Freshman quarterback Adrian Martinez remained on track to potentially make his return this week at Michigan following Nebraska’s walk-thru practice, but no final decision on his availability for Saturday has been made yet.

After missing the Huskers’ loss to Troy with a knee injury he suffered vs. Colorado, Martinez has been able to practice all week and has reportedly made steady progress in his recovery.

Head coach Scott Frost said that continued again on Thursday but added that there was more involved in Martinez’s situation than just whether he could physically return to the football field.

“He’s further along,” Frost said of Martinez compared to where he was last week. “Again, it isn’t just ‘is he ready to go?’ It’s is he ready to go mentally and physically to the point where he can protect himself in the game and make sure that he stays healthy. So he’s really close. We’ve got to make a final decision.”

Frost said Martinez would go to Ann Arbor, Mich., as part of Nebraska’s 74-man travel roster, and further evaluation of his status would continue leading up until Saturday’s 11 a.m. kickoff.

Should Martinez end up being a last-minute scratch again, Frost said he expects sophomore backup Andrew Bunch to build upon and improve from his starting debut last week vs. Troy.

“Andrew’s going to keep getting better just like everyone else on our team,” Frost said. “That was his first-ever start, and there was some good and some bad. He’s got to keep improving like everybody else. The more reps he gets, the better he’ll get.”

Regardless of who is under center on Saturday, Frost anticipates Michigan’s defense to go after the quarterback early and often with a flurry of heavy blitz packages.

“They take away just about everything easy that should be there and then make you earn it,” Frost said of UM’s defense. “They’re going to play hard. I’m sure if we’re playing a young quarterback or a backup quarterback, they’ll be coming over the walls with blitzes, so we have to be ready for all that.”

- Robin Washut

A lot can be learned about how a team responds to the adversity of a 0-2 start, especially in a game that is both the first road trip and the conference opener of the season.

But while there is plenty to evaluate on how Nebraska performs on the field on Saturday, Frost said he would also be keeping a close eye on how the Huskers handle themselves in everything that happens before and after the game.

“There’s so many little things that we have to make sure are right culturally,” Frost said. “I remember when I first got here, (NU athletic director) Bill Moos talking to me about being on a road trip at the end of last year and getting off the plane and not ever in his life seeing a plane with so much trash left on the plane.

“It sounds like it shouldn’t matter in the game; those things matter. Because those are little things, when guys are attentive to do things right, little things are done right all the time, including in games. So we have a lot of lessons to continue to teach them.

“I’m sure there will be things that come up on a road trip that we’ll have to continue to teach here, but those things take a while, and it’s a process. We’ll fix those as they come up and we’ll worry about getting the team as ready as they can be to play this game.”

- Robin Washut

When the NCAA ruled that Ole Miss quarterback transfer Shea Patterson – along with several of his former teammates – would be immediately eligible this season, it immediately changed the perceived dynamic of Michigan’s offense in 2018.

But through the first three games of the year, Patterson’s impact has been somewhat held back.

The junior has completed an impressive 70.8 percent of his passes for an average of 9.1 yards per attempt, but he’s only thrown the ball an average of 21.7 times per game compared to 36 team rushes per contest.

In other words, while Patterson currently ranks as one of the most efficient passers in the Big Ten (he’s second in the league pass efficiency rating of 171.2), the Wolverines haven’t exactly cut him loose just yet.

As Nebraska prepares for its trip to Ann Arbor on Saturday, head coach Scott Frost and his staff are well aware of what Patterson can do once he fully clicks with Michigan’s offense.

“Any time you’re starting a guy that’s new to a system, and a new starter, it takes a little while,” Frost said. “You can see the talent there… Shea is good enough to play in any scheme, and we watched him when he was coming out of high school, and I thought he was exceptional in high school, so I know how good a player he is.

“It’s kind of like our guys starting games for the first time; it’s going to take them a little bit of time to get comfortable enough with everything to be as good of players as they can be. I have no doubt he’ll get there.”

Patterson committed to Ole Miss in 2016 as a five-star prospect who was ranked the No. 1 dual-threat quarterback in the country. However, he’s only rushed the ball 13 times for a net total of minus-one yard.

Inside linebackers coach Barrett Ruud said Michigan seems to have relied more on Patterson’s arm than his legs so far this season, but the Huskers are still preparing for his ability not only as a pure runner but for how he can move out of the pocket and extend pass plays with his mobility.

“Coach (Jim) Harbaugh does a good job with their movement passes, bootlegs,” Ruud said. “They are a really good bootleg team, which is another play that I wouldn’t say is non-existent, but you don’t see bootlegs like you used to.

“They have that old-school West Coast concept where you have a good supply of bootlegs and (Harbaugh) has always been a good quarterback coach. The quarterback knows where to go with the ball.”

- Robin Washut

Michigan’s defense has elite weapons at all three levels, but none may present more all-around problems than inside linebacker Devin Bush.

Bush's blend of speed, athleticism, and physicality make him the prototype of the new era of linebackers.

He's tough enough to play the run and rush the passer - as proven by his 102 total tackles and 9.5 sacks last season - and he's also fast enough to drop into coverage as a hybrid defensive back.

That versatility has his stock soaring entering his junior season, as the returning first-team All-Big Ten selection and third-team All-American is listed as the No. 1 linebacker and the No. 10 overall draft prospect by NFL.com for 2018.

Through the first three weeks of the season, Bush has graded out as the No. 24 overall linebacker in all of college football at 84.4 per Pro Football Focus. With two sacks and five quarterback hurries on the year, he also owns the No. 14 pass rush grade at the position (82.8).

“Man, he’s got everything,” Nebraska offensive coordinator Troy Walters said. “Fast, physical, explosive, smart; he knows exactly based on formations what you’re going to run. He plays with relentless effort, so he’s always around the ball. He’s physical, so we need to make sure that we’ve got a hat on him and he’s accounted for.”

- Robin Washut

***Frost said safety Aaron Williams had played well enough to earn a Blackshirt this week but reiterated that no Blackshirt was considered an automatic season-long honor.

“These Blackshirts that are handed out, they’re not bought; they’re rented," Frost said. "It’s a week-to-week thing, and they’ve got to continue earning it.”

***Frost said he’s never going to try and get his teams to rally behind the role of being the underdog.

“We’re going to be underdogs in quite a few games this year, so I’m not going to tell the guys they’re not as good as the other team," Frost said. "I’m not going to embrace that at all. I’m just want to go out and play as hard as we can and fight and be better than we were last week, regardless of who we’re playing.”

***Frost said there were no extra challenges in pairing down the roster to the 74-man limit for Big Ten road games because it wasn’t much different than what they do for home games.

***Asked about what Tyjon Lindsey needed to do to make a bigger impact, Frost said he’s never going to call out one player. He said Lindsey was like a lot of guys who needed “more desire to be perfect” and had no doubt Lindsey and everyone else would get there.

***Frost said there were no new season-ending injuries to report.