Gilleylen learns he can't take anything for granted
By BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON / Lincoln Journal Star
Thursday, Apr 08, 2010 - 12:13:20 am CDT
You might not think it, but sometimes the “gut check” comes on a 75-degree day when the sky hasn’t a cloud and your team is winning.
It was that kind of day in Waco, Texas, when Nebraska played the Baylor Bears last Halloween.
Curenski Gilleylen was there. So were plenty of family and friends. After all, it’s a little more than an hour’s drive on I-35 to get to Waco from Gilleylen’s hometown of Leander, Texas.
The Husker wide receiver had been looking forward to that game.
Then it arrived.
“I didn’t play a down,” Gilleylen said. “I had to realize then that this was for real and I had to step my game up.”
Gilleylen calls it a “gut check,” an “eye-opening experience.” Pick your description. Just don’t call it fun.
Then again, if the lessons of 2009 turn out to be a launching pad for the 6-foot, 215-pound junior, it will prove a season of great use.
“I definitely took it as I can’t take anything for granted,” Gilleylen said. “No matter what it is, whether I have a great couple of games at the beginning, I think I kind of got comfortable at the beginning. I can’t get complacent. I’ve got to strive to get better, and that’s what I’ve got to do every time I step foot on the field.”
Gilleylen’s beginning last year? OK, that was fun.
Menelik Holt caught Nebraska’s first touchdown of 2009, but it was Gilleylen who delivered a crushing block that cleared Holt.
The stadium was awash in oohs and aahs from Gilleylen’s block, and then again when it was replayed on the HuskerVision screens.
He wasn’t done. Before the first half against Florida Atlantic was complete, Gilleylen showed off his speed, getting loose for a 51-yard touchdown catch, the first of his career. He finished the game with four catches for 92 yards.
Off and running. Then the engine stalled. Gilleylen caught 13 more passes the rest of the season, and no touchdowns. By year’s end, his playing time was minimal.
Gilleylen said he felt he was sinking off the radar screen by the Iowa State game on Oct. 24. He knew for sure that next week in Waco.
Consistency, he tells you. Got to have it. He lacked it.
But it doesn’t mean it can’t be found.
“I pretty much know the scheme of the offense, but I definitely want to play faster and more to detail,” Gilleylen said.
Wide receivers coach Ted Gilmore said Gilleylen arrived motivated this spring.
Now the coach challenges his receiver to maintain that high level every day, every play. And when it comes to that, there’s still progress to be made.
“He came out of the gates on fire, on fire,” Gilmore said after Wednesday’s practice. “He was playing hard, playing explosive every single play. We took a step back the last two days ... and we’re still working on it. We’re not where we need to be.”
Gilleylen might not be where he needs to be, but Gilmore thinks the receiver grasps where he needs to go.
The coach believes last season was a “wake-up call” for Gilleylen.
“He knows now what he needs to do and he understands completely what has to happen, so it’s on him,” Gilmore said.
“As his coach, I’m not going to give up on him, nor will I give up on the other players. So I’m going to keep coaching it, demanding it, and at some point the light switch is going to come on and certain things are going to become a part of his bloodstream.”
Reach Brian Christopherson at bchristopherson@journalstar.com or 473-7439.
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