ESPN College Football

Posted by ESPN.com's Tim Griffin

Who needs a quiet summer? Alex Henery is doing his best to stay busy by trying to win another job with Nebraska.

It's why Henery is trying to build on his record-breaking start as a kicker by becoming the Cornhuskers' regular punter.

But whether booming high spiraling punts or drilling balls through the uprights, Henery has confidence he can help the Cornhuskers at both positions.

	Josh Wolfe/Icon SMI
	Nebraska kicker Alex Henery is looking to add the punting duties to his plate in 2009.

"It's something that I can do," Henery said. "Some kids are strictly kickers and others are punters. I feel like I can do both. It's a challenge I feel like I can accomplish."

Henery actually came to Nebraska as a punter after averaging more than 41 yards per kick at Burke High School in Omaha in his junior and senior seasons. Those numbers earned him all-state honors as a punter from the Omaha World-Herald and the Lincoln Journal-Star in both seasons.

But when he arrived at Nebraska, his chances at the position were stifled with Dan Titchener and Jake Wesch in front of him on the depth chart. After sitting out a redshirt season, Henery moved to kicker where he has blossomed into one of the nation's most consistent performers once he got his chance.

And he earned Bo Pelini's ultimate compliment when he was described as "a stud" after his record-breaking 57-yard kick that helped beat Colorado last year.

During his college career, Henery has missed only one extra point and one field goal attempt inside of 50 yards. He is the most consistent kicker in Nebraska history to this point.

"I couldn't imagine things turning out much better for me than how they've worked out," Henery said. "I'm happy with how things have gone so far. My career has worked out pretty well."

Even with that early success, Henery hopes to build on that by punting this season after the graduation of Wesch and Titchener.

Few college players have been successful at both jobs. But recent success by Wake Forest standout Sam Swank and West Virginia's Pat McAfee have convinced Henery to give it a shot.

(Read full post)

Posted by ESPN.com's Tim Griffin

	AP Photo/Dave Weaver
	Ndamukong Suh's interception return for a touchdown sealed Nebraska's victory.

Henery and Suh make Colorado blue

No. 18
Date: Nov. 28, 2008
Place: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Neb.
Score: Nebraska 40, Colorado 31

Nebraska was playing merely to better its bowl position. Colorado wanted to earn a bowl trip. Although the Big 12 North championship game berth wasn't being settled, it still didn't diminish the excitement of last year's game between the two traditional rivals.

Colorado came into the game as an 18-point underdog, but you couldn't tell from the way the Buffaloes scrapped. The Buffaloes produced a couple of big plays  -- a 68-yard touchdown pass from Cody Hawkins to Riar Geer and a 36-yard touchdown run by Demetrius Sumler -- in the first five minutes to jump to a quick 14-0 lead.

The Buffaloes' defense allowed the Cornhuskers to advance inside the Colorado 50 on every possession in the game. But a botched fake field goal led to a 24-24 halftime tie when Colorado's Jimmy Smith snatched an errant blind pitch from Jake Wesch and ran 58 yards for a touchdown.

The Buffaloes' defense kept the game within reach in the second half as Nebraska drove inside the Buffaloes' 33-yard line on each of its four possessions but came away with only nine points. Colorado went ahead 31-27 when Sumler knocked in a 4-yard touchdown late in the third quarter.

Colorado's defense made that stand for most of the rest of the game. Nebraska pulled within 31-30 when Alex Henery nailed a 37-yard field goal with 8:09 left.

After Nebraska got the ball back, the Cornhuskers were poised to score again after Roy Helu Jr. rambled 25 yards to the Colorado 25 with less than two minutes remaining. But Colorado safety Patrick Mahnke sacked Nebraska quarterback Joe Ganz for a 15-yard loss and Ganz threw incomplete on third down, setting up an improbable 57-yard field goal attempt by Henery.

Henery, with a 5 mph wind to his back, blasted the ball through the goal posts with 1:43 left to set the school record and provide Nebraska with a 33-31 lead.

But the Cornhuskers were only getting started. After picking up a first down on the Colorado 33, Hawkins' second-down pass was tipped by Zach Potter and intercepted by massive 305-pound defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh.

En route to the end zone, Suh eluded a diving Hawkins and scampered 30 yards for the clinching touchdown. It was Suh's second interception return for a touchdown on the season and his third touchdown overall.

The numbers: Nebraska ran 29 more plays than Colorado and the Cornhuskers' 63 snaps in Colorado territory were 15 more than Colorado ran in the entire game. Colorado went more than 10 minutes of game time in the second and third quarters without running an offensive play. Helu rushed for 166 yards and Ganz passed for 229 yards and two touchdowns, becoming the top single-season passer in Nebraska history.

