Huskers Pick Up Practice Intensity

One day after Nebraska Head Coach Bo Pelini called out his team’s practice effort, the Nebraska football team accepted the challenge and picked up the intensity during a two-hour practice on Thursday at the Ed and Joyanne Gass Practice Fields northeast of Memorial Stadium.

 

“Anytime players get challenged, they always respond,” defensive coordinator Carl Pelini said. “Now the challenge for them is to maintain it day after day. You’ve always got to remember you’ve put in two hard weeks of camp, school starts, it’s not game week yet. As a coach, you’ve got to anticipate the fact that you’re going to have to push them a little bit this week. They’ve got to motivate themselves and find a way to do it. Today they did. It made for a better day all-around.”

 

Pelini said the battle for the WILL linebacker starting position is a good one between Mathew May and Blake Lawrence.

 

“I love May’s athleticism. He’s got to learn to slow down a little bit,” Pelini said. “Blake is a seasoned veteran. I think his knowledge of the position is really good. I feel like that’s a strong position where both guys are going to see significant playing time.”

 

Meanwhile, Pelini said Phillip Dillard is playing better of late and starting to understand things more, but redshirt freshman Will Compton is currently running with the top unit at the MIKE linebacker spot.

 

“Every day he just gets a better command of the position and what his responsibilities are, communicating very well with the front guys and the secondary,” Pelini said of Compton. “He’s still not perfect yet in that regard, but we’re really making progress there.”

 

With the Sept. 5 season opener against Florida Atlantic only nine days away, it would be easy for the players to start an­ticipating game day, but Pelini said the atmosphere still feels like fall camp right now.

 

“We’ve been out on the field a long time,” Pelini said. “This is our third week of going against each other. And you fight that a little bit, the repetition of it. It’s the same thing day after day after day. I think when you notice that excitement is when we start going more against scouts and really start honing in on our game plan and then you start to feel that excitement. But right now we’re not there yet.”

 

The Huskers will go through a tough practice on Friday, Pelini said, before starting Florida Atlantic preparations on Satur­day.