Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini confirmed Wednesday that reserve running back Collins Okafor had left the football team.

Okafor, a redshirt freshman, buried on the depth chart, probably as low as sixth. He was working with NU's scout team through Tuesday. The 6-foot-1, 225-pounder rushed for 79 yards and a touchdown in the Red/White Spring Game. An Omaha Westside product, he rushed for 3,375 yards during his last two seasons of high school.

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The kids just keep back to school earlier and earlier it seems, doesn’t it? Strange that, right in the middle of the dog days of summer, you’ll have some 8-year-old trudging with his backpack into a hot school, hoping his lunch doesn’t melt in his metal lunchbox over on the food rack.

It’s really no different for college football teams, either, as Nebraska enters fall camp this Saturday, conducting nearly a month’s worth of practice before the first game, vs. Florida Atlantic, on Sept. 5.

Here’s five offensive questions as we enter the camp. For five more bonus questions, click here.

We know quarterback Zac Lee has the physical tools. Now – can he lead?

Lee presumably spent the summer cementing his relationship with Husker skill players and potentially treating his offensive linemen to a treat or two. In fall camp, does he emerge as a guy the offense looks to in tight spots, or does he defer to some of the more senior linemen? Clearly, the Husker offense no longer has Joe Ganz. But Lee has to leave his own imprint on the position.

Is [url=http://www.huskerlocker.com/blogs/browse/t/search/official/y/tag/niles paul]Niles Paul[/url] ready to step up and break out?

Our ears perked up a little when NU running back [url=http://www.huskerlocker.com/blogs/browse/t/search/official/y/tag/roy helu]Roy Helu[/url], Jr., mentioned at [url=http://www.huskerlocker.com/blogs/browse/t/search/official/y/tag/big 12 media days]Big 12 Media Days[/url] that Paul was Nebraska’s best receiverby far. Really? This wasn’t the guy we saw in 2008 running stop and curl routes, was it? Apparently, Paul’s going to be a deep threat this year, running the routes he wanted to run last year, and we’ll find out just how skilled and explosive a player he is.

Paul also has the ability to be a gifted leader, if he so chooses. He’s well-liked and has a strong personality. Does he become a vocal guy in 2009, or does he let the play do the talking?

Can Ricky Henry master the right guard position and win the job?
For Lee’s sake – and Nebraska’s sake – you’d hope so, as Henry’s emergence would allow Jacob Hickman to stay at center. Hickman probably projects to guard at the next level, but he should be much improved as the center this year – if Henry can win the job. Word is Henry’s plenty tough and physical – it’s just a matter of getting the offense and techniques down pat.

Two or three running backs?

Position coach Tim Beck seems to prefer three, but Helu and [url=http://www.huskerlocker.com/blogs/browse/t/search/official/y/tag/quentin castille]Quentin Castille[/url] are hungry for carries and plenty capable of carrying the load themselves. Will Beck and [url=http://www.huskerlocker.com/blogs/browse/t/search/official/y/tag/shawn watson]Shawn Watson[/url] allow for that to happen, or will the third running back see 5-10 touches per game, as was the trend in 2008? If so, who is the third running back? Lester Ward? Austin Jones? Collins Okafor? One of the freshmen?

Does the Wats Coast Offense change at all to fit the personnel?

Lee’s a fast guy, and a good runner. Nebraska now has more speed at the wide receiver position with [url=http://www.huskerlocker.com/blogs/browse/t/search/official/y/tag/marcus mendoza]Marcus Mendoza[/url] and Tim Marlowe. Does Watson try some wide receiver sweeps, more option, more zone read with QB keeps? Or does he keep what was ultimately a pass-heavy offense under Ganz? We suspect Watson has a few tricks up his sleeve, and we won’t see all of them until the Missouri game that opens Big 12 play.

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Close the book on the 2009 spring season for Nebraska football. Smile at the positives NU took out of these four weeks, while being mindful of all the Cornhuskers must do before the Sept. 5 game vs. Florida Atlantic.

The Red/White Spring Game was a kind of final exam for spring, but not one of those final exams that was worth, say, 50 percent of a player’s grade. Head coach Bo Pelini and his staff had already completed most of their evaluations by Saturday, and had done so by conducting some of the longest – and reportedly toughest – this side of Kansas State’s Bill Snyder. And we all know what kind of workaholic that guy is.

