Nebraska’s football team Tuesday conducted one of its longest practices of the fall in preparation for Saturday’s season-opener vs. Florida Atlantic, installing the remainder of the offense and defensive packages for the game, offensive coordinator Shawn Watson said.

The normally upbeat Watson was scribbling notes just as he arrived to talk to reporters, and the mood of the team reflected a busy, mentally draining practice.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Watson said. “A lot of work to do. We probably got in both sides of the ball. We were better today than we were yesterday, so we’ve got to keep working.”

Senior free safety Matt O’Hanlon said “mental lapses” in practice continued, to some extent, as the rest of FAU’s package was installed, resulting in a practice below head coach Bo Pelini’s standards.

“It wasn’t what it needs to be,” O’Hanlon said. “It was a little flat. Coach Pelini had a couple extra sessions trying to get things cleaned up. But it wasn’t what it’s supposed to be.”

On offense, Watson said, NU was working through the Owls’ various coverage packages. It’s hard to assess FAU’s personnel because coach Howard Schnellenberger’s bunch will have eight new starters. Maybe more.

“Scheme wise they do a nice job of changing up the coverages on the quarterback,” Watson said. “They’re a really good coverage team. And that’s the thing I’ve got the most respect for them. And they have a nice nickel package.”

The wide receivers who will work against that coverage still haven’t been pinned down, Watson said. Receivers coach Ted Gilmore will assess competition through Thursday’s practice. Watson did mention that true freshman Antonio Bell and redshirt freshman Khiry Cooper should play Saturday. Previously, Watson has mentioned junior Niles Paul, senior Menelik Holt, senior Chris Brooks and sophomore Curenski Gilleylen.

Watson said he wasn’t planning to unveil the full breadth of the playbook for Saturday’s game, given the uncertainty of FAU’s defense and untested quarterback Zac Lee.

“We’re keeping things fairly simple,” Watson said. “We’ve got a lot of young players. We want to do the right things and not put a lot of burdens on them. We want them to play fast and play confident.”

The best news: the return of left guard Keith Williams to practice. Williams, arguably NU’s best offensive lineman, sat out practice Monday, and was eased back in Tuesday. Wednesday, Watson said, he’ll do more.

“I think he’ll (play),” Watson said. “No one’s told me any different. That’s the expectation.”

On the subject of whether true freshman quarterback Cody Green will get work in Saturday’s game, Watson said: “I’m not even going to talk like that because we’re going out to win a ballgame. We’re going to play our starter.”

The Huskers will return to the practice field on Wednesday

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Toward the end of the 2008 season, Matt O’Hanlon’s storybook rise through Nebraska’s defense seemed to have hit a ceiling.

A walk-on who won a spot on the team after a tryout at dawn, O’Hanlon had earned the starting free safety job last spring, and kept it through nine games. Head coach Bo Pelini awarded him with a scholarship. The NCAA gave O’Hanlon an extra year of eligibility. He was even the subject of a New York Times story.

By the Kansas State game, however, O’Hanlon had lost his starting job to Rickey Thenarse. He watched most of that game, and the win over Colorado, from the sidelines. And he wasn’t awarded a Blackshirt along with many of his teammates.

“Not getting a whole lot of playing time those last two games, my self-confidence wasn’t that high,” O’Hanlon said.

The Bellevue East product made up for lost time in the Gator Bowl, notching six tackles. His signature moment, however, involved a deft swat of his hand.

On Clemson’s second-to-last play of the game, Tigers running back C.J. Spiller sprinted past NU linebacker Tyler Wortman on a seam route. He briefly caught Cullen Harper’s pass in the end zone, but O’Hanlon leapt, grabbed Spiller’s right arm, and lodged the ball free.

It was a perfectly timed deflection that saved NU’s hide on a play where Clemson got precisely the matchup it wanted.

“Just to get a big play and prove to everyone I belong out there – that was a big deal to me,” O’Hanlon said.

He and Thenarse expect a lot more big plays in 2009. O’Hanlon now has his sea legs under him and understands the full breadth of the defense. Thenarse, meanwhile, said he’s finally 100 percent healthy. And while it may seem, under those conditions, that the dynamic Thenarse would have the edge, it’s O’Hanlon who has worked with the No. 1 defense thus far in spring.

“Which feels good,” O’Hanlon said. “But it’s a constant battle. Nothing’s solid.”

Thenarse agreed.

“We’ve both got more experience,” he said. “We’re just competing. Going hard. Pushing each other every day. I don’t how it’s going to turn out.”

Head coach Bo Pelini wasn’t ruling out redshirt freshman Courtney Osbourne, either. Pelini made a point, when asked about Thenarse and O’Hanlon, of singling Osbourne’s out contributions.

But it’s the two seniors who have the time and comfort with the defense. O’Hanlon said there isn’t anything, at this point, that he and strong safety Larry Asante don’t know almost before it happens.

“At this point, it’s more physical than mental,” O’Hanlon said.

Thenarse called the defense a “no-brainer” for him this spring. Last year, he admittedly struggled with the learning curve as O’Hanlon surged ahead in their race.

