LINCOLN - On a Sunday night humid enough that a light haze hovered above the practice field, Nebraska's No. 1 offense started its final showdown against the No. 1 defense with a nifty screen pass.
That quarterback Tommy Armstrong promptly threw right into the hands of linebacker Michael Rose-Ivey.
Later in the team period, NU called a play that sent receivers up the field. Armstrong overthrew one wideout while missing another - Brandon Reilly - who was open in the seam. Coach Mike Riley tossed up his hands in frustration.
It was the Huskers' fourth straight practice in training camp. A fourth straight day of installing Riley and coordinator Danny Langsdorf's offense. The defense brought blitzes. It was a tough test so early in camp for an offense in transition.
Armstrong just wished he and the other quarterbacks measured up a little better.
"They kind of told us it was going to be like this and they wanted us to respond in the right way, and I don't think we did," Armstrong said. "We let them down a little bit. I could tell we let Coach Langsdorf down a little bit."
Said Langsdorf: "It's kind of the dog days of training camp. There's been some good moments, some good periods, at times, and then not so good. Some rough spots."
When asked which spot is roughest, Langsdorf pointed right at Nebraska's struggles to complete deep passes. Over the 21⁄2-hour practice outside the Hawks Center, it became clear Nebraska still has work to do there.
All four quarterbacks - Armstrong, Ryker Fyfe, AJ Bush and Zack Darlington - struggled to identify open receivers down the field. Once they did, they often threw poor passes to those receivers.
More than once, Reilly blasted past his coverage assignment. More than once, it didn't amount to much. Several receivers were slowed later with cramps or other ailments, which didn't help. Several experienced walk-ons - who know the offense better than some of the newcomers - were filling in by the end of practice with the top offense.
"We haven't made a lot of big plays downfield with completions," Langsdorf said. "We've got to get better there. We're rolling a lot of receivers. Some guys have different speeds, our landmarks have been off a little bit. We've overthrown some. Or thrown it wide. Or underthrown it. Or they've been dropped. There's been a lot of stuff."
Armstrong framed the struggles as an accuracy issue.
"We just have to put the ball on the money," he said. "We're trying to fix that."
Langsdorf said Nebraska has been better at the "quicks" - or shorter routes - in camp. And the running game - which still has some zone read elements to it, combined with Riley's staple fly sweep - appears to be coming along well. Several long runs were broken in practice, including one by Armstrong.
But when the quarterbacks had to deal with blitzes and more extended passing routes, they were either throwing into tight windows or eluding a strong pass rush from the top defense. Defensive coordinator Mark Banker mixed in some blitzes.
"He's gotten fooled a couple times on some disguises," Langsdorf said of Armstrong. "But our defense does that well. Coach Banker and the defense, they do a great job of mixing up looks, so it makes it hard, which is good for us. It'll help us during the season."
Nebraska gets a day off Monday. Captains voted to watch a movie at a theater, but Armstrong also plans to get in some of his own film watching during the first four days of practice, so he can recap all of the offense NU has already installed.
"We're meeting a lot - meeting as much as we can, making sure we're staying on top of our playbook," Armstrong said. "It stinks to come out here and not know what you're doing. You can tell when you know what you're doing and when you don't."
↧