Dennard Steps Up

-Steve Sipple

If I had to vote for Nebraska's defensive MVP of Saturday's win at Oklahoma State, Alfonzo Dennard might get the nod in an upset.
Stay with me on this.

Never mind that the junior cornerback recorded only one tackle and a pass breakup. It's impossible to place a statistical value on the confidence he showed in openly pleading with coaches to allow him to cover gifted wide receiver Justin Blackmon.

His teammates no doubt noticed.

In the second quarter, Dennard already had seen enough of Blackmon wreaking havoc with deep routes against standout corner Prince Amukamara.

"I saw what he was doing against Prince, so I wanted to guard him and see how he is," Dennard said. "I did pretty good."

Said Nebraska secondary coach Marvin Sanders: "Alfonzo came back to the sideline at one point and said, ‘Put me on him!' He said it loud enough for everybody to hear."

Such fearlessness rubs off on teammates on both sides of the ball. The 6-foot-1, 207-pound Blackmon is arguably one of the top five wideouts in the nation. He's capable of severely damaging a defense's overall confidence.

Dennard would have none of that. Blackmon never did catch a ball against Dennard, at least not that I saw.

"Prince tried his luck. I wanted to try mine," Dennard said.

In the first half, Blackmon made three catches for 129 yards, including an 80-yard touchdown reception on which Blackmon beat Amukamara to the ball on a pass that was thrown a bit short. Blackmon also drew an interference penalty on Amukamara on a deep pass.

In the second half, Blackmon had only two receptions -- a 3-yarder midway through the third quarter and a 25-yard touchdown on Oklahoma State's final scoring drive. He entered the game averaging 9.5 receptions per game.

Oklahoma State showed extreme confidence in Blackmon by attacking Amukamara with a deep pass on the Cowboys' first possession of the game. Bear in mind, NFL draft guru Mel Kiper ranks Amukamara third among all 2011 draft prospects. Quarterbacks seldom have thrown his way this season.

"Prince redeemed himself," Dennard said. "He came back at one point in the second half and said, ‘I got him.'"