Crick gets more time with No. 1 unit
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BY BRIAN ROSENTHAL / Lincoln Journal Star
Jared Crick had known for months what many Nebraska football fans learned only last week.
Senior defensive tackle Ty Steinkuhler has a sore back. The problem dates to at least winter conditioning, Crick said.
It meant that Crick, a redshirted freshman, must be prepared to contribute. Not that he hadn’t figured that already.
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“I knew I’d have to step up, whether Stein was healthy or not healthy,” Crick said. “Our depth was a concern.”
Boy, was it.
And that was before senior Kevin Dixon was dismissed from the team. Nebraska coach Bo Pelini made that move the day before fall camp began.
With Dixon gone, and Steinkuhler missing all but one day of the first week of fall practices, it thrust Crick into the spotlight. The Cozad native on Friday began seeing snaps with the No. 1 unit at defensive tackle.
“Jared had a great week of practice,” Nebraska defensive coordinator Carl Pelini said. “I’m as excited as heck about Jared Crick.”
Deep down, Crick is likely just as excited. On the outside, he’s showing an even-keel approach.
“It’s going good,” the 6-foot-6, 280-pound Crick said. “I’m doing a lot of good things, but I can always improve. Everybody can always improve.”
While Steinkuhler has been sidelined, Pelini has begun a three-man rotation at tackle, with Crick, backup nose tackle Shukree Barfield and redshirted freshman Terrence Moore.
“I’m just mixing and matching, trying different things,” Carl Pelini said. “Honestly, at D-line, it’s hard to say, ‘He’s the starter, and he’s not,’ because there’s such a rotation going every Saturday, that they’ve got to be used to playing with different guys.”
In addition to his accolades for Crick, Pelini offered praise for the 6-3, 275-pound Moore, a native of New Orleans.
“He is one of the hardest-working kids I’ve ever been around,” Pelini said. “He’s young still. But he’s come so far from the first day we worked together. I’m really excited about his progress. He’s very focused.”
Crick said both he and Moore are having a good camp. There’s a sense of urgency that didn’t exist last season, when both players redshirted.
“It was a huge benefit,” Crick said. “Everybody wants to play their freshman year, but in the end, you see the bigger picture. We got stronger, we got faster. We adjusted to the game. Now, coming into fall camp, we’re more prepared.”
The biggest emphasis coming into fall camp for all defensive linemen, Crick said, was getting off the ball quicker.
“Carl stresses that every day, and so does Bo,” he said. “For the most part, we’re doing a great job of it.”
Crick, a second-team Super State player his senior season at Cozad, began his Nebraska career at defensive end. He gained weight, and the new coaching staff moved him inside, knowing the need then for depth.
“Us guys in the backup roles know we definitely have to step up,” Crick said. “We’re just trying to improve, trying to get better.
“It doesn’t matter where we’re at on the depth chart. At this point in camp, we’re just trying to improve.”
Reach Brian Rosenthal at 473-7436 or brosenthal@journalstar.com.
