Murillo big surprise on Husker depth chart
It was better when there weren’t cameras. Armando Murillo hates the cameras. They make him nervous.
It was better when it was just two guys in a dorm room — talking dreams, talking football.
You don’t always find a friend so quick in college, but Murillo had one right away in Larry Asante. Both played JUCO ball. Both knew where to meet.
Harper Dormitory, Room 623. That was “Mando’s” room.
Some days they’d walk around campus, past Memorial Stadium.
“It’d just be me and Larry about to cry,” Murillo said Tuesday, nervous, the camera lights on him.
“We came from JUCO, you know what I’m saying? A lot of players that come out of that don’t get this opportunity.”
Many players don’t get a day like Tuesday. Asante, the easy-talking safety, and Murillo, the quiet cornerback, looked into their lockers.
They saw Blackshirts.
Four days before Nebraska’s football opener against Nevada, the depth chart came out.
It is a day fans look forward to and Husker head coach Bill Callahan dislikes because, as he said, the depth chart “changes on a daily basis.”
A depth chart was released anyway. It came with minimal surprises, but there was this: The junior Murillo was listed as the top left cornerback, ahead of veteran Andre Jones.
“You see the smile,” Murillo said. “I was happy, like, ‘Hold on. Make sure this (No. 5 jersey) don’t got a 2 in front of it.’”
Jones, who wears No. 25, got a Blackshirt, too.
“Dre’s my homeboy,” Murillo said. “He just talked to me, congratulated me, told me to keep working hard.”
Callahan said the 6-foot, 195-pound Murillo’s severe work ethic helped him emerge as a serious player this summer.
“He’s more detailed. He’s more focused,” the coach said. “I think, from my perspective, as I look at him when we compete against him, he sees the field a lot better than when he first got here.”
Last year, Murillo played for Eastern Arizona Community College. He picked off three passes and had 30 tackles, but largely ran around unchallenged. Teams preferred to throw to the other side of the field.
“He doesn’t say too much,” the sophomore Asante said of his friend. “But he gets it done.”
At right cornerback, senior Cortney Grixby was listed as the No. 1, with Zackary Bowman behind him.
Callahan said Bowman, a team captain just recently recovered from a second major knee injury, will play against Nevada. “He’ll play, but I can’t give you the exact amount of repetitions (he’ll get).”
Interesting names that appeared on the depth chart included tight end Dreu Young, fullback Andy Sand, wide receiver Niles Paul and linebackers Blake Lawrence and Thomas Grove.
Names that perhaps surprisingly did not appear were those of freshman Anthony Blue and junior running back Cody Glenn.
Callahan cautioned not to read too much into Glenn’s missing name. The running back has had a nagging hamstring injury and the coach would like to evaluate his progress on a daily basis this week.
Factor in that Glenn was back at practice Tuesday and who knows what to make of it.
Nonetheless, with Glenn off the list, freshmen Quentin Castille (6-1, 245 pounds) and Roy Helu (6-0, 210) were listed as the backups to junior Marlon Lucky.
“I won’t be nervous, well, I mean, I’ll be a little nervous, I ain’t going to lie,” Castille said.
Castille is hardly the only guy on the depth chart who has not yet seen college game action.
-- Among those is Sand, a senior but never yet in on a play as a Husker. The pride of Lincoln Southeast is listed as the No. 1 fullback.
-- Then there’s Young, from Cozad, who has recently emerged as a receiving threat at tight end, helping him to the third spot on the depth chart behind seniors J.B. Phillips and Josh Mueller.
-- At wide receiver, the true freshman Paul is listed fourth at the (Z) wide receiver position behind seniors Terrence Nunn, Frantz Hardy and Dan Erickson. The Omaha North grad could also potentially return kickoffs and punts.
-- The freshmen linebackers Lawrence and Grove also made the depth chart. Lawrence is third at the SAM Spot. Grove, a walk-on and product of Arlington, is third at the WILL spot and will see action on special teams.
-- The place-kicking job is not yet decided between freshmen Adi Kunalic and Alex Henery.
Callahan said he will continue to evaluate that competition this week, but did note that Kunalic will handle kickoff duties.
-- Blue, a freshman cornerback from Cedar Hill, Texas, was not on the depth chart, though he has been praised heavily at various points of fall camp.
“He’ll be on the special teams depth charts,” Callahan said. “It’s too bad we can’t publish those as well, because a lot of those players emerge on special teams.”
Of course, those who did see their names high on the chart know it can just as easily be removed tomorrow.
Asante, who played last season at Coffeyville (Kan.) Community College, knows this is just beginning.
He grew up in Virginia, but that didn’t stop him from watching Nebraska football as a kid.
It was while watching the Huskers play Miami in the 2002 Rose Bowl that he heard the announcers tell about how Nebraska gave black practice jerseys to their starting defensive players.
Blackshirts. He liked that.
It was all smiles as he left Tuesday’s practice, the No. 4 on his jersey white, the rest of it black.
Now the trick is making sure he never has to give his shirt back.
“It’s a job. It’s a job,” he said. “Saturday you have to go out and perform.”
