AJ, the Husker Hater doesn’t think Nebraska will win the Big 12 North this fall.

I’m actually stunned that some of you simply brush off the fact that Tom Osborne destroyed your program (and yes..he did it by recommending Frank Solich and Steve Pederson…don’t kid yourself) 10 years ago…and yet some of you still fight back as if you actually have facts or recent history on your side.

I mean, it’s mind boggling to think that ANYONE who actually witnessed the events of last year can be so full of passion and confidence…..it simply defies logic and explanation. Just when I think you’re ready to settle into your new role as rebuilding underdogs…I see case after case of delirious fandom gone horribly wrong.

According to this ESPN poll, 78% of Nebraska residents do think a title is within reach. Where are you on this? Can we win our division?

Coming on the heels of yesterday’s news about Sam Keller, it’s nice to see the good news about Maurice Purify.

According to his agent Gary Glick, Eureka High graduate and former Nebraska wide receiver Maurice Purify is expected to sign a contract with the Cincinnati Bengals this week.

Purify, who became an undrafted free agent when he was not selected during the NFL Draft April 26 and 27, was invited to rookie mini-camps with the Bengals over the weekend, where, according to Glick, he performed well.

“The chances are excellent that he’s going to sign with Cincinnati this week,” Glick said. “Right now we’re just working out some of the details with the contract.”

According to Glick, Purify was tested thoroughly in all areas, and passed with flying colors.

“Overall they said he did a really good job,” Glick said. “They said he ran his routes well, he caught the ball and looked sharp. They also interviewed him extensively about these off-the-field things, and they loved his responses. They liked the guy that he is, and they said he represented himself well.”

Lincoln Journal Star’s Steve Sipple produced a great piece on Sam Keller and his troubles making headway in the NFL. I was never a Keller fan, but this is a touching piece with a moral not just for him, but for everyone to reflect upon.

Keller said several NFL teams asked him about an incident in March of 2007 in which he allegedly threw a paper cup at a woman’s car after she beat him to a parking spot on campus. Charges were eventually dropped. It’s almost embarrassing for me to bring up the matter at this point, except to illustrate that these seemingly minor incidents can be harmful to players on draft day.

“Teams really thought I threw a whole cup of coffee on the girl,” Keller said as he packed for his trip to Tampa.

As for his football:

“I was just surprised with how much teams didn’t like me,” Keller said earlier this week. “I was surprised with how much I heard that teams don’t like my (throwing) release. They continued to question the Arizona State situation no matter what I said. …

“Character and release. It just kept coming back that teams didn’t like those things about me. It’s just something I continue to have to battle.”

On the pressures of being a star:

“You feel these different emotions,” Keller said. “For me, last weekend was a feeling of being lost and kind of embarrassed. You have these expectations, and you find out other people have expectations for you — your family, friends, people around you. You just kind of feel like you’re out there flopping in the breeze. It’s kind of like, ‘God, I’m so sorry.’ You wish you could have brought more joy to the day.

Perspective is what’s missing from this story. “Flopping in the breeze” is a poor description for someone who has already achieved as much as Keller has. Starting QB at Arizona State and Nebraska is big. Maybe not guaranteed-to-make-the-NFL big, but big nonetheless.

Bo Big Red is getting some love from Cory McCartney of Sports Illustrated.

Spring’s biggest winners and losers

WINNERS

Bo Pelini, Nebraska: Last year it was Nick Saban, but the toast of this spring was unquestionably Pelini. Cornhuskers fans are clamoring for any sign of the program moving in a positive direction following the stagnant Bill Callahan era, which is why a record 80,149 filled Memorial Stadium for the Red-White Game (25,869 more than last year’s spring game).

The verdict? A number of Huskers showed up for spring looking leaner to fit Pelini’s “fast and physical” credo, including I-back Quentin Castille, who has reportedly trimmed 20 pounds. It’s a mold that will bring the speed that was Pelini’s calling card at LSU. The new coach is already making an immediate impact with his players and fans. In April, what more can you really ask for?

Tom Osborne is many things, but Jerry Jones?  The eccentric owner of the Dallas Cowboys, Jones, is filling his defense with players who have a troubled past.  Jason Whitlock of Fox Sports and the Kansas City Star compares Jones to Osborne, who had a way of rehabbing a once lost soul.

Right now, Jones is the Tom Osborne of professional football. Jones believes he can save young men by using football. He turned Terrell Owens into a relatively good teammate. Jones — taking a cue from President Bush — unarmed Tank Johnson of his weapons of mass destruction.

