Five Takeaways From Clester Johnson as Nebraska Football Enters the Home Stretch

Husker legend Clester Johnson returned to the Common Fan Podcast for a wide-ranging conversation during the bye week. The national championship-winning wingback is optimistic about this year’s Nebraska team, and believes the Huskers could still get to nine wins. As the Big Red resumes conference play this weekend, here are the top takeaways from our conversation with Clester.

Finishing Games is a Mentality That Requires Preparation

“I remember that being a huge focus of emphasis for Coach Osborne,” Johnson said in reference to closing out close games.

In recent years, Husker fans can point to multiple fourth-quarter collapses, blown leads and close losses. Johnson shared his experience as a player under Tom Osborne, who simulated various game situations in practice. You can't expect players to suddenly become clutch when the game is on the line if they haven't prepared for those situations. Of note, he wasn’t suggesting this Nebraska team is not practicing those scenarios, only pointing out what was successful for some of Nebraska’s best teams.

Johnson recalled that after Nebraska's heartbreaking 18–16 loss to Florida State in the 1994 Orange Bowl, Osborne had the team spend the following summer doing conditioning drills with 1:16 on the clock—the amount of time remaining when the Huskers surrendered the lead—to reinforce the importance of finishing games.

Coaches and Players Share Responsibility for Losses

Johnson made the point that the ownership for losses is program-wide, players need to take responsibility for making plays when the game is on the line, and at the same time the coaches must prepare them for difficult situations.

As an example, he proposed putting the defense in uncomfortable, high-pressure scenarios during practice. Make the first team offense face the first team defense. Give the opponent a short field with a few minutes to score. Make the defense prove it can get a stop.

Accountability shouldn't mean simply finding someone to blame. It should mean creating a plan to prevent the same mistakes from happening again.

Nebraska’s Current Rebuilding Challenge is Fundamentally Different from Osborne’s

Johnson explained that when he played, Nebraska already had a winning culture that had been established over many years. “We just hadn't quite gotten over the edge.”

He explained that Osborne inherited a program (which of course, he helped build as an assistant) with a winning culture already established. Nebraska had been successful for years before its run of dominance in the 1990s; Osborne’s teams were already close, they just needed to make adjustments to get the program over the championship threshold.

Today's players, Johnson argued, are climbing a much steeper hill because of the program’s struggles over the last 10 to 15 years. Johnson wasn't arguing that Nebraska should lower its standards; rather, he was stating that the Nebraska football program has further to climb than Osborne’s teams, and it’s even harder to do in this new era of college football.

Modern College Football Requires Coaches to Operate Like CEOs

Speaking of the new era of college football, the game we know today is much different than what it was even 10 years ago. Johnson highlighted how much the job of being a head coach has changed because of the transfer portal and player compensation, both of which make it harder to recruit and retain talent. The way the media prioritizes wins and losses in a coach’s tenure misses substantial parts of the job. For the Huskers, keeping a talented quarterback like Anthony Colandrea illustrates why personnel management is so important. A game-changing quarterback can change a team's ceiling, but building a sustainable program requires more than one player.

Nebraska Needs to Establish a Dependable Running Game Over the Last Five Games

When it comes to Colandrea, Clester said, “I’m like, all right, this kid’s gonna be good.” He want on to say he was “way better feet than Raiola.’

Johnson praised Colandrea’s ability to make plays with his legs, but he pointed out that those runs should be an additional weapon rather than a necessity on nearly every drive. He recalled that most championship teams have paired strong quarterback play with effective running backs, including USC's Reggie Bush and LenDale White and Indiana's two-headed rushing attack in 2025.

To see the entire conversation with Clester Johnson, check out the latest episode of the Common Fan Podcast.

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