A six-week recovery period would see Pierson-El miss the Huskers’ first four games of the season, which include their season opener vs. BYU and a September 19 visit to Miami.
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Pierson-El’s injury is a critical blow for Nebraska’s offense and special teams, as he had already emerged as a leader for both units in his freshman campaign. The senior missed most of the 2014 season due to injury.
It was no surprise when Husker coach Mike Riley said after Tuesday’s practice Dedrick Young is obviously not redshirting this year. According to Steven M. Sipple of the Lincoln Journal Star, Brandon Reilly, Taariq Allen, Lane Hovey and Sam Burtch have been limited in practice. The Big Ten season begins with a road game at Illinois October 3 (with match-ups against Wisconsin & Minnesota after that). The injury occurred during practice on Tuesday. He caught eight catches (a school record for a bowl game) for 102 yards and a touchdown. Pierson-El’s impact was clear.
“Westerkamp and Turner, two of the guys who never seemed to look all that comfortable catching punts in 2013, were the ones backing up Pierson-El at the spot so far in camp”, Nyatawa wrote. He had more total punt return yards (596) than any Division I player since 2008.
The linebacker corps has also garnered recent praise and one of the players frequently mentioned has been true freshman Dedrick Young.
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Pierson-El ranked second nationally in punt-return average last season (17.5 yards per return), and he tied for the national lead with three returns for touchdowns.