“Let me tell you, it was a long, physical spring,” Pelini said. “The practices were long; the practices were physical. The competition was there. I think we’re a deeper football team because we have more guys that know what’s being asked of them. We’re nowhere near being a finished product and we’re nowhere near being game-ready. But we made a lot of strides in a lot of areas."

Why’d Pelini do it? Well, mental toughness and stamina is part of the man’s signature. It’s why the Huskers got better in the second half of games last year. It’s why NU busted wide open a close Kansas game, survived an upset-minded Colorado and came back on Clemson, Baylor and Texas Tech. Those second-half performances were forged in the heat of practice, when players wanted to give less, and Pelini wouldn’t allow it.

He still didn’t allow it this spring. And his assistants – even a mild-mannered bloke like Shawn Watson – got in on the act, too.

What did we learn? That Zac Lee says the right things, and he throws a decent ball, too. That Roy Helu is such a valuable commodity that he can sit out the final two weeks of spring because he’s already dazzled the coaches enough. That Ndamukong Suh has a great motor. That NU might have some great young talent on defense, but not all of those guys are quite ready.

We learned that smart kids, like Niles Paul, make poor decisions just like smart adults. We learned that former starters like Phillip Dillard sometimes have to begin again, at the back of the line. We learned that Alex Henery just might have the most golden foot in the Big 12 – and maybe college football.

And we learned, once more, that while it’s only practice, it’s a nice little fix of Husker football to tide us over for May, June, July and half of August. On with the review.

Five Guys We Loved

Defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh: Suh didn’t take off the spring game. Didn’t take off a single play, for that matter. He fought center Jacob Hickman and right guard Ricky Henry, got across their faces a couple of times and even made a spectacular tackle of formidable Quentin Castille for a loss.

“Suh’s the kind of guy where, if you don’t do the right thing, he’ll beat you,” center Jacob Hickman said. “And guys were a little overanxious, not doing the right footwork, attacking him the wrong way.”

Suh looked every bit of the nation’s best defensive tackle.

Wide receiver Chris Brooks: Offensive coordinator Shawn Watson didn’t want to make too much out of “just a couple of catches” in the game, even though several of them were quite good, and caught off of the rocket arm of Latravis Washington.

What impressed us more about Brooks was his hustle on a punt that he and Lester Ward downed at the one-yard line. Brooks has been in the program for five years, and he’s still willing to make that kind of effort on a punt in the middle of a glorified scrimmage, you at least know that, next year, he can be a locker room guy and a dependable third or fourth option. And maybe more than that.

Left guard Keith Williams: The junior big man battled No. 1 defensive tackle Jared Crick most of the day, and won more scrums than he lost. A quiet guy who occasionally flashes immense talent, Williams, according to coaches and teammates, seems to have pulled alongside Jacob Hickman as the best offensive lineman.

“You want to be playing on their side of the line of scrimmage, and you want to keep the quarterback clean,” offensive line coach Barney Cotton said. “I saw some good things from him out there. He put in an honest day’s worth of work. It was great to see when the white team came out with an eight-minute drive.”

Running back Collins Okafor: A good day, really, from all of the NU running backs, as Castille looked faster and more agile, Lester Ward showed off wiggle and hustle, and Austin Jones looks like a Cory Ross guy, a change-of-pace option. But Watson was happiest for Okafor, a player who had struggled to pick up the offense this spring, but made it click over the last week, and especially on Saturday.

It’s not hard to see Okafor’s natural talent. Just like he did at Omaha Westside, Okafor has a real gift in the open field, able to shift directions and accelerate at the same time. For him, it’s about seeing the hole, picking up his feet and finding the second level. When he does it, look out. If it sounds a lot like Marlon Lucky, well, there’s some of that. Lucky had pretty great hands, but Okafor is faster.

Overall, though, you have to like NU’s running back situation. Ward was better than I thought, and Jones wasn’t bad. Castille, already a threat, just keeps adding to his game. Throw the best of the bunch, Roy Helu, into the mix, and NU can give Oklahoma and Oklahoma State a run for their money in the backfield.

