Huskers Wrap-Up Second Week of Fall Camp

Lincoln ? The Nebraska football team wrapped-up week two of fall training camp on Sunday afternoon with a 2 ? hour practice inside the Hawks Championship Center. The Huskers took Saturday off of practice to spend time meeting more than 7,000 NU faithful and sign autographs at the 2007 Nebraska Football Fan Day.

Back in full pads on Sunday, the Huskers picked right up where they left off, focusing on all aspects of the game with intense scrimmage work and conditioning. Head Coach Bill Callahan was impressed by the way the team responded after a day away from practice, sensing a renewed energy among the players.

“I think we came back a lot fresher. I thought we had a reinvigorated energy,” Callahan said. “We hit every major area of football today. Whether it was goal line, short yardage, backed up, coming out or two minutes. Really, it was very game-like, and I was really proud of the intensity and the competitiveness. It was one of our better practices of training camp.”

With less than two weeks remaining until Nebraska’s season-opener against Nevada, Callahan addressed what the Huskers will need to do in order to be prepared for the non-conference match-up.

“We need to spend the next two weeks focusing on timing and execution,” he said. “We need to get our transition ready as we go into Nevada. Tuesday we’ll simulate a normal in-season practice for us, so we can get the players acclimated and transitioned into their roles. That’s going to be crucial this next week.”

One player anxious to become reacquainted with his role on the team is senior cornerback Zack Bowman, who made his return to the practice field on Sunday. Bowman participated in some full-pad drills and is expected to make his way back into full participation over the coming weeks.

“It was good to see him (Bowman) back on the field,” Callahan said. “Now we can just work him in and let him progress and accumulate his reps in time. He participated in the seven-ons and he did a nice job. Just talking with Coach Elmassian, he thought he did well.”

Although he has returned to practice, Bowman’s official return to game action has not yet been determined and Callahan expressed a need to allow the senior to ease back into the game at his own pace.

“We’ll take it day-by-day and move along and see how he responds. I don’t think we can say anything prematurely at this point. We have to let things play out,” Callahan said.

Nebraska will be back on the field on Monday for the final true practice of fall camp from 2-4:45 p.m., before transitioning to an in-season routine on Tuesday. Callahan noted that captains for the 2007 season will be named later this week.