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Lincoln --- The Nebraska football team returned for its ninth practice of the spring season Monday when it went through more than two hours of workouts at Memorial Stadium. The Huskers continued to install different segements on both offense and defense, but spent the first part of practice working through some areas of Saturday's scrimmage that needed to be covered again.
"Today's practice we had a little bit different format in terms of trying to get better off the work we did Saturday," Coach Bill Callahan said. "We went back down in the red zone and tried to rectify some of the errors on the defensive side of the ball and the defense responded very well.
"We threw a lot of different things at (the defense) down on the goal line and in the red zone because they wanted to clean up some of their coverage. We gave (the defense) the same routes as Saturday and tried to respond to those and correct the mistakes we had there."
Callahan also noted the Huskers are improving on the offensive side where the quarterbacks and receivers have continued to pick up the system. "Our passing game is getting better, although we don't see it from a production standpoint yet, but from a system aspect and a structural aspect, it is getting better," Callahan said.
Callahan added that the offensive line needed to continue making adjustments and improve after struggling some Monday.
"Protection is one of those areas of play where we continued to struggle," Callahan said. "We have to do a better job. We had two pressure drills today and we also had a third-down area drill that we ran that both those situations were frustrating for our offense. I thought our defensive line did a great job in their pass rush and their pressure game. (The offense) didn't answer the bell today."
Sophomore receiver Andy Birkel, a native of Lincoln, hit the field for the first time this spring following an illness. Callahan said, "He responded fairly well. He's way behind and it's going to be quite some time before he catches up, but I'm confident that he will be able to do that."
Nebraska returns to the practice field for workouts on Wednesday, April 7, at Memorial Stadium. The Huskers have six practices remaining this spring, including the Spring game on April 17.