Scott Frost

Nebraska head coach Scott Frost suggested that Oregon State may have tampered in past transfers after the Cornhuskers listed the Beavers as one of the programs that running back Greg Bell couldn't transfer to, according to Mitch Sherman of ESPN.com. 

The connections between the two programs are clear: Former Nebraska head coach Mike Riley works as an analyst for Oregon State, and four former Nebraska assistants are now employed by the Beavers as well. Frost suggested that those former staff members played a key part in luring three former Nebraska players—quarterback Tristan Gebbia, receiver Tyjon Lindsey and linebacker Avery Roberts—to Oregon State in recent transfers.

"There's no doubt in my mind that those kids were probably in touch with some people that they formerly knew that were here," Frost said.

Bell, who requested a transfer after losing his starting position, was granted a scholarship release but cannot join another Big Ten school, any non-conference opponent the Cornhuskers will face over the next three seasons or Oregon State.

But as Sherman noted, changes to the transfer rule system means such restrictions won't be permitted next week, and Bell has the option to resubmit his intention to transfer and go to the school of his choosing.

Frost acknowledged that his comments on Oregon State might be somewhat hypocritical, saying he had contacted his own former quarterback at UCF, McKenzie Milton, to wish him a happy birthday.

"But at the same time, if someone is trying to contact our kids while they're still our kids and trying to get them to transfer, then I'm not going to be a fan of that continuing to happen," Frost added, per Sam McKewon of Omaha.com. "I'm not saying it did happen."

He also commented on the new transfer rules:

"It's already gotten a little messier this year, I'm sure it'll continue to get messy. The bottom line is, in this day and age, a lot of people want what they want and they want it now. There's not a lot of patience, there's not a lot of willingness to fight through and change their circumstance. People have the tendency to think the grass might be greener somewhere else. I hope it doesn't become the wild west and (like) college basketball with everybody transferring." 

As for Oregon State, it isn't the first time the program has been publicly accused of tampering. In May, Hawaii head coach Nick Rolovich posted online a recruiting packet that Oregon State sent to a Hawaii student-athlete, a form of tampering. Oregon State responded in a public statement that the mailing had been accidental. 

Similar to the potential Nebraska situation, three Oregon State assistants had worked at Hawaii in the past.

With Scott Frost and the Nebraska Cornhuskers getting blown out of the Big House against the Michigan Wolverines on Saturday, one company took full advantage of the moment.

The Wolverines led 56-3 in the fourth quarter, and a bizarre safety late in the first half summed up the afternoon for the Cornhuskers:

Seeing an opportunity, Wendy's trolled the Cornhuskers on social media:

Might need a Scott Frosty to ice down the beating Nebraska is taking.#FreshFanReaction

— Wendy’s (@Wendys) September 22, 2018

Just another classic moment from the Wendy's Twitter account.

Barring a comeback for the ages, Frost will begin his Nebraska tenure 0-3 after having already lost to Colorado and Troy to open the season. According to Chris Heady of the Omaha World-Herald, it would mark the Cornhuskers' worst start since 1945.

Nebraska coach Scott Frost said what might have been a dirty play led to starting quarterback Adrian Martinez's leg injury during Saturday's game against Colorado.

Frost said Monday he turned the play in for review, via Big Ten Network:

Adrian Martinez hurt his leg in @HuskerFBNation's first game.

Updates: He's day-to-day, and the team has turned the play into the Big Ten and Pac-12 offices, for possible foul play.

"We'll see where it goes from there." - @coach_frost pic.twitter.com/LItN2w0tO9

— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) September 10, 2018

"You never want to think anybody on a football field would intentionally try to hurt someone else," the coach said. "Nobody except someone that does that knows what the intentions were. I will tell you we have an angle that doesn't look very good. So, we've turned the play in to the Big Ten and the Pac-12, and we'll see where it goes from there."

Andrew Ward of Channel 8 KLKN provided video of the play on which Martinez was injured, with Colorado linebacker Jacob Callier appearing to hold on to the quarterback's legs.

WATCH - This doesn't look to good for Adrian Martinez. Scott Frost did say there was some encouragement though. So we will have to wait and see. #Huskers pic.twitter.com/BrJo2PIxB9

— Andrew Ward (@AndrewWardKLKN) September 9, 2018

Frost said Martinez is day-to-day with the injury, but there is still a concern after the freshman's performance in his collegiate debut.