They said it, part I: "I love games like this. The crazier the better. I just wish we had ended it a little bit earlier," Nebraska coach Bo Pelini, reflecting on the wild finish with reporters after the game.

They said it, part II: "I don't remember watching it go through at all. I was pretty sure I made it. It was on target. I don't remember much after hitting it." Henery's thoughts after the game-winning kick to reporters after the game.

They said it, part III: "It doesn't surprise me. That guy's a stud," Pelini on Henery's kick.

They said it, part IV: ""He thinks he's Walter Payton." Pelini's comments to the Nebraska State Paper about Suh's game-clinching touchdown return.

The upshot: The victory, combined with Kansas' upset of Missouri the following day, gave the Cornhuskers a share of the Big 12 North title. The Tigers advanced to the championship game after a head-to-head triumph over the Cornhuskers earlier in the season.

But it really didn't matter after the Cornhuskers earned a Gator Bowl berth. They went on to upset Clemson to finish 9-4 for the season. After losing four of six games midway through the season, Nebraska finished with three straight victories to prime enthusiasm after Pelini's first season.

The loss cost Colorado a shot at making a bowl trip. The Buffaloes finished at 5-7, missing a bowl trip for the second time in three seasons under coach Dan Hawkins.

The countdown:

19. Stunning OSU rally leads to Stoops' first home loss.
20. It's never over for Texas Tech until it's over.
21. Reesing to Meier. Again and again.
22. A Texas-sized comeback -- Texas over Oklahoma State in 2004.
23. A Border War unlike any of the rest -- Missouri over Kansas in 2007.
24. Seneca Wallace's wild TD run vs. Texas Tech in 2001.
25. Baylor's "So Much for Taking a Knee" against UNLV in 1999.

Posted by ESPN.com's Tim Griffin

You'll always be surprised during spring practice.

Coaches know that. Reporters do, too.

But still, there were a couple of developments that were kind of unexpected across the Big 12 during the spring.

Here are some of the most notable after all of the teams finished their spring work.

Kansas' move of Jeremiah Hatch to center: Conventional wisdom always holds that teams build their offensive line around their tackles. Hatch had some stumbles last season as a freshman, but showed a lot of upside in his development. But the loss of starter Ryan Cantrell at center and the development of Tanner Hawkinson at left tackle enabled coach Mark Mangino to move Hatch to his more preferred position at center. This move has huge ramifications as Hawkinson will be protecting quarterback Todd Reesing's blind side. That task might be the most important one on the team as the Jayhawks challenge for their first undisputed Big 12 North title.

Colt McCoy looks human: The Heisman Trophy finalist has carved up nearly every opponent in the first three seasons of his strong career. En route, he has set nearly every school passing record and finished second in the Heisman Trophy balloting last season. Maybe it was the wind at Texas' spring game. Or it might have been the absence of top receiving threats Jordan Shipley and Blaine Irby due to injuries. Or more probably, it was the fearsome performance of Texas' secondary. But McCoy completed 11 of 24 passes for 95 yards against his teammates. He had completed less than 50 percent of his passes in a game only once in his career.

Top recruit Jason Hannan leaves Oklahoma: The Sooners' offensive line was in flux already with four departed starters. But Hannan, who some recruiting analysts had graded as the nation's top center prospect in his class, decided to leave late in spring practice. Ben Habern had beaten him out for the starting job, but Hannan still could have helped. It's surprising when any prospect leaves the Oklahoma program -- particularly one that was such a heralded recruit.

Robert Griffin gives us track for this spring: It's a mark of Griffin's commitment to his team that he gave up track this spring after winning the Big 12 championship in the 400 hurdles last season and finishing third nationally. Griffin has decided to devote himself to football, adding more weight and building strength and football flexibility as he prepares for the upcoming season. I still expect to see Griffin challenging for a position on the Olympic track team one day, but his aims now are directed to getting the Bears to a bowl game first.

Paul Rhoads' frank assessment of his talent: When the new Iowa State coach said he needed 30 practices to help build his young team, it probably wasn't just idle talk. Rhoads knows his defense never would be mistaken for the "Steel Curtain" of the Pittsburgh Steelers' glory era. I was just surprised he would say that, as well as talking about his team's "average speed." It means that Rhoads clearly sees his team has a long way to go before its Sept. 3 opener against North Dakota State.

Alex Henery's conversion to punter: The Nebraska kicker developed into one of the finest kickers in college football when he converted 18 of 21 kicks last season, including the record-breaking 57-yarder than helped beat Colorado. Henery came to Nebraska as a punter and was clearly interested in doing both after Dan Titchener and backup Jake Wesch graduated. But I'm a little surprised Bo Pelini would let him do both. Why mess with a good thing, particularly when Henery could challenge for the Groza Award this season with another strong season as a kicker?

