NU Notes, 9/4: Five coaches will be Huskers' eyes in the sky
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Nebraska head coach Bill Callahan politely declined to reveal who'll be signaling in plays from the sideline during tonight's game.
No reason to spoon-feed the opponent that information, he said.
Callahan, though, is happy to provide information on where his assistant coaches will be stationed during games.
Offensive coordinator Jay Norvell will be in the press box along with tight ends coach Scott Downing and graduate assistant Angus McClure.
As for the defense, secondary coach Phil Elmassian and graduate assistant Aaron Stamn will be in the press box.
"We have a lot of eyes in the sky and the ability to chart plays and tendencies and draw up all the oddball situations that come up during the course of the game, and get those communicated to the field," Callahan said.
TOUGH CALL: Tim Cassidy, Nebraska associate athletic director for football, said Callahan's decision to suspend Richie Incognito was difficult, but one that coaches must make from time to time.
"I can tell you from working with five head football coaches that when they work with these young men as much as they do, they don't only care about them for what they can do on the football field," Cassidy said Friday as guest speaker at the Extra Point Club luncheon.
"These coaches, I promise you, any time they have to kick a young man off of the team, or suspend him, it hurts them. Their greatest joy is when they walk on the football field and get to work with these guys two or three hours a day. I can promise you, it doesn't make any difference if the guy's a superstar or the 130th guy on the football team. One of our biggest selling points about our coaches is they're going to care for these football players as though they're their own sons."
MOVIE IS HISTORY: The days of Huskers going to a movie as a team on Friday nights before games are over.
Instead, NU continued to study for today's game against Western Illinois. Before bed Friday night, players were to receive the first 15 plays for today's game.
"We have X amount of hours to work with our players a week, and we want to take full advantage of those opportunities," said Cassidy. "Those last hours before game time are a great opportunity for us to spend some undivided attention with these players (at the team hotel), and our coaches will have an opportunity to visit with them — just the travel squad, which is basically your top 70 football players — and go over game-planning stuff.
"We'll have a devotional this evening. We'll have a special-teams meeting, and we'll have an offensive and defensive unit meeting, as well as a signal callers' meeting. And then the guys will have some time to relax."
Callahan said he has to trust his players to keep the playbook under wraps.
"In Nebraska, the word spreads fast," he joked at Friday's Big Red Breakfast in Omaha. "And now they have these things called cell phones."
ROSTER GROWS: Cassidy said the Huskers on Monday held a tryout for walk-ons. Nineteen players participated, and team added four walk-ons from the group.
REALLY?: Cassidy said that in order for Nebraska to have a quality passing attack in the West Coast offense, the Huskers will also need to feature a solid running game. "We'll continue to have an I-back in our program. He may do some things, he may catch some more passes than what they've done here in the past," Cassidy said. "And don't be surprised if you see a little option out there as well."
ETC.: Tonight's game marks the 263rd straight sellout at Memorial Stadium. ... Nebraska has won 18 straight home openers dating to a 1985 loss to Florida State. ... Tonight's game is NU's first between the schools and the Huskers' first against a Division I-AA opponent since a 38-14 win against McNeese State in 2002. ... NU will shoot for its 35th nine-win season in the last 36 years and its NCAA-record 36th consecutive bowl trip.
— Steven M. Sipple and Brian Rosenthal
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