For the first time since last Saturday, Marlon Lucky was able to suit up and participate in practice on Thursday. Lucky suffered a slight concussion at Saturday's practice and had been held out as a precaution.

{mosimage}Just seeing Lucky back suited up was a moral boast to the Huskers, especially the backfield, as they have been down to a converted defensive back and 3 freshmen for the past week. Outside of Lucky and Glenn, the I-backs include sophomore Major Culbert and true freshmen Marcus Mendoza, Quentin Castille and Roy Helu. Offensive coordinator Shawn Watson said he was impressed by how Jordan has handled the newcomers.

Also of note, running back coach Randy Jordan was seen after practice running Prince Amukamara, a freshman cornerback, through some drills with quarterback Zac Lee. But Amukamara did not practice at I-back, and Jordan dodged any questions about that being a future possibility. Amukamara also has been spotted catching punts, catching kickoffs and now catching passes. This bears watching and is an intriguing situation, as Amukamara was named the Arizona Republic's state athlete of the year this past season. In his final two seasons at Apollo High in Glendale Arizona, Amukamara recorded a stunning 50 touchdowns, while averaging 11.9 yards per carry.

All of the players seemed to have a "bounce in their step" as they had been given the day off Wednesday after 10 straight days of practice. Which speaking of practice; on Friday the Huskers held a 55-play scrimmage with the main focus being on the running game with all the new-comers getting the bulk of the work due to the situation with Lucky and Glenn.

In regard to the defensive side of the ball for Friday Cortney Grixby commented "We were a lot fresher today," about Wednesdays off day, "It helped out a lot. Everybody got their feet back under them, got rested and basically kind of refocused."

"You could tell we missed a day of practice, but the kids worked hard and had a lot of fun," defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove said. "There was a lot of energy out there."

Four freshman linebackers might want to be at their best this weekend.
Cosgrove said that he was pleased with the play of Latravis Washington, Blake Lawrence, Thomas Grove and Austin Stafford. Cosgrove said he'll decide early next week on which of the four will figure into the mix for playing time this season.

"I don't think there's any question in my mind that all four of them have the ability to play and contribute in some manner," Cosgrove said. "We'll continue to evaluate through the weekend and see where we are after that."

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