It’s no easy task to find a player capable of playing the nickel position at a high level.
The best nickels have to be able to either stop the run or drop into pass coverage based on their own instincts — and they better be right more often than not.
Luckily for Nebraska, it has a player capable of doing just that: Isaac Gifford.
“He understands the scheme and plays fast because he understands where the ball is going before it’s snapped,” Nebraska interim head coach Mickey Joseph said in October. “He’s got a lot of heart. He’s going to tackle you and cover you but he’s going to play his heart out. He plays hard every snap and he’s a smart football player.”
Now a sophomore, the ultra-reliable Gifford hasn’t missed a game in his Husker career. Mostly a special teams player during the 2020 season, Gifford continued that role in 2021 while he learned under senior JoJo Domann, a player who truly made the nickel position his own.
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And when Domann missed the final two games of the 2021 season, Gifford was thrown into the fire as an inexperienced nickelback. That experience, the lessons he learned under Domann and an entire offseason of progress have led to a much-improved version of Gifford this year.
“When I first got here, I didn’t know jack-squat, so I’ve come a long way in learning the defense,” Gifford said in August. “I learned a ton from JoJo; he loved watching film and he prepared very well for games. By the time game time was there, he knew what was going on.”
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Gifford currently has the fourth-most tackles of any Husker this season, and senior Luke Reimer is the only linebacker to play more snaps than him. Like any nickel, Gifford’s usage has fluctuated this season based on the offensive packages that Nebraska’s opponents trot out.
Most nickels are used as a way to add a coverage linebacker into the game for passing situations, and Gifford played a season-high 86 snaps against Georgia Southern’s pass-heavy offense as a result. He then settled into the 60 to 70-snap range once Nebraska got into Big Ten play, but Gifford’s usage has dropped in recent weeks.
Gifford played a season-low 27 snaps against Illinois, followed by 44 snaps against Minnesota last week. That drop-off can be attributed to the run-heavy offenses Nebraska has faced in recent weeks, and the need for the Huskers to utilize a fifth defensive linemen as opposed to a nickel against such challenges.
While Gifford is still needed in passing situations or on third downs, his usage will again be situational against Nebraska’s next opponent, Michigan.
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“It depends on what they do and how they line up with the number of tight ends they have in the game,” Nebraska defensive coordinator Bill Busch said. “We have some different looks to be able to get the best guys on the field that can handle everything.”
In particular, Busch said that Michigan’s ability to utilize formations with three tight-end sets will impact how often NU’s nickels are on the field against the Wolverines. While the Wolverines are known for the success of their run game, play-action passes out of such a formation can be deadly if a nickel isn’t on the field — so Gifford will have to be ready for anything.
“He’s been doing extremely well and I think the game’s slowed down for him,” Busch said. “He’s really getting the run fits, he can cover tight ends man-to-man and he has a high football IQ.”
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While Gifford has played 474 snaps this season, backups Javin Wright and Omar Brown have combined for just 39 snaps. The NU coaching staff does want to get Wright and Brown on the field for additional snaps over the last three games of the season, but it’s a testament to Gifford’s dependability that he’s hardly ceded any snaps when Nebraska chooses to have a nickel on the field.
For a nickel, every single snap can bring a different look or a different player to cover — a challenge that Gifford always welcomes.
“I’ve always been (either) a safety or linebacker, but not sure which one so the nickel is kind of perfect so I can do a lot of coverage and stop the run, too,” Gifford said. “It fits me pretty well.”