Nebraska Team Report (Yahoo! Sports)

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 13:22:07 PDT

The reason behind Bo Pelini's hiring at Nebraska isn't hard to figure out.

The Huskers fielded one of the worst defensive units in the country last season, allowing 40 or more points in precisely half their games while finishing 5-7 and out of the postseason.

It was enough to dump Bill Callahan, the former NFL coach who spent four years at Nebraska and won just one of his last seven games.

Through 15 spring workouts, which included a spring game before a record crowd of 80,149 hoping desperately for Pelini to work his magic and restore Nebraska's image, the Huskers showed defensive improvement. But much work remains.

"What I see defensively is they're starting to learn the concepts and principles of what we're asking them to do, and the roles," Pelini...