Special teams can't afford to drop the ball

With Terrence Austin, Alterraun Verner and Taylor Embree shagging punt returns during afternoon practice, Austin suffered a rare bobble of the ball, which hit the ground, before he quickly recovered and attempted to gain positive yardage.

The recovery didn't matter to special teams coach Frank Gansz Jr., who promptly told Austin to drop and give him 50 pushups.

Austin took the request in stride, as coach Rick Neuheisel -- located 10 yards behind the senior receiver/return specialist -- encouraged the spectators at Spaulding Field to count off the pushups one by one.

"(Before coach Gansz spoke) I already knew it was coming," Austin said. "Coach just wants to make sure that doesn't happen again. We can't afford to do that at all in the game. That was a rare mistake, but it's not a panic thing at all. That type of thing may happen from time to time (in practice) but you just have to let the last play go, get back in the huddle and make up for it on the next play."

After dropping his first pass attempt in live scrimmage drills, Austin responded later by catching passes of 10 and 7 yards from Kevin Prince.