Huskers' Brown Brings It The Right Way

Of all the moves made by Bo Pelini when he took the reins of the Husker football program, the one that told me without a doubt that Coach Bo wanted to put some intensity in the program was his hiring of Ron Brown. And comments made by Tight End Coach Brown during spring ball and the start of fall practice have definitely reinforced that feeling.

Here are a few of my favorite Brown comments as I recall reading them. They may not be word-for-word accurate, but I think I've got the message down. I'm listing them from lowest to highest as the hit with me:

"See it! Catch it! Tuck it away!" -- hollering out to the tight ends about focus during spring ball.

"I want them to be war daddies."-- comment during fall practice on the physical approach he wants the tight ends to have in their play.

"We want to pull the heart out of the opponent."-- another physical play-related line during fall camp. The visceral nature of this line reminds me of a similar statement made by Diego Maradona--Argentina soccer idol--before the World Cup in 1990 when Argentina was the defending champion. Maradona said, "They will have to rip the cup out of our hearts." Germany won the title in a 1-0 win over Argentina in the final, but the Germans practically had to do just that.

And now, my favorite---

"We are going to invite pain and suffering into our lives."-- during spring practice. It's a little over-the-top regarding the kind of effort Brown wants from his players, but it puts the tone of work and effort that are needed to succeed in this violent game squarely on the table.

I like that attitude. It leads me to believe that--no matter how the games go--Brown will help make sure that the effort is there. And that's the one thing that I think every single Husker fan wants to see back into the mix for this season.

Go Big Red!

The Old Husker Fan