No rest on Labor Day for the Cornhuskers, as Nebraska’s football team began preparations for Arkansas State Monday in a half-pad, two-hour workout on the grass fields north of Memorial Stadium.
Fresh off a 49-3 win in the season-opener vs. Florida Atlantic, the Huskers seemed fresh and excited for the week ahead.
“They’d better have a bounce in their step,” Pelini said, referring to preparing for Arkansas State, which wons its first game 61-0 over Mississippi Valley State.
Pelini said the Red Wolves “racked up a lot of yards.”
“And they kind of called off the dogs, too,” Pelini said. “The game got out of hand pretty early. It was obvious just looking at the score. They’re a good football team. They’ve got a lot of talent. A lot of talent.”
Pelini said left guard Keith Williams returned to practice Monday, as did tight end Dreu Young, who didn’t play against Florida Atlantic. Offensive guard Andy Christensen was out, however, with a turf toe injury. He wore a protective boot on the practice field.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” Pelini said, regarding Christensen’s return.
Another hurdle for a thin, banged-up line, which lost tackle Jaivorio Burkes before the season, true freshman right guard Brent Qvale during fall camp, Williams for a game, and now Christensen.
“Our depth is not as good now as it was,” offensive line coach Barney Cotton said. “You get nicked up. It was good to have had the number of guys we had; we were able to put out a pretty solid line Saturday night.”
Pelini liked the offensive line’s performance, as did Cotton. Both wanted to see the linemen using better tempo in approaching the line of scrimmage and getting set, however
Cotton and Pelini also praised the “great attitude” of right guard Ricky Henry, the Omaha Burke product making his first start after a redshirt campaign in 2008. Cotton said Henry played a “very aggressive, physical football game” and piled up his share of pancake blocks, a statistic again being tracked by the Husker coaching staff.
To Henry’s detriment was a false start, one of nine NU penalties in the game.
Pelini loathed that total; it reminded him, he said, of 2008, when the Huskers struggled during the first part of the year, and had to resort to in-practice punishments to clean them up.
“We’ve got to get that fixed,” Pelini said. “Last year we had too many penalties. And it carries over. You practice the way you’re going to play, and those things creep up in practice. It’s about being focused and having attention to detail.”
Article courtesy Samuel McKewon of Nebraska State Paper.com
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