Injury Updates: Marques Buford, DeShon Singleton, Billy Kemp, Nouri Nouili

Before Matt Rhule takes his Nebraska football team up to East Lansing this weekend, the Huskers coach met with the media for his weekly lightning round press conference on Thursday.

Here are the three biggest takeaways from his 10-plus minutes at the mic, including a slew of injury updates:

As everyone around these parts is well aware of, the Huskers have been the walking wounded this season on both sides of the ball. At least one reinforcement is on the way on defense, though, while another 2023 breakout Blackshirt is still on the mend, and a pair of offensive players are making good strides.

Marques Buford Jr. has been coming along nicely in terms of his health and recovery stemming from the season-ending lower-body injury he suffered on the second snap against Wisconsin in late November last year. Rhule said on Monday that Buford was trending in the right direction but that his availability for the Michigan State game would depend on how his body felt the day after Tuesday's practice and how his body reacted the day after Wednesday's practice.

On Thursday, Rhule said those two days of practice went well for Buford, the safety felt good the next day after both sessions, and he'll be traveling with the team to East Lansing and will be available for his first snaps of the season against Michigan State.

“A lot of it will depend on the game, but he’s cleared, so he’s ready to go. I was really pleased (with his progress), " Rhule said. "Obviously, he won’t start, we’ll play with the guys we’ve been playing, but he’s ready to go in there.”

On the other end of the health spectrum, things are not going as well for a fellow standout safety in the Huskers' secondary.

Singleton, who was one of the team's breakout players over the offseason and the season's first four games, went down on the first series of the game against Michigan on Sept. 30 with a lower-body injury. It was not a season-ending injury, but Rhule followed up two days later with news that Singleton would be out "for an extended period of time."

That's where things still stand now going into Week 10.

“DeShon came back to practice, and it didn’t go real well so he’ll be out an extended amount of time, still," Rhule said.

On offense, an MCL injury to starting slot receiver Kemp was not as serious as it initially looked when he went down against Northwestern. He avoided a long-term injury, and Rhule said things are trending in the right direction with Kemp, who will travel with the team this weekend and go through pregame work. He may not play against the Spartans, but if he does then it will be in a limited capacity.

“Billy’s not cleared yet, but he’s made remarkable progress," Rhule said. "We’ll warm him up for the game, so maybe he’ll have some sort of impact on the game. But a lot of that will depend on the next couple of days. Probably more next week (is when he'll be available), but we are gonna travel Billy to make sure he gets that treatment. And if he can do some things, we’ll use him.”

Nouili, the Huskers' starting right guard, is also doing well and could return to the field sooner than later if things keep heading in the same direction that they have been.

“Nouri’s coming along," Rhule said. "He’s battling, it’s good to have him out there. Nouri’s getting better, trying to work his way back in. Turner (Corcoran) went in for surgery today, (Ethan) Piper was out at practice today on crutches with a brace on his hand.”