John Butler Previews Cincinnati | Nebraska Football Press Conference

Nebraska football defensive coordinator John Butler speaks to media on Monday August 25, 2025 to preview the season opener with Cincinnati.

00:00 – What jumps out to you about Brendan Sorsby?*
00:56 – How are Cincinnati’s running backs going to test your ability to tackle?
01:56 – What are your experiences in Arrowhead?**
03:00 – Do you think you call the plays differently as a coordinator than you would have as a position coach?
04:05 – Butler on the energy he coaches with and being compared to a basketball coach
05:33 – Who will wear a headset on defense?
07:02 – Thoughts on Cincinnati tight end Joe Royer
08:20 – Will the defense be receiving blackshirt jerseys this week?*
10:02 – How much different tape have you had to watch for Cincinnati’s transfer receivers?
11:10 – What has jumped out about to you about the backup corners?
11:50 – What did Donovan Jones do in camp to impress you?
12:40 – What do you want the defensive front to show in the first game?**
14:02 – Are you a 76ers fan?

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What uh jumps out to you about Sorsby when you watch his body work so far? Very athletic, very strong as a runner, you know, very competitive. I think we’ve seen him slide twice maybe. So when he runs, whether it’s a designed run, a scramble, he’s trying to get and fight for every yard. So, you can tell he’s tough and competitive, which I think we we’ve done a good job of making sure that our players see that and know that, you know, you always got to know the type of animal you’re hunting, so so to speak. And um he’s big, strong, runs hard, he’s tough, he delivers the blow more so than he takes hits. So, that’s that’s a challenge physically that we’ve got to answer early to make sure that uh that doesn’t get out of hand. Between him and Prior, how are they going to test your team’s ability to tackle? I think that the test is is going to be great. You look at these games from this week and the week zero games. There’s we watched a significant amount of them in our staff room. just some of the things that happened. And other than ball security, the number one thing that that that stood out was the poor tackling. So, we’ve been emphasizing it. I’m sure you guys are going to ask me about it every week depending on whether we tackle well or we don’t. But tracking the near hip, taking the extra step, getting body on body, having population there, being physical. I think it’s going to be a challenge every week, every team we’re playing, specifically this week in Cincinnati with with all of their skill that we think they have and then the skill that they brought in that we’ve got to see and kind of test out early. So, I think it’s a challenge, but that’s football. I mean, if you’re going to wonder if we’re playing good on defense or not, it’s going to come down to can we tackle their players. Coach, you you’ve obviously been arrowhead before. What are your experiences just in that stadium and how much could that crowd noise really help feed a young defense on a stage like this Thursday night? Yeah, unfortunately when I’ve been there, their their team was not cheering for our defense. They were cheering for uh the other team. So, I think it’ll be a little different in that regard, but we feel like it’s going to be the crowd’s going to be in our favor. So, you know, we did talk to them about it. Like, you’re playing game number one. You’re playing in a in a pro stadium. Don’t make it bigger than it is. You know, it’s a football game. A lot of you guys have played in in an elite venue here at Memorial Stadium, so similar. But just just do what we’ve practiced to do. Don’t lose your minds. Play with energy and enthusiasm, but like don’t make it bigger than it is. But obviously, anytime you you have a situation where the cl the crowd can be loud for your defense, that obviously always affects the opponent’s offense, their ability to operate, their communication at the line of scrimmage, their ability to check. Um, so hopefully uh everybody shows up and they’re cheering their ass off for us. Ask you this back, I guess, in in December, but did you find that you coached differently as the coordinator versus a position coach when when you when you were calling the plays in December? Do you think it’ll even change a little bit more come Thursday? Yeah, I think you have to have a little bit of a different perspective because you’re now looking at the the whole thing as opposed to just in my case the five DBs. Uh, and you have to obviously take a little bit more of a global approach to solving problems. What’s happening up front? Are we controlling the quarterback? Are we controlling the run game? How is our front, you know, handling their offensive line? So, yeah, I think it has to. So, therefore, there’s just so much more so many more things you have to think about and adjust to. So, you’ve just got to be more neutral uh identifying what we’re doing well, what we’re struggling with, and how we can solve problems in a in a second. So, yeah, you know, anytime you’re you’re in charge of everything, you have to be a little bit more global and a little bit more neutral in how you’re responding to things. So, I think I did in the bowl game and I’ll have to do it here. I mean, my excitement level may get up every once in a while, but I’m going to do my best to to remain flatlined. Rule said this fondly. He said, you know, he compared you a little bit to a basketball coach. Um, like the energy that you coach with as a coordinator. What? Yeah. I I think I’ve always I think the energy I’ve always coached with is like I I just I think one of my strengths is I’m able to see things pretty quickly and quicker than others and usually quicker than the players. Um, now I have a tendency sometimes to overdo it. And so like