Steven Sipple: Mike Zimmer likes Carter Nelson’s competitive fire and Dylan Raiola’s command as a leader — excellent signs for NU fans
HONOLULU, Hawaii — For a fleeting moment in time two decades ago, Mike Zimmer thought he might become part of Nebraska football lore. It didn’t happen. He turned down a chance to be the Huskers’ head coach. But as we know, the world of big-time football is a relatively small community, and what goes around sometimes comes back around in interesting ways.
So, here was Zimmer this week, coaching two touted incoming Nebraska freshman players who hope to lead the program back to the exalted status it still enjoyed in early January of 2004 as Zimmer pondered an offer to lead the program.
The 67-year-old Zimmer, now retired from a long career of NFL coaching, is leading Team Makai in the Polynesian Bowl, set for 8 p.m. Friday (NFL Network). His roster includes quarterback Dylan Raiola and hybrid tight end Carter Nelson, stalwarts in the Huskers’ class of 2024.
The 6-foot-3, 220-pound Raiola has enjoyed a strong week of practice, Zimmer told HuskerOnline following Thursday’s practice at Kamehameha High School.
“You know, the biggest thing with him is — he’s obviously got the athletic ability, the talent, the arm strength, all those things — but he also comes out here and tells the other guys what routes they’re supposed to be running,” Zimmer said. “If a guy forgets something, Dylan knows everything that’s going on.
“I think for him that’s going to be a huge advantage when he gets to Nebraska.”
Polynesian Bowl: Thursday practice observations
Carter Nelson shows the coach some toughness
Meanwhile, the 6-4, 220-pound Nelson, the top-rated player in the state of Nebraska in his class, took repetitions with the first-string offense during Thursday’s practice. Nelson played eight-man football for Ainsworth, something with which Zimmer became familiar as he coached Chad Greenway of the Minnesota Vikings.
Greenway played nine-man football in Mount Vernon, South Dakota.
As for Carter, Zimmer said, “He’s tall, he catches the ball well, he runs good routes. And the other thing I like about him is, I think he’s got some toughness to him because he got bumped into a couple times and I heard him kind of say something to the (defenders).
“I was impressed with him,” Zimmer said. “When you look at him on the hoof, he’s a good-looking kid.”
Zimmer had never coached high school players before this week. However, his father, the late Bill Zimmer, was a high school coach for 30-plus years.
Mike Zimmer’s involvement with the Polynesian Bowl was the result of a call he received from Steve Wyche, chief national reporter for the NFL Network. Zimmer liked that former Cincinnati Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis was involved — Zimmer worked under Lewis for six years in Cincinnati (2008 to 2013) — and that former NFL nose tackle Domata Peko was being inducted into the Polynesian Football Hall of Fame this week.
Zimmer, head coach for the Minnesota Vikings from 2014 to 2021, clearly has enjoyed getting a chance to coach Raiola and Nelson.
As a five-star quarterback, Raiola obviously attracts a ton of attention.
“He’s a great kid, first of all,” Zimmer said. “He’s got great size, really good arm. Really, really smart.”
Zimmer, though, isn’t quite sure what to expect from Team Makai’s offense in the game.
“It’s really hard to say because you’re trying to learn the plays in four days,” he said. “It’s a real watered-down (play) book. But the players have come out here and done a nice job.
“I think we have some terrific players. You look at the places these guys are going to — Ohio State, Notre Dame, Georgia. They’ve done a really nice job. They’ve been very respectful. It’s been very much about learning.”
Zimmer recalls being focus of Nebraska search
Once upon a time, Zimmer thought he might be coaching for Nebraska.
He’ll long remember a frigid Sunday evening in Lincoln in early January of 2004. There was a blizzard. I received a phone call from a Memorial Stadium security guard saying Zimmer was being led around the stadium.
He was a 47-year-old Dallas Cowboys’ defensive coordinator at the time, working for Bill Parcells. He guided the No. 1 defense in the NFL.
He says now he wishes he would’ve had a heavier coat that night.
He had enjoyed lunch with NU officials before his stadium tour.
“It was a lot of fun,” Zimmer recalls. “Going and seeing all the Heisman Trophies as you walked in … I thought it was a great place.”
In fact, he says, he woke up that Monday morning thinking he would take the job.
However, “Coach Parcells and Jerry Jones talked to me and said, ‘Hey, this is where you want to be,’” Zimmer says.
He agreed to a three-year deal for $1 million per year with the Cowboys, which was less than the $1.5 million deal over six years that he was offered to coach Nebraska.
He smiled as he recalled that period in his life.
His current gig, coaching in a high school all-star game, is comparatively less stressful. But he wants it all to go well Friday, and having players the caliber of Nelson and Raiola should help matters.
Nebraska fans certainly hope that’s the case.
The post Steven Sipple: Mike Zimmer likes Carter Nelson’s competitive fire and Dylan Raiola’s command as a leader — excellent signs for NU fans appeared first on On3.
