Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda raves about coaching ability of Garret McGuire

New Nebraska wide receivers coach Garret McGuire has made an early impression on Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda. McGuire might have overlapped his college playing years somewhat with Garcia-Castaneda but the wideout says his coach’s youth is helping him in the role.

“Coach McGuire is super smart, super intelligent, one of the smartest coaches I’ve ever been around,” Garcia-Castaneda said after a recent practice. “Everybody always talks about him being young how that was gonna be a thing but I like it a lot because when he’s coaching us, he not only is relatable to us and stuff, but he really wants us to be active in our meetings. He’s constantly keeping us on our toes asking us questions. If you’re not in there taking notes, you’re wrong. You have to be locked in. It’s enjoyable. You want to do it as a player. It’s very fun being coached by him and high energy all the time. It’s definitely tough at times like anything is but it’s fun. It’s something I love.”

McGuire was hired as the wide receivers coach this offseason after spending the past two years as an offensive assistant with the Carolina Panthers. The son of Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire, Garrett McGuire has been under Matt Rhule going back to his playing days.

However, his playing days aren’t that far behind him. McGuire was a quarterback at Baylor under Rhule from 2017-2019. After spending the 2020 season on the team under Dave Aranda, McGuire went to the Panthers to be an assistant under rule.

One thing McGuire hopes his players do this year is watch some NFL tape of the top wideouts as a way to get better.

“So, my opinion, I’ve just seen a lot,” McGuire said. “Obviously a lot of people run the same stuff, you know, I’m a firm believer in showing the guys NFL tape. So, if you saw me, shoot, four or five hours ago in the morning, I was breaking down some NFL tape because I think if they see the best of the best do it, they learn better than going to see a guy that is on the same playing level.”

Garcia-Castaneda played in four games last season for the Cornhuskers, which ended up counting as a redshirt season for him. He spent the previous two seasons at New Mexico State and his first college season at JuCo Saddleback College in California.