Steven M. Sipple: As spring practice progresses, Chinander works to pull all the right levers

Nebraska defensive coordinator Erik Chinander (right) watches the pregame warmups before the Huskers take on Minnesota on Oct. 16 at Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.Nebraska defensive coordinator Erik Chinander seemed to give the question more than passing thought.

Did he get all he could from his group last season?

"I think that's an interesting question," the fifth-year Husker coach recently told the Journal Star. "I think you very rarely get all you can. I don't think I'll ever go through a year and think, 'Well, boys, we got all we could out of them.'"

But that's ultimately the challenge of every coach, right? It's about maximizing potential. One of my lasting takeaways from…