Lincoln-The
Nebraska football team continued its 2013 spring practice season Monday
afternoon, as the Huskers practiced in the Hawks Championship Center for just
over two hours in full pads.
After
practice, defensive coordinator John Papuchis spoke with the media, nothing the
team rebounded well after a disappointing practice Saturday morning.
“They
came back with a great attitude. The reality is that we are going to have some
ups and downs.” Papuchis said. “We want to limit the downs obviously, but for a
variety of reasons there were situations in practice Saturday where there were
nine freshmen or sophomores running with the ones.”
Even
though the NU defense lost a lot of senior leadership after last season,
Papuchis believes that the young group of Huskers has a lot of upside.
“I
think they all are talented players, athletically this is the fastest group
since we have been here.” Papuchis said, “There is some inexperience, but we
knew that coming into it. It doesn’t mean we are going to change. We are going
to change our standard in terms of how we expect to practice and how we expect
to execute. Saturday was not a good day for us, but today was a much better
day, to me that’s a good sign.”
Senior
defensive back Ciante Evans showed why he is expected to be one of the leaders
after practice Saturday, as Evans said he met with some of the young Husker
defenders.
“I
told them to just have fun, there is a lot of young guys so they kind of think
of it as a job,” Evans said, “I was just telling them guys, when you just be
confident and know what you are supposed to do, the game is going to come
naturally.”
The Huskers will be back on the practice field on Wednesday
and Friday this week before taking a week off for spring break. Continue
to check back to Huskers.com throughout the spring for all your spring
football updates.
Note
*Head Coach Bo
Pelini noted that junior running back Ameer Abdullah “tweaked” his knee and
will be out for a couple weeks. Pelini said he would determine at a later time
if Abdullah will return this spring. Also sophomore offensive lineman Ryne
Reeves will miss the remainder of spring practice due to an ankle injury.
