When they make mistakes, well, suddenly the head coach is tearing into them on the sidelines, and the reporters want to know what happened to their confidence.
Such has been the case for P.J. Mangieri after he struggled during Nebraska's 27-12 win over Missouri last Thursday.
The more than five inches of rain that fell that night put quite a damper on NU's special teams play throughout the game, particularly for the true freshman.
On NU's first punt of the night, Mangieri's wide snap to Alex Henery forced the punter to scramble and boot a rugby-style kick that traveled a mere 22 yards. His second punt of the night was nearly blocked due to Mangieri's high snap and went 39 yards.
Things hit rock bottom for Mangieri on NU's next punt early in the second quarter. Missouri pinned the Cornhuskers at their own 11-yard line after a three-and-out, forcing Henery to stand in the middle of his end zone for the punt.
Mangieri's snap was again high, and by the time Henery caught it, several Tiger defenders had crossed into the end zone. Henery ran right to avoid one tackler, stumbled and instinctively pitched the ball out of the end zone to give MU a 2-0 lead.
NU coach Bo Pelini had a thing or two to say to Mangieri following that play, and the reprimand aired live nationally on ESPN's broadcast of the game. On Monday, Mangieri said he viewed the tongue-lashing as beneficial.
"It definitely got my head back in the game and got me focused on what I needed to do," he said. "When a coach gets in your face, it tells you something isn't right. In a way, they try and degrade you so you come out on top."
Ma ngieri looked down, shook his head and lowered his voice when asked how frustrated he was by his night in Columbia.
"You can't even imagine," he said. "You need to be as perfect as you can be at this level. Snaps like those… I can't handle it.
"It just doesn't reflect my image," he said. "I like to be perfect and anything other than perfect doesn't please me."
The expectation of consistent perfection makes Mangieri's job stressful to begin with, he said, and the MU game was a humbling experience for someone who's been snapping since seventh grade.
Mangieri said he planned to work on snapping with wet footballs this week, and special teams coach John Papuchis has no plans to yank him from the starting lineup.
"I knew there would be bumps in the road, and we'll just use each one of them as a learning experience and keep going," Papuchis said Monday.
Henery said his snapper has remained "pretty good mentally" since the game and has played well thus far for a true freshman.
Still, their confidence in him is little consolation to Mangieri.
"I can't go out and have a game like that and be OK with it," he said. "I've just got to keep building off that, get better and never have a game like that again."
Things got better for Mangieri in the second half, but he wasn't the only special teamer that struggled that night. The nearly constant downpour and MU punter Jake Harry made it tough for punt returner Niles Paul.
Har ry kicks with his left leg, which made his punts curve differently. That, combined with a ball that was wetter and heavier than he'd ever practiced or played with caused Paul to fumble and nearly lose a punt in the second quarter.
"We were out trying our hardest to field that thing," Paul said. "Soon as we think we have it, it's gone. I was upset with myself, it was very frustrating."
Papuchis took Paul off punt return duties for the second half in favor of Rex Burkhead. Instead of attempting anymore returns, NU played it safe and settled for fair catches the rest of the night.
Sure, many NU's special teams blunders can be blamed on the downpour that fell on Faurot Field Thursday. Papuchis, though, isn't about to write the game off as an ignorable anomaly.
"We don't like to have excuses around our program, and we've still got to execute," he said.
The physical errors his players made against Missouri are understandable, he said, but he won't accept mental mistakes. Take, for example, the first quarter punt that bounced off NU linebacker Mathew May's leg and fell into the hands of the Tigers.
"That shouldn't happen, regardless of weather," Papuchis said. "The mental errors are unacceptable in any condition and they can't be tolerated."
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