Here's what stood out to the HuskerOnline staff from Sunday night's half-pads practice...
Dan's observations
***Boy did the defense dominate tonight, and the defensive line in particular. Maliek Collins and Jack Gangwish were both around Tommy Armstrong all night long. Collins was a beast as always and was even beating double teams, while Gangwish worked Alex Lewis to a stalemate for the most part.
***The offensive struggles over the last 45 minutes of practice were a bummer because Armstrong had actually looked great for much of the first two practices we've gotten to watch. The line didn't help him much, but he did very well in skeleton drills. His accuracy and touch are improved and his confidence appears to be on a different level.
***Terrell Newby just continues to establish himself at running back and I think the gap between he and the backups is widening. His talent is simply starting to shine through.
***I didn't even notice Mike Riley for the first 37 minutes of practice. He's such a low-key observer, and I think that's great. He's hired coaches he trusts and he lets them do their job. This isn't to say he doesn't contribute to practice - he's still very active. But he's never boisterous or unnecessarily out in front.
***Stanley Morgan has pillow-soft hands. I think he's going to have a real shot to play this year and if he does, keep an eye on him.
***Ryne Reeves was back with the first team at center and Zach Sterup was at right tackle. Nick Gates was rolling with the second unit at right guard - he's a versatile piece.
***Mikale Wilbon seems to have a great feel for the screen game, and that could help get him some extra snaps this season.
***Alex Davis is undersized and will probably need at least a few years to add some muscle and become comfortable with the defense. But he moves very well and is a fluid athlete. He's a good name to file away for the future.
Nate's Observations
***2016 Nebraska defensive end commit Ben Stille of Ashland-Greenwood High School was a visitor at tonight’s practice. Stille looks to have had a very productive summer in the weight room. He looks like he has added quite a bit of muscle mass since the Friday Night Lights Camp this past June.
***I thought quarterback Tommy Armstrong had a great first half of practice. When he appeared to get into a nice rhythm he was on point with nearly all of his passes, short to deep and/or inside or outside the numbers.
***There was a stretch where Armstrong hit consecutive passes to De’Mornay Pierson-El then two really nice deep throws to Brandon Reilly. Both DPE and Reilly have been having great camps so far.
***Senior wide receiver Jamal Turner was getting an awful lot of reps tonight and he was certainly taking advantage of them. He was especially getting a lot of looks with the jet sweep and looked to be completely healthy with the ball in his hands and making plays in the open field.
***The corners have had their ups and downs so far during practice. Daniel Davie and Josh Kalu have been running exclusively with the ones so far. Trai Mosley and Chris Jones have been working with the twos and Eric Lee and Jonathan Rose have been running with the threes.
***I thought the linebacker play was pretty good for the most part tonight. Michael Rose-Ivey had a couple of nice pass break-ups towards the end of practice. Luke Gifford, Garrett Poppen, and Dedrick Young have been working with the second team defense so far. Gifford and Young have both flashed with that unit.
***Gifford’s added at least 15-pounds to his frame and is currently around the 225-pound range with the frame to add more without losing much speed. His abilities in coverage could make him an interesting option for the Huskers in certain packages and/or situations.
***I thought the backup offensive line of David Knevel, Jerald Foster, Paul Thurston, Givens Price, and Nick Gates showed promise at times. Several of those guys should continue to push for starting spots or quality playing time at the very least this fall.
***Wide receiver Alonzo Moore had a solid night of practice and really showed his speed on some jet sweeps tonight.
***Freshman running back Jordan Stevenson had a few plays tonight where you could see why he was such a highly touted player in high school. There was an inside run play that was stuffed for what looked to be a loss right when he got the hand-off, but he cut on a dime, burst through the line, then made another full speed cut on the linebackers where he broke the run to the outside and was off. There were also a few times where he was running wheel routes and showed he had another gear.
***I think Stevenson has about 10-15-pounds that he needs to drop at this point to get to his ideal playing weight and I think he should be able to do that over the next couple of weeks as long as he doesn’t pull a hammy or anything due to carrying that weight.
***I haven’t really noticed Charles Jackson getting many reps out at practice. Not sure if he’s not 100 percent just yet or what.
***I really like what I’ve seen from true freshman linebacker Tyrin Ferguson so far. He’s come into camp looking the part and seems to have been soaking up the system and taking to coaching very well thus far. He’s extremely vocal out on the field and communicates very well with his teammates.
***Like Dan mentioned, there was a period of the team portion of practice where the defensive line was downright dominant. They’ve got a chance to be extremely good this year.
***In my opinion, the two most consistent and impressive running backs have been Terrell Newby and Mikale Wilbon thus far.
