Henery in the Hunt for Punter Opening

The Nebraska football team completed a 2-? hour practice Wednesday inside the Hawks Championship Center. The Huskers practiced well after a two-day break, said Head Coach Bo Pelini.

“We’re making progress in some areas, doing some better things,” Pelini said. “It’s just the consistency isn’t there yet.”

Pelini emphasized the importance of improving Nebraska’s special teams unit this spring. Nebraska returns junior place-kicker Alex Henery, who went 18-of-21 on field goals last season, but loses three-year starting long snapper T.J. O’Leary to graduation.

“(Place-kicking) is an area we feel good about,” Pelini said. “Obviously we’re working long and hard with the snappers.”

The Huskers are also in need of replacing a punter after Dan Titchener graduated last season. Pelini said the Huskers may turn to Henery to handle the punting duties while freshman Brett Maher is also in the mix.

“Early here in camp, Alex has looked good punting the ball, too,” said Pelini, who doesn’t think it’s too risky to put a starting kicker at punter. “When you spend nine years in the NFL, you’ve got a lot of dual guys, people doing more than one thing. That’s an important aspect of the game. He feels that he can handle it. We’ll just see how it plays out. It’s a long way away.”

The Huskers return to the practice field on Friday.