Herian moves past injury

Matt Herian insists he hasn’t given much thought to Missouri’s return to Memorial Stadium on Saturday.

What happened to Herian the last time the Tigers came to town, he said, is history. No sense in reliving the past.

“You move on and learn from it,” Herian said. “It opens your eyes a lot to how you see a lot of things now. Not just football, but with life. It lets you look at things different.”

Herian, a senior tight end at Nebraska, suffered a compound fracture of his left leg in the eighth game of the 2004 season, a 24-3 victory against Missouri.

With 10 minutes, 54 seconds remaining in the second quarter, Missouri linebacker James Kinney unintentionally landed on Herian’s leg as Herian was blocking for running back Cory Ross.

Since then, Herian has undergone two surgeries, missed an entire season, and answered the same questions about his health and playing status more times than he cares to remember.

He says he’s the same player now that he was two seasons ago. Nebraska coaches aren’t as convinced.

“He’s not completely back to where he was before his injury,” Nebraska offensive coordinator Jay Norvell said. “But he’s worked real hard to be a factor. He’s working really hard to take care of all of his assignments and do the best that he possibly can. Hopefully, we can continue to get some pop out of him before the end of the season.”

Tight ends coach Shawn Watson wasn’t on the Nebraska staff two years ago but was a Colorado assistant at the time and remembers Herian’s big-play capability from his freshman and sophomore seasons.

The explosiveness that separated Herian from other tight ends hasn’t yet returned, he said.

“He’s got a dead spot,” Watson said. “He’s got to wind it up.”

Yes, it’s still a work in progress, Watson said.

“Matt’s such a positive guy,” he said. “He just keeps his head down and keeps working. He knows he can only control today, and he keeps working. That’s been his whole mind-set since I’ve been around him.”

Whether Herian is the same player he was two years ago, this much is certain: His numbers aren’t the same.

In seven-plus games in 2004, Herian had 24 catches for 308 yards. He was regarded as the team’s big playmaker, the Huskers’ go-to guy.

This year, Herian has half as many receptions for less than half as many yards (150), and that’s through nine games.

Herian, though, said he’s not frustrated with the lack of catches.

“I kind of expected that coming into the season, they wouldn’t be getting it to me as much, just with the weapons we have compared to what we had in the past,” Herian said. “As you can see, we have a bunch of weapons, and we’re spreading the ball all over.”

Indeed, Nebraska didn’t have Maurice Purify, Nate Swift and Frantz Hardy playing in 2004. They’re among the team’s leading receivers this season.

Meanwhile, the Nebraska tight ends — and not just Herian —are unsure of how many catches they’ll get week to week. Some games they’re all catching touchdown passes (Louisiana Tech). Others, they have zero catches (Kansas, Oklahoma State). That’s all predicated on the game plan and the personnel for each game, Watson said.

As for Herian?

“He’s capable of getting six or seven catches in a game,” quarterback Zac Taylor said. “It hasn’t necessarily happened yet, but he’ll definitely have his number called. He knows that.”

For now, Herian said he knows the importance of blocking and helping out a running game that’s shown great improvement from a year ago. Being able to run will help set up the pass, in which case Herian figures to have some opportunities.

“Before the end of the season,” Norvell said, “he’s going to get his hands on some balls.”

Reach Brian Rosenthal at 473-7436 or brosenthal@journalstar.com.