Posting myself...

http://huskerextra.com/articles/2009/03/05/football/doc49af5a9d3c1dc533037939.txt


Blue's back and ready to compete

SponsorBy BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON / Lincoln Journal Star

Thursday, Mar 05, 2009 - 12:15:32 am CST

His former coach knew all along one bad step on a practice field wasn’t going to keep Anthony Blue down.

After last year’s news that the Husker cornerback had suffered a severe knee injury from a faulty step during winter conditioning, Blue’s high school coach offered a guarantee.

“He’s not going to accept sitting out for long,” said Joey McGwire, who coached Blue in Cedar Hill, Texas.


Yet anyone who saw Blue hobbling around on the sideline during spring practice last year had to wince and wonder.

The coach had it right. After a redshirt season that allowed him to heal, Blue is back, ready for spring ball, ready to compete for a starting cornerback position.

Of course, the sophomore-to-be knows there’s still plenty of work ahead.

“I don’t really feel as fast as I used to,” Blue said. “When we do the competitions and stuff now, those guys are pretty fast. I feel like I’m more trying to stay with them then competing with them.”

Trusting the knee to go full-speed again is as hard as anything.

“I think he’ll get back,” Husker secondary coach Marvin Sanders said. “I don’t know if he’s 100 percent yet. When you come back from an injury like that, a lot of it is mental and trying to overcome that mental block that you’re going through right now.”

Sanders said he reminds Blue that the doctors wouldn’t allow him to be out there if they didn’t think he could make every cut.

“And then for me, it’s just making sure that I push him,” Sanders said. “Just to push him to the limit, try to get him beyond that where he feels comfortable again.”

Blue’s injury was a major blow to Nebraska’s depth at cornerback last year. Having started a game late in the season as a true freshman and performing well, Blue was figured a leading candidate to start at the corner spot opposite Armando Murillo.

Instead, a year of rehab. When the first game rolled around last fall, Blue said it was emotional knowing all he could do was watch.

“It’s kind of tough, but like talking to my dad, he just tells me to look forward to the future and just have the mind-set of a junior, as if I never redshirted,” Blue said.

The 5-foot-10, 180-pound Blue got back on the field as fast as could have been expected, working with the scout team by October.

Despite not playing in a game in 2008, Blue still came to secondary meetings, still asked questions.

“His physicalness is one thing I’m excited about,” Sanders said. “He’s physical and competitive. He’ll challenge wide receivers quite a bit. That’s pretty exciting for me.”

Blue will face plenty of competition. Anthony West, Eric Hagg, Prince Amukamara, Alfonzo Dennard and Lance Thorell are among the returning cornerbacks. Then perhaps add to the mix a player or two out of the five defensive backs the Huskers signed in the 2009 recruiting class.

With spring ball set to start March 25, Sanders said it’s an open race in the secondary.

“I just want to see the guys compete,” he said. “Hopefully that will make us a better ballclub, just getting guys competing.”

Reach Brian Christopherson at bchristopherson@journalstar.com or 473-7439.