Nebraska Cornhuskers news: Kicking at Memorial, Spencer Ohtani, more

Nebraska football has a kicking competition, Nebraska baseball gets a big win and more in today’s Nebraska Cornhuskers news.

Nebraska football kicker Timmy Bleekrode is preparing to be the starter for the Huskers this fall. But he also knows that he’s going to have some stout competition in new kicker Tristan Alvano.

To his credit, Bleekrode has said that he doesn’t fear any sort of competition for his job. He also believes that he’s the best suited to be the starter again because he knows exactly how to kick in Memorial Stadium. He told 247Sports that kicking in Lincoln is a rather unique experience because of the wind that can whip through the stadium in the fall.

It’s refreshing to see talk about a Huskers’ kicker competition that is less “this is all we have” and more “we’ve got a couple of outstanding competitors.” It’s easy to forget that there was quite the run there where the Nebraska Cornhuskers program was well-known for producing great kickers.

Spencer ‘Ohtani’ Schwellenbach makes pro debut

Former Nebraska baseball star hitter and pitcher Spencer Schwellenbach debuted professionally this week. He pitched for the Atlanta Braves A ball team and managed to go 1.2 innings in relief. He was far from perfect as he walked two but didn’t give up a hit and struck out one.

Spencer isn’t going to be doing the double duty in professional baseball. He’ll only be a pitcher as he tries to work his way up to the major leagues. This will be an exciting story to watch over the next few years.

Nebraska Cornhuskers baseball picks up massive win

The Huskers faced off against Michigan on Friday afternoon as they jumped back into Big Ten play after a weekend off. Will Bolt’s crew pulled off a big 10th inning 3-1 win thanks to Brice Matthews’ two-run homerun.

Casey Burnham also hit his first homer of the year, so the Huskers were even able to get to extra innings. The team improved to 17-9-1 on the season and 3-1 in the Big Ten. They’ll be looking to clinch a series win on Saturday afternoon.

Nebraska basketball loses out

While the Huskers are busy looking for some players to add to the roster, it looks like Fred Hoiberg and company won’t be getting their first choice at point guard.

The Nebraska Cornhuskers rolled out the red carpet for Arizona transfer Kerr Kriisa but it wasn’t enough. He announced his next school is West Virginia, meaning the Huskers are going back to the drawing board.

Other Nebraska Cornhuskers news

• One of Nebraska football’s top recruiting targets is going to be visiting USC this weekend. This time it’s not Dylan Raiola but wide receiver prospect Isaiah McMorris. The Huskers need to start hauling these in-state prospects in.
• Former Nebraska basketball star Bryce McGowens had the best game of his career this week. He scored 20 points, had six rebounds, and notched three assists.
• Luke Gifford showed off his new duds on social media. The former Cowboy and now Tennessee Titans player posted a picture of his new jersey on Twitter. Here’s hoping the former Nebraska Cornhuskers star can start having a great NFL career.