Keller in Command

[husker rob]

here is a good article about Keller, with some good info from McKeon about Prince and Blue

 

Red Report: Keller in command

By the Lincoln Journal Star

Friday, Aug 17, 2007 - 09:20:27 pm CDT

With Nebraska focusing mostly on its running game during a 55-play scrimmage Friday, quarterback Sam Keller took the opportunity to make sure the “little things” were clicking offensively.

 

Keller, competing with Joe Ganz for the starting job, said he took most of the snaps with the No. 1 offense.

 

“We can’t be lethargic coming out of the huddle and going up to the ball,” Keller said. “We can’t be lackluster in our approach. We all have to buckle down and fire off the ball full-speed. We have too many little one-man breakdowns that are stopping our drives.”

 

As for taking most of the snaps with the first string, “I don’t really pay attention to it; I just go in when I’m told to go in,” Keller said. “I took more because they need to see what I can do back there. That’s pretty much it.

 

“I think I did pretty good. Got the team in some right plays, made some good throws. It’s about executing play after play and being more cohesive as a unit.”

 

I-back Marlon Lucky, sidelined for most of the past week with a mild concussion, participated Friday and “made some good cuts,” senior middle linebacker Corey McKeon said. “I’m sure he’ll be back to full strength pretty soon.”

 

I-back Cody Glenn (hamstring) missed his seventh straight practice , allowing the younger I-backs to get plenty of action. Roy Helu, a 6-foot, 220-pounder, made an impression on McKeon.

 

“He’s playing some great ball,” McKeon said. “He’s a very fast player. He’s hitting the holes hard. You’ll see a lot of production from him this season.”

 

HARD-HITTING CORNERS: Nebraska true freshman cornerbacks Prince Amukamara and Anthony Blue are “malicious” hitters, McKeon said. “They are very, very dangerous players,” the linebacker said. “They don’t know exactly what’s going on all of the time. (But) they have a good idea, and they just attack. They go after guys, and they don’t care who it is.

 

“If they make a mistake, they make it going hard.”

 

The 6-1, 180-pound Amukamara was a two-way standout at Apollo High School in Glendale, Ariz., while the 5-10, 175-pound Blue broke up 20 passes for a Cedar Hill (Texas) High team that captured the Class 5A state title with a 16-0 record. They are part of an impressive bunch of newcomers, McKeon said.

 

“We have just about our whole package in — everything on offense, everything on defense,” McKeon said. “Now we’re executing and getting the young bucks going and trying to get them to not play with hesitation. We have a really, really, really good young class, and they’re very athletic. They just play a little hesitant, because they really don’t know what’s going on.”

 

BY THE NUMBERS

 

2: Number of minutes that affable freshman place-kicker Adi Kunalic spent with a pack of reporters Friday.

 

SCOUTING REPORT

 

Wideout Curenski Gilleylen

 

 

 

Gilleylen is like many Nebraska true freshmen in August — buried in his playbook.

 

“The lingo here, it’s a whole different language,” he said. “I’m just trying to make sure I know what everything means. They don’t just tell you what to do. It’s in code, so you have to de-code it.”

 

In addition to his receiver duties, the 6-foot, 210-pound Gilleylen is returning kickoffs and working on the punt team.

 

Ranked as a three-star prospect by both Scout.com and Rivals.com, Gilleylen is from Leander, Texas (pop. 7,500), which is located about 20 miles northwest of Austin. Gilleylen naturally has been thinking about Nebraska’s Oct. 27 game at Texas.

 

“I’m hoping I can get in the game somewhere — special teams, receiver, wherever — so I can make the trip down there,” he said. “As soon as I committed, I circled that day on my calendar.”

 

Opponent watch: Wake Forest

 

 

 

Coming off a major knee injury suffered last season, standout senior tailback Micah Andrews carried eight times — most on the team — for 23 yards Thursday in the Demon Deacons’ first scrimmage of preseason camp.

 

“A couple of times I thought he got north really good and worked his way up the field,” Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe told the Winston-Salem Journal. “But the thing that I was encouraged by was I didn’t see any caution.

 

“I was afraid I was going to see somebody out here walking on eggshells and that was not what I saw. At times we didn’t have things blocked very well, and when he did have a crease, I didn’t see any hesitation in him getting up through it.

 

“I’m sure he’s not happy with his performance today and he probably wishes he had gotten more carries. But I think for our first scrimmage it was a good start.”

 

Andrews, of Duluth, Ga., is making a comeback from a torn anterior cruciate ligament suffered Sept. 16 last year, in the Deacons’ third game, at Connecticut. He sat out spring drills recovering, but has been practicing steadily this fall.

 

— Compiled by Steven M. Sipple

[papersun87]

Were the smilies actually IN the article, or were those added for emphasis?

 

[admo]

Good stuff there HR!!!

[BIGREDIOWAN]

I like the quotes about vicious hitters!!!! We need that!!!!!

[huskernumerouno]

Our future is very bright