Pelini: Huskers are ready to go
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BY CURT McKEEVER / Lincoln Journal Star
OMAHA — During his first appearance at the Big Red Breakfast at the Holiday Inn Central Friday morning, Bo Pelini sported the look of a “Morning Person” — and also of someone who can’t wait for his first night manning the Huskers’ sideline in Memorial Stadium.
After breakfast organizer Dean Kratz introduced Pelini to a rave review, the Huskers’ coach countered to a large gathering: “I know he said I was popular. I hope I’m popular on Sunday.”
Nebraska kicks of its 2008 season against Western Michigan at 6 p.m. Saturday.
Nebraska players and coaches are set to take part in a “unity walk” before Saturday’s game and future home games.
Buses will drop off the team approximately 2½ hours before the game on the east side of Memorial Stadium, near the Husker Legacy statue. From there, the Huskers will walk past the Husker Nation Pavilion and continue to the front of the Osborne Complex until they enter Memorial Stadium at Gate 11. The athletic department is encouraging fans to attend.
Walk-ons welcome
On Friday, the athletic department introduced a new booster club - the Walk-On Club. Created to help support the walk-on program, the club will hold its kickoff luncheon Sept. 18. Tickets are $25 and seats are guaranteed for Walk-On club members. Membership is $100.
As is always the case before the first game of the year, the mood among those at the breakfast club, now in its 35th year, was one of extreme optimism.
Some attendees, though, expressed an additional hope that the down-home charm of Pelini and his staff will bring about a renewed passion among the fan base, something that seemed to disappear during Bill Callahan’s four seasons at NU.
Pelini aims to deliver.
“Thirty-five years — that’s amazing to me,” he said of the group’s history. “I haven’t been anywhere near that long. It’s a great thing and hopefully we can continue this thing another 35 years.
“Our staff’s excited. . . . It has not been a smooth road for (the players), or for us, at any time. There’s been a lot of hard work. The players have had to make a lot of adjustments, and they’ve done so. They’ve set themselves up, I believe, to have some success.
“We’ll find out tomorrow night. It’ll be interesting to see how far we’ve come.”
Pelini then noted how he “didn’t come here to bore you,” and opened up the floor for questions.
One person asked if he was surprised to be coaching at Nebraska considering he was passed over for the job even after taking over the Huskers’ program on an interim basis following the 2003 firing of Frank Solich and then leading them to an Alamo Bowl victory against Michigan State.
“If you’d ask me whenever I left if I thought I’d ever be back here, I would’ve said, ‘You’re crazy,’ Pelini said. “Funny how life works.”
Of course, there were plenty of questions about personnel.
Pelini noted that, for sure, two true freshmen, and maybe up to five, will play this season. Then, he mentioned three: linebacker Sean Fisher and nickel back Alfonzo Dennard, and Mason Wald on special teams. A couple other candidates are tight end Ben Cotton and linebacker Will Compton.
Pelini, who has made it a point to strengthen Nebraska’s walk-on program, also told the crowd Matt O’Hanlon, a senior walk-on from Bellevue, probably will start at free safety ahead of junior Rickey Thenarse, and that the status of injured offensive tackle Lydon Murtha probably will be a game-time decision.
Asked about freshman defensive lineman Baker Steinkuhler, he said the most touted player in the class has “struggled this fall. He’s just had a couple different nagging injuries (back, groin and also some sickness) — nothing long term. He’s nowhere near getting ready to play for us yet. I do know this, he’s going to be a good player for us in the long term.”
In the middle of describing his staff’s use of hand signals to defensive players, Pelini revealed “With me, sometimes I just yell it out there . . . . Those guys on the other sideline don’t know what the heck I’m talking about.“
He offered that the new 40-second play clock used between snaps is a bad idea, because colleges don’t have the same kind of communication technology available to them as the NFL.
But really, that’s not too high up on his list right now.
“I think the players’ attitudes are good and it’ll be fun to watch,” Pelini said. “They feel like they have a lot to prove, as does the staff.
“That’s a good team coming in here tomorrow night. . . . It’s not going to be easy, but it wouldn’t be fun if it was easy.“
Before he could escape to tackle tasks more pertinent to his debut, Pelini was asked one more question: See much of Tom Osborne these days?
Pelini’s answer showed just how relaxed he seems to be as his big moment nears.
“Who’s that?” he asked.
Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.
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