When Ryan Held played for Nebraska as a walk-on in the 1990s, he witnessed the likes of Ahman Green, Lawrence Phillips and Damon Benning dashing 50, 60 yards and into the end zone.
While fans remember that happening in games, Held was actually referring to practices, when Nebraska running backs finished plays the length of the field, no matter the circumstances. Coaches trained them to do so.
Some of the reasoning was for conditioning. Most of it was to create a mindset of producing big runs.
Held, who’s returned to Lincoln under first-year head coach Scott Frost as running backs coach, is instilling that same philosophy with his running backs.