Scrimmage Highlights Saturday Practice

The Nebraska football team wrapped up its week of practice with a 2 ½ hour long practice inside Memorial Stadium on Saturday. The Nebraska coaching staff used most of the practice to conduct a two-hour long scrimmage, and Head Coach Bo Pelini liked what he saw, but is aware the team has a ways to go before it is game-ready.

 

“We had a good scrimmage today,” Pelini said. “We went at it for a good two hours, a lot of ones-on-ones and twos-on-twos. Everybody got snaps, we worked some special teams along the way. I kind of came out of it knowing what I knew going in, that we’re not ready to play a football game yet. We’ve got a lot of work to do. The execution is not quite there yet, and we have a ways to go.”

 

Saturday’s practice wrapped up the most intense week of fall camp, as the Huskers had nine practices in a six-day period.

 

With the announcement of junior running back Quentin Castille being dismissed from the team, the running back competition has opened up behind junior Roy Helu.

 

“It’s like any other position, everything is out there to be won right now,” Pelini said. “I’d say Rex Burkhead is clearly the No. 2 running back right now, but that can change. There’s a lot of depth and a lot of talent at the running back position, we feel real good about it. Time will tell, just like a lot of other positions, there’s a lot of competition going on.”

 

Pelini also announced that six walk-ons have received scholarships for the upcoming season. All six are Nebraska natives, and include seniors Wes Cammack, Colton Koehler and Derek Meyer, juniors Alex Henery and Dreu Young and sophomore Mike Caputo.

 

“It shows that if you come in here and you do the right things for the football team and for yourself you have a good chance of being rewarded for your efforts. That shows with those six young men, and I congratulate them. I’m not going to diminish the guys that aren’t on scholarship right now. There’s some other guys that come to my mind right off the bat that I wish right now I could give scholarships to, and if they continue down the right path they’re going to be rewarded down the line.”

 

The Huskers will take Sunday off, before resuming practice on Monday afternoon. Nebraska will be into a more normal weekly routine next week, as Monday also marks the start of the fall semester on the UNL campus.