He finished 15-of-20 for 187 yards and a touchdown with an interception plus 117 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 15 totes. Andrew Bunch finished the game for Nebraska as Colorado engineered a second-half comeback and won 33-28.

The Cornhuskers will host Troy on Saturday and surely hope their young quarterback will be under center.

Scott Frost's head coaching debut at Nebraska will have to wait another week.

On Saturday, the school canceled its season opener against the Akron Zips following an extended delay because of lightning in the area. The inclement weather delay lasted 2 hours, 40 minutes before the game was officially called, per the Omaha World-Herald's Sam McKewon.

The Cornhuskers will now open their season Sept. 8 at home against the Colorado Buffaloes.

The Zips will also return home for a meeting with Morgan State before they head on the road for showdowns against Northwestern (Sept. 15) and Iowa State (Sept. 22).

It's unclear if the sides will try to reschedule Saturday's game since they don't have corresponding open dates before conference championship games begin. According to Nebraska, "any adjustments to the 2018 football schedule will be announced at a later date."

LINCOLN, Nebraska — He looks the part of a quarterback. Tall. Powerful. Fluid.      

As he takes reps on Nebraska's practice field a little more than two weeks before the team's season opener against Akron, his spirals are snug, every throw landing where it's intended.

Unlike the other QBs on this mid-August day, though, he's not wearing a green no-contact jersey. Instead, he is outfitted in a red Nebraska hat, black shorts and a black shirt with "DAY BY DAY" etched appropriately across the front.

If it weren't for the differences in wardrobe, Scott Frost might be able to pull this off.

At 43 years old, he's still built like a safety, the position he played in the NFL. Before his half-decade stint in the pros, Frost quarterbacked Nebraska to its last national championship, in 1997—a season that culminated in an Orange Bowl victory over Peyton Manning's Tennessee Volunteers. 

He can still throw it, too. His right shoulder feels fine, he says. His ankle, which he had surgery on not long ago, can still give him problems.

"I'm still a kid at heart," Frost says after practice ends. "I mean, what Nebraska fan wouldn't like to come out and throw to the receivers at practice? I just love football."

That word he uses. Fan. Of the many labels Frost has acquired over the years—beloved player, successful assistant, celebrated young coach—it's the one that feels most significant to who he is.

Frost grew up here. His father played here. His mother coached here. He isn't just a player who won 24 of the 26 games he started here; he's a man who watched and lived and breathed Nebraska football back when it was the sport's most dominating force.

He has a personal stake in bringing the program back to that level.

Last year, the Cornhuskers were 4-8, and over the past three, they were 19-19. In that time, Frost did something historic while coaching Central Florida. He transformed the Knights from a winless, woeful group in 2015 to an undefeated Cinderella in 2017.

Nebraska inked Frost to a seven-year, $35 million contract this offseason, and he was greeted with joy and now immense expectations. He feels them whether he's out with his family eating in Lincoln, or at the Trevi Fountain in Rome, or even the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Nebraska fans around the world are readying for what comes next.

"I want people to have high hopes," Frost says. "We have to have high hopes. And it's more than a hope here—it's an expectation. Not externally, but internally."

If the blueprint that has worked everywhere he's been—from an assistant at Oregon to head coach at Central Florida and now back home—it's not a question of whether Nebraska can start fulfilling those expectations. It's just a question of how quickly.

---

Wood River, Nebraska, lays 102 miles directly west from Lincoln. It is there, in a town of fewer than 2,000 residents, that the legend of Frost began to grip the state.

At Wood River High, Frost was a star not just in football—where his father, Larry, was his high school head coach and his mother, Carol, coached the wide receivers—but in basketball and track, where he was a dominant point guard and a hell of a shot-putter.

In football, Frost still holds state record for career total yards (11,095), single-season yards (3,727) and career touchdowns (152). He also returned an interception 105 yards for a touchdown, which is tied for the state mark.

Larry Frost played tailback at Nebraska before coaching his son, while Carol Frost threw the discus in the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City—becoming the first female athlete to represent the state of Nebraska in the Games. She eventually coached the track team at Nebraska before coaching both her sons in high school.

For Scott Frost, love of the University of Nebraska began sitting in the backseat of his parents' car, making the trek down I-80 West to watch the Cornhuskers play football. Or on the track, where he bounced around on days he accompanied his mom to work.

