Nebraska Football Notebook

Practice report

LINCOLN -- Nebraska has entered its toughest stretch of preseason practice, tight ends coach Ron Brown says.

The Cornhuskers are in their third week of competing against each other and still have two weeks to go before their first game against Western Michigan on Aug. 30.

Brown, filling in for head coach Bo Pelini at Monday morning's post-practice media session, said the coaches must strike a balance in how hard they work the players. He said practice intensity will be tapered sometime this week.

"You have to trust they have enough conditioning this summer that during the back-off period they won't lose a lot," Brown said.

Brown said the players should be tough enough physically by now. The key, he said, is to see whether they are tough enough mentally for a game.

"Do you have enough will to go reach inside an opponent's heart and pull his heart right out of him?" Brown said. "To do that, you've got to be willing to push yourself through pain and exhaustion, face up to it and hit it square in the mouth. That's what it's all about in fall camp."

The Huskers were scheduled to hold a second practice in the afternoon. There was no media availability following the second session.



Hanging around

Nebraska coach Bo Pelini is one person who apparently doesn't mind if his boss is looking over his shoulder a little bit. One of the more frequent visitors to the Cornhuskers' preseason practices has been coaching icon turned athletics director Tom Osborne.

"Coach comes out for at least part of the practice most of the time when he's here," Pelini said. "He gives suggestions and observations and obviously, I listen to him. He has a different perspective and the perspective of someone who really knows what's going on, so obviously, I appreciate it."

Osborne won 255 games and three national titles during his 25 seasons as Nebraska's head coach.



New recruit

The 2009 recruiting class for Nebraska grew to 11 players over the weekend as the Cornhuskers received a verbal commitment from North Dakota offensive lineman Brent Qvale, according to Rivals.com

A 6-foot-7, 300-pounder from Williston, N.D., Qvale is an all-state performer in both football and basketball and is a two-time state track and field champion in the shot put. Qvale was also being recruited by Wisconsin.



--Staff and wire reports