LINCOLN The post-practice crush of reporters had no noticeable effect on Roy Helu Jr., or at least none that could be construed as significant.
The questions tended toward the banal, as is often the case in such pack situations. He paused before answering each one, reflecting as if in amusement.
"It's actually the most questions I've ever got," he said.
The response elicited laughter from those surrounding him.
The mass had formed from a modest beginning, one reporter, then two. When coach Bo Pelini finished talking nearby, the two quickly became many.
The interest in the Nebraska football team's sophomore I-back was justified. Pelini had described him as a "heck of a player. He really does a lot of things well," said Pelini. "He's elusive. He catches the ball well. He can run inside or outside.
"I think he's a tremendous football player."
So on that day, anyway, Helu was a big story. In the spring, with no games, no depth chart and closed practices, such comments from the coach can be the equivalent of a 100-yard, two-touchdown rushing performance for an I-back.
"He's having a heck of a spring," Pelini said.
OK, where's No. 10 in a white jersey?
"It's been going real nice. Everybody's getting opportunities," said Helu. "There's no depth chart. He just throws guys in, in certain places."
"He" was a reference to new running backs coach Tim Beck.
"He's cool," Helu said. "We appreciate him."
The running backs had just been reduced by one following Cody Glenn's request to move the linebacker. That left three with experience: Marlon Lucky, the returning starter, Helu and Quentin Castille, like Helu a sophomore come fall.
Going into the spring, most fans would have lined them up: Lucky, Castille and Helu. Castille saw more action than Helu. He played in 12 games to Helu's seven, rushed for 343 yards to Helu's 209 and scored four touchdowns to Helu's none.
Nevertheless, there was Pelini's certification: Helu is having a heck of a spring.
So he was asked to compare his running style to that of Castille.
"I don't know," he said. "I'm not real good at comparing me and other backs."
He was asked how he saw his role on the team.
"Whatever they want me (to do)," he said. "I'm just leaning with whatever they give me (to do). I can't really put expectations out there."
He was asked in what area he had improved the most.
"It's all up here, really, for me," he said. "It's more mental."
And he was asked what he needed to work on.
"I haven't been getting up field like I usually have been. I need to work on that, and also staying on blocks," he said.
Helu has matured physically during his relatively brief time at Nebraska. He's 6-foot tall and weighs 216 pounds, 10 more than he weighed in the fall. He might play heavier. "Hopefully, I can get up around 220, see how I'm moving then," he said.
He didn't have preconceptions about what would happen when he arrived, and the experience wasn't necessarily eye-opening, as it is for most freshmen.
"I didn't really try to anticipate too much," Helu said.
He is more confident now than when his freshman season began with six carries for 26 yards in the opener against Nevada. The confidence started to come around late in the season, the Texas game or maybe the game before against Texas A&M.
Statistically, however, his watershed game came before either of them. He rushed for 55 yards on 11 carries against Oklahoma State.
He and Castille were among 11 true freshmen who played last season, an indication that they were able to pick up things quickly. "Marlon (Lucky) and Cody (Glenn) told me and 'Q' (Castille) that we learned pretty fast," said Helu.
"But I don't know how we compared to other backs in the nation."
The answer was among the interview's longer ones.
Was he intimidated by the questions?
"It's fine," he said. "I'm not complaining."
Huskers work on option during Monday practice
LINCOLN Nebraska began its third week of spring ball Monday afternoon by practicing for just over 2 1/2 hours inside the Hawks Championship Center.
With six practices remaining before the April 19 Red-White Spring Game, the Huskers took a short break from scrimmage action, but were showing a familiar facet on the offensive side of the ball - the option.
"We have a lot of things going in the offense," Head Coach Bo Pelini said. "That's part of it. It will be part of our offense. How much? We're not sure yet, but we know it's going to be an element."
Nebraska's high-powered offense is working hard to continue its strong success from the end last season, when it averaged 598 yards per contest in the final three games. Pelini says their successes can only benefit the entire team during spring practice.
"We don't have any constraints on the offense and what they can do," Pelini added. "It taxes us. (But) in the long run, it's going to make us better, having to adjust and react to all the different things they do. We don't handcuff them at all. It's not about who wins or loses in spring practice and who does good in scrimmages. It's about getting to September and preparing our team to be the best we can."
In order to continue spring practice on schedule Monday, Pelini bypassed a prestigious invitation to the White House, where the LSU Tigers were honored for the 2007 national championship. However, the former defensive coordinator and current Nebraska head coach said he had a separate agenda to tend to in Lincoln.
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