Nebraska kicked off spring practice this afternoon and held a press conference earlier today. Below is a summation of the information released by Bo Pelini:
- Defensive tackle Kevin Dixon has been dismissed from the team for violation of team rules. You don't like to lose an experienced guy, especially a senior, to something so foolish. Dixon had some starts last season and would have been in the regular rotation on the defensive line. We have plenty of depth and experience there, but with injuries you can never have enough quality linemen. Not disastrous, but a tough loss.
- Jaivario Burkes will miss the first part of camp because of undisclosed medical reasons. Let's hope it's nothing serious. Remember a couple of seasons ago when starting center Kurt Mann fell ill at the beginning of the year and never fully recovered. The Burkes situation is similar to that of Dixon with the exception that Burkes is penciled in as a starting tackle.
- New recruit wide receiver Khiry Cooper is a Husker, despite being drafted in the fifth round by the Los Angeles Angels at Anaheim or whatever they're calling themselves this year.
- Potential phenom Baker Steinkuhler will start his Husker career on the defensive line, meaning two Steinkuhler's on the defensive line this season. I wonder if Ty will make Baker better or the other way around. Steinkuhler.... great name for a beer, don't you think?
- Anthony Blue will not be participating in fall camp. Pure speculation on my part, but I see Blue taking this year as a redshirt coming back next season fully recovered from his ACL injury. We sorely need another good cornerback, but if it comes at the cost of endangering Blue's season next year when we lose a whole gob of experienced defensive lineman, let's look to the future.
- If you have any comments or more information about the press conference, be sure to leave them in the comments section below.
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Less than 30 days away from the 2008 opener, but it might as well be 3000. What's made this off-season last so incredibly long is not that we didn't make a bowl game last year. It's that the constant need to re-hash the previous regime will not leave us until the new one starts.
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