Pelini likes team’s practice mentality
Print
digg it!
Facebook
del.icio.us
Seed Newsvine
Fark It
Reddit
By the Lincoln Journal Star
If Nebraska can play like it’s apparently practicing this week, perhaps a winning Saturday is on the horizon.
For the second straight day, Husker coaches were gushing about the team’s practice effort. Husker coach Bo Pelini deemed Wednesday’s workout at Memorial Stadium as “excellent.”
"I just said to the team: I like the way they come into practice. I like their attitude. I like their work ethic,” Pelini said. “And slowly but surely it's becoming who we are. It's not like we have to go out there and prod them to practice hard. They come out here with the attitude to get better every day.
“We’ve still got work to do, there's still mistakes being made, but the commitment's there.”
Though the Huskers have lost three straight games going into this Saturday’s contest at Iowa State, there’s a sense that some momentum might be building after a 37-31 overtime loss to top-10 Texas Tech.
“The character on this team and these kids ... you can just feel it, you can feel these guys, and the confidence growing,” Husker linebackers coach Mike Ekeler said. “You can just feel them feeding off each other. Our secondary is really stepping it up. It’s fun. It’s fun to come out to practice and see guys flying around and having fun out here. It’s starting to come together.”
After Tuesday’s practice, defensive coordinator Carl Pelini said he loves this team.
“Early on we did some 1s against 1s,” Carl Pelini said. “It was as fast a period as I think we’ve had since we’ve been here. It was physical and we were getting after it on both sides of the ball.”
Bo Pelini said practicing in that manner is important in establishing a tone.
"We need that to continue because it sets an example for the younger guys and eventually that becomes who you are as a program,” Pelini said. “It doesn't happen overnight."
This and that: Sophomore defensive end Pierre Allen has missed practice this week because of a death in the family, but was expected to return to Lincoln on Wednesday night. "The guy was a stud to be there last Saturday," Bo Pelini said. "He and his family are going through some tough times." Pelini said there’s “no doubt” Allen would be in the lineup against Iowa State. ... Pelini said linebacker Cody Glenn “is a little gimpy” but expects the senior to be ready to play Saturday. ... Shawn Watson hinted after Tuesday’s practice that NU had another fake-kick play it maybe could have used at the end of regulation on the extra point to tie the game at 31. Barney Cotton would know more, he said. So someone asked Cotton about it. The coach smiled, paused. “I know nothing,” he answered. ... The Huskers’ 78 percent score on the recently released Graduation Success Report tied NU with Baylor for second-best in the Big 12, trailing only Texas Tech.
Scouting report: LB Phillip Dillard
The junior middle linebacker was full-go for Wednesday’s practice. He sat out last week’s game at Texas Tech with a knee injury.
“I think he’s faster than before,” Ekeler said after practice. “I told him I’m going to hurt his other knee. He looks pretty good. He’s doing a great job.”
Dillard was injured in the Missouri game and suited up for the Texas Tech game. Coaches said he could’ve played in an emergency situation.
“He was not happy he didn’t play last game,” Ekeler said, “and I told him if he was happy, he needs to be somewhere else, because then you’re not a competitor. He wants to be out there.”
Being unhappy, though, doesn’t mean Dillard was sulking. Quite the contrary, Ekeler said.
“He was coaching on the field and he was doing a great job,” he said.
Just asking: Did Latravis Washington play on special teams against Texas Tech?
“Yeah, he played a few snaps on teams,” Ekeler said.
Washington, who’s been battling a knee injury he suffered in fall camp, is working at BUCK linebacker, although Nebraska hasn’t played much base defense lately.
“He’s still kind of coming along. He’s got a ways to go, but he’s doing fine,” Ekeler said.
— Brian Christopherson and Brian Rosenthal
Most Commented Football