“I actually know what the linebackers and defensive linemen are doing now,” Thenarse said. “The whole concept of why we’re doing things this way or that way… It gave me a lot of confidence just to know I can play through a whole game and get the concepts down. I can play a whole, steady game without coming out.”

Thenarse said he’ll still play special teams – last year, he forced a fumble and blocked a punt – but he might excuse himself from kickoff coverage. During the opening kickoff vs. Western Michigan last year, Thenarse sustained a shoulder injury that kept him out of half of the season.

“Kickoff team is what’s dangerous,” Thenarse said. “But they know I can do that. If they need me out there – if we’re playing against a good returner – they know where to find me.”

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Tuesday’s practice had just ended for Nebraska’s football team, and 11 Cornhuskers walked off the Hawks Center field sporting the most prestigious threads any NU defender can hope to have.




They were the Blackshirts, the men who wear the so-named practice jerseys as a sign of being the toughest, hardest-working, most-respected defensive players in the program. Some of them, like middle linebacker Tyler Wortman, were still in a little shock. Others, like sophomore nickel back Eric Hagg, were a little rusty on the history of it, but just as happy. Many of them were surrounded by reporters and cameras. How does it feel? When did it happen? What does it mean to you?




In the midst of that scene was junior Matt O’Hanlon. Despite starting nine games and being fourth on the team in tackles, O’Hanlon wore his red No. 33. He’s locked in a late-season battle with now-healthy junior Rickey Thenarse for the starting free safety spot, and that battle, according to O’Hanlon and secondary coach Marvin Sanders, is what keeps either player from earning a Blackshirt.




“I’ve worked hard and to not get one, it’s tough,” O’Hanlon said. “I guess it’s for a good reason. Me and Rick still have to compete. I’m sure eventually one of us will get one. They’re trying to motivate us.




“It’s still a competition, and nothing’s clear cut, so we don’t really deserve them.”




It’s been some ride for O’Hanlon, a walk-on who played high school ball at Bellevue East. Made the squad in the Bill Callahan era by acing a February tryout. Banged around on the scout team. Found himself at the top of the free safety heap – before Thenarse got hurt – because he picked up Bo Pelini’s defense quicker. Earned a scholarship and gained an extra year of eligibility to boot.




When the New York Times – Callahan’s favorite newspaper, you might recall - came to Lincoln one day before the Missouri game to report on the revamped walk-on program at NU, O’Hanlon was the focus of the story, reliving his struggle and rise.




He could have changed his name to Matt O’Feel-Good Story




Except that Thenarse’s injury, and Nebraska’s lack of depth at safety, put O’Hanlon in the position of having to play nearly every snap against progressively better offenses. He learned right there, with live bullets, as Pelini likes to say.




And the Big 12 is not the easiest spot for on-the-job training.




He got burned on some playaction passes. He took bad tackling angles. He missed a key tackle of Missouri receiver Jeremy Maclin on Mizzou’s third play from scrimmage. Because of it, Maclin darted to the house for a dramatic touchdown. So much for the New York Times.




Maybe it’s moments like that drive fans to message boards where they hurl unfair insults at O’Hanlon. He’s heard about a few, of course, aware that he’s one of the unofficial scapegoats for NU’s struggles on defense.




“A lot of the fans don’t know what schemes we’re doing,” O’Hanlon said. “Sometimes it looks like my fault when it’s not. That’s how it is. You can’t really do anything about it. You just got to buckle up your helmet and just keep playing.




“I try not to read too much of that stuff, but I’ve heard rumblings. It’s gonna bother anyone who hears their performance isn’t up to par.”




Oddly, being a former walk-on probably doesn’t help. It’s new age in Nebraska football, a post-Callahan age, where walk-ons, even smart, talented ones like O’Hanlon, are eyed suspiciously, or used as a symbol for what’s wrong with a given unit.




“Some fans, they see the guys getting recruited and they want to see those guys on the field. Guys like me who don’t get recruited and don’t have the big stars, if we screw up they automatically think ‘Oh, why aren’t we playing the guys we recruited to get here?’”




Funny, isn’t it? What helped build NU football is now an object of scorn in some – not all – fan circles. Recruiting services are wrong to blame, they’re just the messenger, and they don’t claim to be infallible or completely exhaustive. On paper, Thenarse really is the better safety. If he stays healthy and ever figures out how to play the position the way Pelini and Sanders want him to, he’s probably better on the field, too. Thenarse is a dynamic, risk-taking player. He creates turnovers. He gives NU a jolt of energy.




That doesn’t mean that O’Hanlon is worthy of derision. Fair criticism, sure. Every Nebraska player is open to that. But phony “please, please, please” prayers that O’Hanlon never again see the field?




Remember, he arguably saved a touchdown in a tight game against Baylor when he snuffed out a reverse. He’s been decent in run support. Because of injuries and strange spread offenses, he and strong safety Larry Asante have had to work with a revolving door of linebackers, many of whom were learning on the job, too.




Now that he’s likely in a rotation with Thenarse, O’Hanlon’s game might actually improve. Competition helps. An occasional view from the sideline can, too.




Not that O’Hanlon will be stuck there. He’s a cog in the Husker wheel now, and will be in 2009, too.




“I don’t understand some of it,” O’Hanlon said. “I mean, we’re all on the same team.”




It’s a thought.


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