Huskers’ tackling not up to par for Chinander

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - Four weeks into spring football and defensive coordinator Erik Chinander is not impressed with his defense’s tackling following the team scrimmage.

“It’s not good enough right now, but in spring football you don’t get a ton of shots to tackle live to the ground. We’ll get a little more work in, but we can definitely use the work throughout the rest of spring. And then as we move into fall camp we can definitely use some more tackling work,” said Chinander Monday morning.

Defensive lineman Mosai Newsom, who has yet to see the field, said, “Live hitting. That’s football. Spring ball. But live football it’s just live football. It’s more of a game-like situation, game-like scenario. That’s what the game’s going to be like on Saturday. So it’s great to have that, to replicate that a couple times throughout spring ball and then for the spring game.”

The Huskers lost six starters on the defensive side of the ball at the end of last season. Inside linebacker Luke Reimer is the returner with the most tackles, 108, while veteran outside linebacker Garrett Nelson led Big Red last season in tackles for loss, 11.5, and sacks, 5.

There will be no more live scrimmaging or tackling for the Huskers until the Annual Red-White Spring Game on April 9th at 1pm.

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