Huskers Ready for Akron

Lincoln, Neb -- The Nebraska football team continued preparations for Saturday night’s season opener, working out for two hours in helmets only on Thursday. The practice was split between Memorial Stadium and the Ed and Joyanne Gass practice fields.

Head Coach Scott Frost addressed the media following practice to talk about the team's preparation for Akron.

"It's been a good week. Our guys have done consistently what we've asked them to do. They've prepared well,” Frost said. “They're still getting used to the things we want them to do like the way we want them to prepare, how were going to approach practices. So it's never going to be as clean the first time around as down the road but it's probably the best first week I've seen coming in with a new team. They're trying to do everything we've asked them to do. I think they're ready."

Frost also commented on a few things he would like to see from his team on Saturday.

"I want to see us execute. That's first and foremost,” Frost said “I think our team has done about as much as they can in nine months to prepare without playing a game, but you never really know on some things until its game day. There's hitting going on, you're playing another team. We’ve got to go out and execute and play a good game, take care of the ball and create turnovers on the defensive side.

“I think we’ve done about everything we can to get ready to this point but inevitably there's still some things in the game that we need to prepare for."

Frost also touched on his plans to keep the freshmen relaxed during the excitement of the tunnel walk and the atmosphere of Memorial Stadium.

"We're doing it. I don't think you can help that. If HuskerVision is doing their job, I'm going to be jacked up so I don't know how you can tell a guy running out there for the first time not to be,” Frost said “We just have to make sure we're focused on what we need to do. We do a lot of things during practice to create distractions, with music, guys wanting to dance, with sudden changes. I want all our guys to be having fun and then when it's time to play, be able to flip a switch and be able to dial in. We train them for that, and Saturday will be a test for that."

The Huskers will finish their game week preparations with a walkthrough on Friday. Nebraska and Akron will face off on Saturday at Memorial Stadium at 7 p.m.