"Nebraska's so unique," Frost says. "If you've touched Nebraska in any way, shape or form, if you're from here, if you were born here, if your grandpa was from here, you're a Nebraska fan."

---

Tre Neal remembers the first time his head coach came running straight at him. It was October of last year, days before Central Florida played Navy.

Frost had transitioned from head coach to scout quarterback at the request of his defensive coaching staff. Because of his experience running the option at Nebraska, they felt Frost gave the players a better look at what they would see in a few days.

"He's a big guy," says Neal, who played safety at Central Florida before joining Frost as a graduate transfer at Nebraska this offseason. "He's running the triple option at full speed, and he's running trying to run people over."

So for three days, Frost assumed this role. Unlike his practice reps in Lincoln, he wore a helmet with his defensive players in full pads.

"It was like fantasy camp for me for three days," Frost says. "But I was really sore afterward."

A few days later, Central Florida beat Navy 31-21 to go 6-0. This only two years after finishing the 2015 season winless, sporting the nation's No. 118-ranked scoring defense and the No. 126-ranked scoring offense.

Frost was named the head coach after spending seven seasons at Oregon, first as the wide receivers coach and then as the quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator who helped Marcus Mariota win a Heisman.

In his first year at the helm, UCF won six games—already a dramatic turnaround, given the circumstances. In his second year, it finished 13-0 and had the No. 1 scoring offense in the nation.

"I think the best predictor of future performance is past performance," Frost says. "This coaching staff was just at a university that was winless, and our formula led to an undefeated season two years later."

The formula, Frost says, starts with surrounding himself with good people. As much as Nebraska's resurrection would be about him and his ties to the school, he did not come to Nebraska alone. Much of Frost's staff from UCF has joined him in Lincoln, though even that aspect of the transition was executed differently from most coaching changes.

When it was announced that Frost accepted the job at Nebraska, the assumption from many of his assistants who would be joining him was that they would leave before the team played Auburn in the Peach Bowl. They felt pressure to start recruiting.

But even with the urgency surrounding the rebuild, Frost and his staff stayed through the team's bowl game—a victory over Auburn few thought they could pull off.

"It was his leadership and vision to see this damn thing through—that we owed it to these kids and that program," says then-UCF and now-Nebraska quarterbacks coach Mario Verduzco. "That probably sums up everything you need to know about him right there.

"And I'll be damned if he isn't going to be successful here. We're working to make sure that happens for Coach Frost."

---

Take a stroll around Lincoln, and you can feel it. The revival is playing out before the first game has even been played. It can be heard in bars and restaurants and seen in just about any building you step foot in. It is optimism and energy found in no other place but a college campus, and right now it is overflowing.

An outsider might mistake Frost for a quarterback on the field, but in the city of Lincoln, his presence is unmistakable. He'd be lucky to walk a block without being noticed.

In places like the Best of Big Red Husker Shop, Frost jerseys from his playing days are on full display. Comic books titled The Return of Scott Frost are selling for $4.99. He even has his own line of branded trucker hats with the letters "FROST" plastered across the front with Nebraska's trademark "N" serving as the backdrop.

"Last year we couldn't sell out," the man working the front desk at the Courtyard Marriott in downtown Lincoln says. "This year rooms are going for $400 and $500 a night for game weekends. The vibe is just different."

"Give it three years, and we'll be back on that national level," predicts the bartender at The Watering Hole, home of the best wings in Lincoln. "I feel sorry for the next coach that's going to come after Frost."

The vocal anxiety and anticipation for what comes next is everywhere outside the football facility, but inside, where the work is being put in, things are calm. Progress is evident. The early stages of the transformation are being undertaken.

"We've come miles since January," Frost says. "We've come miles since the end of spring. To be honest with you, we look like a different team now."

At practice, Frost is constantly watching when he isn't throwing passes. He's letting his handpicked assistants—a group he praises as often as he can—work.

But even deeper than that, Frost is allowing failure—not a lack of effort or intensity, but failure—to build an atmosphere that promotes teaching more than scolding.

"Everybody has a different approach," Frost says. "But kids aren't gonna get mother effed or cussed at here. They're just going to get taught the right way to play football and the right way to do things off the field."

For those in the thick of it, like running back Devine Ozigbo, they can already see the difference.

"I've been to multiple fall camps," says Ozigbo, a senior. "This is the first time looking around thinking to myself, 'Man, we look good.' And that's why I'm jealous. I wish I could be here for longer."

