• Nebraska football coach Bo Pelini at the Tuesday press conference:

LINCOLN — Brandon Kinnie might owe his junior college coach an apology for all the times he pretended to listen during practice.

The instructions were so basic in nature, Kinnie sort of ignored them.

“Look the ball all the way in,” Kinnie remembers coach Jeff Sims saying, over and over again.

Only now, playing against Big 12 opponents, does Kinnie realize the importance of Sims' message.

“I've dropped a lot more of the balls than I ever have before because I'm not used to the speed of the game,” Kinnie said. “What I need to do is focus and look the ball all of the way in, instead of trying to run. I'm thinking that my hands are big enough I can just put my hands out there like I used to, but there's more to that now.”

He's apparently been figuring things out.

Kinnie played nearly the entire game Saturday against Baylor, even though he was the target of just two Cody Green passes. He caught a 10-yard pass on a slant pattern in the first quarter. A deep ball from Green sailed about 10 yards over Kinnie's head in the third.

Against Iowa State, he caught three passes for 27 yards.

“I've still got a ways to go, and I've still got some stuff to show,” Kinnie said. “I haven't let it loose yet, but I just need that chance to get it. So I think this is it. … It's a blessing just to work as hard as I've been working to finally get some time to show.”

It hasn't come easy, though.

Like any newcomer, Kinnie had plenty of frustrating moments during August's preseason camp as he tried to adjust to the heightened level of speed. Digesting the offensive schemes at the same time made things even more difficult, he said.

He had spent extra time going over the playbook with quarterback Zac Lee during the summer, but translating that to the practice field wasn't an instant process.

“I didn't know anything, and you can't play fast without knowing anything,” he said. “I'd think I was doing all right, but really, I wasn't doing that well. … But as I started to know things and learn where I was supposed to be, I got a swagger about myself.”

But with receivers coach Ted Gilmore calling the shots, one thing's clear: If you don't block, you don't play. Forget about self-confidence.

Blocking's emphasized so much that when Kinnie and his teammates watch film of other teams' receivers for pointers on playing the position, they immediately find themselves critiquing those players' blocking technique. Oftentimes, there's a noticeable effort dropoff when a run play's called.

“We see other guys from other schools not moving off the ball on blocking plays sometimes,” Kinnie said. “We wouldn't see the field if we did some of the things those guys do.”

Gilmore's lesson pays off in the end, something Kinnie learned firsthand late in Nebraska's game against Louisiana-Lafayette. He knocked a defender on his back and cleared the sideline for quarterback Cody Green, who scored on the 24-yard touchdown run.

You never know when a properly executed block on the edge might spring a running back for extra yards, Kinnie said. It's the little things that make a difference, and now that Kinnie's starting to realize that, he's earning more playing time.

“It's maturing, learning the things that I'm supposed to do,” he said. “I wanted to play. I got tired of watching everybody, knowing I can play with them.”

Contact the writer:

402-473-9585, jon.nyatawa@owh.com


• Cody Green at the Tuesday press conference: