Lincoln - The Nebraska football team concluded its full-scale preparations for Saturday’s Big 12 opener against Kansas with a two-hour practice in half pads inside Memorial Stadium Thursday.

NU Head Coach Bill Callahan said the Huskers have focused on several areas of their game this week, while expecting a tough test from the Jayhawks.

"Execution is the number one thing (NU has worked on), and the ability to sustain drives and score, especially in the red zone," Callahan said. "We’ve focused (in practice) on the red zone and on third down. Those are the two things, offensively, that we’re looking for.

"Special teams-wise, we have to do a great job in our coverage game, whether it’s punt coverage or kickoff coverage," he said. "We’ve worked hard on that facet of our play. And defensively, we’re going to be challenged, and we’re going to be spread out. It’s going to be a little bit different that what we’ve seen. We’re going to see a lot more four-wide, maybe five-wide (sets)."

In other news, offensive tackle Mike Erickson returned to practice Thursday after suffering a neck stinger during Tuesday’s practice.

Nebraska will wrap up its game week preparations for Saturday’s 6:10 p.m. kickoff with the Jayhawks with a short walk-through Friday.