Fall Practice No. 7 – Quick Hits from special teams coordinator Ed Foley

Nebraska's special teams coordinator Ed Foley stepped to the podium on Monday following the Huskers' seventh practice of fall camp.

Before Foley arrived, it was defensive backs coach Evan Cooper who spoke with the media. Here are Cooper's quick hits.

Here are the quick hits from Foley:

Foley said it's a battle between Timmy Bleekrode and true freshman Tristan Alvano for the starting field goal kicker job. It's also a competition at kickoff specialist between Bleekrode, Alvano and punter Brian Buschini.

Bleekrode hit nine of his 12 field goal attempts last season and is trying to fend off Alvano, the star kicker from Omaha Westside who is here in Lincoln on scholarship.

Right now, though, Foley is careful to not ask too much of the kickers and wear out their legs.

"The fine-line this time of year is trying to not do too much in terms of getting a bunch of kickoffs and then having Brian punt, making sure he has his time off," Foley said. "So just trying to be smart about how we're separating all that. But I think Brian is going to be our starting punter, I don't think there's any secret about that.

"But the kicking job I see as something that's going to extend at least for the next couple weeks."

Foley said he'd love for one of the kickers to jump out and win the job, but that hasn't happened yet. Ideally, you'd like to have the winner know he's going to be the guy at Minnesota a full week beforehand.

"Right now I feel like I'm doing the best we can to prepare both guys," Foley said.

Foley said Buschini will the team's holder on field goal attempts.

>> RELATED: Fall Camp HQ: Inside Nebraska's coverage of the Huskers

Foley knew he needed to win the recruitment of Alvano when he watched Alvano drill five field goals in Omaha Westside's Class A state championship game against Gretna in Memorial Stadium last November.

But that was then. This is now.

Foley has been watching and judging Alvano since the kicker arrived this summer, and the coach sees the same guy he recruited.

"Making those kicks is really critical for him being here because I think that's one of the concerns you have for a young guy," Foley said. "I can tell you this: The moment is not too big for Tristan right now. So he's out here right now kicking and he doesn't look like he's a freshman, a deer in the headlights."

Foley said he's been coaching college ball for 35 years now, and he's seen so many times how competition is healthy for all the players involved. That includes Bleekrode, a fifth-year player and 23-year-old who is fighting to keep his job against a true freshman who just graduated high school.

"Whether I was coaching O-line, tight ends or now special teams, competition almost always is good for everybody," Foley said. "I'm really please with how those guys are pushing and supporting each other with Brian in the middle. It's a really good, fun room."

It's not surprising to see Kemp, the transfer receiver from Virginia, mentioned by Foley as the one who will likely be the starting punt returner. Kemp was the first player in Virginia history to lead the team in punt return yards four straight seasons.

"I can tell you Billy Kemp is going to be our punt returner, or in the top group," Foley said. "Right now, Billy and IGC (Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda) are the guys on punt return. Some of the young guys are doing OK."

Foley said the kickoff return job isn't as far along as it is for punt return. He'll know more about who gets to return kickoffs once more full-contact practices are had.

"It's hard because we've only had the pads on for one day, so there's a part of that kickoff return job that's going to be like — we need to send some guys down there at them and see who's going to get up in there. There's kind of a fearless factor to that. But we have some guys who are catching it and tracking it pretty well. I think that job will be OK."

Nebraska recruited several speed demons in the 2023 class, such as Jaylen Lloyd, Brice Turner, Malachi Coleman and Eric Fields.

Foley didn't name names, but he's noticed some of the young guys with impressive track backgrounds showing up on special teams.

"I call it high-speed decision making. But you can't have high-speed decision making if you don't have high speed," Foley said. "So we have guys with high speed right now who are learning very quickly, but getting down the field very fast. So that's very good to see."

While Nebraska opens the season with two road games — Minnesota on Aug. 31 and Colorado on Sept. 9 — the Huskers have three straight home contests to end the month of September against Northern Illinois on Sept. 16, Louisiana Tech on Sept. 23 and Michigan on Sept. 30.

Foley will use Nebraska's home games as opportunities to see high school football in the state when he's able to.

"I would love to be able to get out to some of these places I've been to in the spring and in December and see what they're like on Friday night," Foley said. "It will be interesting to see what the opportunities are to do that — my No. 1 goal on Friday night is, how can I get the team ready and then go catch a game. So I don't know how far I can get or how that's all going to work schedule-wise, but after seeing some track meets in the central and western part of the state, I can only imagine what a Friday night football game is like."

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