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McNeill and Young ready to compete for starting tight end position

Published: Thursday, August 27, 2009

Updated: Thursday, August 27, 2009 00:08


Mike McNeill has a little Ochocinco in him.

No, he doesn't choreograph his own end zone dances or plan on changing his last name to "Cuatrocuatro," but the Kirkwood, Mo., product thinks he's an "OK" kicker.

"Well, I used to punt, and I used to play soccer," McNeill said. "I think I could make an extra point."

Nebraska tight ends coach Ron Brown knows of McNeills' versatility.

"Mike McNeill has the God-given ability to do quite a bit of things in this offense," Brown said.

Brown was actually referring to McNeill's ability to play out wide or line up tight – not his kicking prowess.

"He has excellent quickness; you can line him up at wide receiver," Brown said. "He can stay tight, hammering the tackle-end area."

Quarterback Zac Lee said lining up McNeill all over the field forces defenses to stay honest against the Nebraska offense.

And McNeill isn't the only tight end with versatility in the Husker offense. Brown sees potential for all of his tight ends to perform at a high level. He said he thinks he has four or five tight ends who can play and who have brought an added edge to fall camp.

"Everybody is on their P's and Q's," Brown said. "I haven't announced any starters. They've got to fight it out."

Brown said one role each tight end has is providing information to the quarterback.

"They are really the point guard," Brown said. "Set the formation, set the tempo, getting the offense lined up and giving us indications by their movement of what will happen on defense."

The information is sent to Lee by the defenses reaction to the movements of the tight end.

Brown described it as a learning process for both the tight ends and Lee.

"The tight ends have to learn about Zac, and he obviously has to learn a lot about them," Brown said. "The key is to get as many of those situations in practice as possible. I want to get in all the tight ends that are playable with Zac. They've all got to be on the same page."

Lee said he has worked with all the tight ends and has found strengths for each one.

"I think they are all very good at different roles," Lee said. "It's a nice luxury that we have."

As the veteran of the group, McNeill is used to the competition. When he was a freshman, he found himself behind former Huskers like Matt Herian, J.B. Phillips, Shaun Hill and Josh Mueller.

Now, McNeill finds himself out in-front of a group of tight ends with an entirely different style.

"I think everyone says we are deeper because we have a lot of guys that are athletic," McNeill said. "When I got here, we were deep as far as blocking tight ends go."

But Brown said that it's not like his tight ends can't block. He cited Dreu Young as an example.

"Dreu gained a lot of power and strength," Brown said. "He can help us as a run blocker. I'm excited for his return."

Young has spent the fall camp sidelined with an injury to his back, and Brown said that he's been like an assistant coach during that time.

"He has spent a lot of time with (NU redshirt freshmen) Kyler Reed and Ben Cotton," Brown said. "You don't see them being threatened by one another."

Young, who was recently awarded a scholarship, has been patiently waiting to get on the field.

"They keep going, ‘next week, next week, next week.'" Young said.

Young said he hates watching his teammates go through two-a-days.

"I just want to be out there and playing with them," Young said. "They are my boys. We've been through a lot together."

The Cozad, Neb., native thinks of his fellow tight ends "game changers."

"I think we have tight ends capable of changing the game," Young said. "Whether it's on a block or a pass or special teams. They are going to be in there mixing it up."

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