Nate's observations
***Today's observations will be a little lighter than normal. The majority of the action took place on the far grass fields from the Hawks Indoor Practice field which is about as far away from where the media is allowed to go as possible.
***Former Nebraska quarterback Beau Davis and his family were at practice today. Mike Riley noticed Davis and went over and talked to him for several minutes as practice was getting underway. I spoke with Davis afterwards and he let me know how impressed he was that Riley went up to him and talked with him like they had known each other for a long time. Davis said Riley remembered recruiting him while he was at Oregon State and even remembered his coach's name while Davis was playing at Venice Beach.
Davis told me that he hasn't always felt real welcome back at Nebraska in the past since he was part of the Callahan era, but Riley and everyone on this current staff has went out of their way to let him know the door is always open for him and his family.
***Davis commented on the quarterbacks and how well they all were throwing the football. He was impressed by what he saw and especially the lack of drop off from one to the next.
***JoJo Domann has been at all of the practices and has looked like his recovery is coming along quite nicely. He was running today and moving around pretty well. Not cutting just yet, but it seems like things are going about as well as they could be going.
***I really like how Nebraska is attacking their special teams parts of practice. Pretty much every coach has a group of select players that are working at a specific position on what every special team they're working on that day. That group, say the gunners on punt team for example, get a ton of reps and go through several different drills. It's all done at a high pace and intensity which is making it pretty competitive. I feel like at time last year when Read was the main guy running all of the special teams that part of practice became a little bit of a lull and some guys could go half speed at times. That's not the case anymore.
***I noticed Keyan Williams, Tyjon Lindsey, and De'Mornay Pierson-El working on punt returns.
***Two younger offensive linemen that really stood out to me during OL-DL one-on-ones were Matt Sichterman and Brenden Jaimes. Jaimes was working at left tackle and Sichterman was at right tackle and I believe he took a rep at right guard as well. Both of these guys really stood out to me.
***Freshman walk-on DE Jordan Paup had an impressive rep against true freshman right tackle Chris Walker. A few reps later Walker got the best of Paup.
***Freshman OLB Guy Thomas was with the upper units taking reps as a pass rusher during the OL-DL one-on-ones. No suprise, but he's explosive.
***I notice a few nice runs from freshman running back Jaylin Bradley and Tre Bryant today.
***Tight end Matt Snyder had a nice catch a run for a big gain during the team period.
***I thought Pierson-El looked really good today. Definitely reminded me of the pre-injury DPE as far as explosiveness goes.
***One big takeaway I've had so far is that this is a much better looking team from top to bottom than it was last year or even over the past few years. They look bigger and more athletic as a whole.
Sean's practice observations
***As Nate said, not a whole lot we could see today as the team practice on another field we couldn't stand by. The players also shielded the action on that field, so we were about 100 yards away with people standing in front of the action. They did everything Thursday for the most part on the grass practice fields.
***I will say De'Mornay Pierson-El looked good. He was quick and just had that quick twitch we are used to seeing from him.
***The receivers are grouped pretty much in a "top 6" at this point. Stanley Morgan and Bryan Reimers are at the X, De'Mornay Pierson-El and Tyjon Lindsay are at the Z and Keyan Williams and JD Spielman are at the slot. Those in my opinion will be the main guys this season for Nebraska based on what I've seen and conversations I've had with others.
***Lindsay is no doubt going to have a role. The biggest thing will be getting him used to it after missing most of his senior season with injury.
***Day 1 Jaylin Bradley showed great flashes as a receiving back and by Day 5 all the coaches mentioned him. It's clear they are giving him a hard look for playing time. History tells us this is not rare. Only four freshmen scholarship backs have redshirted at NU since 2002. Of the four that redshirted over that period (Lester Ward, Collins Okafor, Adam Taylor and Mikale Wilbon) only Wilbon has taken legit game snaps.
***Was told that because's Tyler Hoppes's ability to create mismatches, you won't see Nebraska really ever run four-wide receiver sets. Riley has only done that in his first year, and that's when Lane Hovey worked in as the fourth receiver in sets.
***Nebraska uses small college refs at practice during the week, and Big Ten refs will work the scrimmages this year on Saturdays.
