Huskers stumbling toward spring practice

By Marc Hudgens  |   Tuesday, March 11, 2008  |  Comments( 0 )

Nebraska Cornhuskers
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No luck of the Irish in this month of green beer and St. Patrick's Day, as the Ides of March are solidly upon Lincoln.

Only a week or so ago everything was clicking on all fours for the Huskers. The program dug itself out of the recruiting grave from last year and began plans to expand club seating in Memorial Stadium. But now it seems Murphy's Law has reared its ugly head with just over a couple of weeks before spring drills begin on the 26th of this month.

Just a week ago cornerback Anthony Blue tore his ACL during winter drills and will miss spring practice. Then all of seventy-two hours later one of defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh's knees underwent the knife and he will also miss spring practice.

Friday comes and linebacker Nick Covey gets ticketed for alcohol possession as a minor at a party. Then the big one hit, as offensive guard Andy Christensen gets himself in a jam with sexual assault and resisting arrest charges that occurred at a downtown bar. Christensen has since been suspended indefinitely from the team and has been jailed with a $500,000 bond.

Not enough? Just a few hours after that defensive lineman Ben Martin and offensive lineman Michael Smith, along with ex-Huskers Maurice Purify and Carl Nicks, get busted at a loud party and, when asked by police to leave, stayed anyway. They were ticketed for being "inmates of a disorderly house."

"Inmates" is a perfect word for this situation, because it's become crazy to say the least at Nebraska.

With winter drills going on and spring practice starting soon, questions that need immediate answering by coach Bo Pelini are 'do I suspend him?', and 'who do I replace him with?' and 'will they be 100 percent before the first game?' This will be a huge test for the Huskers' rookie head coach, as I'm sure he never envisioned this total meltdown of his team in such quick order.

While there is nothing inherently wrong with the injuries to Blue and Suh, Pelini will have to call a meeting with his coaches and athletic department heads to figure out a way to quickly get their arms around the monstrous legal situation involving the others, and which measures to take to ensure that there will be no more problems.

There have been no more problems since Saturday night, so maybe the snowball effect has stopped. Makes you wonder why such problems have occurred right now and alongside one another. Maybe it was just the bad luck of the Irish.
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About Marc Hudgens

Marc Hudgens has been with RealFootball365 since 2007, covering college football, specifically Clemson and Oregon. He also writes for SouthernPigskin.com covering the ACC. He enjoys the acidic wit of Hunter S. Thompson, is a freelance graphic designer and has written several screenplays. He ...
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