Huskers Practice Outdoors

LINCOLN ? The Nebraska football team moved outside the Hawks Championship Center for the first time this spring Monday for the 12th of its 15 scheduled spring workouts. The Huskers practiced inside Memorial Stadium for more than two hours on a day featuring warm temperatures and a stiff south wind.

"It’s great to be outside in the wind and the sun," Offensive Coordinator Jay Norvell said. "Guys have to deal with the elements, different scenery, and it’s always different when you’ve been doing one thing and come out and do something different. It was good for our guys."

Despite the different practice location, Norvell said the Huskers featured the same physical practice plan they have all spring.

"We had the same practice plan, and we were going to do the same thing whether we were inside or outside," Norvell said.

"We have been working on a lot of different situations that we are going to see in the fall. What we try and do is introduce them to new things everyday, different blitzes, things that they’re going to see to get ready for the season. This is stuff we can draw back on next fall."

Norvell also commented on the race for the starting I-back spot, saying that the situation this year is very similar to the quarterback battle last spring.

"We have purposely put our guys in the toughest situations they could be in this spring to find out about them," Norvell said. "It was about this time last year when we found out about Zac Taylor. We put him in a scrimmage, he got splattered about four times in a row and he bounced right up. We found out that he was our toughest quarterback. We’re doing the same thing this year with those I-backs. We’re finding out who’s going to fight through when they’re sore and tired, and we’ve found out a lot about those guys. Hopefully this will all pay off in the fall."

Nebraska takes Tuesday off before returning to the practice field on Wednesday with an afternoon workout.