Offensive Coordinator Jay Norvell

Nebraska Post-Practice
Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2006
Memorial Stadium
Lincoln, Neb.

Offensive Coordinator Jay Norvell

On Maurice Purify
“Maurice has done a tremendous job. He’s worked really hard and Ted Gilmore’s done a great job with bringing him along. He’s just feeling more comfortable in our offense. Zac (Taylor) feels really comfortable with him and he’s a very good receiver. He’s a big, strong guy. He’s a big target and very difficult for defenses to match up with. He’s a big playmaker and played big for us last week and the last couple of weeks. We’re going to keep bring him along and keep making him more a part of what we’re going to do.”

On if Purify just has “it”
“He’s got a lot of natural catching ability. And he’s got size and leaping ability. Those are all things you look for in a wide receiver. He’s very natural. He adjusts to the ball very well and those are all qualities you can’t teach.”

On Texas’ defense
“They’re very talented. They have a lot of team speed on defense and they have a lot of experienced guys especially on the back end. And they’re secondary is excellent. And their backers run very well, as well. They are an overfront team, which we have seen the last few weeks, and so there is some familiarity with us that way. It’s going to be a challenge. They are the No. 1 defense in this conference right now statistically and they’ve done a tremendous job of that. We are going to have to be on top of our game in order to score consistently.”

On how Texas compares to USC defensively
“They are probably as fast or faster than USC as far as speed is concerned. They are very talented. They have guys who can run at every position. We’re going to have to be really on top of it and be at our best to get after these guys.”