Red Report: Bowman drops Blackshirt to make statement
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By the Lincoln Journal Star
Senior captain Zack Bowman shed his Blackshirt on Tuesday for a regular red practice jersey.
“My attitude this week was in order for me to wear my Blackshirt,” Bowman said, “I have to play like one.”
Many would argue nobody played like a Blackshirt — an honored symbol of starting status on Nebraska’s defense — Saturday night in a 49-31 loss to No. 1 USC.
“The game was pretty hard on me and a lot of other players,” Bowman said. “We all felt like we didn’t play to the caliber we can play to.”
Bowman, a cornerback, made the decision without telling any coaches or teammates.
“This is something I decided to do on my own,” Bowman said. “I got questions. People asked me, and I told them.”
Fellow senior captain and Blackshirt Bo Ruud called Bowman’s move “a big statement.”
“I got a lot of respect for a guy that does that, that’s self-disciplined,” Ruud said. “That’s a big thing for this team that he did that.”
What’s more, Bowman practiced Tuesday on an injured hamstring. He suffered the injury in the USC game. In fact, Bowman wasn’t 100 percent certain he’d play against Ball State.
“That’s a day-to-day decision,” Bowman said.
How is the hamstring?
“It’s getting better,” he said. “It just kind of pulled on me a little bit.”
In other injury news, running back Cody Glenn sat out Tuesday with a “tweaked knee,” he said.
Open spot: Callahan said Mike Huff, Matt Slauson, Jacob Hickman and Jordan Picou are all options to fill in at left guard for Andy Christensen, who’s lost for the season with a knee injury.
“That’s one area we’ve got to shore up,” Callahan said. “Inside, we had some problems with (USC nose tackle Sedrick) Ellis. That was evident, at times. He’s a dominant player.”
Callahan was more pleased with the play of Nebraska’s tackles.
“(Carl) Nicks and (Lydon) Murtha played very well against an outstanding defensive end (Lawrence Jackson) that will probably be picked very high.”
By the numbers: Zero -- Fumbles this season by Nebraska running backs in 122 total carries. The Huskers’ only two fumbles through three games were on center-quarterbacks exchanges.
Scouting report: RB Marlon Lucky
Lucky began this season with a 30-carry, 233-yard outing against Nevada.
But in the last two games — against Wake Forest and USC — Lucky has rushed 41 times for 123 yards, or just 3.0 per carry.
However, the 6-foot, 210-pound Lucky draws praise from ex-Husker great Mike Rozier, who’s in Lincoln to promote a charitable initiative by Alltel Wireless. Of course, Lucky has room for improvement, said Rozier, the 1983 Heisman Trophy winner, who attended Saturday’s loss to USC.
“He’s a good running back,” Rozier said, adding, “He could put some more weight on.”
On the other hand, Rozier said, a running back doesn’t want to get too muscle-bound.
“I was never a big-time lifter,” Rozier said. “It made me tight. I couldn’t move around.”
Opponent watch: Texas
No sooner had Texas celebrated the return of wide receiver Billy Pittman, linebacker Sergio Kindle and defensive end Henry Melton from three-game suspensions, another Longhorn was in a sticky legal situation that caused him to be indefinitely suspended by coach Mack Brown.
Freshman running back James Henry, who’s played in two games on special teams, was arrested Monday and charged with two felony counts of obstruction and tampering with evidence for his alleged participation in the same July incident involving two other players, Andre Jones and Robert Joseph. Jones remains suspended, while Joseph left the team before his July arrest.
Last week, safety Tyrell Gatewood was suspended indefinitely after his arrest on drug charges.
Pittman, who had 35 receptions for 456 yards and four touchdowns last season, sat out the first three games as punishment for an NCAA extra-benefits violation. Kindle (who played in 11 games as a true freshman and made 21 tackles) and Melton (a running back his first two seasons) were punished after drunken driving arrests during the summer.
—Brian Rosenthal, Steven M. Sipple, Curt McKeever
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