All of the tight ends: OK, OK, this is clearly about six or seven guys, including Mike McNeill, Dreu Young, Ben Cotton, Kyler Reed and Mychael McClure, but they collectively deserve the honor, as Ron Brown’s group flashed potential and production in equal measure. Husker fans already knew what McNeill and Young brought to the table, and they didn’t disappoint. But the young pups made the future of this position look bright until, oh, the next presidential election. We’ll take it.

Three Concerns We Have

Inconsistency at linebacker: Part of what makes him such a skilled recruiter and communicator is that linebackers coach Mike Ekeler wears his heart on his sleeve. On Saturday, he might have been a little too hard on himself by labeling his unit’s play “poor” – we saw some pretty good flashes out of Sean Fisher, Matt May, Will Compton and Colton Koehler – but he knows the unit is a work in progress.

Too many tight ends were open underneath coverage, and Watson exploited it over and over to give his quarterbacks confidence. Yeah, sometimes a tight end be might a check down guy who’s the last option remaining. But some of those tight ends were 10, 15 yards down the field. It’s either a safety or a linebacker with responsibility there.

The wild card remains Phillip Dillard. He played OK Saturday. Whiffed on one Lester Ward run, but stuck a few backs in the hole a couple times, too. Dillard isn’t going to climb the depth chart until he turns in a strong summer of conditioning and leadership. If he does that, and comes into fall camp at the right weight, Ekeler will likely give Dillard a long, good look.

Lingering doubt on the offensive line: Both the Red and White offensive lines opened holes and protected their respective quarterback – at times. On other occasions, especially with the Red unit early in the game, we were left scratching our heads a little. Nebraska’s going to face some solid defensive ends and tackles this year.

Mediocre Meno: Menelik Holt was supposed to be the heir apparent to Mo Purify and Nate Swift. But, by his own admission, Holt could have had a better spring and, on Saturday, Brooks Bell and even Wes Cammack stole the spotlight. Holt was a non-factor, and he was well covered. Was that NU’s defense, or Holt’s inability to get open? Holt is still a good blocker and leader and all that. But is he dynamic?

Reviewing the Five Keys

Why Safe May = Sorry: We thought it’d be best if NU’s offensive playcalling, while vanilla, still took advantage of some personnel advantages. After playing a little too safe with Zac Lee to start the game, Watson dialed up some nice zone-busting pass plays and Lee responded nicely. We also liked that wide counter sweep Castille ran midway through the second quarter. The White defense didn’t see it coming.

Clean and efficient: A whistle-happy officiating crew didn’t exactly help things on Saturday – two pass interference penalties were either called on the wrong players, or simply bogus – but NU was a bit sloppy as the game wore on. A number of false starts, an illegal substation penalty, several holding calls on punt returns. Well, hey, it’s a practice.

Busting the defensive advantage: Just from this eye, it seemed like the top White defense was only entirely intact for the first two or three drives. Probably a good thing for the Red offense.

At any rate, NU coaches did a nice job of balancing out the process. The offense got some plays, and the defense did, too. And Lee’s touchdown toss to Wes Cammack was against Anthony West and Larry Asante. Cammack got inside West and Asante was too late getting to the over-the-top spot.

Young pups and unknowns: As we reviewed above, many of the young pups on offense looked a little better than the young pups on defense. They were put in better position to look good, mind you, but guys like Bell, Cotton, Reed, Brandon Thompson and others made me more optimistic about the young offensive talent than what I saw of the defensive guys, many of whom – save Fisher and P.J. Smith, who looked pretty comfortable – need work.

The Specials: Alex Henery looks like a good punter to us. Sign him up to start. On punt returns, Bell and speedy Tim Marlowe will give Pelini a lot to think about this summer. Both were fearless and fast.

Three Questions We Still Have for the Summer

How daring can Lee be in the fall? And we mean running the ball on zone read plays. That’s one thing it would have been hard for Watson and Lee to gauge this spring.

How much – if any – attrition and addition is there over the summer? It’s possible – although not necessarily certain – that Nebraska could drop a couple more players before the beginning of fall camp. NU could also be adding a guy like Robert Marve or now, apparently Greg Paulus, the former Duke point guard who wants to play one year of college football.

