For junior Nebraska I-back Quentin Castille, the football Spring Game isn’t about catching or rushing but instead, hot dogs and steaks.
That’s the Nebraska coaches’ secret motivation for the annual red and white game – processed meat.
“Last year I think the deal was if you won you got a steak and the losers had hot dogs,” Castille said.
Castille played for both the red and the white teams last year. Did he end up with a hot dog tasting steak? Or a steak flavored hot dog on a bun?
He doesn’t remember. But he knows that the team won’t need any food-forced motivation this year.
“Spring has been long,” Castille said. “Guys are getting ready to play. You can see it at practice.”
Rosters have been decided but that doesn’t mean anything because NU Coach Bo Pelini said that players will switch teams accordingly if depth issues arise.
One problem will be at quarterback. Earlier this week Kody Spano went down with a knee injury leaving Nebraska with just three quarterbacks available for the Spring Game, presumed starter Zac Lee, freshman Cody Green and linebacker turned quarterback Latravis Washington.
Pelini said he is going to take it easy with Green because of his hip injury earlier in the spring.
“Cody Green we’ll be careful with because we don’t want him to open up running too much,” Pelini said.
Fans may be disappointed with Green’s lack of playing time, but will get a good look at frontrunner Lee. His progression has been important for Pelini.
“I think you look at Zac, he’s clearly ahead right now,” Pelini said. “But all those young guys, they’ve had good springs. I feel good about the quarterback position. I think it’s in good hands.”
Lee said he has no goals for the spring game.
“It’s no different than any other practice,” Lee said.
Lee probably hasn’t practiced in front of 60,000 people, but he’s taking offensive coordinator Shawn Watson’s approach.
“I’m not going to be looking for anything other than these guys playing fundamentally sound,” Watson said. “We want to see them getting down the basics.”
He said the offense won’t run anything special or different for a particular quarterback.
That’s good news for Washington, who’s working on learning the system.
“Still got some wrinkles in the offense that I still need to clean up,” Washington said. “The motions and the shifts, I’m getting that down easily. As far as like routes and chemistry with the receivers, I still have to get that. That will come over the summer. I’m still grinding at it.”
Washington hasn’t played quarterback since high school. He said the biggest change is throwing. He ran more in high school than he ever threw, but his arm has been drawing rave reviews all spring.
Washington wants to leave fans thinking, “Man, that guy can throw.”
The converted linebacker will take the field as quarterback for the first time Saturday. Washington has no regrets on making the switch. Now that he has an opportunity to be the No. 1 back-up, he’s even more excited about the chance.
“There’s great pride to be a backup at the University of Nebraska,” Washington said. “Who would have ever known a linebacker being a backup quarterback?”
He did say he wants to lead his team to victory on Saturday. He’s got a steak riding on it.
mikeschaefer@dailynebraskan.com
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