Freshman Crick making a big impression

[huskernumerouno]

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Time to place redshirt freshman Jared Crick on your radar screens. With Kevin Dixon booted off the team and Ty Steinkuhler fighting some back issues, the defensive tackle from Cozad is getting reps with Nebraska’s No. 1 unit.

 

Husker defensive coordinator Carl Pelini said he had the 6-foot-6, 280-pound Crick working the inside of the D-line with junior Ndamukong Suh during Friday’s practice.

 

“Jared has had a great week of practice,” Pelini said. “I’m as excited as heck about Jared Crick. He earned his way up with the 1’s and he had another good day today.”

 

[+]EnlargeJared Crick (LJS file) Jared Crick (LJS file)

 

 

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Fall Practice Central

Follow the Huskers' progress as they prepare for the 2008 football season. (Laura Meerkatz / JournalStar.com)...

 

Comments: 0Rated:Everyone’s a senior

 

It’s coming on fast now, the first Husker game just three weeks away. With time of the essence, coaches will be looking for fast progression Saturday as the team holds its first of six two-a-day fall practices.

 

“As far as I’m concerned, every one of our guys in that room, every one of them’s a senior,” Husker linebackers coach Mike Ekeler said Friday. “We play for one year and that’s this year right now. That’s what I told them today. ... Nobody can be green in our room. We gotta go. We gotta put guys out there that can play.” The Huskers worked out in full pads for the first time this fall camp, a day before their first of six two-a-day sessions.

 

Having sat out the last two practices, Steinkuhler didn’t make it through Friday’s workout, but Pelini said he expects the senior to be fully ready for the season.

 

“We’re being careful with him with his history,” Pelini said, noting it was a coach’s decision to take him out Friday. “He’s a veteran and he’s a smart guy. He had a great first couple days of practice and we decided to rest him a little bit. He’s going to be fine.

 

“I don’t worry about Ty at all. It’s something that as long as he stays on and keeps with his exercise routine, that back should not bother him once the season starts.”

 

Ty’s brother, true freshman Baker Steinkuhler, continues to work at defensive tackle. He could also play on the offensive line if coaches chose.

 

“He’s practicing hard and he really likes it there,” Pelini said of Baker. “As far as I’m concerned, he’s a defensive tackle.”

 

This and that: Husker linebackers coach Mike Ekeler said Friday’s practice wasn’t quite as crisp as coaches would like it to be. “From our end, I know we made a lot of mental busts as linebackers. We’ll get that shored up. Can’t happen. (When) we break the huddle everyday, we’re striving for perfection and today we didn’t do that, not even close.” ... Sophomore offensive lineman Jaivorio Burkes was on the field but not in pads, out because of high blood pressure. No update on when he might be back. ... Linebacker Latravis Washington was out for the second straight day with a knee injury.

 

Scouting report, LB Will Compton: Though just a true freshman, Will Compton is a Husker many fans are keeping a close eye on.

 

A ballyhooed recruit out of Bonne Terre, Mo., Compton is one of the newcomers who could potentially add depth to the linebacker corps this year.

 

Ekeler has told his guys he’s going to coach them all like seniors because they need to play with that urgency.

 

So how is Compton through five practices?

 

“Will’s done a nice job, but again as a group, we’re so far away, so far away, and these guys know it,” Ekeler said. “And like I said earlier, you’re never there. When you think you’re there, there’s a whole other level. Will, he’s just getting his feet wet. We’ve thrown almost our whole defense at him and said, ‘Hey, rock ’n roll, get after it.’ He’s doing a nice job. He’s a really sharp guy.”

 

Opponent watch: Oklahoma. How about this for praise?

 

Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops is comparing his sophomore running back DeMarco Murray to former Sooner Adrian Peterson, telling The Oklahoman: “It’s hard to say who’s more talented.”

 

That’s some mighty high exaltation considering Peterson is coming off an NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year season in which he left numerous seven-figure-salary defenders shaking their heads.

 

Murray started just one game last year and suffered a dislocated kneecap that made him miss OU’s final three games. But when healthy, he showed an ability to break the long ones: four times scoring touchdowns of more than 65 yards.

 

“DeMarco’s got a chance to be a really special player. His upside is quite vast,” Stoops told The Oklahoman.

 

Just asking: What’s the scrimmage schedule looking like for this fall camp?

 

Carl Pelini said the team would probably take the same approach to scrimmaging as it did in the spring.

 

“We don’t want to spend the whole day scrimmaging. We’ll scrimmage in periods and we’ll do that on a day-to-day basis,” he said. “But except for the final tackle, it’s physical as heck out there, so everything’s a scrimmage as far as we’re concerned.”

[BIGREDIOWAN]

I really do hope Crick steps up and is able to make an impact on the D-line because we are going to need it. I'm not going to read too much into the LB comments from Ekeler because units have bad practices sometimes. I just hope they are ready by gameday and I think they will be.

[bbhusker]

“We don’t want to spend the whole day scrimmaging. We’ll scrimmage in periods and we’ll do that on a day-to-day basis,” he said. “But except for the final tackle, it’s physical as heck out there, so everything’s a scrimmage as far as we’re concerned.”

 

This is great to hear!