Reilly ready to shine

By Brian Rosenthal / Huskers.com

If you’re guessing it’s eating at senior wide receiver Jordan Westerkamp to miss his first career game with Nebraska, you’d be guessing correctly.

“I have class with him,” Nebraska senior wide receiver Brandon Reilly said. “He’s like, ‘Yeah, I think they might let me try to play.’ I’m like, ‘Dude, shut up, you can’t even stand up.’

“That’s just the guy he is, though. He always wants to be out there with us.”

No. 10 Nebraska (5-0, 2-0 Big Ten Conference) will play Saturday at Indiana (3-2, 1-1) without Westerkamp, who’s out with a back injury he suffered in the Huskers’ last game, Oct. 1 against Illinois. He’d played in all 44 games of his career with 142 career receptions.

What’s more, Westerkamp won’t travel with the team, meaning the wide receiving corps will be without its leader off the field, too.

“Pre-game, he’s the one who gets us all going,” Reilly said. “Different guys will have to step up. He’s going to be texting us the whole time we’re in the hotel, so it will still be good to have.”

Reilly and Alonzo Moore, Nebraska’s other two other senior receivers, will aim to fill the leadership void in the absence of Westerkamp, as will sophomore Stanley Morgan.

“Stanley, he gets vocal. He gets pretty hyped up before games,” Reilly said. “I think a combination of us three and even De’Mornay (Pierson-El). He’s in there with us, too.”

On the field, Reilly will fill the slot position Westerkamp normally plays. It’s a chance for Reilly, who’s had a slow start to his senior season, to emerge with some big plays.

“It’s just a lot of creativity, especially against zone defenses. There’s a lot of different ways to get open, so I just see what I can do there,” Reilly said.

“We always tell Westy it’s easier playing slot, so hopefully I don’t mess up and make him look too good.”

Reilly has played in only three games with a mere four receptions, a year after catching 40 passes as a junior. He missed the Oregon game with a hamstring injury, an issue that’s plagued him throughout his career, but said he’s 100 percent, thanks to Nebraska’s top-notch medical training staff.

“I was in the training room about 50 hours that week,” said Reilly, who continues to go through preventative treatment. “I kind of got sick of those guys, but they did a great job of getting me back. A lot of work went into it, but it’s worth it.”

Nebraska receivers coach Keith Williams said Reilly is ready for a breakout game.

“He’s poised. It just hasn’t happened for him,” Williams said. Our offense is kind of a flow type offense, and a lot of it is based on what the defense gives you. It’s kind of the right time, right place in terms of when a big play may happen. He’s ready to go physically. It just hasn’t happened.”

Reilly, normally an outside receiver, is familiar with all three of Nebraska’s receiving spots. That helps the rotation when a younger player, only familiar with one spot, enters a game, meaning Reilly can simply bump over.

“You know, when I first got here, Tim Marlowe told me, ‘Dude, just learn every position, because the more you know the more you’ll be on the field,’ ” Reilly said of the former Husker receiver. “I kind of took that to heart, and I’ve just done that ever since.”

Reilly is another in a line of receivers over the years who's emerged from seemingly nowhere after little to no recruiting hype.

A graduate of Lincoln Southwest, Reilly actually focused on hockey as a youth. But faced with a decision of leaving home to play hockey and stay with host families across the country, or stay home and play football, he chose the latter.

“I didn’t want to leave my friends,” he said. “I think my dad finally forgave me for quitting (hockey), but it took a long time.”

He joined Nebraska as a walk-on and began turning heads after his redshirt season in 2012.

“Toward the end of my second year I started making more plays in practice,” Reilly said, “and then Kenny Bell came up to me and said, ‘Man, you better have confidence because you’re going to do things.’ He goes, ‘When I’m gone, it’s yours and Westy’s show to run.’

“Hearing those words from a guy like him meant a lot, so I just kept going with it.”

Reilly earned a scholarship before his sophomore season, and now other young receivers look to follow his footsteps in emerging from the shadows of obscurity.

Lincoln East gradate Bryan Reimers, for instance, has already stood out, when he caught a touchdown pass against Oregon while playing in place of Reilly.

“He had that one big catch against Oregon and I think that’s going to sprout him to more big plays down the stretch," Reilly said. "Gabe Rahn’s another guy. He knows all three positions as well, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets thrown in there on Saturday.

“They’ve learned from the past. Injuries do happen, and you never know when your shot’s called. If your number’s called, you better know the position, because you never know how many chances you’ll get.”

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