***Today's observations will be a little lighter than normal. The majority of the action took place on the far grass fields from the Hawks Indoor Practice field which is about as far away from where the media is allowed to go as possible.
***Former Nebraska quarterback Beau Davis and his family were at practice today. Mike Riley noticed Davis and went over and talked to him for several minutes as practice was getting underway. I spoke with Davis afterwards and he let me know how impressed he was that Riley went up to him and talked with him like they had known each other for a long time. Davis said Riley remembered recruiting him while he was at Oregon State and even remembered his coach's name while Davis was playing at Venice Beach.
Davis told me that he hasn't always felt real welcome back at Nebraska in the past since he was part of the Callahan era, but Riley and everyone on this current staff has went out of their way to let him know the door is always open for him and his family.
***Davis commented on the quarterbacks and how well they all were throwing the football. He was impressed by what he saw and especially the lack of drop off from one to the next.
***JoJo Domann has been at all of the practices and has looked like his recovery is coming along quite nicely. He was running today and moving around pretty well. Not cutting just yet, but it seems like things are going about as well as they could be going.
***I really like how Nebraska is attacking their special teams parts of practice. Pretty much every coach has a group of select players that are working at a specific position on what every special team they're working on that day. That group, say the gunners on punt team for example, get a ton of reps and go through several different drills. It's all done at a high pace and intensity which is making it pretty competitive. I feel like at time last year when Read was the main guy running all of the special teams that part of practice became a little bit of a lull and some guys could go half speed at times. That's not the case anymore.
***I noticed Keyan Williams, Tyjon Lindsey, and De'Mornay Pierson-El working on punt returns.
***Two younger offensive linemen that really stood out to me during OL-DL one-on-ones were Matt Sichterman and Brenden Jaimes. Jaimes was working at left tackle and Sichterman was at right tackle and I believe he took a rep at right guard as well. Both of these guys really stood out to me.
***Freshman walk-on DE Jordan Paup had an impressive rep against true freshman right tackle Chris Walker. A few reps later Walker got the best of Paup.
***Freshman OLB Guy Thomas was with the upper units taking reps as a pass rusher during the OL-DL one-on-ones. No suprise, but he's explosive.
***I notice a few nice runs from freshman running back Jaylin Bradley and Tre Bryant today.
***Tight end Matt Snyder had a nice catch a run for a big gain during the team period.
***I thought Pierson-El looked really good today. Definitely reminded me of the pre-injury DPE as far as explosiveness goes.
***One big takeaway I've had so far is that this is a much better looking team from top to bottom than it was last year or even over the past few years. They look bigger and more athletic as a whole.
Sean's practice observations
***As Nate said, not a whole lot we could see today as the team practice on another field we couldn't stand by. The players also shielded the action on that field, so we were about 100 yards away with people standing in front of the action. They did everything Thursday for the most part on the grass practice fields.
***I will say De'Mornay Pierson-El looked good. He was quick and just had that quick twitch we are used to seeing from him.
***The receivers are grouped pretty much in a "top 6" at this point. Stanley Morgan and Bryan Reimers are at the X, De'Mornay Pierson-El and Tyjon Lindsay are at the Z and Keyan Williams and JD Spielman are at the slot. Those in my opinion will be the main guys this season for Nebraska based on what I've seen and conversations I've had with others.
***Lindsay is no doubt going to have a role. The biggest thing will be getting him used to it after missing most of his senior season with injury.
***Day 1 Jaylin Bradley showed great flashes as a receiving back and by Day 5 all the coaches mentioned him. It's clear they are giving him a hard look for playing time. History tells us this is not rare. Only four freshmen scholarship backs have redshirted at NU since 2002. Of the four that redshirted over that period (Lester Ward, Collins Okafor, Adam Taylor and Mikale Wilbon) only Wilbon has taken legit game snaps.
***Was told that because's Tyler Hoppes's ability to create mismatches, you won't see Nebraska really ever run four-wide receiver sets. Riley has only done that in his first year, and that's when Lane Hovey worked in as the fourth receiver in sets.
***Nebraska uses small college refs at practice during the week, and Big Ten refs will work the scrimmages this year on Saturdays.
Last edited by a moderator:
