Practice report: Huskers release depth chart

Life in the Red
 E-mail Story
 Print
  Share

 digg it!
 Facebook
 del.icio.us
Seed Newsvine
Fark It
Reddit

Text Size: 

By BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON / Lincoln Journal Star

Opening statement

“Zac (Lee) has a tremendous amount of confidence in what he can do. Sometimes that can work for you, but it can also work against you.  Coach (Shawn) Watson does a phenomenal job with Zac. I think he understands him well. I just go by what I see in practice, and he’s well-prepared, extremely well-prepared to go out there on Saturday and perform well.” —Bo Pelini

Depth chart released: The Huskers released an official depth chart on Thursday. It did not contain any major surprises, but still did leave some mystery over some starting positions.

[+]Enlarge

For instance, at the free safety position, it was noted that the starter was Matt O’Hanlon “OR” Rickey Thenarse. At right cornerback, it was Anthony West or Alfonzo Dennard. At the WILL linebacker, it was Mathew May or Blake Lawrence.

There were 16 “OR” listings on the depth chart. It’s a sign of tight competition, Husker coach Bo Pelini said after a Thursday practice.

“The competition is good. Our intention is to play a number of guys, especially in the areas where we don’t have a lot of experience, find out who’s going to step up, who’s going to play,” Pelini said.

The No. 24 Huskers will begin to find out about themselves Saturday night when they host Florida Atlantic.

Pelini is anxious to see how his relatively young team responds to the challenge.

“As I said to the team, I think they’re sick of hitting each other,” he said. “I think they’re ready to play a football game. It’s about time to see how far we’ve come and where we are so we can move on from there.”

Henery the starting punter: Alex Henery came to Nebraska to be a punter. Now, he’ll get his chance.

The junior most known for his 57-yard kick against Colorado will handle both the place-kicking and punting duties for the Huskers. Pelini said on Thursday that Henery had edged out Brett Maher in the punter competition.

“He won the job in the competition. Maher was really close. Alex has a little more experience. He’s done a really nice job in camp,” Pelini said.

Williams status unclear: It appears right guard Keith Williams, who missed his third of four practices this week on Thursday, is questionable for Saturday’s game.

Asked if he’d play, Pelini said: “Maybe. Maybe not. I think so. I would expect that he’ll be ready to go.”

If Williams can’t play, senior Andy Christensen would likely start in his place.

Under the lights: Pelini coached in a lot of night games at LSU, but said he doesn’t care when the game is played. Kickoff for Saturday is 6 p.m.

“I’m not a real big fan of the early, early kickoffs. We’ve had success there, but it doesn’t matter,” Pelini said. “I’ve played a lot of different times. It doesn’t really affect me very much. I don’t think it affects our football team very much either.”

This and that: The Husker coach appeared on Jim Rome’s ESPN show “Rome is Burning” on Thursday. ... Someone asked Pelini what his biggest concern was other than losing Saturday? “That I get kicked out of the game,” Pelini joked. “Because then I’m in trouble at home.” ... The Huskers will have a walk-thru Friday. “The physical aspect of the preparation is done,” Pelini said. “But there’s a lot of mental work and focus, a lot of work that has to be done between now and game time.”

Checking The Meter

How was Thursday’s practice?

Pelini was quite upbeat after it’s completion, saying he thought the final major workout before the game was “pretty sharp.”

Pelini said the communication wasn’t strong early in the week, but players picked it up starting Wednesday.

“Even if you’re doing something wrong, if everyone’s doing the same thing and on the same page, usually it works out,” Pelini said. “We’ve worked hard. We’re better in that way, but I still think we have a ways to go.”