Nothing in college football is ever set in stone. Nebraska opens spring practice on Monday with the bulk of is 2022 team on campus, but the Huskers are still trying to add pass-rush help and likely offensive line reinforcements via the transfer portal and will certainly suffer some attrition along the way as well.
Even so, it’s a natural time to take a stab at putting together depth chart projections on both sides of the ball. After the Red-White Spring Game, a revisit will help show how much change and how many surprises occur over the coming five weeks.
An offensive projection is coming this weekend, but let’s start with defense and special teams.
DL: Ty Robinson, Mosai Newsom OR Ru’Quan Buckley.
Outside linebacker
OLB: Garrett Nelson, Damian Jackson
OLB: Caleb Tannor, Blaise Gunnerson OR Jimari Butler.
Analysis: The question up front is how exactly to categorize these players, all of whom will be coached by Mike Dawson. Nebraska played more "even" front in 2021 and head coach Scott Frost said earlier this month that is likely to continue, meaning NU doesn’t perhaps need to carry as many defensive linemen as it has in the past.
Hutmacher, then, may play more in rotation with Rogers, Robinson and others rather than holding his own spot in the middle of the defensive line. There could well be situations where a four-man front features Robinson and Rogers inside with Nelson and Tannor as defensive ends. That might end up even being, functionally, NU’s base alignment.
There will be a ton of reps to go around this spring, especially since Rogers is expected to be limited or miss much of the spring after he aggravated a knee injury against Iowa.
Perhaps the simplest way to think about this big group of players is a top four (Robinson, Rogers, Tannor and Nelson) and then competition to figure out who needs to be on the field after that. Maybe Hutmacher earns full rotation reps, or maybe Gunnerson takes a big step forward. The Huskers just need as many options and as much flexibility as they can build.
Inside linebacker
ILB: Luke Reimer, Chris Kolarevic.
ILB: Nick Henrich, Garrett Snodgrass.
Analysis: We’re going to keep the projection pretty straightforward here for now, but it will be interesting what the group looks like after the spring. Reimer and Henrich are the clear top pair and staples in the middle of NU’s defense. Kolarevic played in rotation last year, but amassed just 157 defensive snaps, according to Pro Football Focus, compared to 745 for Reimer and 727 for Henrich.
Two questions to watch going into spring ball: Can Eteva Mauga-Clements or a young guy like Randolph Kpai or Mikai Gbayor make a charge toward the two-deep? And does Kolarevic, one of the best athletic testers on the roster last winter, get a look at the nickel spot rather than as a true box linebacker? It’s not difficult to imagine a front seven at times of Rogers, Robinson, Tannor, Nelson, Henrich, Reimer and Kolarevic as essentially a 4-3.
Bottom line here: Reimer and Henrich are going to be tough to take off the field come the regular season.
Nickel
Isaac Gifford, Javin Wright.
Analysis: The position will be reimagined now that JoJo Domann is off to the NFL, but Chinander and company have some interesting young athletes to continue developing in versatile roles. Wright is a big, long athlete at 6-foot-4 and 210, and could be back in the mix this spring after missing almost all of 2021 due to a blood clotting issue. Gifford earned time right away on special teams and is part of the picture going forward, too. Redshirt freshman Koby Bretz suffered an apparent knee injury in the fall, but could be part of this group in the longer term.
Secondary
CB: Quinton Newsome, Braxton Clark.
CB: Marques Buford Jr. OR Tommi Hill, Omar Brown.
S: Myles Farmer, Javier Morton.
S: DeShon Singleton OR Noa Pola-Gates.
Analysis: Here’s where the transfer portal will be felt most acutely this spring in terms of Nebraska’s defense. Expect Hill at corner and Singleton at safety to jump right into competition for starting spots. Brown would, too, but he missed the end of Northern Iowa’s fall season with an injury and it’s unclear how much he’ll be able to participate this spring.
Buford is a rising young player in the program, and with Cam Taylor-Britt off to the NFL, he’ll be in a likely heated competition with Hill, a former four-star prospect and Arizona State transfer, for a spot. Clark is going into his fifth season with the Huskers and, though he’s never held a starting spot over an extended period of time, he played well in a spot start in 2019, missed 2020 with an injury and then by the end of last year was playing some in rotation with Newsome and was listed as a co-starter.
Safety is a little less clear, but Farmer is the leading candidate for a job, and then Singleton, a physically imposing player at 6-3 and 205, will compete with Pola-Gates and perhaps others for the other spot.
Special teams
P: Brian Buschini, Grant Detlefsen.
PK: Timmy Bleekrode, Chase Contreraz.
LS: Brady Weas, Cameron Pieper.
PR: Trey Palmer, Oliver Martin.
KR: Palmer, Alante Brown.
Analysis: Bleekrode isn’t on campus for the spring — the only player listed on this depth chart who isn’t at least on campus yet — so Contreraz and others will handle spring place-kicking duties. But Bleekrode will be the heavy favorite this fall and Buschini, the FCS punter of the year at Montana, is a near lock for the punting job.
Weas is a Georgetown walk-on transfer and could settle what has been a bit of a revolving door in snapping duties.
NU has some candidates for the return positions, but Palmer, the LSU receiver transfer, has to be considered the favorite at both going into spring.
The turning point in every Nebraska football game in 2021