Bowman pushes to ruturn to lineup for NU

By Mike Babcock
For The Independent

LINCOLN Opposing offensive coordinators will be looking for his No. 1 jersey in Nebraska's secondary. Zack Bowman expects that. And he understands.

"I'd do the same thing, too," Bowman said. "A guy's had two knee surgeries, I'll go after him. I'll see what he's about. I want to see if he's really 100 percent."

The senior cornerback spoke to reporters following Tuesday's practice, his third after coming back from a ruptured right patellar tendon, suffered midway through spring practice.

"The knee kind of gets sore now and then, but other than that, I feel good," he said.

At Sunday's practice, when he made his return, "it was good just to be back out there, cover the receivers and cut, make movements that I haven't made in a while," he said. "It was fun."

A "really 100 percent" Bowman is good news for a Cornhusker secondary that was without him all of last season because of a torn left ACL, suffered three days into training camp.

The last time he played in a game was against Michigan in the Alamo Bowl, a performance that underscored his ability. He intercepted a pass in the third quarter, set a Cornhusker bowl record by breaking up five passes and assisted Titus Brothers on the tackle that ended the game.

The Alamo Bowl was his fifth consecutive start in his first season at Nebraska, after transferring from New Mexico Military Institute. He began as the Cornhuskers' No. 1 nickel back.

The 6-foot-2, 195-pound Bowman was a junior college All-American and a five-star recruit, one of two in Nebraska's 2005 recruiting class the other was I-back Marlon Lucky.

Bowman was the nation's No. 2 junior college recruit according the Rivals.com, with the size to match up with the biggest receivers and the speed to stay with the fastest. In January 2006, he was timed at 4.36 seconds in the 40-yard dash, the best 40 time ever by a Cornhusker cornerback.

Even after missing last season because of the ACL injury he was a potential high-round NFL draft pick, and he looked into the possibility of leaving Nebraska early.

His return to practice was within the projected time frame, four-and-a-half to six months (which would have been in late September). As it was, he came back in five months, "the goal I had set in my mind," Bowman said. "I was really wanting to stick by it."

He and head trainer Mark Mayer set a target date for his return to practice. Then Mayer "pushed me," said Bowman. "I did the work, and I'm back out here."

Even when he couldn't participate, he was involved in practice. Cornerbacks coach Phil Elmassian told him to "take a lot of mental reps when I was standing on the sideline so when I get back out there I won't be lost. So that's what I did," Bowman said.

He also "talked to Cortney (Grixby), talked to Andre (Jones). I was finding out stuff they were doing in practice when I was rehabbing. So they basically kept me up-to-date."

Grixby and Jones are the returning starters. Jones, also a junior college transfer, earned a Blackshirt and stepped in following Bowman's ACL injury.

Bowman weighed 195 on Tuesday, about his weight when he played in the Alamo Bowl game. Keeping the weight off was a concern, he said, because "all I did was eat and sit around, eating Twinkies and doughnuts and drinking pop all the time. That puts on a lot of weight," he said.

"So I had to watch the food I ate."

The worst was during the Spring Game, he said. "I was up in the pressbox, eating a lot of pizza and cookies and doughnuts and drinking sodas, me and Kenny (Wilson)," he said.

Wilson, an I-back who would have been a senior, is recovering from surgery for a broken leg, suffered in an off-field accident and will miss this season as a medical redshirt.

In any case, the first time Bowman gets in a game, he expects to be as nervous as he was in his first game at Nebraska, against Maine in 2005. "After a while, you get used to it again," he said.

He also expects the opponent to look his way, to test him.

"I want that to happen," he said. "That would be a challenge."

Huskers Welcome Governor Heineman to Fall Camp

For the second day in a row, the Nebraska football team welcomed prestigious guests to practice as Governor Dave Heineman was in attendance and spoke to the Huskers after a 2 hour and 15-minute workout inside the Hawks Championship Center on Wednesday afternoon.

Governor Heineman's visit comes one day after the Huskers enjoyed a visit from University of Nebraska Chancellor Harvey Perlman and members of the Nebraska Air and Army National Guard.

Dressed in helmets and shoulder pads, the Huskers did not scrimmage Wednesday, as the team looks to taper and remain healthy in time for the season opener against Nevada on Sept. 1.

"We're getting close to game week right now," defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove said. "We play in a week in a half, so we'll start to back off in our scrimmaging. But our practice tempos don't change. We're going to go high and hard, have good energy and get after each other."

The Huskers welcomed the return of junior I-back Marlon Lucky to practice, who had sat out this week due to minor injuries. No major injuries have been reported yet this fall - a good sign for Cosgrove's Blackshirt defense that hopes to see a healthy Steve Octavien take the field in 2007. The senior linebacker has battled through a slew of injuries since 2005, but is looking good so far.

"He's stayed healthy in camp and that's key for him," Cosgrove said. "He's a playmaker. We ask him to do a lot of things and he plays a lot of different positions on our defense. We're trying to put him in position to make plays. He's improved as a linebacker also. His fundamental techniques have gotten better, but he still has to improve. He's got a great motor and he'll go until he can't go anymore. That's the type of guy he is."

Nebraska continues its regular 2 p.m. practice time Thursday afternoon as it nears the end of its final week of Fall Camp.