Tuesday notebook: Lightbourn handling change at punter like a pro

It’s never easy telling a starting player that he’s being pulled from the game.

For junior punter Caleb Lightbourn, that’s what he was faced with after being replaced by walk-on Isaac Armstrong this past Saturday at Wisconsin.

When Armstrong replaced Lightbourn, on his first punt he boomed the ball down the field. When the play was over, Lightbourn was as excited as anyone.

“It was a pretty cool thing to watch a kid go in like that, not expecting to have to kick, getting an opportunity and then responding,” special teams coordinator Jovan Dewitt said. “The cooler thing was to see Caleb come and celebrate with him after Isaac hit that big one. That was a good thing, that breads some good culture, so I’m excited about that.”

The other message the move of replacing Lightbourn with Armstrong sent is all jobs are open. We’ve seen now at multiple positions this season walk-ons like Kade Warner and Armstrong have replaced scholarship starters.

“I think every day, when there’s competition like there is, is it getting the job done or is it not? I think on that day we just felt like we had to give Isaac (Armstrong) an opportunity to go do it and he did, he did a good job,” Dewitt said.

“I think anybody that gets sat down at any given point in time is not going to be excited about it which is good, which I’m fine with. We were actually just after practice getting some extra work in. (Lightbourn) is a competitor, he wants to compete, he wants to have every opportunity to go out there and get the job down and he understands it, if he’s not getting the job done, that he gets replaced.

"I think like anybody that’s an athlete in any situation, they want to have more opportunities to do better and I think he has embraced that.”

Another position where Dewitt has chosen to play a walk-on over a scholarship player is at long snapper.

The past few weeks Chase Urbach replaced junior long snapper Jordan Ober. The decision was made for a variety of reasons.

“I felt like at the time Jordan came in with the role, but we thought that Chase was going to be in constant competition for it,” Dewitt said. “Then, at the end of the day, we needed somebody that could actually help cover a little bit better down the field and we felt like that Chase gave us a little bit better coverage opportunity.”

- Sean Callahan

Looking beyond the lopsided final scores of Nebraska’s losses at Michigan and Wisconsin this season, the manner in which those offenses had their way against NU’s defense has stuck out as much as anything for Erik Chinander.

The first-year defensive coordinator said those games, in particular, showed just how far away the Blackshirts were to being physically capable enough to go head-to-head with the true power running games of the Big Ten Conference.

Michigan ran the ball 45 times for 285 yards, while Wisconsin wore down the Huskers for a whopping 370 yards on 48 carries, much of which coming in the fourth quarter.

“I don’t have concerns for our team going forward; I have concerns as to how far our team has a long way to go,” Chinander said. “Football-wise we have a long way to go, strength and conditioning-wise we’re going to catch up and be able to beat teams like Wisconsin and Michigan…

“Teams like that who are going to be physical and run the ball, we’ve got a long way to go in all those aspects.”

- Robin Washut

Nebraska’s front seven should be a lot deeper this week at Northwestern. All signs point to both outside linebacker Tyrin Ferguson and defensive lineman Deontre Thomas returning on Saturday.

Both players practiced on Monday and Tuesday, and senior linebacker Mohamed Barry said they are excited to get Ferguson back.

“He looks good, and I think we’ll have him back,” Barry said. “It’s always tough this time of the season. A lot of players get banged up, but it’s next man up mentality. Alex (Davis) came in and filled in while he was out.”

Having another guy to play on the outside will go a long way. NU had to primarily play both Davis and Luke Gifford the entire game on Saturday, with Caleb Tannor also taking some snaps at outside linebacker.

“I think anytime you get more depth, it’s going to be good for you,” Dewitt said. “I think he’s going to bring a little bit of consistency for us. He’s been in the chaos a couple of times, and a lot of times when you have to play some younger guys that are guys that haven’t had as many game reps, the chaos of a game and the situation of things changing on the fly and halftime adjustments sometimes takes over a little bit in their mind.

"So, when you’ve got a guy like (Ferguson) that’s able to calm the situation down it helps everybody out.”