Posted by ESPN.com's Tim Griffin

Alex Henery might have saved Nebraska's season in 2008 with his dramatic record-breaking 57-yard field goal that helped beat Colorado in the final minute.

Now, he's got another challenge with the Cornhuskers.

Henery first walked on at Nebraska with the idea of working as a punter. But that all changed over the past two seasons as he has emerged as one of the most consistent kickers in school history.

But with the graduation of punters Dan Titchener and Jake Wesch from last season, Henery is returning to his booting roots, so to speak, this spring.

"I knew both of them were going to be gone, so I figured I might as well give it a try and see what would happen," Henery told the Lincoln Journal-Star. "You can't lose anything trying."

That's why he's trying to accomplish a rarity in college football today as he attempts to double as a kicker and a punter.

"I wouldn't have even introduced the idea to him about punting if I didn't think he could handle both," Nebraska assistant coach John Papuchis told the Journal-Star. "If there is ever a point in time where he feels stressed on where he needs to spend the majority of his focus, we'd have to make a decision then. But right now I think he is able to handle both pretty well."

As big as Henery was last season, maybe he's trying to make himself even more indispensable for his team by doing both jobs.

Amazingly, Henery still isn't on either an academic or athletic scholarship for the Cornhuskers.

His big kick against Colorado helped catapult the Cornhuskers into a New Year's Day bowl game and helped push along Bo Pelini's transformation of the program that much faster.

He even received the ultimate compliment from Pelini, who referred to him as "a stud" after his heroics against the Buffaloes. That kind of flattery from the Nebraska coach is usually reserved for quarterbacks and defensive tackles.

But if he can prove himself as a punter and a kicker, it might get Henery a scholarship. And that would be an even bigger reward than any game-winning kick or postgame platitude from his coach.  

Posted by ESPN.com's Tim Griffin

Bo Pelini was getting a lot of attention before the season as a potential Big 12 Coach of the Year for his late turnaround with Nebraska this season.

Pelini better bury the tape of the first half if he wants to be considered after Friday.

Colorado erupted for three big scoring plays. On all of them, the Cornhuskers looked ill-prepared.

The most telling was Jimmy Smith's 58-yard fumble recovery that pulled the Buffaloes into a 24-24 deadlock at the break. On the play, Smith perfectly read a blind pitch from holder Jake Wesch to kicker Alex Henery. Smith jumped in the middle of the play, snatched the ball away and raced untouched for the touchdown after Henery moved too early.

It was a 10-point turnaround that left Pelini making his feelings known along the sidelines.

Earlier, Colorado gashed the Cornhuskers for two long touchdowns on the first four plays that staked them to a 14-0 lead.

So much for soothing instruction along the sidelines. Pelini's fire-and-brimstone orations seemed to charge the Cornhuskers as they charged back for 17 unanswered points to reclaim the lead.

It looks to me that Nebraska responds better to Pelini's anger than any reassuring words. He'll probably have a bunch more for them when they get back to the locker room for the break.

Here are some other things I've noticed in the first half.

• Colorado badly mismanaged the final seconds of the clock in the first half. The Buffaloes had forced a fourth down with about 15 seconds left. Rather than taking a timeout and forcing a punt after a Nebraska play, they enabled the Cornhuskers to line up for a final shot at the end zone. A better course of action would have been to force a punt, where scintillating Colorado punt returner Josh Smith could have had a shot at a big play before the break.
• Joe Ganz and Roy Helu have been the two most effective offensive players in the game. Their success is the major reason the Cornhuskers have an edge in time of possession of 13:24 in the first half.
• I'm amazed at the shoddy technique early in the game in the Nebraska secondary. Riar Geer sailed down the middle untouched for a 68-yard touchdown grab. And Demetrius Sumler's touchdown almost looked the first time the Cornhuskers had seen a misdirection play.
• It doesn't seem to matter who is playing quarterback for Colorado. Both Cody Hawkins and Tyler Hansen both have had their moments. Hawkins has looked sharper passing and Hansen has been stronger running the option. It's been a good combination.
• Want to know a scary sight? How about being a 180-pound defensive back like Colorado's Cha'pelle Brown and see a 305-pound fullback like Ndamukong Suh barreling towards you?
• Slump-ridden Aric Goodman drilled a season-best 38-yard field goal early in the second quarter. Before that kick, the Buffaloes had converted only 5 of 16 field goals. It was a big difference from earlier in his career at Wyoming. While kicking there, Goodman drilled a 52-yarder for his career best.