Nebraska Freshmen Lenhardt and Doss Expected to Play Against Illinois
After sitting out two games with an ankle injury, freshman defensive lineman Cam Lenhardt will play when Nebraska squares off Friday night with Illinois.
Available for the first time will be freshman receiver Jaidyn Doss, whose broken arm forced him to miss the first five games of the season.
Those were the injury updates from Nebraska head football coach Matt Rhule as he spoke to reporters before Wednesday evening's practice. The Huskers are traveling to Illinois for a Friday night game that is going on as scheduled after a two-alarm fire Tuesday night at Illinois' Memorial Stadium.
Rhule said Illinois defensive lineman Jer'Zhan "Johnny" Newton will be a high pick in the NFL draft and is someone you need to game-plan around. But you can't do that at the expense of making things easy for any of his cohorts on the D-line.
"Their scheme, because they play with five down linemen basically 90 percent of the time, creates five one-on-ones," Rhule said. "So you have to win five blocks and they have to win just one pass rush, or one run block, to have a successful play. So it's a real challenge."
The Huskers are trying to bounce back from a 45-7 loss Saturday to Michigan.
"The way we've worked this week," Rhule said, "I think guys are hopefully just pretty much locked in on tonight's practice and tomorrow morning, and then getting up there and playing a good game."
It is Nebraska's third road trip in a season that started with games at Minnesota and Colorado. Rhule said it's important to bring your own energy, especially to a road game. "We created a lot of energy Sunday night [at practice] when no one was watching," he said. "We created a lot of energy yesterday morning, and we'll have to do that Friday night.”
Scroll past the video for more from Rhule's press conference Wednesday. Refresh this page to see the latest additions. Asterisk indicates item may require a subscription. | HuskerMax discussion
Coverage
- Husker247 | Wednesday quick hits from Rhule: On creating your own energy, a young WR to make the trip, Lenhardt's back
- Inside Nebraska | Everything Matt Rhule said in final pre-Illinois presser
- On3 | Rhule shares impressions of Illinois' Johnny Newton
- Nebraska Athletics | Rhule Meets With Media on Wednesday
- Omaha World-Herald* | Matt Rhule is focusing on Nebraska's game at Illinois — and ignoring bye week that follows
- Omaha World-Herald* | Nebraska football must bring its own energy to Illinois
- Omaha World-Herald* | From a ‘micro level,’ Nebraska seeing strides in player development
- Lincoln Journal Star* | Princewill Umanmielen already making an impact, changing positions
From the other side
- WCIA-TV | Illinois-Nebraska football game will be played Friday night after fire at Memorial Stadium
- Champaign News-Gazette* | Illini football quick hits, Nebraska game week
- The Champaign Room | Illini are ‘learning from yesterday’s mistakes and turning the page’
- Illini Inquirer | Illini football notebook: Game on vs. Nebraska despite stadium fire; Gesky, Crisler 'questionable' for Friday