For senior linebacker Luke Gifford, Frost's arrival has meant something more. Born and raised in Lincoln, Gifford grew up with the stories of Frost and the way this football program was once constructed.

Now, for a least a little while longer, Gifford will help recapture the magic he heard about his entire life.

"To be able to play for him is pretty surreal sometimes," Gifford says. "It's a cool experience for someone who's looked up to him for so long. The things that have been done in such a short time with this staff, it's just incredible. There's no doubt in my mind it'll be where people want it to be."

---

The first thing Rahmir Johnson noticed was the shoes. His classmates couldn't take their eyes off them.

After all, it's not every day someone walks into Bergen Catholic High School in Oradell, New Jersey, wearing a pair of Yeezys—Adidas' costly, rare and beloved footwear.

But there they were, on the feet of Scott Frost.

"I remembering thinking, 'Oh, man, Scott Frost is wearing Yeezys,'" says Johnson, a 3-star running back and one of 15 players committed to Nebraska in a 2019 class showing early signs of promise. "That caught my eye a little bit."

And Frost doesn't just own a pair of Yeezys; he owns two pairs and expects his collection will grow in the months and years ahead. He's worn them to high schools and living rooms around the country.

"He's just a real suave dude," says Desmond Bland, another member of the 2019 class and one of the highest-rated JUCO offensive linemen in the country. "At the same time, I like the fact that he doesn't yell. You can actually talk to him."

While so much of the focus and energy is tied to Nebraska, Frost refuses to simply target the best players in the state. Nebraska will always be a focal point of recruiting, but it cannot be the only focus.

Luke McCaffrey, younger brother of NFL running back Christian McCaffrey and son of former NFLer Ed McCaffrey, verbally committed to Nebraska back in June.

A 4-star athlete in the 2019 class who is blossoming at quarterback, McCaffrey was recruited by Frost at UCF before he changed schools. He had not spoken to Nebraska before Frost's arrival, but he did soon thereafter. When McCaffrey made the trip from Littleton, Colorado, to meet Frost in person, he was immediately sold.

"I like to describe it as the 'It' factor for a coach," McCaffrey says. "A lot of times, you hear that about players, but he has that little sixth sense that a coach needs. He really walks the walk, and that's something special."

It's not just the shoes. Or being young enough to relate on a level that most coaches simply cannot. There's a natural confidence that is working wonders for Frost in living rooms. And perhaps more than any sales pitch or tactic, Frost is finding comfort in selling himself, his staff and a program he has been connected to his entire life.

"We're gonna go all over the country and try to find the right kids," Frost says. "Our approach to recruiting is try to be as honest as we can. I want us to be ourselves and not to put on an act when kids are around."

---

There is no more waiting. The anxiousness and anticipation will now play out in real-time as we start to see the results of Frost's plan to bring Nebraska back to a place of prominence.

How long the rebuild will take will be determined. At Central Florida, it took two years. At Nebraska, playing against Big Ten opponents, it might take longer. Or maybe not. Either way, Frost refuses to let the program's struggles influence his own expectations, which are beyond that of even the most optimistic fans.

"We wanna win," Frost says. "Whether or not that's a reality in year one, we'll see. Hopefully, it's more of a reality every year that we go on from there, but this isn't year zero to me. It can't be."

The final page of the comic book sold around Nebraska, a creation by the Omaha World-Herald, concludes with Frost's introductory press conference.

In the panel at the bottom, a smiling Frost is wearing a red Nebraska polo, red Nebraska hat and a cartoon-sized smile in front of a sold out Memorial Stadium crowd.

"THE END" is etched in the bottom right-hand corner. A good way to end a comic. But in this instance, those two words couldn't feel any less fitting.

Nebraska has one thing to thank for its historic sellout streak continuing this season: The hiring of coach Scott Frost.

"Last year was hard for the people here because we went 4-8. I don't think the stadium would have been sold out," former Nebraska coach Tom Osborne told Chris Low of ESPN. "We've been sold out for 50-plus years. I think that streak would have gone had Scott not come back, so there's a significant renewed enthusiasm."

Nebraska has sold out 361 consecutive home games, a streak that began in 1962. Once a perennial contender and Top 25 fixture, Nebraska has lost at least four games in every season since 2003. The Huskers finished below .500 in two of their three years under Mike Riley, who was fired after a 4-8 campaign last season.