Does every nose stay clean, and which new leaders emerge? A two-for-one deal here, but both pertain to the same issue: Team chemistry. The Huskers need to stay way off the police blotter – and that’s not easy to do with a team of this size, but Pelini runs a fairly tight ship – while key guys develop as leaders. The offense especially needs somebody to stand alongside Jacob Hickman. Arrest and all, our money is still on the likable, smart Niles Paul. But Lee has to become “the guy” this summer in arranging workouts and conducting film study. It’s his team, and his time.

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After the Red's 31-17 win over the White, here's seven Huskers who impressed us on the red team:

Ben Cotton, tight end: Cotton had an adventuresome day. He missed an assignment on the Red’s first drive that led to a three-and-out and had a false start penalty. But Cotton also proved to be an excellent pass catcher, hauling in four passes for yards and a touchdown. This kid has so much all-around potential it’s scary. And NU’s got him for four years.

"Ben made several good catches," offensive coordinator Shawn Watson said. "He executed a route to detail and caught a touchdown pass."

Zac Lee, quarterback: He didn’t get much help from his offensive line for the first quarter or so, but once he got a little time, he made a few nifty plays, including a sweet little jump pass on a screen to Quentin Castille. His best throw of the day was his first touchdown, a 21-yarder to Marcus Mendoza in which he floated a ball over the head of Will Compton, who was sleeping in two-deep coverage. Lee wasn’t eye-popping. But he was solid.

Alfonzo Dennard, cornerback: Dennard looks like one of NU’s two kickoff returners, and he did a better-than average job at cornerback. Dennard had especially good coverage on Antonio Bell a couple times. And Bell’s going to be a stud. He also had a nice tackle on Stephen Osbourne in the second half.

Marcus Mendoza, wide receiver: A little guy like that, not afraid to go over the middle? We’ll take it. Mendoza made one terrific catch in the first half and nearly made another, had Lee thrown a better ball. We’ll like this kid out of the slot a couple times a game. Lee does, too, apparently.

Cameron Meredith, defensive end: Not a lot of tackles, but some serious push on the pass rush. Meredith is more physical than I expected he’d be.

"He's had a good spring," defensive ends coach John Papuchis said. "He's giving great effort."

P.J. Smith, safety: Smith was much like Will Compton on the white team. He made a few mistakes, but he was active and around the ball a lot. Five tackles in the game.

Collins Okafor, running back: Okafor reportedly has work to do to move up the depth chart. But he looked very good on Saturday, especially on a 33-yard touchdown run. Okafor has natural running talent. He changes direction and accelerates well. He has to improve vision, though.

"He did a really nice job," Watson said

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By the time Zac Lee finally got the play, the route and the read he had been looking for, he had to deal with something that’s typical of just about any Red/White Spring Game: A player slightly off assignment, out of position. Only this time it was linebacker Will Compton, right in front Lee’s perfectly lofted ball to receiver Marcus Mendoza near the goal line.

For Lee, it figured. The first two drives of his debut as NU’s top quarterback had been unceremonious three-and-outs, punctuated with a “phantom sack.” Seems a ref thought somebody touched Lee’s emerald green jersey for a half second while Lee stood in the pocket.

Meanwhile, White team quarterback Latravis Washington had already spearheaded two scoring drives – helped greatly by good hands of receivers Chris Brooks and Antonio Bell - leading his bunch to a 10-0 lead. The White looked surprisingly in control.

Finally, the junior from San Francisco got some breathing room on the third drive. And as he watched his pass float toward Mendoza, he wondered, why was Compton so close to it? Mendoza wasn’t his man.

“Will was a lot deeper than I would have liked,” Lee said. “The ball was close to being tipped.”

But it wasn’t, as it landed right over Compton’s hands and into Mendoza’s waiting arms. It was first of three Lee touchdown passes, and the first six of the Red’s 31 consecutive points in a 31-17 victory over White Saturday in front of more than 77,000 fans who enjoyed a sunny, warm day at Memorial Stadium.

For the game, Lee completed 15 of 18 passes for 214 yards. He also threw touchdowns to tight end Ben Cotton (24 yards, on a similar route over the middle) and Wes Cammack (42 yards, with a perfectly thrown pass in between cornerback Anthony West and Larry Asante).