Come on Jason.  Jerry Jones just wants to win football games and Tom Osborne wanted his (troubled) players to win at being the best men they could be, on or off the field.  It really sickens me to this day that Osborne is criticized for helping out Lawrence Phillips.  At the time, he was only ( I don’t mean ”only” like that, so save the letters ) involved in the incident where he roughed up his ( and Scott Frost’s current at the time ) ex-girlfriend.  No one knew what Lawrence would do in the next 13 years, but this incident of the “Osborne Pardon” still was brought up every time LP did something bad.  Comparing TO to JJ is just, in the word made famous by Mike Tyson, LUDICROUS!

GILLEYLEN TURNS IT ON

Nebraska’s annual Red/White spring game developed into something of importance under the Bill Callahan staff.  Tom Osborne and Bo Pelini did everything they could to keep the ball rolling in the right direction, while adding a few “Nebraska Ways” along the way.  This developed a frenzy that has never been seen in Lincoln, although being witness to 72nd and Dodge after 3 National Championships, I can tell you it felt something like that going into Saturday. 

Everything was just like a normal gameday, well except for the fact that the general admission gates had lines that seemed to go on forever!  Luckily, I wasn’t in one of those.  The brats, Runzas, and Val’s were all in mid-season form and many families were at the soccer complex standing in line for kid friendly activities.  Chants of GO BIG RED were frequent and my anticipation for the Bo Pelini era of NU football was nearing it’s boiling point.

There were so many things I wanted to see at Saturday’s game.  Joey G, Zach Lee,  the receivers, Marlon Lucky, and of course Rickey Thenarse!  We had great 45 yard line seats, 17 rows up in the West Stadium.  Ron Brown was out on the field walking around with a football at 11:30 so some of the coaches were feeling it too.  The sun was warm and it was a beautiful day for football.  Soon, 81,000 fans would pack into the Stadium, highlighted by the return of 200+ former players, many of whom have not been back to NU since they left.  The Tunnel Walk video was awesome, drawing huge ovations from game footage of the 2003 Alomo Bowl with Bo Pelini as our coach.  The game was about to begin, and everyone was on the edge of their seats.  Mike Ekeler came out with his linebackers on the field and he was jumping up and slapping guys helmets and pads, looking much like a player himself.  One player gave him a little something back and Ekeler fell to the turf.  He quickly got up and gave it right back with a huge smile on his face.  I couldn’t help but laugh that if this was last year’s staff, someone might have broken a hip.

Just like Callahan introducing us to the “passing attack” on the first play of the 2004 spring game, Watson took us back to our roots with an I formation and option right for the 2008 game.  Tyler Wortman, a 5th year walk-on tipped the pitch intended for Roy Helu and recovered the ball.  Here comes Ganz and Lucky.  Lucky’s first run looked pretty good.  There was no “dancing” in the backfield.  Lucky, instead, went forward with his first handoff andmade a really nice 2 footed shift to avoid contact at the line.  People around us wondered out loud if this is the new Marlon and I think with Tim Beck as his coach now, it will be.  He looked good and showed a great burst of speed to get to the outside.  Bo Pelini and Mike Ekelerstayed on the field behind the offense all day to help line up the defense and Cody Glenn looked like a natural as a linebacker.  On one particular play he was covering Meno Holt, when the play went to the other side, Cody gave Holt a shove and he went down on the turf.  The White offense couldn’t get anything going in the first half and the White defense didn’t fare much better.  The Red team took a 24-7 lead going into half, but many breaks were going their way.  I think the refs were biased!!

GO LOW RICKEY!!

Everyone in my group knew of my man crush on Rickey Thenarse, so you can imagine the ribbing I received when Rickey took on Quentin Castille head on and lost.  Castille took a run up the left side and Rickey quickly filled the gap to take him on.  The problem is Rickey was standing almost upright and Q put his head down, running right over Rickey, throwing him backwards and on his back.  Thenarse showed what kind of man he is by getting right back up and helping, with several others, to take him down.  I think this played in Major Culbert’s mind when he was faced witha similar situation in the second half.  Major did his homework and almost laid flat on the ground when tackling Castille in the open field.

WHO IS NUMBER TWO?

Joey Ganz is the clear number one, but I don’t think the backup picture became any clearer after Saturday.  Patrick Witt received alot of time on both the White and Red teams.  I think Witt played pretty good.  His arm strength seemed great, but more than a few throws were quite wobbly and his immobility was evident.  Zac Lee looked a little nervous or uncomfortable at first but soon he settled down and directed a scoring drive early in the 4th quarter.  Shawn Watson says he would like a mobile QB and Lee showed it with a 22 yard run.  Personally, I say once Lee gets Watson’s system down, it’s a no brainer.  A mobile and strong armed QB.  Who wouldn’t want that?  Ganz looked good, but the concern with me is his arm strength.  Some balls seem to float on him, or just don’t have much zip behind them.  I do think he is more than capable of running this offense and given he is a true leader in the locker room,  he is the obvious choice.  Should be interesting come fall.

