Kirk Herbstreit is a believer in the Frost Effect. A big believer, you could say.
Kirk Herbstreit: “You could make an argument ‘has there ever been a better fit for a head coach than Scott Frost’ at #Nebraska”?
“When I first started on College Gameday in 1996 Nebraska WAS Alabama”.
Our time is coming again!#Huskers #GBR #Cornhuskers pic.twitter.com/xX7qwMfXge
— Oregonians4Nebraska (@OR4Nebraska) August 23, 2018
The ESPN analyst and former Ohio State quarterback released his annual Herbie Awards this week. Nebraska earned two mentions on the lengthy and wide-ranging list.
Nebraska showed up as one of Herbstreit's five "surprise teams." Florida (4-7 in 2017), Kansas State (8-5), Utah (7-6) and Missouri (7-6) also earned the designation.
Perhaps the bigger (and not unrelated) honor came when Scott Frost made Herbstreit's list of "impact head-coaching hires." Frost didn't just make the list, he led the way for hires made for the 2018 season:
“It’s not just the undefeated year last year at UCF,” Herbstreit said. “Obviously that helps. It grabs your attention. He won a national championship himself back there in 97. He knows that culture. He knows that state. He knows that fan base. He knows how to turn that thing around. I can’t wait to watch.”
Frost was joined on the impact-hire list by one of his early mentors, Chip Kelly, now at UCLA, as well as Jimbo Fisher (Texas A&M), Dan Mullen (Florida) and a tie for the fifth spot between Joe Moorhead (Mississippi State) and Willie Taggart (Florida State).
The Gators, Aggies and Seminoles earned double designation for their offseason hires, landing coaches on the "impact coordinator" list. Defensive coordinator Todd Grantham followed Mullen to Gainesville, Mike Elko will lead the defense at A&M after a breakout year with Notre Dame and former Maryland offensive coordinator Walt Bell has the keys to Florida State's offense.
Big Ten teams filled the other two spots with Ohio State's hire of former Washington State defensive coordinator Alex Grinch and Penn State's promotion of Ricky Rahne to offensive coordinator.
PSA #2
Last one of the week because, well, after today tomorrow is Saturday. (See you there?)
Meet @brandonlvogel of @HailVarsity this Saturday at the #NEBookFest! He'll be talking about DREAM LIKE A CHAMPION at 12:30 in the Union https://t.co/PGnX4lEflg #UNL #LNK @Huskervball pic.twitter.com/Mj7Lw0I7L2
— Univ Nebraska Press (@UnivNebPress) August 23, 2018
The Grab Bag
- This is a fun one: Taking a look back at Barry Sanders' 1988 season.
- There are just 13 teams in college football season that have the typical blue-chip ratio of a national champion.
- Nebraska is the Big Ten team to watch according to Tom Fornelli of CBSSports.com.
- ICYMI: Our staff took a crack at predicting the Week 1 depth chart, Peyton Newell is all-in on yoga, the Huskers are still sorting through options at the Duck-R position, predicting the All-Big Ten teams and a preview of this weekend's VERT Challenge.
Today's Song of Today
https://youtu.be/H0RKE318uBg
Brandon is the Managing Editor for Hail Varsity and has covered Nebraska athletics for the magazine and web since 2012, Hail Varsity’s first season on the scene. His sports writing has also been featured by Fox Sports, The Guardian and CBS Sports.
