LINCOLN — After talking to Mike McNeill, you wonder if he's working this spring to fill a spot on the Nebraska wrestling team instead of football.
The senior from Kirkwood, Mo., notes that his current weight is 230 pounds, and that his coaches have given him a 15-pound spread to meet 225 to 240 to get into the lineup.
But this isn't about McNeill finding someone his own size to pick on.
Actually, it's about creating size mismatches — giving him the chance to play multiple positions so he can pound smaller players as a blocker and outmaneuver different-sized defenders as a receiver.
As the Huskers' “adjuster'' on offense, McNeill will play a little tight end and some fullback, but more often flexed out as a slot receiver.
“It's really just expanding what I was doing,'' he said. “I'm just doing it more now than I was. I've only done it in certain spots. Now, I'll do it all the time.''
McNeill entered last season touted as a potential honors candidate at tight end.
But after 14 games, his statistical line read 28 catches, 259 yards, four touchdowns. From his sophomore season, that was four fewer catches, 183 fewer yards and two fewer touchdowns.
“I thought we needed to get him the ball more,'' NU coach Bo Pelini said. “We think he's a heck of a football player, and I thought he had a chance to have a bigger year than he had because I saw him on film he was open a lot.
“Some of that was scheme-oriented. Some of it was defense-dictated. Using him as an adjuster gives us a chance to move him around a little more.''
McNeill said he told his parents after last season that he was going to meet with Nebraska offensive coordinator Shawn Watson about an expanded role.
“Coach Watson and I have a great relationship,'' McNeill said. “We talk about everything. I just wanted to tell him how I felt. I wanted to be on the field more than just third downs and passing situations and occasionally a run block.
“Whatever it would take to be out there all the time, that's what I would do.''
Before McNeill could schedule a meeting upon returning from semester break, Watson called him into his office and basically outlined the position the way McNeill had hoped.
“I called my parents,'' McNeill said, “and said, ‘He said the exact same thing I wanted to tell him.'''
Now, McNeill can focus on re-framing his body to best take advantage of where he'll line up.
When he first arrived at Nebraska, the previous coaching staff wanted him to add weight.
“I had to stuff my face every day,'' he said.
But it wasn't “comfortable'' weight. Now, McNeill can experiment a little to see what size works best.
“They gave me a big area,'' he said. “It's just how I want to feel. I need to lose a little weight just from conditioning. But my body fat is exactly the same as when we did it during the season. I've just got to work on where I feel comfortable.''
contact the writer:
444-1024, lee.barfknecht@owh.com
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