Frost, 43, spent the last two seasons at UCF, leading the Golden Knights to a 19-7 record—highlighted by an undefeated mark in 2017. He played quarterback at Nebraska from 1995-97 under Osborne, the most decorated coach in Nebraska history.

The pair won the 1997 national championship together. 

"What he did here as a player and with him being from the state, I think people here are going to give him a little bit more time, a little bit more encouragement and be behind him," Osborne said. "He certainly has unified the state of Nebraska. There's a different atmosphere now than there has been for several years. That's been good to see."

Nebraska is in the midst of a rebuilding year, so the expectations aren't especially high for Frost. But his sheer presence alone has been enough to entice alumni into renewing their tickets at the very least. 

The Lincoln Police Department has arrested two more suspects in their investigation of the burglary at Nebraska head coach Scott Frost's home, according to Mitch Sherman of ESPN.com. 

Per that report, the authorities arrested 20-year-old Andrew Williams and a 16-year-old boy who was "identified and lodged at the youth services center last week after the arrest of a 17-year-old girl, who possessed one pair of the five sets of shoes reported stolen on July 29."

Frost had artwork, a number of pairs of shoes, and memorabilia from his playing days and coaching career at Oregon and UCF stolen. Frost initially believed he had 14 championship rings from his time as a player and a coach stolen as well, though they were eventually found.

According to Sherman, "The items that remained unrecovered before the arrests were reported to be valued at approximately $50,000."

Per Riley Johnson of the Lincoln Star, police believe the girl was the driver of the getaway vehicle and "Investigators had been investigating the girl in a string of other burglaries when they learned of her involvement in the Frost case, according to court documents."

Police pulled over Williams, meanwhile, and saw a pair of green shoes matching a description of shoes stolen from Frost. Upon searching his car, they reportedly found more items believed to be taken from Frost's home.

His residence had been unoccupied at the time of the burglary while it undergoes renovations, per Sherman, with the perpetrators allegedly gaining access to the residence through an unlocked garage door.

Frost, 43, was hired by Nebraska this offseason to take over as the team's head coach. He spent the previous two years as UCF's head coach, leading the team to a 19-7 record, two bowl appearances and a 34-27 win over Auburn in last season's Peach Bowl to complete an undefeated season.

A 17-year-old girl was arrested by Lincoln police after she was found with an Oregon Ducks shoe believed to have been burglarized from the home of Nebraska football head coach Scott Frost in late July, according to the Lincoln Journal Star.

Per that report, "About $50,000 worth of shoes, football helmets and artwork was taken in the July 29 burglary. Frost initially believed 14 championship rings were taken but those were later found. No one was home at the time."

Officer Angela Sands noted that many of the stolen shoes have been put on sale online, though she added that some of those sales were hoaxes. Sands also noted that some artwork, helmets and shoes remain missing, per the Associated Press. 

Finally, Sands said that more arrests are possible in the ongoing investigation, according to Michael O'Connor of the World-Herald.

After the July 29 incident, police said they believed the burglar or burglars gained access to Frost's home through an unlocked door. His home has been undergoing renovations.  

The home of Nebraska football head coach Scott Frost was burglarized this weekend, and $165,000 worth of items and goods were stolen, including over a dozen championship rings, according to 1011Now.com. 

Per that report, Frost had "five pairs of Oregon Air Jordan shoes, two Nebraska championship Rings, 10 Oregon championship rings, two University of Central Florida championship rings, and a Wii" stolen in total. 

The home was unoccupied at the time as it undergoes renovations, with the burglar or burglars entering the house through an unlocked garage door. 

"The incident that occurred at our home is obviously very disappointing and discouraging," Frost said in a statement, via Big Ten Network's Brent Yarina. "All of our belongings were gone through, and it will take some time to determine exactly what is missing an the value of those items.

"I would like to clarify that some items initially reported missing have been found, including some of the rings listed on the police report. Also, the value of what we believe to be missing is lower than what has been publicly reported."

Frost, 43, was hired by Nebraska this offseason after spending the past two seasons as UCF's head coach, leading the Knights to a perfect 13-0 record this year. He also served as an assistant at Northern Iowa (2007-08) and Oregon (2009-15) in his career. 

Frost played his college football at Stanford for two seasons (1993-94) before transferring to Nebraska (1996-97). He then spent five years in the NFL for the New York Jets, Cleveland Browns and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, though he started just one game in the NFL.