Five things we learned from NU’s weekly press conference

Here are five of our biggest takeaways from Nebraska’s weekly press conference on Monday as the Huskers get ready to take on Purdue…

After eight straight weeks of football, Nebraska’s players and coaches made sure to take full advantage of their first time off of the season during last week’s bye.

Head coach Scott Frost said the Huskers “had more spring in their step” when they returned to practice on Monday compared to where they were leading up to the Minnesota game.

Nebraska only practiced on Tuesday and Wednesday last week. It spent the rest of the bye allowing players to rest and rehab lingering injuries and mentally step away from football for a few days.

Offensive lineman Turner Corcoran said the Huskers held a team meeting on Sunday night to regroup and set the tone for the next two weeks. Defensive lineman Ty Robinson said NU came back with a focused practice on Monday.

“I feel like everybody came out with better energy today,” Robinson said.

It was evident that quarterback Adrian Martinez was not his usual dual-threat self in Nebraska’s loss at Minnesota. The junior was dealing with some lingering injuries that limited his ability as a runner.

After a whole week to recover, Frost said Martinez was back to “100 percent” going into this week’s game vs. Purdue and would be “full-go” with his mobility.

Martinez admitted that he “definitely wasn’t 100 percent” against the Golden Gophers, but he still felt he could do all of the things he needed to execute the offensive game plan.

“Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been out there,” he said.

Now rested and rejuvenated, the Huskers expect to have their most important offensive weapon back to full strength for a critical home game on Saturday.

While sixth-year senior safety Deontai Williams avoided a season-ending injury against Minnesota, Frost made it seem like Nebraska would be without him for this week’s game vs. Purdue.

Williams injured his right knee while coming down after a leaping interception in the third quarter, and he did not return the rest of the day. Frost reiterated that he still expected Williams to return to action at some point this season.

Frost also gave an update on the potential debut of freshman tight end Thomas Fidone, who tore his ACL during fall camp.

There remains a slight possibility the former four-star recruit could join the lineup this week, but Frost said Fidone was “still shaking a little bit of rust off” and that NU would only play him in a game if they were sure he was ready.

Offensive lineman Ian Boerkircher was listed as the No. 2 right tackle on Nebraska’s latest depth chart for Saturday’s game against Purdue.

The 6-foot-6, 280-pound sophomore from Aurora and former Nebraska-Kearney transfer joined NU in 2019 and has appeared in five games this season.

Starting left guard Nouri Nouili said he and Boerkircher were on the Huskers’ scout team last year and now have worked their way to the first and second strings.

“Seeing our group kind of mature into the twos and starting lineup,” Nouili said. “It’s really nice to see the people around you coming up.”

Nouili said Boerkircher provided a lot of support and encouragement for all of the offensive linemen, no matter their place on the depth chart.

“He’s one of those guys that doesn’t really care about where he is on the spot, he will cheer for everyone in front of him and behind him,” Nouili said. “So he’s been doing a great job at keeping our heads up whenever we mess up something. We do the same thing to him. But he’s one of the guys that holds us all together.”

While Nebraska has plenty of issues it needs to address this week, Purdue is also dealing with some significant questions on the injury front.

Boilermaker head coach Jeff Brohm said during his weekly press conference on Monday morning that he was “not optimistic” about top running back Zander Horvath, who has been out since suffering an injury in Week 2, being able to return by Saturday.

On top of that, Purdue could be without two starting offensive linemen in tackle Greg Long (concussion) and guard Tyler Witt (hand), and two defensive ends in Kydran Jenkins (concussion) and DaMarcus Mitchell, who has already been ruled out.

Jenkins is the more notable development on the d-line, as he has two sacks and four tackles for loss on the year. If either Long or Witt is out, Cam Craig, Jared Bycznski, and Mahamane Moussa would be the next in line.

As if all of that weren’t enough, the Boilermakers will also be monitoring their kickoff specialist situation this week, as starter Chris Van Eekeren suffered an ankle injury during warmups two weeks ago at Iowa.

Mitchell Fineran handled kickoffs last week vs. Wisconsin, and either he or Ben Freehill could fill in at Nebraska if Van Eekeren is out again.