It's back to fall camp for the Nebraska football team this week.
In the first two practices since a 48-17 loss to Wisconsin, NU had practiced No. 1s vs. No. 1s for more than an hour. That was the Huskers' fall camp regimen, left tackle Yoshi Hardrick said.
Before this week, Hardrick said, Nebraska had been working what head coach Bo Pelini calls "good on good" for "probably 10 minutes."
"Scout teams go really hard, but they may not be in the right places a lot," Hardrick said. "We've been going 1s-on-1s trying to work on the little things. Technique. Finishing. Just playing a good group of guys for a whole practice."
It makes for a tiring workout. Both of NU's practices this week have run past 6 p.m.
"They don't want us to get complacent anymore," Hardrick said. "They want us to fight. We're going to be tired. We gotta push through it."
Center Mike Caputo, linebacker Lavonte David and quarterback Taylor Martinez were among the players exhorting teammates to finish the practice.
"We're just working on a few things, but it is what it is," Caputo said. "We got to get better. So I think the players understand we have a sense of urgency to get better."
Heard has infection
Pelini said Braylon Heard is questionable this week after missing the trip to Wisconsin because of an infection in his leg.
"It's just a matter of how long it takes the swelling to go down," Pelini said.
Heard, a freshman from Youngstown, Ohio, had rushed for 79 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries while playing in three of the Huskers' four nonconference games. He was replaced by Curenski Gilleylen on the 70-man travel squad last weekend.
Missing Buckeyes
Just as receiver DeVier Posey and tailback Daniel Herron were set to return to the Ohio State offense, word came Monday that the Buckeyes would be without the pair for another game.
NU defensive coordinator Carl Pelini said that doesn't change anything in the Huskers' defensive preparations.
"Truthfully, the team we've been breaking down for four weeks didn't have Posey and Herron, so we're kind of preparing against a team we've been watching on film," Pelini said Tuesday. "Now had they been playing, it might have made us look back a little more toward last year and see how they used those guys."
Ohio State also will be without receiver Verlon Reed, who suffered a torn ACL in the Michigan State game.
— Sam McKewon and Rich Kaipust
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