HuskerfaninOkieland
Heisman Trophy Winner
Journal Star Blog
A hard-hitting Wednesday practice
Nebraska apparently hasn't backed off on hard hitting in practice since the start of the regular season (cue the Bill Callahan criticism).
"I'll tell you what, this may have been the most physical practice of the year that we just had," Husker offensive line coach Barney Cotton said right after Wednesday's full-pad session at Memorial Stadium.
Why did Nebraska turn it up Wednesday?
"We wanted to play at full speed," Cotton said. "We expect to be playing against another defense that, even though we don't know for sure what they'll do, we expect an awful lot of movement. And the only way to block movement is to block it fast."
San Jose State was based out of a four-man front, while New Mexico State features a three-man front or sometimes even a two-man look "with an awful lot of fast and athletic guys running around and getting in all sorts of different positions where you really have to be assignment sound and make sure you're putting a hat on a hat."
As for Lydon Murtha's return, Cotton said, "He probably took a fourth to a third of the snaps, a little bit with the ones (first string), more with the twos. We'll just gauge the effects of pads and contact and go from there."
As for Murtha's two-game absence, "The biggest thing, it affected our depth. You always hate to lose a guy you were counting on. But we were fortunate enough to have some depth. But Lydon was a starter going in. Hopefully he'll recover quickly and knock the rust off. I think the biggest thing is the conditioning aspect. I'll tell you what, though, he looked awfully fresh-legged today."
A hard-hitting Wednesday practice
Nebraska apparently hasn't backed off on hard hitting in practice since the start of the regular season (cue the Bill Callahan criticism).
"I'll tell you what, this may have been the most physical practice of the year that we just had," Husker offensive line coach Barney Cotton said right after Wednesday's full-pad session at Memorial Stadium.
Why did Nebraska turn it up Wednesday?
"We wanted to play at full speed," Cotton said. "We expect to be playing against another defense that, even though we don't know for sure what they'll do, we expect an awful lot of movement. And the only way to block movement is to block it fast."
San Jose State was based out of a four-man front, while New Mexico State features a three-man front or sometimes even a two-man look "with an awful lot of fast and athletic guys running around and getting in all sorts of different positions where you really have to be assignment sound and make sure you're putting a hat on a hat."
As for Lydon Murtha's return, Cotton said, "He probably took a fourth to a third of the snaps, a little bit with the ones (first string), more with the twos. We'll just gauge the effects of pads and contact and go from there."
As for Murtha's two-game absence, "The biggest thing, it affected our depth. You always hate to lose a guy you were counting on. But we were fortunate enough to have some depth. But Lydon was a starter going in. Hopefully he'll recover quickly and knock the rust off. I think the biggest thing is the conditioning aspect. I'll tell you what, though, he looked awfully fresh-legged today."
oint 
:cheers