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Wednesday notebook: Receivers holding up well in Williams's absence
***A key injury situation to keep an eye on this week is safety Antonio Reed, who missed Tuesday’s practice and was seen Wednesday on crutches. We won’t get official word on Reed’s status until head coach Mike Riley meets with media after Thursday’s practice.
***If Reed can’t go and Nate Gerry already out due to suspension, that leaves Avery Anderson and JoJo Domann as the top backups behind starters Aaron Williams and Kieron Williams.
***Offensive coordinator Danny Langsdorf said he’s mostly coached from the coaches’ box during his career and feels far more comfortable up there calling games. He said one of their best seasons at Oregon State came when he and offensive line coach Mike Cavanaugh were upstairs together.
***Cavanaugh said he’s not worried about on-field communication with the o-line, primarily because of the trust graduate assistant coach Roman Sapolu and graduate manager Michael Philipp, who both are in their second season helping with the offensive line.
***Cavanaugh said senior Corey Whitaker will be available to play if needed on Saturday. Whitaker has practiced all week, but Sam Hahn will still be the starter. Whitaker's role vs. Fresno State will be largely determined on how well Hahn holds up in his first career start.
***Langsdorf said freshman quarterback Patrick O’Brien has been splitting up practices this week working half the session with the varsity offense and the other half with the scout team offense. Langsdorf said that allows O’Brien to learn and be exposed to the real offense each week while also getting more reps with the scout team.
***Langsdorf said it’s hard to know exactly what Fresno State is going to do defensively because they have a new defensive coordinator this year, but because FSU head coach Tim DeRuyter is a “defensive-minded” coach, Langsdorf said he expects it to be similar to what the Bulldogs have done the past few years.
That means NU is preparing for Fresno State to blitz early and often and in a variety of different ways out of its 3-4 scheme. Langsdorf said the biggest emphasis the offense has had this week has been pass protection and blitz recognition.
***Langsdorf said Nebraska has actually been preparing against a 3-4 scheme basically since the start of fall camp, so he feels good about the offensive line being ready on Saturday.
***Langsdorf said freshman running back Tre Bryant has certainly earned the right to play right away on Saturday, but the staff needed to be careful not to “overload” him too early. That means Bryant will likely have a set number of situational plays drawn up for him, but it likely won’t be much more than that at first.
***Alonzo Moore, who has missed some time recently with an unknown injury, said he’s good to go to play on Saturday.
***Walk-on receiver Bryan Reimers said he never would have expected to see his name on the game day depth chart when he first arrived at NU two years ago. He gave almost full credit for his rapid rise to working with wide receivers coach Keith Williams.
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