Husker Defense Making Big Strides

The Nebraska football team took the practice field Thursday to continue fall camp and preparation for its season opener against the Florida Atlantic Owls on Sept. 5.  The Huskers practiced for a little more than two hours in full pads on the Ed and Joyanne Gass practice fields northeast of Memorial Stadium.

Defensive coordinator Carl Pelini was pleased with the way his defense has progressed throughout the duration of fall camp, especially from a mental standpoint.

"It was a good day today," Pelini said. "It was a great mental day. We challenged our guys with a lot of stuff and I'm very pleased with how our guys responded mentally.  The communication is getting so much better. We're on the same page. I was excited coming off the field today."

One thing the Huskers will have to deal with this fall is a number of high-octane spread offenses the Big 12 has to offer.  Carl Pelini stressed the importance of communication within his defense and the strides his players have made in that aspect thus far.

"An amazing distance (from where they were at the beginning of fall)," Pelini said. "Today we worked a lot on the no huddle, the glance stuff the offenses give us and our guys handled that really well. That's something that our guys didn't always do well last year and it was big emphasis of ours in the offseason and the spring...being able to deal with that stuff.  We picked up the pace on them, but they communicated really well and I can't think of one play where we didn't get ourselves into the correct position and execute it. It was good day in that regard."

One player Pelini has been impressed with in camp has been sophomore defensive tackle Jared Crick.  Crick is a leading contender to start next to Ndamukong Suh at one of the defensive tackle positions.

"He's going to be really key for us," Pelini said. "As people try to key on (Ndamukong) Suh and do different things to stop him, we've got to have somebody to balance that out on the other side and beat people one on one. He's shown the ability to do that. He's going to be a pretty tough guy to handle for any opponent."

The Huskers have three practices remaining before starting classes on Monday.  Nebraska will practice twice on Friday, before a single workout on Saturday.  Check back to Huskers.com for updates on the Nebraska football team.