An upbeat Husker head coach
Bo Pelini greeted the media after Thursday's practice. Sharp practice, good tempo. "I liked our attention to detail," Pelini said. "It wasn't perfect by any means, but it was a good day."
To no surprise, Pelini said redshirt freshman
Taylor Martinez will start on Saturday. "Nobody owns anything around here, but he's going to be the first guy in."
Pelini opened up a bit more about Martinez. the redshirt freshman seems like a quiet guy?
"He is," Pelini said. "But I think our guys respond to his personality."
"Everybody's a little bit different," he added. "You look at the quarterbacks that play tonight, Favre and Drew Brees, everyone has their different way of leading and different way of playing the position. As long as you're able to manage and execute and the players around you respect you and trust you, that's the key."
Of important note, Pelini said sophomore defensive end
Cameron Meredith is "feeling good and ready to go."
Pelini also said right tackle
Marcel Jones is available to play Saturday after sitting out the opener with a sore back. "He's looked good the last couple of days," Pelini said. "How much we use him, we're not sure yet, but he's feeling good and he's ready to play."
Asked about the progression of
Alonzo Whaley this week, Pelini said the linebacker is just like everyone else on the team in the battle to improve every day.
"It's a daily challenge for him," Pelini said. "Let me tell you, there isn't a guy here who has it completely figured out. The more reps they get, the more experience they get, the more practice time they get, the better football team we're going to become. These guys got to challenge themselves every day to get better and keep learning because there's a lot to learn."
Pelini did say he thought the linebacker group made "a big jump this week."
"I thought the communication was better this week," he said. "I think the understanding was better so we'll be all right."
The Husker coach wouldn't offer a prediction on the Vikes-Saints outcome, but did have one prognostication: "I do know
Brett Favre, he'll play well. I do know that."
Pelini was the linebackers coach at Green Bay from 2000-2002 back when Favre called Lambeau home.
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