Sean’s practice observations
***Wide receiver Christian Bailey replaced Sam Burtch on the 105. The extent of Burtch’s injury is unknown, as head coach Mike Riley doesn’t address reporters again until Tuesday. It does not appear to be anything long term though.
***Talking to one of the coaches before practice, he said he’s been very impressed with both Josh Banderas and Michael Rose-Ivey. He said they both have come to play and there was one play where Banderas ran down a wide receiver from behind and showed great speed.
***Don’t be surprised if Dedrick Young ends up winning the third linebacker job. It’s neck and neck right now with him and Marcus Newby, but Young continues to get better, but so does Newby. I’ve also been impressed with redshirt freshman linebacker Luke Gifford. He’s gotten so much bigger and stronger from a year ago.
***Josh Kalu has looked as good as any defensive back in camp at times. He makes good breaks on the ball and constantly gets his hands where they need to be to break up passes.
***Wide receiver Brandon Reilly had a great catch where he pulled the ball away from Daniel Davie. Physically, Reilly is the strongest and the fastest of the wide receivers right now.
***Was told today before practice Greg McMullen reported to camp at 308 pounds. His weight to me seems like it’s an issue and he needs to get more in the 290 range so they can count on him to play more snaps in a game without getting tired. With the lack of depth at defensive end they almost need McMullen to go 60 to 70 plays a game.
***Running back Terrell Newby had a great one-handed catch tonight out of the backfield.
***Ryne Reeves worked most of Sunday night as the No. 1 center. They also worked in Nick Gates at right tackle when Zach Sterup was struggling and coach Mike Cavanaugh told me he did a great job coming in there. That might be a position battle to watch closely going forward.
***A sleeper name that jumped out a little on Sunday was walk-on wide receiver Brady Pelzer. Jordan Westerkamp, De’Mornay Pierson-El and Taariq Allen all went down with minor bumps and bruises, so guys like Pelter got in with the top offense. He made his reps count and had few nice catches and also took a jet sweep for a long gain where after the play Rose-Ivey was vividly upset they let Pelzer run by them all. He almost reminds me of another version of Tim Marlowe. Back when he walked on from Bellevue East, that’s also who Jeff Jamrog compared him to.
***The running back that probably looked the most complete tonight was Mikale Wilbon. He had a few nice runs and also showed he could catch the ball out of the backfield. Jordan Stevenson also got some good reps, but he just needs to get himself into better shape. You can see though he’s going to be a good player.
***Defensive tackle Maliek Collins almost makes it hard to practice sometimes for the offense. He constantly blew up all of Nebraska situational third-and-long plays during a scrimmage portion of practice.
***Freshman wide receiver Stanley Morgan continues to show he’s the real deal and made a handful of nice plays again on Sunday.
***Rose-Ivey had pick off Armstrong on a screen pass and it was the end of what was an extremely frustrating day for him and the offense. The final 30 to 45 minutes of practice were completely dominated by the defense.
***The hit of the day definitely goes to safety Nathan Gerry who absolutely blew up wide receiver Gabe Rahn on a pass play up the middle.
***Nebraska continues to work in a lot of the old concepts we saw in Tim Beck’s offense, as well as what they want to do going forward. We saw zone read and quarterback run game from Armstrong, all things he’s very comfortable with.
***It was good seeing Coach Riley’s wife Dee at practice, along with several of the other coaches’ families. A lot of them have been there each night taking things in.
Robin's observations
***The kickoff returner group appears to be (in no particular order) Brandon Reilly, Terrell Newby, Mikale Wilbon, Josh Kalu, Jordan Stevenson and Jordan Nelson.
***The punt returner group is De'Mornay Pierson-El (obviously), Jordan Westerkamp, Jamal Turner, Avery Anderson and Stanley Morgan.
***I'm feeling a lot better about Drew Brown's leg strength after today. NU did field goal work early in the practice and Brown was drilling kicks from 40 yards and out with ease. He smoked one from 47 yards that had plenty of air still under it.
***With Vincent Valentine still sidelined with bruised knee, Kevin Williams is the No. 1 DT opposite Maliek Collins, meaning he is still not a backup at this point.
***It looks like Josh Kalu is the frontrunner to win the starting cornerback job opposite Daniel Davie. When Nebraska goes to the nickel, Kalu is the starting nickel while Jonathan Rose moves to the other cornerback spot.
***Like these guys have mentioned, the defense won the practice tonight. There was a span of four plays with the ones vs. ones when the top offense gave up two straight sacks, a false start, an incomplete pass and then another sack.
***Nebraska had one look on defense where Maliek Collins moved out to defensive end opposite Greg McMullen with Kevin Williams and Kevin Maurice inside at tackle.
