the Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 7:00 pm
It was an uneventful Wednesday in Huskerland. No podium addresses from Corey McKeon. No moving Major Culbert to tight end.
With Iowa State looming, Husker coach Bill Callahan said he’s “real happy” about the way his team has practiced the past couple days. “You can see our guys coming around. There’s a lot of life and energy.”
Linebacker Lance Brandenburgh missed practice again, the result of a high ankle sprain suffered in Saturday’s 41-40 win against Ball State.
Running back Cody Glenn and cornerback Zackary Bowman practiced for the second day in a row. Both sat out the Ball State game.
Culbert spent his second day at linebacker, after a position switch from running back.
“He wants to help any way he can,” Callahan said. “His abilities to go over to defense can help us, and also in special teams. That’s a big pick up as well. But as Major knows, and he understands, if we do get into a pinch, he can come back (to running back.) He’s that versatile.”
Culbert played defense for most of last year until he was moved to running back last December before the Cotton Bowl.
Callahan also talked about another sophomore on defense. Safety Rickey Thenarse saw some good minutes Saturday.
“He still has a lot of things to improve upon,” Callahan said. “But overall, he’s an intense guy. He comes at you 100 mph like a kamikaze.”
Keep it simple?: There’s been some rumblings about Nebraska maybe needing to simplify its defensive scheme, that perhaps defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove is trying too many things and that’s causing the confusion.
Cosgrove said his defense actually was using mostly its base package against Ball State.
“The kids need energy, they need new things, but you can't overload them, either,” Cosgrove said. “We’ve been trying to simplify. It’s not that we’re that complicated right now, but we’re looking at what we did wrong, and we're trying to do what we did best.”
Cosgrove said he has tried to steer clear of public criticism as much as possible.
“Sometimes if things aren’t going the way you want to go, it gets hard,” he said. “It gets hard on the players. I always tell them, ‘Play the next play. Forget about the last play. You can’t do anything about it …’ The bottom line is we’re 3-1 and we’re getting into our conference right now, and we have our goals.”
By the numbers
0: Number of times freshman running back Quentin Castille carried the ball on Saturday after fumbling with 12:30 left in the third quarter.
Scouting report: WR Niles Paul
Well, if you’re going to have one catch, you might as well get a standing ovation for it.
Freshman receiver Niles Paul hasn’t recorded a catch since a 6-yard reception in the season opener that earned him an ovation.
Since then, he’s played on special teams, but not much as a receiver.
Chalk some of that up to the close games Nebraska’s encountered. Put the rest of it up to the fact Paul is still figuring out the playbook.
“Probably the hardest part about (adjusting to college football) was learning the playbook,” he said. “Physically, I felt like I was adjusted. Mentally, it took some time.”
The Omaha North grad understands that playing time can be tough to come by given the depth and veterans the Huskers have at receiver.
“Sometimes it’s tough to take but I know that my time will come,” Paul said. “The coach is trying to work me in where he can, so I appreciate that. But there’s a lot of seniors in front of me, so I respect that they’ve been here for four years or five years.”
Paul said the older guys have really taken him under their wing. He closely studies the play of Maurice Purify.
“Mo told me to basically just watch him, and he showed me how to play big on the next level,” Paul said. “Watching the USC game just showed me strength can kill.”
Opponent Watch: Missouri
Some Tigers admitted they were doing some serious scoreboard-watching Saturday as Nebraska struggled with Ball State.
Since the Tigers have a bye week, they began to focus all their attention on the Huskers directly after a 38-17 win against Illinois State.
“Every now and again you take a peek up there (on the scoreboard) when you’re not supposed to,” Tigers safety Cornelius (Pig) Brown told the Kansas City Star. “But you can’t help but take a peek up there.”
After seeing what Ball State did, Brown offered high hopes for how the Tigers might fare against Nebraska.
“We’ve got to kill these guys,” Brown said to the Star. “I just want to kill them. We need to beat ’em by three touchdowns or more.”
— Brian Christopherson