Quick Hits

· The OWH notes that Marlon Lucky is all smiles this spring. I actually posted my response to this at the FanHouse.

· The LJS points out that Nebraska’s seniors took part in a leadership seminar. I think this is a good move on the part of the coaching staff. Some will argue that leaders are born and not made, but I think that is a fairly simplistic outlook. Clearly there are identifiable traits displayed by leaders and many of these relate to core personality traits. Others, however, can be nurtured the same way as communication skills, or goal-setting.

The program was led by Tim McFadden, an administrative assistant on the Nebraska football staff who has an advanced degree in educational leadership. According to McFadden:

“What we’ve tried to do is encourage players to start speaking the language of leadership,” he said. “What constitutes leadership? What gives you the authority to lead? We want players to analyze the kind of leader they are now, how they see themselves as a leader, how their peers see them as a leader, and really make a decision and say, ‘OK, this is the kind of leader I feel I should be.”

“What we’re trying to do as a staff is really empower these guys to make the team their own. Because that’s where the highest performance will come from, is if these kids feel invested and feel it’s their team.”

It is certainly important for the players to take some ownership of the program. I worked on a similar project while a sport psychology intern at the IMG Academies for use with the Jacksonville Jaguars. It seemed to go over very well with the NFL guys, so I hope the Nebraska players also buy into it.

· Jake Wesch and Alex Henery are battling it out for the kicking job in relative obscurity. These two have a nice opportunity to make some noise before Adi Kunalic arrives on campus in August. I don’t care who ultimately wins the job, as long he can gain the confidence of Coach Callahan. A year ago we went for it on fourth down 23 times, which ranked us 2nd in the Big 12 and 19th nationally in fourth down attempts.

· Lastly, I want to point you guys out to some other fine Husker work in the blogosphere in my absentia. First you should already be reading the following daily.

Big Red Network
Corn Nation
Husker Mike

In addition, you should also add Brandon Vogel’s Hi Plains Drifter to your habits. It is great to see Brandon writing everyday (and well), and he covers the Huskers pretty regularly.

I’ve also recently discovered Husker Guy, which appears to just be getting off the ground. It looks like he’s off to a good start, so check him out.