Reach Brian Christopherson at 473-7439 or bchristopherson@journalstar.com.
It was better when it was just two guys in a dorm room — talking dreams, talking football.
You don’t always find a friend so quick in college, but Murillo had one right away in Larry Asante. Both played JUCO ball. Both knew where to meet.
Harper Dormitory, Room 623. That was “Mando’s” room.
Some days they’d walk around campus, past Memorial Stadium.
“It’d just be me and Larry about to cry,” Murillo said Tuesday, nervous, the camera lights on him.
“We came from JUCO, you know what I’m saying? A lot of players that come out of that don’t get this opportunity.”
Many players don’t get a day like Tuesday. Asante, the easy-talking safety, and Murillo, the quiet cornerback, looked into their lockers.
They saw Blackshirts.
Four days before Nebraska’s football opener against Nevada, the depth chart came out.
It is a day fans look forward to and Husker head coach Bill Callahan dislikes because, as he said, the depth chart “changes on a daily basis.”
A depth chart was released anyway. It came with minimal surprises, but there was this: The junior Murillo was listed as the top left cornerback, ahead of veteran Andre Jones.
“You see the smile,” Murillo said. “I was happy, like, ‘Hold on. Make sure this (No. 5 jersey) don’t got a 2 in front of it.’”
Jones, who wears No. 25, got a Blackshirt, too.
“Dre’s my homeboy,” Murillo said. “He just talked to me, congratulated me, told me to keep working hard.”
Callahan said the 6-foot, 195-pound Murillo’s severe work ethic helped him emerge as a serious player this summer.
“He’s more detailed. He’s more focused,” the coach said. “I think, from my perspective, as I look at him when we compete against him, he sees the field a lot better than when he first got here.”
Last year, Murillo played for Eastern Arizona Community College. He picked off three passes and had 30 tackles, but largely ran around unchallenged. Teams preferred to throw to the other side of the field.
“He doesn’t say too much,” the sophomore Asante said of his friend. “But he gets it done.”
At right cornerback, senior Cortney Grixby was listed as the No. 1, with Zackary Bowman behind him.
Callahan said Bowman, a team captain just recently recovered from a second major knee injury, will play against Nevada. “He’ll play, but I can’t give you the exact amount of repetitions (he’ll get).”
Interesting names that appeared on the depth chart included tight end Dreu Young, fullback Andy Sand, wide receiver Niles Paul and linebackers Blake Lawrence and Thomas Grove.
Names that perhaps surprisingly did not appear were those of freshman Anthony Blue and junior running back Cody Glenn.
Callahan cautioned not to read too much into Glenn’s missing name. The running back has had a nagging hamstring injury and the coach would like to evaluate his progress on a daily basis this week.
Factor in that Glenn was back at practice Tuesday and who knows what to make of it.
Nonetheless, with Glenn off the list, freshmen Quentin Castille (6-1, 245 pounds) and Roy Helu (6-0, 210) were listed as the backups to junior Marlon Lucky.
“I won’t be nervous, well, I mean, I’ll be a little nervous, I ain’t going to lie,” Castille said.
Castille is hardly the only guy on the depth chart who has not yet seen college game action.
-- Among those is Sand, a senior but never yet in on a play as a Husker. The pride of Lincoln Southeast is listed as the No. 1 fullback.
-- Then there’s Young, from Cozad, who has recently emerged as a receiving threat at tight end, helping him to the third spot on the depth chart behind seniors J.B. Phillips and Josh Mueller.
-- At wide receiver, the true freshman Paul is listed fourth at the (Z) wide receiver position behind seniors Terrence Nunn, Frantz Hardy and Dan Erickson. The Omaha North grad could also potentially return kickoffs and punts.
-- The freshmen linebackers Lawrence and Grove also made the depth chart. Lawrence is third at the SAM Spot. Grove, a walk-on and product of Arlington, is third at the WILL spot and will see action on special teams.
-- The place-kicking job is not yet decided between freshmen Adi Kunalic and Alex Henery.
Callahan said he will continue to evaluate that competition this week, but did note that Kunalic will handle kickoff duties.
-- Blue, a freshman cornerback from Cedar Hill, Texas, was not on the depth chart, though he has been praised heavily at various points of fall camp.
“He’ll be on the special teams depth charts,” Callahan said. “It’s too bad we can’t publish those as well, because a lot of those players emerge on special teams.”
Of course, those who did see their names high on the chart know it can just as easily be removed tomorrow.
Asante, who played last season at Coffeyville (Kan.) Community College, knows this is just beginning.
He grew up in Virginia, but that didn’t stop him from watching Nebraska football as a kid.
It was while watching the Huskers play Miami in the 2002 Rose Bowl that he heard the announcers tell about how Nebraska gave black practice jerseys to their starting defensive players.
Blackshirts. He liked that.
It was all smiles as he left Tuesday’s practice, the No. 4 on his jersey white, the rest of it black.
Now the trick is making sure he never has to give his shirt back.
“It’s a job. It’s a job,” he said. “Saturday you have to go out and perform.”
Reach Brian Christopherson at 473-7439 or bchristopherson@journalstar.com.
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