Two best practices all week

[HuskerfaninOkieland]

Journal Star

 

Cotton: Team had two of its best practices this week

BY BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON / Lincoln Journal Star

 

Friday, Sep 12, 2008 - 10:24:42 am CDT

 

OMAHA — If Nebraska can play like it practiced this week, Husker fans might have reason to be optimistic, according to Barney Cotton’s Friday morning talk.

 

“We probably had the best two practices of the entire year this last Tuesday and Wednesday,” the offensive line coach told a crowd of about 250 at the Big Red Breakfast in Omaha. “Wednesday’s practice was a war. We went out and did a lot of good against good.”

 

After some sub-par tackling and an offense that was out of rhythm against San Jose State, Cotton said the Huskers practiced 1s versus 1s for at least 40 minutes on Wednesday. The physical nature left the coach hopeful of what he might see Saturday night as Nebraska looks to get to 3-0 against New Mexico State.

 

Cotton has other reasons to be encouraged. After some underwhelming rushing performances by the offense, he’s more than happy to welcome Lydon Murtha and Andy Christensen into the fold.

 

With Murtha out with a leg infection and Christensen serving a six-month suspension for off-the-field problems, the Huskers were playing with a rotation of eight offensive linemen the first two games.

 

But after returning to practice on Wednesday, Murtha has shown he’s good enough to start Saturday. Cotton said the senior was pushing teammates out of his way during his first practice back so that he could get more reps.

 

And while Christensen will sit out Saturday’s game to finish off his suspension, Cotton said he’d be watching his progress closely to see if he’s ready to be in the rotation by the Virginia Tech game on Sept. 27.

 

If Christensen can make an impact, that would give NU 10 offensive linemen capable of playing at this point. “And my goal before the season was to throw 10 guys at teams,” Cotton said.

 

While the offensive line has come under some criticism through the first two games, in which Nebraska combined for just 237 yards rushing, Cotton said it’s not because of lack of effort.

 

“Even though we didn’t see it on the rushing stats or anything like that, we increased our knockdown total by 20 from the first game,” Cotton said. “Even though we’re not satisfied, we’re really making a conscious effort of being the most physical team in the Big 12 North.”

 

The coach said guard Matt Slauson and center Jacob Hickman are leading the way in knockdowns through two games. Both had 16 on Saturday.

 

Cotton said he has been setting his rotations for his linemen before the game and hasn’t deviated from those plans.

 

With Murtha back at left tackle, he’ll likely shift Mike Smith to right tackle, working him there with Javoirio Burkes. Marcel Jones then will likely move to the left side to back up Murtha.

 

Mike Huff and Keith Williams have been rotating at left guard. Matt Slauson has been getting almost all the snaps at right guard and Jacob Hickman most of the snaps at center, though Cotton has been rotating in Mike Caputo every fourth series there.

 

Cotton said coaches would like to hold off on using Ricky Henry this year, a junior newcomer who came from the JUCO ranks and has made waves with his tenacity in practices.

 

After working with the top two units for most of the fall, Cotton said Henry spent most of his time with the scout team this week, a good sign of a probable redshirt.

 

Cotton said he talked to Henry this week to make sure the player understood the reasoning of it.

 

Henry told him: “I don’t care, just so I can hit somebody all week.”

 

“He is an absolute throwback,” Cotton said. “You could see him playing with no facemask, three-quarter-inch spikes.”

 

The Husker line will be going against a strange 3-3-5 Aggies’ defense that Cotton said blitzed about 60 percent of the time last year even when not in the red zone.

 

He’s hopeful the team will pick up from where it left off in the fourth quarter of the last game. After struggling for 45 minutes, the Huskers scored 21 in the last frame to pull away for a 35-12 win.

 

“Our fourth quarter, our kids were really into the game, there was a lot of fight in them,” Cotton said. “So it was a good feeling going into the locker room.”

 

The assistant said there is a great line of communication between the offensive and defensive staffs, noting that Husker head coach Bo Pelini called him into his office this week to have him watch some of New Mexico State’s offense on film and give him his thoughts.

 

“This is probably as close a staff as I’ve ever been a part of,” Cotton said.

 

Reach Brian Christopherson at 473-7439 or bchristopherson@journalstar.com.

[zoogs]

Cotton said he has been setting his rotations for his linemen before the game and hasn’t deviated from those plans.

 

With Murtha back at left tackle, he’ll likely shift Mike Smith to right tackle, working him there with Javoirio Burkes. Marcel Jones then will likely move to the left side to back up Murtha.

 

 

Woah, woah, what? That's a lot of movement. Mike Smith and Jaivorio, the two current LTs, get moved back to RT (Burkes had been at RT until ... at least a good way through fall camp). And Jones has, if I'm not mistaken, always been at RT. Same with Smith and LT.

[zE bOp]

Awesome! I like the sound of this. We get the running game going @ we'll be IN every game.

So, let's get off Barney's case @ let him do his job.

[REDSTEEL]

Awesome! I like the sound of this. We get the running game going @ we'll be IN every game.

So, let's get off Barney's case @ let him do his job.

 

Why do I get worried when the number one offense that couldnt gain more then 100 yds rushing against San Jose are then able to gain yards against the first string defense in practice?

 

Let's hope this doesn't point out that the defense is terrible against the run like last year.

[DaveH]

If it can't translate to game day, it's worthless.

[HuskerTrucker]

Awesome! I like the sound of this. We get the running game going @ we'll be IN every game.

So, let's get off Barney's case @ let him do his job.

Yeah, I am getting tired of all the "hang 'em high" crowd....it is time to back off and give this staff a chance to do their job.

[Igetbored216]

Talk is cheap (or typing in this case).

 

Do it on the field.

[zE bOp]

Awesome! I like the sound of this. We get the running game going @ we'll be IN every game.

So, let's get off Barney's case @ let him do his job.

Yeah, I am getting tired of all the "hang 'em high" crowd....it is time to back off and give this staff a chance to do their job.

I thought the running game would be real strong outta the gate, but..,

[Huskerballz]

Talk is cheap (or typing in this case).

 

Do it on the field.

 

Yes, talk is cheap, but fans like us and the media forces these coaches to talk. Then when they do , we get pissy at them. If the coaches had it their way, they probably wouldn't say a word about what they're doing with this team ever.

[bbhusker]

Awesome! I like the sound of this. We get the running game going @ we'll be IN every game.

So, let's get off Barney's case @ let him do his job.

Yeah, I am getting tired of all the "hang 'em high" crowd....it is time to back off and give this staff a chance to do their job.

 

I completely agree. Would some of the fans rather have Dumb and Dumber back from the previous 4 years? I know I sure as hell don't. Damn, give the staff some time.

[Marf]

Journal Star

 

 

Cotton said he talked to Henry this week to make sure the player understood the reasoning of it.

 

Henry told him: “I don’t care, just so I can hit somebody all week.”

 

“He is an absolute throwback,” Cotton said. “You could see him playing with no facemask, three-quarter-inch spikes.”

 

 

I like the sound of that...

[hack]

if you can't trust a guy named barney, you might as well quit trusting people.

[huKSer]

if you can't trust a guy named barney, you might as well quit trusting people.

 

No wonder you trust barney, are you two distantly related? I kinda see a resemblance.

 

Barney Hack

[HuskerJosh82]

if you can't trust a guy named barney, you might as well quit trusting people.

 

 

well said.

[Blackshirtsguru]

I think hiring Cotton was a bad hire! In otherwords, they took the "bringing back the tradition" a bit too far. After two weeks our offensive line has actually gotten (yes I know it's not a word) worse than last year! Just my thoughts in the matter.