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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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