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Football Full recap of Nebraska's Monday press conference

Robin Washut

Nebraska Legend
Jun 17, 2008
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Check here for a full recap of Nebraska's weekly press conference today at Memorial Stadium.

Because of the holiday, no players spoke today.

***Mike Riley is up.

***Riley said said notable players on offense were Dylan Utter, Nick Gates, Terrell Newby, Devine Ozigbo and Alonzo Moore.

***On defense, Riley mentioned Josh Banderas, Chris Jones, Joshua Kalu, Ross Dzuris, and Kieron Williams as players who had strong games.

***On special teams, Riley singled out Brad Simpson, JoJo Domann and Lamar Jackson, Luke McNitt, Chris Weber, Jordan Ober, Drew Brown and Caleb Lightbourn.

***Riley said Lightbourn had an overall solid night and noted that the blocked punt was not his fault.

***Of all the mistakes, Riley said the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after the two-point conversion made him the most disappointed. He said it got to the point where every time they made a good play he worried that they might get a penalty. "That's not good," Riley said.

***Riley has a long list of mental mistakes Nebraska made in all areas. Clearly not pleased with execution in every phase of the game.

***Riley said every Fresno State punt "looked like a cartoon with us trying to get away from the ball."

***Riley said they "didn't have anywhere near the balance we need" from the passing game, so that will have to improve.

***Riley said the last time he was in a game with only 13 passing attempts "was when I was in at quarterback." He said they obviously need more from the passing game, if nothing else to give the offense better balance.

***Riley said he and Danny Langsdorf decided that they would lean on the running game in order to win, but the emphasis now will be blending the passing and running better.

***Riley said he's reconsidering having offensive line coach Mike Cavanaugh up in the coaches' box. He said he might want him back on the sideline going forward.

***Riley said the lack of explosive runs on Saturday were mostly due to downfield blocking by the receivers. He said those blocks "are the touchdown blocks" that turn big plays into scores.

***Riley said they'll continue to evaluate what they'll do at left guard this week. He said it may be a bigger rotation, with Corey Whitaker playing a lot more at both guard spots and maybe even at tackle.

***Riley said the struggles Lamar Jackson had in his first game "was good for him" and that he'll only get better because of it. He said Jackson kept competing and didn't let it phase him, which was good to see.

***Riley said with Nate Gerry coming back, they'll have to really look at ways to keep getting Jackson on the field. He said he liked having Aaron Williams and Kieron Williams at safety, Joshua Kalu at nickel, and Jackson at cornerback.

***Riley said Antonio Reed should be back this week. He missed the FSU game with a knee injury.

***Going back to Cavanaugh, Riley said he sees the value in having Cav up top, but also really likes having him on the sideline to interact with players. One solution would be having Cav on the field and Tavita Thompson go up in the box.

***Riley said the honoring of Sam Foltz was something that will go on forever, but he really liked how everything went down on Saturday.

***On De'Mornay Pierson-El, Riley said "I think we just need to get him in there... He is a weapon in there, and I think we just need to get him going."

***After talking about all the mistakes his team made, Riley added that "I don't want to be a downer on the win, either. I like that a lot better than losing on a Hail Mary."

***Riley said the burglary on Sam Foltz's brother's house during the was "a very sad deal... I wouldn't want to be that guy in this state."

That's all for Riley. Much more up soon.
 
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