Matt Slauson stopped to grab a candy cane on his way to meet his new football coach.

Fresh breath is important when making a first impression, you know. It appears Bo Pelini, too, made a pretty good first impression with Nebraska football players during a brief meeting Sunday.

“Coach Pelini was trying to keep it real low-key, but I could see he’s a real high-energy guy,” said Slauson, a junior offensive lineman. “He was moving around a lot.

“We’re going to have a defensive genius, and the offense will keep rolling. It’s going to be great.”

In just a short time, it became evident to quarterback Joe Ganz that Pelini has plenty of fire.

“That’s the first thing you notice about him,” Ganz said “He’s really energetic and enthusiastic about getting this thing turned around.”

The players were informed Sunday morning of a meeting that was to begin just before 3 p.m. A private plane bringing Pelini to Nebraska was delayed, so the players met with interim athletic director Tom Osborne awhile instead.

It was one of those low-key talks that Osborne is famous for, junior Zach Potter said. Keep your head in the books; find your way to the weight room, Osborne said.

“It was actually pretty fun,” Potter said. “Coach Osborne was talking to us for a while, and then coach Pelini walks in and just real nonchalantly, (Osborne) was like, ‘Hey, Bo, how’s it going?’ He never really introduced him as, ‘Hey, we’re going to hire Bo Pelini as our next coach.’”

There were no X’s and O's drawn on a chalkboard, but Pelini later said his offense would be “very multiple.” Which offense didn’t seem to matter much to Ganz just yet, although he’s hopeful assistant coach Shawn Watson remains.

“He (Pelini) seems like a really nice guy, and I can’t wait to go to work for him,” Ganz said.

It was some of the defensive players that seemed most excited. Many had spoken with former NU players who excelled in Pelini’s defensive system. Standing near the back of the room during Pelini’s news conference later in the day, Potter had a wide smile when Pelini was getting passionate about defense, and his intentions to call the defensive plays.

“It’s going to be neat to be with the head coach a lot,” Potter said.

Pelini had clearly been the players’ choice and Slauson hopes Pelini will bring some of his passion to the Husker offense, too.

A few of the words players were saying — trust and integrity — were words Nebraska folks like to hear. The first message Pelini gave the players was that every guy would start with a clean slate under Pelini, no matter how many recruiting stars you had when you came here.

Potter had met Pelini when the Omaha Creighton Prep graduate was being recruited by Nebraska and Pelini was NU’s defensive coordinator.

“I think he’s going to come in here and have an open-door policy, which we might not have had completely the last four years,” Potter said. “He’s real open-minded, and I think he’ll really get to know us, and it will be a real family atmosphere. It’s going to be fun.”

Offseason weight lifting begins today. If the bounce in the step of a few players Sunday was any indication, the workouts should be spirited.

“I’m ready to get out there for spring ball again,” Slauson said. “I just wish we could fast forward straight to that.”

Reach Brent C. Wagner at 473-7435 or bwagner@journalstar.com.