Nebraska coach Tom Osborne will decide in three or four days whether to start Tommie Frazier or Brook Berringer as his starting quarterback against Miami in the Orange Bowl.
Frazier, the starting in last season's Orange Bowl, has been out since Sept. 25, when recurring blood clots were discovered in his right leg. Berringer took over and led the No. 1 Cornhuskers to a 12-0 record.Frazier took full contact for the first time Saturday since October surgery prohibited him from such practices. The scrimmage was closed to the media.
"Frazier got through practice OK," Osborne said. "He got banged around a little. He carried the ball five or six times and seemed to be fine. All the quarterbacks did good things."
Frazier admitted he is not yet in game shape.
"I think I was a little rusty to begin with, but as the scrimmage went along I felt more comfortable," he said. "There were no problems, just a conditioning problem."
Frazier made sure the leg took some hits. "The first hit I tried to initiate contact myself to see how it would feel," he said.
Before coming to Florida, Berringer told The Miami Herald: "I deserve to be the starter as much as Tommie deserves a chance to come back. We have two capable quarterbacks and two quarterbacks who have run this team. Either one of us could step in and win this game."
Rather than create a quarterback controversy, the confusion as to who will start has been a blessing, quarterback coach Turner Gill said.
"It made us all closer," Gill said. "When Tommie went down, we didn't go around moping."
The quarterbacks will be evaluated during scrimmages this week, Osborne said.
"We will wait to make a decision because we have two to three hard practices," Osborne said.
Besides ironing out the quarterback situation, the Cornhuskers have a lot of work to do before facing No. 3 Miami (10-1) Jan. 1.
Nebraska has lost seven consecutive bowl games, including last season's Orange Bowl 18-16 to No. 1 Florida State. The Cornhuskers have not beaten Miami since a 17-9 win Oct. 2, 1976, at Lincoln. Neb. They are 4-4 against the Hurricanes, 1-3 in bowl games.
While the first string defense played well during Saturday's scrimmage, the second team gave up some big plays, Osborne said.
"We haven't peaked too soon," he said. "That is not a problem. We need a good hard week of work, but it will get better."
After practice Saturday, Nebraska planned to visit underprivileged children at a housing project in Miami.
No practice was scheduled for Christmas.