Dan's observations
***Boy did the defense dominate tonight, and the defensive line in particular. Maliek Collins and Jack Gangwish were both around Tommy Armstrong all night long. Collins was a beast as always and was even beating double teams, while Gangwish worked Alex Lewis to a stalemate for the most part.
***The offensive struggles over the last 45 minutes of practice were a bummer because Armstrong had actually looked great for much of the first two practices we've gotten to watch. The line didn't help him much, but he did very well in skeleton drills. His accuracy and touch are improved and his confidence appears to be on a different level.
***Terrell Newby just continues to establish himself at running back and I think the gap between he and the backups is widening. His talent is simply starting to shine through.
***I didn't even notice Mike Riley for the first 37 minutes of practice. He's such a low-key observer, and I think that's great. He's hired coaches he trusts and he lets them do their job. This isn't to say he doesn't contribute to practice - he's still very active. But he's never boisterous or unnecessarily out in front.
***Stanley Morgan has pillow-soft hands. I think he's going to have a real shot to play this year and if he does, keep an eye on him.
***Ryne Reeves was back with the first team at center and Zach Sterup was at right tackle. Nick Gates was rolling with the second unit at right guard - he's a versatile piece.
***Mikale Wilbon seems to have a great feel for the screen game, and that could help get him some extra snaps this season.
***Alex Davis is undersized and will probably need at least a few years to add some muscle and become comfortable with the defense. But he moves very well and is a fluid athlete. He's a good name to file away for the future.
Nate's Observations
***2016 Nebraska defensive end commit Ben Stille of Ashland-Greenwood High School was a visitor at tonight’s practice. Stille looks to have had a very productive summer in the weight room. He looks like he has added quite a bit of muscle mass since the Friday Night Lights Camp this past June.
***I thought quarterback Tommy Armstrong had a great first half of practice. When he appeared to get into a nice rhythm he was on point with nearly all of his passes, short to deep and/or inside or outside the numbers.
***There was a stretch where Armstrong hit consecutive passes to De’Mornay Pierson-El then two really nice deep throws to Brandon Reilly. Both DPE and Reilly have been having great camps so far.
***Senior wide receiver Jamal Turner was getting an awful lot of reps tonight and he was certainly taking advantage of them. He was especially getting a lot of looks with the jet sweep and looked to be completely healthy with the ball in his hands and making plays in the open field.
***The corners have had their ups and downs so far during practice. Daniel Davie and Josh Kalu have been running exclusively with the ones so far. Trai Mosley and Chris Jones have been working with the twos and Eric Lee and Jonathan Rose have been running with the threes.
***I thought the linebacker play was pretty good for the most part tonight. Michael Rose-Ivey had a couple of nice pass break-ups towards the end of practice. Luke Gifford, Garrett Poppen, and Dedrick Young have been working with the second team defense so far. Gifford and Young have both flashed with that unit.
***Gifford’s added at least 15-pounds to his frame and is currently around the 225-pound range with the frame to add more without losing much speed. His abilities in coverage could make him an interesting option for the Huskers in certain packages and/or situations.
***I thought the backup offensive line of David Knevel, Jerald Foster, Paul Thurston, Givens Price, and Nick Gates showed promise at times. Several of those guys should continue to push for starting spots or quality playing time at the very least this fall.
***Wide receiver Alonzo Moore had a solid night of practice and really showed his speed on some jet sweeps tonight.
***Freshman running back Jordan Stevenson had a few plays tonight where you could see why he was such a highly touted player in high school. There was an inside run play that was stuffed for what looked to be a loss right when he got the hand-off, but he cut on a dime, burst through the line, then made another full speed cut on the linebackers where he broke the run to the outside and was off. There were also a few times where he was running wheel routes and showed he had another gear.
***I think Stevenson has about 10-15-pounds that he needs to drop at this point to get to his ideal playing weight and I think he should be able to do that over the next couple of weeks as long as he doesn’t pull a hammy or anything due to carrying that weight.
***I haven’t really noticed Charles Jackson getting many reps out at practice. Not sure if he’s not 100 percent just yet or what.
***I really like what I’ve seen from true freshman linebacker Tyrin Ferguson so far. He’s come into camp looking the part and seems to have been soaking up the system and taking to coaching very well thus far. He’s extremely vocal out on the field and communicates very well with his teammates.
***Like Dan mentioned, there was a period of the team portion of practice where the defensive line was downright dominant. They’ve got a chance to be extremely good this year.
***In my opinion, the two most consistent and impressive running backs have been Terrell Newby and Mikale Wilbon thus far.
