Mickey Joseph lists young players getting larger opportunities following the bye

Nebraska interim head coach Mickey Joseph and his squad are coming off of a much needed bye week as they head into their next matchup versus Indiana. The Cornhuskers are 1-3 on the season and 0-1 under Joseph, as they’re looking to salvage their season following the firing of head coach Scott Frost. During the process, they will look to get some of their younger talents some experience, including freshman defensive backs Malcolm Hartzog and Jaeden Gould.

“Well, we have some younger guys that we want to look at. Malcolm’s one of them, Malcolm’s gonna play some corner, Gould’s gonna play some safety, we’re trying to find our best 11 guys and get them on the field.

Hartzog has played in every game so far for Nebraska this season as a member of their special teams units, while Gould saw his first action in their most recent game versus Oklahoma.

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Joseph was also asked about the freshman linebacker Ernest Hausmann, who’s played a role on defense and special teams for Nebraska early recording 17 tackles on the season and two starts already, making him one of just five true freshmen ever to start at linebacker for the Cornhuskers. Despite this, he was not seen on the team’s defensive depth chart heading into this week.

“He’s gonna be both, but he’s still in the mix, he’s still in the mix at linebacker also,” Joseph said.

Joseph was asked what Hausmann needed to do to maintain his starting role, and used it to talk about what all freshmen in Omaha need to improve upon as a unit, not just him.

“With all those young kids it has to slow down for them, it has to slow down in their head. This game is a fast game compared to Friday nights, Saturday afternoons and Saturday nights are really fast,” Joseph explained. “So it’ll have to slow down for him, he’s an intelligent kid, he’s a really good athlete, and he’s just got to keep developing, but he’s always gonna be in the mix.”

It will be interesting to see which of Nebraska’s freshmen can step up to the occasion and contribute to this year’s team, as this season could likely turn into a proving ground for the future for the Cornhuskers as they head into an eight-game stretch of Big Ten games.

“So we gotta find those guys and so we’re gonna go through those young kids and see if they can get it done, and if they can get it done we’ll give them some reps on Saturday,” Joseph said. “But they’ve been great, today and last week they’ve been great.”