Cory Campbell and previous strength coaches that probably had to you exert some physical labor keeping me off the field that that I can’t do that obviously as a play caller and I I didn’t in BC and I even told Cory the other day she didn’t have to worry about that anymore. But, you know, I think a benefit of that is like I use the analogy when I was in Buffalo and COVID and there was no fans out there. And so, when I would see something, I would just yell it out to to Micah Hyde and Puyer and Tradavius and all those guys and and they would come back and say, “Damn, I wish I wish we playing these virus all the time because you’re you’re calling out every play and it’s happening.” So that’s part of the trust that you develop with the players so that when they come to the sidelines, you can’t tell them during the game, but you have to be like, that’s just one of my strengths is my ability to see what’s going on. Just like in a basketball, growing up playing basketball and football, stuff happens very fast on a basketball field, basketball court, excuse me. So you have to be able to adapt and adjust very quickly, especially when I was a point guard. So that’s just the the mindset and the mentality I’ve always had. You got to be able to stop problems quickly in in in in sports and competitive arenas and Hey coach, that’s what you have to do. Who will be uh in the headset for you as far as the players? I mean, that was a new rule last year. And how do you find that effective to have that communication during the game or is it kind of hard for a defender? Yeah, right now we’re going to have the linebacker. U it’ll rotate based on who’s in there will be in there to help us communicate the defenses. And it’s a fine line, right? um you have to like the 15 second mark and you don’t want to be that guy that’s saying hey alert to this alert to that alert to this but you you give him the call and then you give him an alert of like you know hey this is what this is what I’m thinking here be alert to this by this down in distance but then you’ve got to be careful because then he’s he’s got a job to do too you know and different players in different areas are are are more comfortable with that you know so I’m going to kind of have to feel that out my relationship with the player that I’m talking to how much they can handle how much they can then communicate to the people that they’re working with. Um, you know, I always felt like it’s it to me it’s a it’s a great tool if used properly, meaning that give them the call, give them a couple bullet points, let them play, but I’ve also been around people that are talking to them the whole time and the ball gets ready to get snapped or it’s at 15 seconds and they haven’t really had a chance to process what they’re doing. So, I think it’s it’s kind of a it’s it’s going to be an area where I’m going to have to figure out early in the season to see how we can best utilize it to maximize the value to our defense, but not to the point where I’m handicapping them in any way, if you know what I mean. Their tight end, uh, Royer, you know, he’s pretty proven pass catcher. Just what have you seen from him and maybe the unique threat he brings? Yeah, I think he’s a weapon for them. I think they move him around a lot. you know, like they’re trying to get him in matchups against linebackers and maybe smaller safeties. You know, he’s adequate to to above average in the run game. So, that’s, you know, sometimes you can evaluate a player of that nature like, ah, you know, he’s just in there when it’s pass or he’s not going to really be a front side blocker. He’s a good he’s good in the run game. So, that that helps him and helps makes it a little bit more challenging for us to game plan against him. But you can clearly see that there’s a that him and the quarterback are in sync, which which any good offense, like you got to feel good about who you’re throwing the ball to. Not only his ability to get open, but also his ability to make contested catches. So, I think that’s going to be a challenge for us. Uh, you know, I think we got some pretty good players in the secondary and then at linebacker that have some size and coverage ability, but I think that, you know, the run game overall, the the quarterback’s ability to kind of be an equalizer, and then thirdly, like their houses or tight end continue to affect the passing game as it relates to their new players that they’ve just signed in the transfer portal will be kind of the three things we’re looking to figure out early in the game and how that game’s how the game’s going to be called and how how we’re going to play it. You got the black shirt hat on. Will the defense be, you know, getting black jerseys this week? And just maybe what does uh that do to motivate them earning a starting spot like that? Yeah, it’s going to happen sometime this week. I’m sure coach RER will announce that uh when he feels comfortable with doing that, but yeah, I can just remember last year again. It was a whirlwind for me being here and you know, kind of everything and how it happened. So, I was just focused on coaching, right? And then one day, one day, I think it was right around this time last year before the first game, those guys came out in the black jerseys and I was like, man, that’s that’s pretty damn cool, you know, just like nobody really said anything to me about it and you know, and I didn’t know the history as far as like that they actually practiced in the black jerseys. I apologize for my ignorance, but I mean, knew of them and I’m just out there getting ready for practice. I see the guys coming out. That’s that’s some cool stuff right there. So, obviously, it’s something that, you know, we’re going to keep it pretty competitive, meaning we’re not going to water it down, and say, “Hey, well, this guy starts in this package and he plays