Thursday Report: 'Mature' Huskers Ready to Face USC

Callahan praises team's preparation, looks forward to a big recruiting weekend

The blaring practice horn - which sounds like that siren that halts play at a golf tournament for darkness, or lightning - brought whoops and yells from every corner of Memorial Stadium Thursday evening.

The last significant Nebraska football practice before the Cornhuskers' play USC on Saturday had just ended, and the clamor spoke to the emotion that lies underneath the calm exterior of NU's players.

Afterward, a relaxed Head Coach Bill Callahan said he looked forward to a rematch with a team that shares some similarities with his own.

"There's similarities but there's differences in style," Callahan said. "It's a matter of how you're going to open a game and who you're going to feature and the approach you're going to take.

It's always fascinating, the chess game involved, the game inside itself, so to speak. Watching it develop."

Callahan also praised the focus of his team this week, specifically in the way players geared up practice and didn't get too caught up in the media crossfire. Because of the rather conservative comments from players earlier in the week, it seemed as if Callahan had maybe gotten the team "on message" about the Trojans.

Nothing of the sort, Callahan insisted.

"This is a mature team," he said. "A team that has focus and concentrated effort. I've never put a muzzle on our football team, or an individual for that matter. They all have First Amendment, freedom of speech here. They can converse, they can talk. I have no problem with that."

Saturday also shapes up as a big recruiting day for the Huskers, as well. NU will host more than 30 prospective or verbally committed recruits for the USC game. Callahan said he likes having a night game under such circumstances, as it allows high school players to travel to Lincoln, bang around the Tom and Nancy Osborne Athletic Complex, talk shop with coaches and players, then see some nightlife with the team after the game.

"I think the recruits will be excited to be around our players, to catch that vibe, not only on the field, but off the field," Callahan said.

 

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