LUCKY, HELU, CASTILLE, MENDOZA

As I mentioned above, Lucky looked pretty good.  Towards the end of last year, he was running as hard as we have ever seen him.  He was making quick decisions, breaking tackles, and taking on defenders.  Watson showed some misdirection with the running game and with Marlon being more decisive, he could have a great year.  Helu looked relentless and took on whoever got in his way.  The pounds he added has helped his strength and he has seem to have kept his quick burst.  Castille is still the punisher, but after dropping some weight, I thought he looked impressively quick, especially after his screen pass from Lee that went for 38 yards in the 2nd quarter.  Castille did have a fumble in this game, but I don’t know if that was more of his fault or just a smart play by Amukamara.  The back I was most impressed with was Mendoza.  I remember watching him at last years spring game thinking he looked small and didn’t show any of the quickness that Callahan had said he possessed.  Well about 20 pounds and a year later Mendoza showed what he is all about.  He isn’t a between the tackle kind of back, but when he gets past you on the outside, not many will catch him.  I though he ran well outside and showed some explosiveness after catching the ball.  With 4 really good backs anda couple more coming in August, Coach Beck will have some unbelievable depth at RB next year.

HOT OR HYPED?

There has been an electric buzz around NU football since Tom Osborne and Bo Pelini were brought back to Nebraska for the sole purpose of “Restoring the Order”.  The practice reports of player’s high praise andstories of the defense flying around all over the place combined with hearing about Helu’s long run and Cody Glenn’s emergence at linebacker really worked up a frenzy among NU faithful.  I wanted to go to the spring game to confirm with my eyes my inner desire for a complete turnaround of this program.  I just don’t know if I saw that on Saturday.  All week long people were complaining about ticket prices and the demand of them for a “practice”.  This really did have the feel of a practice.  Bo Pelini and Mike Ekeler stood on the field lining people up, there was no live punt or kick-off return game, and many times the offense didn’t get the play started until the play clock had expired.  Outside of Gilleylen’s long bomb, it was mostly short and secure passes.  I am not trying to sound negative or say that I was’t impressed, I guess I was just expecting more.  I believed the hype.  These coaches are going in the right direction and I do have to remind myself that they haven’t been in Lincoln that long.  Am I alone on this or did anyone else get the same feeling coming away that I did? 

[Game Stats courtesy of Huskers.com]

Nebraska’s first spring game under new coach Bo Pelini drew a school-record crowd of 80,149, with some tickets reportedly selling for upward of $100 early in the week.

According to Associated Press, the crowd was the second largest for a spring game in college football history behind the 92,138 that showed up at Alabama last spring.

I like to read some exciting copy with my Saturday morning coffee. Thanks to Omaha World Herald’s interest in in our offensive line, I got to do just that today.

Here’s senior guard Matt Slauson talking about sophomore guard Keith Williams.

“He’s just a physical guy. Just a big strong guy,” Slauson said. “He’s a bulldozer guy.

“I just love watching him play because he doesn’t necessarily need a lot of technique work because he’s so powerful. I mean, he just sends guys flying. Just the way his hips work and his shoulders work, every hit is like a huge explosion. Just so much force going up and out.”

Williams is competing with senior Mike Huff for the starting position at left guard. Whichever player wins the starting job is going to be a tough guy, and the very idea of Nebraska playing smash mouth football again, has me pumped.

Huskers.com is reporting that fewer than 8000 tickets remain for the spring game.  Ticket cost is $10 for reserved , $8 Adult GA and $4 Youth GA.  You can expect a sellout in the near future, so what are you waiting for?  I have mine, so go and get yours!  Husker Tickets

The Lincoln Journal Star is reporting that senior Cody Glenn has switched to defense and now will see time at linebacker.

According to Cody’s high school coach, Wayne Mahaffey, he did just fine back in Rusk, Texas.

“He was always very aggressive, a very sure tackler, always able to get to the ball very well.  I think this is something he can do that will help the team.  His statement to me was he just wants to play, he just wants to win, he wants a ring.  I don’t think it’s a move out of frustration at running back. I think it’s more a move out of the performance of the team last year, and he wants to do what he can to help.”

If he is healthy, this is a loss for the offensive side of the ball.  However, if he can be as aggressive on D as he was on offense, he might turn out just fine.  I am starting to like the thinking coming out of Lincoln nowadays, though.  Cody wants a ring and daddy just wants Nebraska back!