here.” Like, it’s it’s going to be 11, maybe a 12th guy, depending on if he’s really a key rotational starter. Um, for us to get a good feel on what that is and who they are. But, like, it’s also something that they may have a black shirt whenever Matt announces it, but it’s not they don’t keep it for life. So, it’s a competitive thing. thing. I think it’s something you got to take pride in. Um, but you also got to take pride in the fact that I’ve got to I’ve got to continue to earn this every every day in practice and then every week on the field to make sure that I continue to be one of those black shirts that’s that’s held to that standard of playing with elite effort, a line level physicality, executing with precision and making some plays. So, that’s going to be something we’re constantly evaluating and holding them accountable for. with those new receivers they have. How much different tape besides Cincinnati have you had on your desk throughout the long off season? And I guess how different is it maybe than even a decade ago when you’re a new coordinator in college with the offseason like that? So we we have video of all those players from their previous places, some more than others, some better quality than others. So you you you really looking at it like you’re evaluating them strictly on their on their skill set really not how they’ve been used in that system because that’s not the system we’re defending. It’s clear that they wanted to improve their speed because when you look at all those guys they they all clearly have some speed. Uh they have the ability to kind of work vertically down the field which we have to be alert and and you know aware of. Easiest route to run in football is just a straight ahead go route. That’s if you if you’re fast you can do that. Um, so that’s that’s an area that we are aware of and we know that they wanted to get better and we feel like they’re going to test us on that pretty early. Uh, and I’ll have a pretty good vibe early on can our guys run with them. Can they can we cover them? And that will obviously affect how how I call the game. Thanks, coach. What did I know, you know, Andrew and Sierra are the top guys on the depth chart. What has jumped out to you about the backups there? Donovan Jones. Yeah, right. So, we really have three starters at corner. Uh, with Andrew and and Sierra and Donnie Jones are we consider them all three starters. You can only play two. So, you’re going to see all three of them in a in a considerable amount, whether it’s equally, whether it’s, you know, they’re all going to, I think, be around the same snap count countwise as long as there’s not an injury. Knock on wood. So, we feel pretty strongly about them. Uh, and and we’ll probably ride out most of the game with those guys playing that corner. So Donnie had really, you know, he what did he do in in camp that really impressed you because I know he was playing some safety. Yeah, he played safety early because we were trying to figure out what’s the best place for him. He’s a bigger kid. He’s physical. He has a safety type body, but he also runs like a corner and and and we just found out that I found out we just through through reps and time felt like that that was just a place he was more comfortable at, you know, and was playing better at. So, so as opposed to trying to what’s the old adage like stick a square peg in a round hole and say, “Well, we need this, so you got to play here.” He was playing much better at say at corner, excuse me. And therefore, that’s where he finished in the bowl game. That’s that’s sometimes that’s just where a guy’s natural position is. So, we’re comfortable with those three guys and feel like that that they’ll be the guys playing for us in the game at that position. John, there’s maybe more of a known quantity in terms of returners in the secondary and the linebacking. What do you want your front to show in this first game action? Really, all I want the front to show is they got to get off the ball. I mean, I’m talking about freaking get off the ball and create a new line of scrimmage, either whether it’s their get off or their movement. So, we want them living in the other team’s backfield. Um, from an effort standpoint, and then obviously from a physicality standpoint, the physicality of your defense is established by your front, whether it’s a front four or front five. Are they knocking the offensive line back? Are they creating a new line of scrimmage? Are they being disruptive? Are they allowing your back seven, your linebackers, and your safeties in the run fit to overlap and make plays on the ball? If they’re doing that, then we’re we’re playing defense the way we want to play. If they’re not doing that, then we’re going to have to make some adjustments with how they’re playing, but also maybe how we’re calling the game. So, the heart and soul of your defense, any good defense, is your Dline. Um, we feel like we got some good young players there that have physicality, they have movement, they have explosive playmaking ability, and and you know, that’s honestly one of the most exciting things for me heading into the game. You know, having gone against our offensive line, who I’ve attested to is very good, works very well together. They’re gigantic. Now, we’re going up against another offensive line, which is another test. I think it’s going to be good for us to see where we stack up against them as we move forward the season. Okay. So, you’re a long-suffering Sixers fan, unfortunately. Yes, I don’t know where that came up, but I am absolutely a long-suffering Sixers fan. It was 1983 was the last time they won an NBA championship, and I was 10 years old and remember Maurice Cheeks dribbling ball up the court and being pretty happy about it. So, it’s been a long time, long time coming. Thanks, coach. Thank you guys. Have a good day.