Reimers Uses Range, Blocking to make Impression

By Brian Rosenthal / Huskers.com

Even before Nebraska wide receiver Bryan Reimers snagged the catch of his life – to this date, anyway – he’d already made a favorable impression on offensive coordinator Danny Langsdorf.

Reimers, the 6-foot-5, 210-pound walk-on from Lincoln East High School, made his first career start against Oregon. He had Memorial Stadium rocking and media members buzzing when he hauled in a 22-yard touchdown pass early in the third quarter to give Nebraska a 21-20 lead.

The general thought: Who is No. 83, anyway?

He’s the guy who’d been helping the Huskers move the football throughout the game, that’s who.

“He made some nice blocks in the game that probably were a little unnoticed,” Langsdorf said after Tuesday’s practice. “He blocked well and then had a heck of a touchdown catch.”

Reimers had shown an ability to reach and secure tough catches during the spring, so to see him do the same against Oregon didn’t surprise Langsdorf.

"It’s a lot easier throwing to those guys with a lot of range. You can throw it up there for him and he can go get it,” Langsdorf said.

“He’s got a bunch of range and went up and grabbed it. A beautiful play. The ball was a little high and he went get up and got and got it on his body and then kind of lowered his shoulder and jumped into the end zone. It was a great play.”

Reimers saw more time in part because another Lincoln native, former walk-on Brandon Reilly, missed the game with a hamstring injury. Reilly is hopeful to play Saturday when Nebraska (3-0) plays at Northwestern (1-2).

Kickoff is 6:30, and the game will be televised on BTN.

Finish with touchdowns

Northwestern, which has lost home games to Western Michigan and FCS school Illinois State, has battled injuries in the back end of its defense. The Wildcats will likely be without three of their top four cornerbacks against the Huskers.

That helps explain why the Wildcats have allowed 261.3 passing yards per game, which ranks No. 101 nationally through three weeks.

Yet that stat doesn’t jive with the one that matters most – points allowed. Northwestern has bent, but not broken, having allowed only 14.7 points per game.

“They’ve held teams down pretty well,” Langsdorf said. “They’ve given up a lot of yards but they haven’t given up a lot of points. Scoring against them has been a challenge for people.”

Finishing drives with touchdowns will be important, Langsdorf said. So will be establishing the run against a strong group of linebackers, led by All-American Anthony Walker, who racked up 13 tackles last year against Nebraska.

“That’s the strength of their defense, by all means,” Nebraska running backs coach Reggie Davis said. “Those are the guys we’ve got to be able to handle. We’ve got to get the combinations to those guys up front, get ‘em covered up, and we’ll need to run through some arm tackles as running backs and maybe even double team a little bit as running backs on those guys, because those are very good players.”

Working for big runs

Tommy Armstrong Jr. ran 34 yards for a touchdown to beat Oregon. It marked the longest run from scrimmage for Nebraska this season.

The longest run by a running back has been 19 yards, that by senior Terrell Newby.

Davis said there’s no one reason for lack of explosive runs, but that his group is eager to bust loose.

“Sometimes it’s good downfield blocking, sometimes it’s just somebody with great speed, like -Terrell’s against Minnesota last year, just outrunning everybody,” Davis said, referring to Newby’s career-long 69-yard run in Minneapolis.

“It comes in different ways, and you’d like to be able to see them come more often. We can be better at that third level of making safeties miss. That will help us out a lot, to be able to have those longer runs. That’s something we focus on in our room. That safety is ours. You get us to that safety, that means everybody else did their job, and it’s our job to beat that safety.”

Practicing on grass

For the first time in recent memory, perhaps since during the Bill Callahan era (2004-07), Nebraska is utilizing the grass field inside of Ed Weir Stadium, in addition to its normal grass practice field adjacent to the track complex.

It’s doubtful this grass will be as long as that at Ryan Field, notorious for its lengthy blades, but it’s at least something as the Huskers prepare for their only game this season on a grass field.

“I think it is a little different,” Langsdorf said. “Guys have to make sure to get their footing and get out there in pregame and check that field out, making sure they’re wearing the right shoes and getting their feet underneath them so we’re not slipping around.”

Reach Brian at brosenthal@huskers.com or follow him on Twitter @GBRosenthal.