It's unclear whether Nebraska will need offensive lineman Broc Bando on Saturday at Illinois, but what is clear is that coach Scott Frost trusts the sophomore from Lincoln if the Huskers call his name.Â
Bando, a 6-foot-5 305-pounder, replaced left tackle Brenden Jaimes last week when Jaimes went down with an apparent left leg injury in the fourth quarter and didn't return.Â
Frost doesn't talk about injuries that are not season-enders — he shot down a question Thursday on the "Husker Sports Nightly" radio show after Jaimes practiced on a limited basis earlier in the week — but he did talk about the trust he has in Bando.Â
"He's been improving and I think he can help us at guard or tackle, wherever we need him," Frost said of the former Lincoln Southeast lineman who played his senior season at IMG Academy in Florida. "He's a guy that we're counting on when his number is called."Â
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"We've got a young center, a young left guard and juniors everywhere else," Frost said. "They're still getting used to playing together and I think they're playing better.Â
"I still want to see us get more movement in the run game. It's been improving every week, but just being on a guy is different than moving him. Just a little bit of movement at one position or another with some of our run plays will create the vertical seams that we need to get the backs through."Â
Personnel groups: An interesting question from a caller was about getting the correct number of players on the field, particularly on defense.Â
Frost made a vague reference to an illegal substitution penalty against Colorado that wasn't called but also said the Huskers currently are working with more varieties of personnel groups than they'd like to under ideal circumstances.Â
"Hopefully in the future it won't be as many," Frost said. "Right now we've got quite a few — nickel, dime, cinco, base, big. That's just kind of where we are right now. …
"Everything is getting better and every time an issue arises, if we haven't anticipated it, our staff is doing everything it can to get it fixed."Â
Lauding Lovie: Frost was complimentary of Illinois fourth-year head coach Lovie Smith and the improvements Frost senses from the Illini this fall.Â
"This is a guy that coached in the Super Bowl. He knows what he's doing and he's a good man," Frost said. "You can really see the improvement they've made from last year to this year, so we've got a challenge ahead of us. They've got good players — guys that can beat you on the D-line and they're faster in the secondary than a year ago."Â
Frost, of course, played in a similar style defense in Tampa as an NFL player and said that the "Tampa-2" system is flexible and has changed over time.Â
"What I really loved about playing in that defense is it's a complete system," Frost said.Â