“I’d like to say it went pretty well,” Lee said. “I’m sure I’ll see some things on film that I’d like to get better at. It was good. We had some success.”

As did the White bunch, which controlled most of the first half until Lee’s first touchdown pass and a fumble on its following offensive drive by reserve running back Lester Ward. The White defense, led by Ndamukong Suh and a surprisingly quick and physical Barry Turner initially stung the No. 1 Red offense and its top offensive line. Quentin Castille was twice dragged down behind the line of scrimmage, and Lee was forced to throw the ball quickly.

On White’s offense Washington, a converted linebacker who’s been a quarterback for all of four weeks, started his day with an eight-minute drive, culminating in an Adi Kunalic field goal.

He completed of 9 of 13 passes in the first half for 112 yards and a touchdown to Brooks. The highlight play was a 27-yard fade route to freshman Antonio Bell, who leapt on one foot to make the catch and landed on his back. Washington found Brooks two plays later with a four-yard TD pass.

“Some of my passes, I was just jumping at them,” Washington said. “But after that first series, I calmed down and managed the game really well.”

Meanwhile, Lee was trying to dodge rushers and pick his spots wisely.

Surprising? Not necessarily. It was part of what head coach Bo Pelini envisioned in equally splitting up the teams for the game.

“We had a lot of guys playing next to people that they haven’t played next to before,” he said. “That takes some time. It’s not an ideal situation, but for what we wanted to accomplish today, it’s the right thing to do…you saw them get more confident and kind of get their feet underneath them.”

Once Lee hit Mendoza, the Red’s collective feet hit the ground rather quickly. They amassed 380 total yards in the game, almost all of it in the final seven or so drives.

Defensive tackle Terrence Moore stripped Ward on the White’s next drive. Tyrone Fahie recovered for the game’s only turnover. Lee took back over and hit Cotton for a touchdown two plays later. The Red led 14-10 at halftime. After the White team punted to begin the third quarter, Lee completed three consecutive passes, the last of them to Cammack, who badly beat cornerback Anthony West on a post route, then scooted around Asante at the five-yard line and dove into the end zone.

“We were moving in a good direction in terms of just being aggressive to the football and finishing plays,” defensive coordinator Carl Pelini said. “I just saw shades of last of year and I didn’t like that. That’s got to get fixed.”

The Red tacked on an Alex Henery field goal to begin the fourth quarter, then benefited from the day’s best run, a 33-yarder by redshirt freshman Collins Okafor, who cut back left into a wide hole, shimmied to his right, and accelerated through two tacklers on his way to the end zone. Okafor, who entered the game as NU’s No. 5 running back, led all rushers with 79 yards.

“Every day, he’s been getting better,” offensive coordinator Shawn Watson said. “Today was icing on the cake for him. He really stood out.”

Washington capped scoring for the White with a 71-yard touchdown pass to tight end Kyler Reed. Washington sidestepped the rush and found Reed, wide open, 15 yards away from him. Reed hauled in the pass and did the rest, outsprinting all of NU’s defensive backs to the end zone.

“He’s very explosive,” Watson said. “As he grows, he’ll really enhance us.”

Reed’s performance was part of a strong group showing from Ron Brown’s crew. In all, tight ends caught 17 passes for 255 yards - almost half of the passes caught in the game.

Quite frequently, they were wide open on short curl routes underneath the linebackers, who were often camped out in unusually deep Cover 2 zones. Lee and redshirt freshman Cody Green in particular feasted on throwing to them, while Washington was a little more apt to stretch the ball downfield.

“A lot of talent there, and some experience,” Bo Pelini said. “We feel real good at that spot. We’re deep at that spot.”

Overall, Pelini declared himself “happy” by the scrimmage, and the spring itself, which he called “long and physical.” Many of Nebraska’s practices dragged near the three-hour mark, and were longer than the Red/White Spring Game itself. NU’s coaches mixed and matched quite a bit throughout the spring, trying to find the right combination of players.

Players must now hone their talents on their own this summer, and prepare for an even more competitive fall before the Sept. 5 Florida Atlantic game.

“We got a lot accomplished in spring ball,” Pelini said. “We got a lot done. I’m happy. I’m not satisfied, but I’m happy with the progress we made. But we have a long way to go yet.”

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