Nebraska Football's practice

This writer watched the Nebraska football practice on Friday. The players were in half pads but they got after each other pretty good at times. What was the difference between this year's practice vs. practices under Bill Callahan?

One thing that was noticed was that Friday's practice was spirited for the whole practice. Most of the time players were yelling encouragement to each other. Cody Glenn, for example, got a lot of attention from coaches and the players. It has been reported that Joe Ganz is the best liked player on the team. Sports Nightly has talked about this at times. Friday the man was Cody Glen. You could tell that the team wants him to do well. He is learning the drills and doing a pretty job of it, but he has a ways to go. But he is getting a lot of attention from Coach Ekeler. When Glenn intercepted a pass and ran down the field with a pile at the end of the play, the players went nuts. They congratulated Glenn for his good play. There was a lot of screaming and yelling!! Fun to watch.

Another thing is that in the past years, the practices were very businesslike and kept on schedule. They did a lot of things in a short amount of time. Coaches were coaching but they seemed to keep going at a rapid pace. This year's practice was very scheduled also but there seemed to be more time spent on coaching the players. Less efficiency as far as the number of plays run but more development of the players.

It could be just the practice schedule this writer saw on a particular day but it seemed that practice was split more with offensive and defense. It seemed in the past that the practices emphasized offense. More players participated in the practices also this year. In the past there was more reps with the top units.

When players dropped the ball, ran the wrong coverages, or did other miscues, they had to run. Some were doing pushups

One thing missing from the practice of this year compared to the practice from the previous coaching staff was the Oklahoma drill. This is when the players get in a circle and and an offensive and defensive player goes against each other. They were matched up by position and this drill really got things going. Coaches were yelling and the players went crazy. It was a fun drill to watch.

The above is just observations of the practice Friday. They aren't meant to say one coaching staff did things better than the other but the players were more into the practice with more yelling of encouragement, etc. this year which is a good sign.

Joe Ganz looks like the best QB so far. Actually Ganz looked as good as any QB we have had in the past five years this writer has watched a practice. Lee and Witt look like they can contribute also. We have a good group of QB's with good arms. You have to give Beau Davis credit. He has a great arm but his chances of playing in games aren't that good. he is a team player.

The offensive line is the best we have had in the past five years. It looks like we have recruited some real good offensive linemen over the past several years. We have to be better on offense this fall just because of this. Lots of depth. Lydon Murtha needs to hide his holding as he was going against Zach Potter and held him some of the time.

Same story at running back. Lucky has proven himself. Castille looks like he can run and catch the football. We might want to use him like Missouri used Rucker and Coffman last year. He is big and fast. Roy Helu looks like an all Big 12 back. Again lots of depth.

We don't have a Maurice Purify this year, but with Swift, Peterson, Holt, Gilleylen, Paul, Henry, Brooks, and others, we should be in fine shape. We'll see Chris Brooks on the field quite a bit this year if he can hang on to the ball.

At tight end Dreu Young looks real good. Mike McNeil looks fast but is hurt right now. We should be in good shape at tight end if McNeil stays healthy.

All in all, the offense, will be powerful!!!!!

On defense, it is harder to tell how good they are. Right now the offense is ahead of the defense. The offense has more experience coming back. The Red White game could be a higher scoring game because of the defense adjusting to the new system and the offense having a veteran crew coming back.

The defensive line doesn't have Suh as he is recovering from surgery. Steinkuhler, Dixon, and Barfield are playing a lot on the top unit. At defensive end, Barry Turner looks in good shape. He didn't practice last spring because of surgery. He could shine this year. Potter is back at the other end. Looks slimmer and quicker.

The linebackers are young except for Philip Dillard. He should have a great year. He looks and plays like the veteran. Latravis Washington is also playing linebacker on the starting unit. He looks like a great athlete but is learning the part. Blake Lawrence also plays on the first unit as long as they aren't in the nickel package. It will be interesting to see where Cody Glenn fits in. He has a huge learning curve. He is making the effort and the team is behind him. He could be a pleasant surprise.

With the number of spread offenses NU will face, we will probably see Dillard and Washington as the two linebackers and Murillo, West, and Prince Amukamara as cornerbacks in the nickel package a lot. Anthony Blue will be a big part of this in the fall also.

The safeties include Asante, Thenarse, Culbert, and O'Hanlon. Thenarse is hurt a little so O'Hanlon was running with the top unit. Hard to tell how good O'Hanlon is but he must of impressed the coaches so far. Thenarse is a hitter. Sounds like he is still learning the coverages but most of the players are.

Should be an exciting year. Players are developing so there will be a few changes before we play our first game. Can't wait til the first game. Heck this writer can't wait until the Red White game.