- Sean Callahan

There were two seemingly positive plays for Nebraska’s defense that actually bothered Chinander in a big way during the loss at Wisconsin.

In his mind, pass breakups by safety Antonio Reed and cornerback Cam Taylor should have been interceptions. While PBUs are obviously still good, the Huskers now have 22 defended passes compared to just two interceptions on the year.

Until those types of plays start turning into game-changing turnovers, Chinander said, the Huskers’ defense won’t be able to reach its full potential.

“Right now we’re OK with knocking balls down,” Chinander said. “I felt like Antonio Reed had a shot to make another pick. I felt like Cam Taylor could have made a pick when he made a good break on the ball.

“We’re celebrating after a knocked down pass. Passes aren’t supposed to get knocked down; they’re supposed to get intercepted. We’ve got to be disappointed with a knockdown and mad that we didn’t get the pick.”

- Robin Washut

There hasn’t been a whole lot to celebrate through five games of Nebraska’s football season. However, Barry senses things are different now from where they were just a few weeks ago despite the team’s winless record.

Barry says no one on the team likes to lose and while they’re feeling the pressure mount as the losses add up he’s seeing positive changes within the team as they know what needs to be fixed.

“Of course, you don’t like losing,” Barry said. “This is Nebraska, this is a great place to play football and all the fans – it is a weight (on your shoulders), I would say. I just can’t wait to win a game.

“We understand as a team we have to be more disciplined and we have to hone in on our keys and our assignments and our alignments. That’s what has hurt us in these past few games. So that’s the biggest thing. We know we have the effort now and it’s not that we don’t play with passion and fire, but I think it’s just like we have to be more disciplined as a team.”

Nebraska has seen a lot of players leave its program since last January including two transfers that occurred just last week.

Barry says he wishes his former teammates nothing but the best, but also feels as if the most recent departures were almost needed in order for the team to come together and take a collective take a step forward.

“Nothing against those guys that left, but I just felt like we knew there were certain guys that were not bought in,” Barry said about the recent transfers. “To see that some of those guys left I think is a good thing because the team can move on from there. We have had a lot of people since January that have left and the people here now is a team. We’re together from here on out.”

- Nate Clouse

***Chinander said he and his staff needed to find ways to prepare the defense better during the week for physical, run-heavy offenses like Wisconsin and Michigan. He said they don’t have personnel like that right now on their scout team, so the coaches needed to find other ways to give the defense better looks.

***Chinander said the depth at inside linebacker was obviously a concern right now, but the good news was that not only were backups like Jacob Weinmaster and Collin Miller getting more reps this week, they were also taking reps at both ILB spots. That way they both can sub in at either position to help give NU a four-man rotation at both spots.

***Defensive lineman Deontre Thomas also returned to practice this week but had his hand heavily wrapped. Thomas said he still hasn’t been cleared to play on Saturday but is hopeful he will.

***Dewitt said any time Maurice Washington has the ball in his hands he was “different” from most any other player on the roster. That’s why they’re getting him more involved in kickoff returns.

***Nebraska practiced in the indoor facility on Tuesday, but the coaches said they would be out on the grass practice field “rain or shine” on Wednesday.

***Former Chadron State and NFL standout running back Danny Woodhead was in attendance for Tuesday’s practice. After the session, he chatted with his arm around NU running back Wyatt Mazour.

***Defensive line coach Mike Dawson said the play Khalil Davis made on a screen pass tackle vs. Wisconsin was one of the best individual efforts he’d seen from one of his players. Dawson said the instincts and athleticism Davis showed on that play were absolutely perfect.

***Inside linebackers coach Barrett Ruud said he feels like Dedrick Young has played OK this season, and the mistakes Young has made this year are more Ruud’s fault than anyone. Ruud said he needed to do a better job of getting his guys more prepared.

***Ruud said Will Honas was really taking his season-ending knee injury hard. Ruud said his advice to Honas was to stay around the team as much as possible because he knows rehab can get lonely at times.