Helu getting more playing time as he improves skills
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By BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON / Lincoln Journal Star
Sorry if this story seems like a news bulletin interrupting your favorite soap opera, but it’s been confirmed by several sources that there still is a football game Saturday.
Yes, Roy Helu admitted, his first Husker season has been kind of weird.
“I wasn’t expecting this,” the freshman running back said.
Of all the weird days, the one atop the pile had to be last Saturday, when the Huskers got rocked 45-14 at home by Oklahoma State.
It was an awful game for most every Husker, but not Helu.
Beneath the overcast sky, Helu and fellow freshman running back Quentin Castille were about the only bright spots the team dressed in red could produce.
The battering ram Castille led the way with 102 yards on 20 carries. The 6-foot, 220-pound Helu rushed for 55 yards on 14 carries. He also caught a pass and took it 21 yards.
Both freshmen had more carries than junior running back Marlon Lucky.
“We get a lot of opportunities to practice, but to play in the stadium in front of fans that come from all over the state … you got to go and play fierce and give it your all,” Helu said.
Helu’s been confusing defenders since he was an 8-year-old playing Pop Warner football.
Halfway through his first season of football, a coach had the novel idea to use him as a kick returner.
Tackling little Roy proved a monumental feat. The next year, the coach put him at wingback.
“All I would do is run reverses,” Helu said, laughing.
The Roy Reverse. Worked like a charm.
It’s not so simple in college. Running backs are expected to block, too.
“Like (running backs) Coach (Randy) Jordan says, blocking is not really natural,” Helu said. “We all have God-given talents to run, and then we have to have an attitude to block. It’s just an attitude, going up there and getting in someone’s face.”
How’s this for getting in someone’s face? In the final minutes and with the Huskers down by five to Ball State, Helu was called into the game.
Ball State brought heat from a linebacker, and it looked like the blitzer might go through untouched to nail quarterback Sam Keller.
But suddenly there was Helu, throwing a block that stood the linebacker up. Benefiting from the extra time, Keller threw an 11-yard, game-winning touchdown pass to Maurice Purify.
“He’s been attentive. He’s learned a lot,” Jordan said. “I feel comfortable with him in there.”
Apparently so does Husker coach Bill Callahan, who said Helu should see good action this week against Texas A&M.
“We plan on using them all,” Callahan said of his running backs. “And who knows? We may use a couple more as well.”
Callahan said Thursday that freshman Marcus Mendoza might even see action, burning his redshirt.
Helu, from Danville, Calif., first took notice of the Huskers while watching Nebraska play Oklahoma.
The Huskers ran a trick play that day where some guy named Mike Stuntz threw a touchdown pass to some guy named Eric Crouch.
That was pretty cool, the kid thought.
Six years later, he’s now wearing that same “N” on his helmet.
He hasn’t gotten many carries, just 24 for 94 yards.
He has heard plenty of criticism aimed at Husker coaches. Saturday’s game could be huge to their futures.
How does an 18-year-old deal with such pressure?
“We’re playing for the love of the game,” Helu said. “That’s what we have to do. We can’t play for the coaches. They would (want) it that way, too. But we are going to play hard to win.”
Reach Brian Christopherson at 473-7439 or bchristopherson@journalstar.com.
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