Sean’s practice observations
***Wide receiver Christian Bailey replaced Sam Burtch on the 105. The extent of Burtch’s injury is unknown, as head coach Mike Riley doesn’t address reporters again until Tuesday. It does not appear to be anything long term though.
***Talking to one of the coaches before practice, he said he’s been very impressed with both Josh Banderas and Michael Rose-Ivey. He said they both have come to play and there was one play where Banderas ran down a wide receiver from behind and showed great speed.
***Don’t be surprised if Dedrick Young ends up winning the third linebacker job. It’s neck and neck right now with him and Marcus Newby, but Young continues to get better, but so does Newby. I’ve also been impressed with redshirt freshman linebacker Luke Gifford. He’s gotten so much bigger and stronger from a year ago.
***Josh Kalu has looked as good as any defensive back in camp at times. He makes good breaks on the ball and constantly gets his hands where they need to be to break up passes.
***Wide receiver Brandon Reilly had a great catch where he pulled the ball away from Daniel Davie. Physically, Reilly is the strongest and the fastest of the wide receivers right now.
***Was told today before practice Greg McMullen reported to camp at 308 pounds. His weight to me seems like it’s an issue and he needs to get more in the 290 range so they can count on him to play more snaps in a game without getting tired. With the lack of depth at defensive end they almost need McMullen to go 60 to 70 plays a game.
***Running back Terrell Newby had a great one-handed catch tonight out of the backfield.
***Ryne Reeves worked most of Sunday night as the No. 1 center. They also worked in Nick Gates at right tackle when Zach Sterup was struggling and coach Mike Cavanaugh told me he did a great job coming in there. That might be a position battle to watch closely going forward.
***A sleeper name that jumped out a little on Sunday was walk-on wide receiver Brady Pelzer. Jordan Westerkamp, De’Mornay Pierson-El and Taariq Allen all went down with minor bumps and bruises, so guys like Pelter got in with the top offense. He made his reps count and had few nice catches and also took a jet sweep for a long gain where after the play Rose-Ivey was vividly upset they let Pelzer run by them all. He almost reminds me of another version of Tim Marlowe. Back when he walked on from Bellevue East, that’s also who Jeff Jamrog compared him to.
***The running back that probably looked the most complete tonight was Mikale Wilbon. He had a few nice runs and also showed he could catch the ball out of the backfield. Jordan Stevenson also got some good reps, but he just needs to get himself into better shape. You can see though he’s going to be a good player.
***Defensive tackle Maliek Collins almost makes it hard to practice sometimes for the offense. He constantly blew up all of Nebraska situational third-and-long plays during a scrimmage portion of practice.
***Freshman wide receiver Stanley Morgan continues to show he’s the real deal and made a handful of nice plays again on Sunday.
***Rose-Ivey had pick off Armstrong on a screen pass and it was the end of what was an extremely frustrating day for him and the offense. The final 30 to 45 minutes of practice were completely dominated by the defense.
***The hit of the day definitely goes to safety Nathan Gerry who absolutely blew up wide receiver Gabe Rahn on a pass play up the middle.
***Nebraska continues to work in a lot of the old concepts we saw in Tim Beck’s offense, as well as what they want to do going forward. We saw zone read and quarterback run game from Armstrong, all things he’s very comfortable with.
***It was good seeing Coach Riley’s wife Dee at practice, along with several of the other coaches’ families. A lot of them have been there each night taking things in.
Robin's observations
***The kickoff returner group appears to be (in no particular order) Brandon Reilly, Terrell Newby, Mikale Wilbon, Josh Kalu, Jordan Stevenson and Jordan Nelson.
***The punt returner group is De'Mornay Pierson-El (obviously), Jordan Westerkamp, Jamal Turner, Avery Anderson and Stanley Morgan.
***I'm feeling a lot better about Drew Brown's leg strength after today. NU did field goal work early in the practice and Brown was drilling kicks from 40 yards and out with ease. He smoked one from 47 yards that had plenty of air still under it.
***With Vincent Valentine still sidelined with bruised knee, Kevin Williams is the No. 1 DT opposite Maliek Collins, meaning he is still not a backup at this point.
***It looks like Josh Kalu is the frontrunner to win the starting cornerback job opposite Daniel Davie. When Nebraska goes to the nickel, Kalu is the starting nickel while Jonathan Rose moves to the other cornerback spot.
***Like these guys have mentioned, the defense won the practice tonight. There was a span of four plays with the ones vs. ones when the top offense gave up two straight sacks, a false start, an incomplete pass and then another sack.
***Nebraska had one look on defense where Maliek Collins moved out to defensive end opposite Greg McMullen with Kevin Williams and Kevin Maurice inside at tackle.
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