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• Former Husker Thunder Collins arrested for murder?
• Nebsports.Com is back online!
• Nebraska - Virginia Tech game to be shown on ABC
• Huskers have no problems with New Mexico State
• Nebraska lines up future games with Miami and Fresno State
• Huskers are ready for New Mexico State
• Andy Christensen re-instated by Coach Pelini
• Vote for Cornhusker cheerleader Katie Rockwell
• Huskers stuggled against San Jose State but win 35-12
• Huskers are ready for San Jose State
• Nebraska Football Tickets available
• Andy Christensen found not guilty

The NFL Draft happened over the weekend and only three Husker players were drafted.  Sure shows you what NFL staffs thought of the players that Nebraska has had lately… Not very much talent they thought.

Zack Bowman was the first Husker picked as he went in the 5th round to the Chicago Bears.  They Bears said they drafted Bowman hoping that he would be 100% over his knee injuries and back to the he had during his junior season.

Carl Nicks was drafted in the 5th round as well as he went to the New Orleans Saints.  Nicks was once thought to be a 2nd or 3rd round pick but slipped to the 5th round.  You have to think that his off the field incident and not being able to work out at the Nebraska Pro Day really hurt his stock.

Bo Rudd was picked up by the New England Patriots in the 6th round.  Rudd will have to really impress the Patriots during mini camps if he wants to make the team.

So far three other Huskers have signed free agent contracts.  Steve Octavien with the Kansas City Chiefs, Courtney Grixby with the Carolina Panthers, and Lance Brandenburgh with the San Francisco 49ers.  Brett Byford has signed on with the New York Jets.

Maurice Purify will take part of the Cincinnati Bengals mini camp but has not signed a contract.  The same deal with Corey McKeon who will take part in Tampa Bay Bucs minicamp and Tierre Green who will take part in Green Bay Packers mini camp.  We have also learned that Frantz Hardy has signed with the Philedelphia Eagles.

Nebraska and Oklahoma State will kickoff on Saturday at 11:30 central time from Memorial Stadium in Lincoln.  Will this be a game where we see the Huskers season turn around, headed in the right direction?  Or will it be another step backwards for Coach Callahan, his staff, and his players?

I think this matchup comes right back onto the Nebraska defense.  If Cozgrove elects to rush some players and cause some havoc rather then sitting back and letting the offense come to the defense I like our chances.  One key not though is that Suh, might be suspended for part of this game if not all of it for an altercation at practice the other day.  That could really hurt our already thin defensive line.

One matchup that I’m really looking forward to watching is Zack Bowman going against Adarius Bowman of the Cowboys.  Will Nebraka use Bowman as a lockdown corner the entire game against Bowman?  I would think they would, which would free up a saftey to help put the rest of the defense.  Bowman locked down on Todd Blythe and that worked pretty weel, so I like our chances doing the same with Adarius Bowman.

I think our offense will put up some points on this Cowboys defense.  Sam Keller will get the offense going, and Marlon Lucky will contribute with over 100 all purpose yards.

I like the Huskers to win this game 35-24

Senior Captain Zack Bowman showed why he was voted a captain by his teammates yesterday as practiced started.  Bowman was the last player to come out onto the field, and was not wearing his blackshirt.  Instead he had on a red practice jersey because he doesn’t deserve to wear a blackshirt.  It would have been awesome to see the rest of the defense do the same thing without having to see Bowman do it first.

The defensive players know how badly they played, it is time to take away all the blackshirts until they dominate a game.  And I’m not talking just Ball State either. What do you all think?  Should the coaches have taken the blackshirts away until they show that they have earned them?

Was this the old Nebraska offense or the new Nebraska West Coast offense?  I’m sure that is what most Husker fans were asking after seeing Nebraska run wild over the smaller Nevada Wolfpack team.

Marlon Lucky ran wild in the opener for the 2007 season.  Lucky finished with a career high 233 yards rushing, 33 yards receiving and four touchdowns. Lucky’s backup, freshman Quentin Castille, pounded out 78 yards on 18 touches. Junior Cody Glenn and sophomore Major Culbert also turned in strong performances, combining for 71 yards on 11 carries. 

When you turn out 413 team rushing yards, you know that the offensive line was doing a great job all day.  They opened up huge holes for the runningbacks, and also did very good in their pass blocking.

The Nebraska quartersbacks had an alright day even though most of the plays were going to the runningbacks.  Sam Keller and Joe Ganz finished with a combined 15-26 passes for 212 yards and one touchdown.  That wideouts could have helped out the quarterbacks as they did drop the ball when they should have made the catch but it is the first game so hopefully they will start to haul in those passes.

What a performance by the Nebraska “Blackshirt” defense in the opener as well.  Coach Cozgrove was blitzing quite a bit against the younger and smaller Nevada team and it worked very well.  It was awesome to see Steve Octavien running around the field and making plays.  Stay healthy Steve and you are going to have a huge year!

The defensive line played well at times.  I would have liked to see more pressure up the middle, but the Huskers had outside blitzes coming most of the time.  I really thought Suh would bust through the line more then he did.  Zach Potter and Barry Turner turned in very good games from the defensive end positions.  Big Kevin Dixon picked off a pass that be batted down which was awesome to see. Great hands for a big guy!

