
There could be several reasons for the lack of success in press coverage. It could be something as simple as play concepts or a lack of physicality and aggressiveness. However, it’s become clear that the wide receiver unit has been struggling throughout the season.
Nevertheless, there is time to turn things around. The Huskers have the talent to succeed at the position. It just comes down to execution. It will be interesting to see if some measure of success can be had against Ohio State on Saturday.
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