Monday’s Practice Notes
By Jimmie Allen
Defensive Tackle
Senior defensive tackle Terence Moore will miss at least the next two weeks with a knee injury. That’s the bad news. The good news is
redshirt sophomore Chase Rome was back at practice on Monday at his defensive tackle spot. Rome and junior Baker Steinkuhler will likely be the starters in Saturday’s game against Penn State.
Head coach Bo Pelini said that redshirt junior Justin Jackson will continue to play at defensive tackle. Jackson originally was a defensive tackle when he came to Nebraska, but moved over to the offensive line. Jackson saw playing time at defensive tackle on Saturday.
Wide Receiver
Pelini sad that freshman wide-out Jamal Turner is not hurt, but needs to show more consistency in practice. Pelini did say that Husker fans can expect to see more of Turner in the weeks to come.
Taylor Martinez’s performance on Saturday
In Nebraska’s 28-25 loss to Northwestern, redhshirt sophomore quarterback Taylor Martinez completed 28 of 37 passes, and threw 2 touchdowns, and did not turn the ball over once.
“I still need to work on my footwork and make better decisions in the pocket,” Martinez said, “Overall I am happy with the way I played.” Junior Tim Marlowe, and senior Brandon Kinnie both said last week was Martinez’s best game of the season. Marlowe said, Martinez proved all of his doubters wrong by showing that he could step up and lead the offense with his arm when he had to.
Martinez did more than play well. He also picked up on Northwestern defenders picking up and maybe stealing signals from the sidelines. He said he picked up on the signal stealing about halfway through the game, and that Nebraska had to change up its play signals during the game. Martinez said the Huskers used 4 or5 coaches signaling before each play, only three were giving the actual play call. The other coaches were used as decoys. Still, he said the Wildcats were able to pick up on the Huskers’ plays and essentially knew what was coming every snap.
Is Rex Worn Down?
Pelini talked about the workload of junior running back Rex Burkhead the past couple weeks. Pelini said he probably could have given Burkhead more rest on Saturday, and could have gave the younger running backs more playing time. Pelini said he planned to back off Burkhead in practice this week.
When asked about Burkheads workload, all of his teammates seemed to feel that if there was anyone on the team that could carry the load, it would be Burkhead. Only one other running back got a carry on Saturday. Ammer Abdulah rushed one time for 0 yards. Pelini said he didn’t feel that any of the freshman backs would have more success than Burkhead because there just weren’t that many holes opened up on Saturday.
Where is the Team After this loss?
Nebraska now has two conference losses, and will need some help to win the Legends division.Pelini said he was still happy with the progress of the program over last four years. He said he doesn’t necessarily always look at results of games in judging the progress of his team. He has seen enough in other areas that were encouraging enough to feel good about the Huskers’ growth and progress.
Michigan State now leads the division with their only conference loss being to Nebraska. Michigan State finishes the season At Iowa, Indiana at home, then at Northwestern. If Nebraska wins out, and Michigan Sate loses one of those games, the Huskers will go to Indianapolis to play for their first Big 10 Championship.
By Jimmie Allen
Picture provided by Hukserextra.com