Quentin Castille isn't going gray.

And Nebraska's junior I-back doesn't walk with a limp yet or collect any sort of retirement.

But the 6-foot-1, 235-pound Castille said he feels like the old man around the Husker huddle.

“I've been here forever,” he cracks.

Castille combines with fellow junior Roy Helu to give Nebraska a solid 1-2 punch in the backfield. Helu may get most of the first carries, but Castille will do his share, too. The big Texan has the most experience of anyone in the NU running back rotation, and is showing it.

“He's just really matured,” running backs coach Tim Beck said. “He's real focused right now. He's being a leader and he's been really mature and he's been handling things really well. He's become an unselfish player. He still knows his role.”

It's a bit of a different mindset for the old man entering camp this season. Castille, who was NU's second-leading rusher as a freshman, said he's still got that youthful enthusiasm that brings out the trademark smile.

“I understand things a lot more,” he said. “It's let me go out and just play the game. There's a lot less thinking about things.”

Castille ran for almost 500 yards a season ago, scoring six touchdowns. He capped the season with his best game as a Husker, a 125-yard day against Clemson in the Gator Bowl.

Beck said he enjoyed seeing Castille succeed.

“I kept telling him, ‘Work hard, it's going to pay off, you'll see. You're going to get your chance. You're going to get your chance,'” Beck said. “And he did in the Gator Bowl and he went out and had a great game. I think that kind of motivated him or made him feel like ‘You're right, Coach.'”

But the fumble bug bit a time or two more than the NU coaches would have liked over the course of his two seasons.

Over the offseason, Castille has had renewed focus on keeping the ball secured. Beck said he's seen the improvement, even calling his protection of the ball “real good.”

“I work on it all the time,” Castille said. “Every day in practice. I still catch myself swinging it a little bit. That's my running style, but I can't expose the ball all the time like that.”

Part of the improvement has been realizing that every play isn't a touchdown run. Beck said NU coaches have tried to get through to all of their backs that each carry has its own purpose. For his part, Castille said he's stopped “trying to break 10 tackles on every run.”

“Not every play is a 20-yard gain,” Beck said. “(Castille's) typically a guy if he lowers his pads and runs hard at his weight and his speed, he's going to get four yards if he wants it. It's just if he wants it.”

Castille stayed with family in Atlanta for a while this summer, getting away from the fishbowl that can be the life of a Nebraska football player.

A traffic violation and missed court date turned into a bench warrant that was recalled by a judge one day after it was issued. Castille said the time he spent in Atlanta was to “just clear my mind.”

“You either hate it or you love it,” he said about the attention in Lincoln. “I'm a human just like everyone else. I'm just a football player, too.”

Beck defended his back, pointing to the way Castille has handled his situations and the maturity he's gained through the process.

“Don't forget, they're still kids,” the coach said. “We forget that (and) think they're machines. They've got tests and girl problems ... just like everybody else in the world. We want them to just focus strictly on football, and sometimes it's tough.”

With the season opener against Florida Atlantic in sight, what would his dream role for the first game of the year be?

“Something like 20 carries, 10 catches, a receiving touchdown,” Castille said.

Ten catches, huh?

“Coach said the check down is going to be big this year,” he said. “I mean, Marlon (Lucky) caught like 75 passes my freshman year, so I figure why not? OK, let's take it down to five catches.”

Contact the writer:

850-0781, nickrubek@hotmail.com

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