The secondary was very good.  Nevada only completed 8 of 24 passes on the game.  When they did catch the ball, there was usually someone there to tackle them right after they caught the ball.  I figured the secondary would have picked off a pass, and Larry Asante had his chance but wasn’t able to hold onto it.  Zack Bowman played around 25-30 plays and looked ok.  He needs more gametime to get back into things and expects to play 30-35 plays against Wake Forest next week.

Now onto the kicking game, WOW!  Adi Kunalic received standing ovations after his touchbacks and could be seen on the sideline with smilies after each one.  He was probably wondering, “Wow a standing ovation for a kickoff?”  Kunalic also booted a 46 yard field goal that would have been good from 50 yards +.

That’s how you want to start a season with a victory, and it was dominating.  The Huskers will face Wake Forest next Saturday with a kickoff set for 11 A.M. central time.  Wake up early and get your Bloody Mary’s and beer flowing!

Nebraska 52 Nevada 10!

Rushing Stats
Lucky, Marlon      30 rushes for 235 yards, 2 touchdowns
Castille, Quentin  18 rushes for 78 yards, 2 touchdowns
Culbert, Major     5 rushes for 35 yards
Glenn, Cody        8 rushes for 36 yards
Helu, Roy          6 rushes for 26 yards
Ganz, Joe          2 rushes for 15 yards
TEAM TOTALS        70 rushes for 425 yards, 6 touchdowns

Passing Stats
Keller, Sam        14 for 25, 193 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 INT
Ganz, Joe          1 for 1, 19 yards
TEAM TOTALS        15 for 26, 212 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 INT

Receiving Stats
Lucky, Marlon      3 catches, 33 yards, 1 touchdown
Nunn, Terrence     2 catches, 26 yards
Swift, Nate        2 catches, 28 yards
McNeill, Mike      1 catch, 25 yards
Hardy, Frantz      1 catch, 24 yards
Erickson, Dan      1 catch, 19 yards
Sand, Andy         1 catch, 15 yards
Young, Dreu        1 catch, 14 yards
Peterson, Todd     1 catch, 8 yards
Paul, Niles        1 catch, 6 yards
Brooks, Chris      1 catch, 4 yards
TEAM TOTALS        15 catches, 212 yards, 1 touchdown

Punting Stats
Titchener, Dan     2 punts, 44.5 average

Field goal attempts
Kunalic, Adi       1 for 1 46 yards

Kickoff Stats
Kunalic, Adi       9 kickoffs, 6 touchbacks

Defensive Stats
Octavien, Steve     3 solo, 2 assist, 5 total tackles .5 sack
McKeon, Corey       3 solo, 1 assist, 4 total tackles
Murillo, Armando    1 solo, 3 assist, 4 total tackles
Asante, Larry       4 assist, 4 total tackles
Grixby, Cortney     2 solo, 1 assist, 3 total tackles
Wilson, Bryan       2 solo, 2 total tackles
Suh, Ndamukong      2 solo, 2 total tackles
Potter, Zach        2 solo, 2 total tackles
Dillard, Phillip    2 solo, 2 total tackles
Turner, Barry       1 solo, 1 assist, 2 total tackles, .5 sack
Brandenburgh, Lance 1 solo, 1 assist, 2 total tackles
Dixon, Kevin        1 solo, 1 total tackle
Bowman, Zackary     1 solo, 1 total tackle
Eisenhart, Ben      1 solo, 1 total tackle
Ruud, Bo            1 solo, 1 total tackle
Barfield, Shukree   1 solo, 1 total tackle
O’Hanlon, Matt      1 solo, 1 total tackle
Paul, Niles         1 assist, 1 total tackle
Wortman, Tyler      1 assist, 1 total tackle
Green, Tierre       1 assist, 1 total tackle
Sullivan, Tony      1 assist, 1 total tackle
Sievers, Clayton    1 assist, 1 total tackle
Allen, Pierre       1 assist, 1 total tackle
Blue, Anthony       1 assist, 1 total tackle

Fifteen defensive players for the Nebraska Football team have been awarded their blackshirts.  Six of the fifteen players are earning their blackshirt for the first time.  They are cornerback Armando Murillo, safety Larry Asante, defensive tackles Ty Steinkuhler and Ndamukong Suh, defensive end Zach Potter, and linebacker Phillip Dillard.

Other players receiving their blackshirts that have been awarded them in the past were, defensive end Barry Turner, linebackers Lance Brandenburgh, Corey McKeon, Steve Octavien and Bo Ruud and defensive backs Zack Bowman, Tierre Green, Cortney Grixby and Andre Jones.

Congrats guys, now make sure you don’t lose them and you play some hard nosed defense!

The Nebraska Football players voted and selected the three captains for the 2007 season today.  Brett Byford, Bo Rudd, and Zack Bowman were all selected by their teammates.  All three of these players are great competitors and leaders and have their teammates looking up to them.

Here at Nebsports.com we would like to say congratulations!

The Nebraska Football team began practice for the upcoming season today and by the opening press conferences you sure can tell they are ready to get going.  We hope to have some reports up every few days on how practices are going to keep everyone updated.

First off Zack Bowman and Andy Christensen did not practice today.  Bowman is expected back anytime to take part in drills but there wasn’t much said why Christensen did not take part in practice.

Zac Taylor was back with the Huskers today, but he pretty much just watched practice and didn’t really help out much.  He would like to help out but I’m not sure what he is allowed to do with the team at this point.  I think he would be a great addition as a Graduate Assistant in the future.  He could really work with the young quarterbacks and teach them the west coast offense.

Keep on coming back to NebSports.Com for all your Husker News!