Lincoln, Neb.– The Nebraska football team continued its preparations for South Alabama on Tuesday afternoon, as the Huskers practiced for just under two hours in half pads. The NU offense practiced inside Memorial Stadium while the Blackshirts practiced inside the Hawks Championship Center.
Nebraska Offensive Coordinator Danny Langsdorf spoke with the media following Tuesday’s practice, mentioning that he was generally impressed with the Husker pipeline looking back at last Saturday’s film, but mentioned there is always improvements that can be made.
“We have got to do a better job finishing blocks, I think we got beat a couple of times—crossed up on the line and those holes closed quickly,” Langsdorf said. “Just continuing to try and pound it and stay with some stuff. I think a few times we got chased out of a play or two off of the defensive look.”
Langsdorf also talked at length about some of the Husker running backs, mentioning that he thought Mikale Wilbon and Imani Cross came in and provided a nice change of pace to the game.
“He (Wilbon) came in and had a couple nice carries. I think Imani came in and sparked us a little bit on the power run too. I felt both of those guys coming in there gave us a little bit of energy we needed,” he said. “Two different types of runners on those plays we are talking about, I liked Mikale coming in and giving us that big run. it kind of got us going.”
Langsdorf also added this on Wilbon, “I thought he had some good runs, which has been his strength, but we have to get him going a little bit more in pass protection. He is explosive out of the backfield as a route runner so that is another strength of his,”
As for the general running back rotation, Langsdorf said that he would like to slim down the number of running backs used in a game, but noted that is hard when each back gives the team good carries.
“I would like to narrow that down, as we look at film and evaluate it a little bit more, I think we are getting closer to not having as much rotation in that group,” Langsdorf said. “They came in and all played good minutes, but we have to get into a little bit better of a rhythm with a guy or two than we were last week.”
The Nebraska football team will be back on the practice fields Wednesday, check back at Huskers.com for full practice coverage as NU prepares for its Saturday game against South Alabama. Kickoff between the Huskers and Jaguars is set for at 7 p.m. (CT) and will be televised on BTN.