Nebraska right guard Micah Mazzccua will, in fact, be available Friday night for the No. 22 Cornhuskers against No. 24 Illinois, head coach Matt Rhule said after Wednesday’s practice. But redshirt junior Henry Lutovsky will start, and Mazzccua will be there if the Huskers need him to play.

“Mazzccua will be dressed and ready,” Rhule said. “He just won’t start. He’ll be out there. Yeah, Lutovsky will play, and Micah will be available. … He’s dealing with some things right now, but he’s making some real progress, practiced good today. So he’ll be there, and if we need him, we’ll go to him.

“But like a lot of our guys, some guys are dealing with a foot, some guys are dealing with a toe, and some guys are dealing with [other] things. Everyone’s dealing with different things. So we just are trying to do our best to be there for everyone, where they need us, but he’s available.”

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After he started the first two games of the season, Mazzccua was an unexpected scratch last week against Northern Iowa because of what Rhule called postgame a “coach’s decision.” This week, Nebraska listed the Baylor and Florida transfer as the backup right guard on the Huskers’ depth chart for the Illinois game.

Rhule initially said earlier this week that Mazzccua wouldn’t be available to play against the Fighting Illini and confirmed that the senior’s absence wasn’t injury-related.

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But, again, Rhule clarified Wednesday that Mazzccua will be available this week. Regardless, Lutovsky will start in his place for the second week in a row.

“If you go back to the Colorado game, we put Henry in in the fourth quarter,” Rhule said Monday. “Henry’s a guy we had earmarked as a starter going into the year. Obviously, Micah and Justin [Evans] did a great job for us the first game and a half, but Henry’s healthy right now and ready to go.”

Nebraska has started the season 3-0 and allowed only one sack in the process. Of course, the escapability of true freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola has helped in that department. But the Huskers offensive line has paved the way for a rushing attack that currently ranks ninth in the 18-team Big Ten with 171.33 yards per game on the ground.

Nebraska will face its stiffest test so far this season when it kicks off Big Ten play under the lights of Memorial Stadium against an undefeated Illinois team that’s already taken down one ranked opponent this year.

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