Adam Carriker's Gut Reaction: Nebraska's New Defensive Coordinator

Adam Carriker’s gives his gut reaction to Matt Rhule's hiring of Rob Aurich as Nebraska football's new defensive coordinator. Carriker dives into why Nebraska hired him and whether Husker fans should be excited or not. There are some surprising things Adam discovered that fans may enjoy. The Huskers start bowl prep without Emmett Johnson. Dylan Raiola won’t practice.

Hit the play button to watch and listen, and scroll down for a synopsis.

Adam Carriker will admit he was surprised that Nebraska made this hire, but not necessarily in a bad way. Matt Rhule had brought in several of the names that Adam and other shows had discussed as potential defensive coordinators. Rob Aurich was just not a name that had been brought up a ton, but Adam was somewhat familiar with him and his meteoric rise in the coaching ranks.

The types of words that catch your attention when you hear about how Coach Aurich's defenses play are physical, gritty, and relentless effort. Carriker and Rhule have both talked about in the past about how the X's and O's matter, but the schemes matter less than how you actually play on the field and the type of football that you’re coached to play.

Adam discusses a lot of interesting and surprising things about Nebraska‘s new defensive coordinator, including how this is a high-ceiling and low-floor hire. With that being said, the best indicator of what you’re going to do in the future is what you’ve already done in the past. Rob Aurich has been a defensive coordinator for nine years and a coordinator overall, including his time as a special teams coordinator, for 10 years at the three different schools. The teams are better and the defenses are better than when he first got there. Not just a little better, but noticeably better. They also tend to improve immediately and continue to do so.

Nine straight years as a defensive coordinator, the defenses he’s coached have improved from the season before. When you look at what he did at San Diego State, the Aztecs were 97th in the country in scoring defense, allowing 29.6 points per game, and in just one season they jumped up 92 spots to fifth in scoring defense in the country and allowing just 12.6 points per game.

Adam goes through every coaching stop the coach has had and goes through what stands out the most to him. He also goes through a lot more stats that will allow you to learn a bunch of things about Nebraska‘s new defensive coordinator that you may not have known before.

Rob Aurich was a first-team All American when he played small-college ball during his career as well. He won two national titles and finished second all time in tackles for his school. He’s a young, high-energy and physically minded coach.

Despite John Butler's firing at Nebraska, Aurich is inheriting the number 22 defense in the country. The issue is that in Tony White’s first season as the Huskers' DC, Nebraska’s defense was 11th in the country and the defense the year after that was 19th, and this past year they were 22nd. They tend to be going in the wrong direction, and the biggest issue by far is stopping the run.

Adam also believes he knows why Matt Rhule went so hard after multiple coordinators who run a 4-2-5 scheme. It has directly to do with the personnel Nebraska has on the team, especially when it comes to the defensive line, and Adam explains exactly what that means.

You don’t want to miss this episode of the Carriker Chronicles. Go Big Red, and always remember to throw the bones!

☛ Get more Carriker Chronicles here on Nebraska Cornhuskers On SI, at Adam's website and on YouTube.

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