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2009 Sep 08
ASU WEEK: Getting The Anger Out
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Nebraska wide receiver Niles Paul said he plays football “angry,” anyway, but Saturday’s Florida Atlantic game provided an extra dose of frustration for the junior from Omaha.
After a month of making big plays in fall camp, Paul was the silent partner among the starting wide receivers in NU’s 49-3 win. Menelik Holt and Curenski Gilleylen both scored touchdowns on highlight-worthy receptions. Paul finished with two catches for 13 yards, one decent kickoff return and a personal foul penalty on Rex Burkhead’s eight-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter.
Not exactly the breakout party Paul had wanted.
“Everybody that knows me knows I play angry,” Paul said. “Things weren’t going the way I was hoping, so I was just trying to make a play.”
“I either have the safety or the corner on that play, and I chose to get the safety,” Paul said, smiling. “For whatever reason I chose the safety. A little frustrated. So I went in and took him out. And Rex scored. We exchanged words…and I got caught exchanging words.”
Paul wanted the ball so badly, he said, he made an ill-advised punt return attempt in the first half. Instead of calling for a fair catch, Paul took a running leap into a FAU defender, catching the ball, but getting flipped over in the process. He drew a penalty for his effort – and an earful from return coach Ron Brown.
“He chewed me out for it,” Paul said. “It was a little too risky. He wants me to be fearless, but not that fearless.”
Not that Paul wasn’t happy for his fellow receivers, Holt and Gilleylen, whom he said were “vindicated” by their performance on Saturday. As a whole, Nebraska’s receiving corps had been a question mark heading into 2009. It probably still is.
“They’re like family,” he said. “I was just happy for Curenski and Meno. It was just like I scored when they scored.”
Paul said Holt has been trying his hop-step move throughout fall camp. Not too successfully, either.
“We kind of give him crap about it,” Paul said. “But it finally worked. And he scored on it.”
And if Paul isn’t getting the ball, he knows, at the very least, blocking is a fallback. Younger receivers hold up 6-foot-2, 210-pounder as a role model, said sophomore Brandon Kinnie, who knew little about blocking before heading to Nebraska.
“He just gets after it,” Kinnie said. “Niles is the guy we all watch.”
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After a month of making big plays in fall camp, Paul was the silent partner among the starting wide receivers in NU’s 49-3 win. Menelik Holt and Curenski Gilleylen both scored touchdowns on highlight-worthy receptions. Paul finished with two catches for 13 yards, one decent kickoff return and a personal foul penalty on Rex Burkhead’s eight-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter.
Not exactly the breakout party Paul had wanted.
“Everybody that knows me knows I play angry,” Paul said. “Things weren’t going the way I was hoping, so I was just trying to make a play.”
“I either have the safety or the corner on that play, and I chose to get the safety,” Paul said, smiling. “For whatever reason I chose the safety. A little frustrated. So I went in and took him out. And Rex scored. We exchanged words…and I got caught exchanging words.”
Paul wanted the ball so badly, he said, he made an ill-advised punt return attempt in the first half. Instead of calling for a fair catch, Paul took a running leap into a FAU defender, catching the ball, but getting flipped over in the process. He drew a penalty for his effort – and an earful from return coach Ron Brown.
“He chewed me out for it,” Paul said. “It was a little too risky. He wants me to be fearless, but not that fearless.”
Not that Paul wasn’t happy for his fellow receivers, Holt and Gilleylen, whom he said were “vindicated” by their performance on Saturday. As a whole, Nebraska’s receiving corps had been a question mark heading into 2009. It probably still is.
“They’re like family,” he said. “I was just happy for Curenski and Meno. It was just like I scored when they scored.”
Paul said Holt has been trying his hop-step move throughout fall camp. Not too successfully, either.
“We kind of give him crap about it,” Paul said. “But it finally worked. And he scored on it.”
And if Paul isn’t getting the ball, he knows, at the very least, blocking is a fallback. Younger receivers hold up 6-foot-2, 210-pounder as a role model, said sophomore Brandon Kinnie, who knew little about blocking before heading to Nebraska.
“He just gets after it,” Kinnie said. “Niles is the guy we all watch.”
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Tags: niles paul, asu week, menelik holt, curenski gilleylen
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