Huskers Perform First Scrimmage Drills

LINCOLN ? The Nebraska football team donned full pads for the first time this fall on Tuesday as NU held its sixth consecutive practice session on the grass practice fields northeast of Memorial Stadium.

Tuesday also marked the first day of fall camp that featured full-contact scrimmage drills. A 25-play situational scrimmage was held at the conclusion of practice.

"It went well," Offensive Coordinator Jay Norvell said. "We held a situational scrimmage where we wanted to see some guys live and in full pads. This was the first day where we really tackled, so we got quite a few situations in?second down and third down (situations)."

"Marlon Lucky carried the ball a lot, and Cory (Ross) got some carries," Norvell said. "We wanted to look at our young (running) backs, and we wanted to see our young linemen block. Really, we wanted everybody to get their pads loosened up, bang a little bit and get the rust off. We haven’t really hit since the spring. We’ll have some more scrimmages before the first game."

While Tuesday’s scrimmage was limited, Norvell said that he has begun to see progress from his offensive unit and especially in the red zone, an area in which Nebraska struggled last season.

"When you get a lot of repetitions, do a lot of work together in meetings and talk about adjustments, that’s when you start to see things on the field," Norvell said. "Our guys have been around each other and they have heard these concepts over and over. They are more comfortable. Today was our first day in the red zone, and our guys really did a good job. They picked up a lot of the concepts. That was really encouraging."

Norvell also addressed the injury status of freshman wide receiver Chris Brooks, who sat out the last two days of practice with an injury. Norvell said that Brooks underwent knee surgery Tuesday for some "minor clean-up stuff," and he hoped to have the freshman back in less than a few weeks.

Nebraska has their first of three off days scheduled for Wednesday. The squad will return to practice Thursday at 3 p.m. Head Coach Bill Callahan, assistants and players will be available to speak with the media at the conclusion of exercises. Another pair of newcomers?Harrison Beck and linebacker Phillip Dillard?will also have their first media availability this season.