NU football notebook, 4-11: QB Beck may miss Red-White Game
BY STEVEN M. SIPPLE / Lincoln Journal Star
Tuesday, Apr 11, 2006 - 12:08:58 am CDT
Nebraska backup quarterback Harrison Beck missed Monday’s practice because of recurring hamstring and shoulder soreness, raising the possibility that he may miss Saturday’s Red-White Game.
“Hopefully, he’ll feel better in the next couple of days and we’ll get him out here before the end of spring,” NU offensive coordinator Jay Norvell said Monday after the Huskers moved outdoors for the first time this spring for the 12th of their 15 scheduled workouts.
The Red-White Game, set for 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Memorial Stadium, marks the end of spring drills.
Beck’s availability Saturday may depend on an MRI to be done on his throwing shoulder as early as today. The sophomore tweaked his hamstring during an April 1 scrimmage. It’s unclear when his shoulder began to feel sore.
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“(Team doctors) are checking him out and making sure he’s OK,” Norvell said. “He’s just sore right now more than anything.”
In other injury news, sophomore I-back Leon Jackson, battling classmates Cody Glenn and Marlon Lucky for playing time, left Monday’s practice early with apparent knee soreness. Glenn, meanwhile, appears to be recovering well from a high ankle sprain suffered last week in a scrimmage. He carried the ball several times in situational scrimmaging Monday.
Nebraska had been unable to practice outdoors until Monday because of ongoing construction in North Stadium.
“It’s great to be outside in the wind and the sun,” Norvell said. “We needed to be outside a little bit. Now that the weather’s nice and warm, we need to be out here.”
-- DAY FOR DEFENSE: In 25 plays of live scrimmaging toward the end of Monday’s practice, the defense clearly got the better of the offense, as is often the case this time of year. The defense’s highlight arguably occurred when middle linebacker Corey McKeon stripped fullback Dane Todd of the ball after a completed pass. Cornerback Zack Bowman recovered the pigskin and sprinted for paydirt. The offense’s highlight may have been backup quarterback Joe Ganz’s 17-yard completion to a leaping wideout Isaiah Fluellen, who absorbed a bone-jarring hit from safety Brandon Rigoni at the 1-yard line.
-- TOUGHING IT OUT: Right tackle Matt Slauson had to leave Monday’s practice after suffering a gash over his nose that required six stitches. On the same play, Slauson sustained a black eye when a hunk of linebacker Steve Octavien’s padding penetrated the lineman’s face mask. No problem. After receiving the stitches — a 20-minute job — Slauson returned to drills.