Around the Corn: Nebraska Football and More!

Fall Camp is in its second week for the Nebraska Football Team as the Huskers continue to learn Mike Riley’s new offense and defense.

Although he is still struggling with the short passing game, Tommy Armstrong is the clear number one quarterback heading into the season. From all accounts, his passing game has been hot and cold, but it hasn’t stopped his running ability. In the first scrimmage of Fall Camp last Saturday, Armstrong threw two touchdown passes and had a 50 yard touchdown run on a read -option against the number one defense. Riley is excited about Armstrong’s running ability. Riley said he hasn’t seen a quarterback with his running ability in 12 years and they plan to use that to their advantage.

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The real QB race is for second string. As of right now it appears Ryker Fyfe is the current second place holder while A.J. Bush is nipping at his heels. For awhile, Fyfe appeared to be leaving the Huskers as he missed most of summer conditioning with the team, but he came back from an undisclosed illness that caused him to lose 25 pounds. Fyfe threw three touchdown passes in Saturday’s scrimmage. In fact, of the the 8 touchdowns scored by the offense, 7 were passes.

Aug 30, 2014; Lincoln, NE, USA; Nebraska Cornhuskers quarterback Ryker Fyfe (17) looks to pass during the second half against the Florida Atlantic Owls at Memorial Stadium. Nebraska won 55-7. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

True Freshman Wide Receiver Stanley Morgan was the one that caught everyone’s eye at Saturday’s scrimmage. He caught three touchdown passes and made some spectacular catches. Everyone wants to know if he is going to red-shirt or will he get some playing time. With the amount of press he is getting, it seems it will be hard to red-shirt such an amazing talent.

Special teams is getting some good props as well. Drew Brown kicked a 49 yard field goal during the scrimmage as well as two others. Sam Foltz has been a punting machine having one go almost 70 yards and he has done a fine job of getting the ball out of bounds inside the 20 yard line.

The coaches seem to feel that they are going in the right direction but in standard coach speak, they say they have a long way to go. The Offense is completely installed now, they just need to do some fine tuning. The coaching staff will discuss with Armstrong the plays that he is most comfortable with as they want Armstrong to be as comfortable as possible while leading the team. I just hope they keep the Jet Sweep with Pierson El as that is one of the Huskers most exciting plays.

Did you read Lee Barfnecht’s article in the Omaha World Herald? He has predicted Minnesota to win the West. Really? Minnesota only beat two teams last season with winning records, Nebraska (9-4) and Iowa (7-6) and they lost their experienced running back David Cobb. Their QB Mitch Leidner threw 8 interceptions last year with a completion percentage of 51.5% and was sacked 20 times. Jerry Kill is a good coach but Nebraska has more talent and I seriously doubt Minnesota wins the West. You can check out Husker Corner’s early take on Minnesota here.

Husker Basketball

The Husker Men’s Basketball team traveled to Madrid, Spain for a four game exhibition tour throughout Spain. In their first game,the Huskers defeated Eurocolegio Casvi by a score of 79-64. Tai Webster scored a team high 17 points along with Freshman Edward Morrow Jr. who also had 17 points.

Mar 24, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Nebraska Cornhuskers guard Rachel Theriot (33) attempts a shot defended by BYU Cougars guard Kylie Maeda (15) in the second half of a women

The Husker Women’s Basketball team traveled to Australia for a four game exhibition tour of their own. The lady Huskers lost their first exhibition game to Frankston Blues by a score of 81-72. As a team, the Huskers only hit about 36% of their shots. They were without All American Point Guard Rachel Theriot. The Huskers were led by Natalie Romeo who had 25 points on the night.

Husker Volleyball

The Lady Volleyballers are getting set to hold their annual Red/White Scrimmage on August 22nd. The season officially begins on August 28th when the Huskers play a trio of opponents in the Nebraska Invite at the Devaney Center. The Huskers will play Tulsa Friday evening, and then play a double header on Saturday starting with Grand Canyon, and ending with Pittsburgh.

Fans will be treated to a brand new sound system and a new center hung video board. Plus the AVCA Coaches Volleyball Poll has come out and the Huskers are tied for 5th place with Wisconsin. The Big Ten has 4 teams in the top 8 with Penn State coming in ranked number 1 and Illinois ranked in the 8th spot.

Students have returned to campus at UNL and with that, the Fall sports season is beginning. I am very excited for the upcoming season for all the Husker sports as I am sure you are as well. Here is to hoping that all the games go our way! Go Big Red.

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