How Nebraska's Dana Holgorsen is going 'inside the huddle' this spring with GoPro cameras

When Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule walked into an offensive drill and saw his quarterbacks wearing GoPros, he wondered what exactly was going on. “I was like, ‘Well, someone watched Instagram or something,’” Rhule said Saturday. It was no stunt, however, but a planned teaching exercise from offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen. The small cameras were mounted on the helmets of NU’s quarterbacks, providing coaches an up-close look at the quarterbacks’ surroundings. “If they ever get bumped, they grunt, and if they make a bad pass, they say cuss words,” Holgorsen said. “But it’s about communication… it really holds the quarterbacks accountable for what they’re saying.” The footage is a tool for the Husker coaching staff to hear what’s going on inside the huddle. Holgorsen saw the technique used during his time as a TCU assistant last fall before implementing the cameras in select drills this spring. Having watched the communication displayed by quarterback Dylan Raiola, Holgorsen said the sophomore is “next level” in the way he makes checks and gets his teammates lined up. “Because we’re (coaches) not in that huddle, we don’t know what’s being said,” Holgorsen said. “I’m talking to (Raiola) and telling him the play, but I don’t know what he’s saying to the group. You can see the other 10 (players) looking at the quarterback, and you can tell if they’re confused; stuff that you don’t see because you’re on the sidelines, you can be in the huddle.”