LINCOLN — Nebraska junior I-back Roy Helu practiced Monday, showing no sign of the apparent injury suffered Thursday at the end of his 41-yard run in the fourth quarter.

Helu grabbed at his right shoulder after the play and wore ice on it as he left Columbia, leading to speculation about his condition.

Coach Bo Pelini reiterated after practice that Helu was “fine” and had no issues with the shoulder.

Paul frustrated with punt returns

Niles Paul said he was frustrated last week after coaches removed him from punt-return duty following the team's problems fielding the football. Paul fumbled one punt and recovered it. His miscommunication with Rex Burkhead on another return allowed a ball to fall to the turf. It hit Mathew May and was recovered by Missouri.

Assistant coach John Papuchis made the call to place Burkhead alone on returns.

“I trust in (Papuchis),” Paul said, “and he felt Rex would get the job done better than I would.”

Papuchis later told Paul that he didn't want special teams to affect his play as a receiver.

“He wanted me to focus on making something happen for the offense,” Paul said.

On cue, the junior caught a pair of touchdown passes in the fourth quarter.

Burkhead, too, struggled with punts. Paul said the weather played a large role, as did the left-footed kicks of Missouri punter Jake Harry.

“It was hard to field that thing,” Paul said. “As soon as we thought we had it, it was gone. I remember one, I was running and I thought it was going to my right and it just curved back in to my left. The conditions were terrible.”

Regardless, Paul said, the Huskers plan to correct the problem.

“We just came back in from catching wet balls outside,” he said. “That won't happen again.”

Dark halftime for Huskers

You thought the fourth quarter was eventful Thursday at Missouri?

You should've been a receiver in the Husker locker room at halftime. First, they couldn't see much because the campus power outage left the room pretty dark. That actually didn't matter much, Curenski Gilleylen said, because he didn't need to see much to hear coaches yelling.

Then receivers coach Ted Gilmore took away receivers' gloves and hand warmers. Then he benched the starting wideouts for most of the third quarter.

Gilmore was disappointed in the receivers' focus in the first half. But Gilmore saw the gloves as distractions — more of a cause than a deterrent for dropped passes.

“When I see guys leaving the huddle and running all the way up to the line of scrimmage and then taking their hands out of their (pockets), we're not focused on what we need to be focused on,” Gilmore said. “I just asked them kindly to remove them.”

“My hands were freezing,” Niles Paul said.

But Paul, Gilleylen and Menelik Holt re-entered the fray after their backups struggled, too.

Paul had two touchdown catches, including a 56-yarder to put Nebraska on the scoreboard. His next catch — a 13-yard score in which he outjumped two defenders — was more impressive, though.

“The one in the end zone, he wasn't open,” Gilmore said. “(Missouri) checked out, went to cover two and that young man went up and got the ball.”

Paul said he took motivation from his benching. It served as a “wake-up call.”

“I don't think Niles likes standing next to me (on the sideline),” Gilmore said.

NU hadn't practiced much in the rain, Gilmore said. In hindsight, would it have helped to have practiced outside on a few rainy days?

“If it's raining outside and you have a practice field, am I going to risk slipping and getting someone hurt? No,” Gilmore said. “When you're in those conditions, you've got to play. You've got to deal with it.”

Gilmore stands in for Watson

Offensive coordinator Shawn Watson left the practice field Monday without stopping for media interviews. Gilmore, however, answered questions about NU's offensive struggles in the first three quarters.

On Nebraska's last drive, partly in an effort to eat clock, the Huskers ran the ball eight straight times from power formations. Does Gilmore regret that the Huskers didn't adopt that strategy sooner?

“No, I don't. Early in the game, what we did was there, we just didn't execute,” he said. “We wouldn't be having these conversations if my guys caught the ball and Zac (Lee) threw the ball. It was there.”

At some point, does continuous poor execution prompt a change in game plan?

“It's not so much you change strategy,” Gilmore said. “You (take) the people who are not executing, get them out. That's what we did.”

Watson said after the game that he nearly removed Lee in favor of Cody Green but decided against it.

Mangieri's tough night with long snaps

Thursday's game was the worst long snapping performance he'd ever had, P.J. Mangieri said Monday. But the true freshman wouldn't make any excuses about it.

Mangieri, a long snapper throughout his high school career in Peoria, Ill., said he shouldn't have been so mistake-prone despite the rain.

Mangieri's first two snaps forced punter Alex Henery to drift right before he booted the football. The third snap sailed high and resulted in a safety. That play caught the attention of Pelini, who gave Mangieri a stern lecture. ESPN's cameras caught the entire rant.

It appears that Mangieri understood Pelini's frustration, though.

“I just like to be perfect and anything other than perfect doesn't please me,” he said.

Mangieri said he plans to work on snapping a wet football later this week in practice.

Injury sidelines freshman tight end

A shoulder injury will keep true freshman tight end J.T. Kerr from practicing with the Huskers until the spring, Pelini said.

Kerr was likely was on track to redshirt during his first year with Nebraska. The 6-foot-4, 245-pound Kerr caught 21 passes during an injury-shortened senior season at Scripps Ranch High School in San Diego last year.

FSN to televise Iowa State game

LINCOLN — Fox Sports Net Midwest will televise Nebraska's Oct. 24 game with Iowa State in Lincoln.

The game is set for an 11:30 a.m. kickoff at Memorial Stadium.

— Mitch Sherman, Dirk Chatelain and Jon Nyatawa