Nebraska's senior offensive linemen spent a good part of a media availability back in March laying out the reality for the Husker offensive line in 2020. It's a veteran group, they said, which means there's no excuse for anything outside of high-level performance.Â
During a radio interview Tuesday, offensive line coach Greg Austin took it one step further regarding senior left tackle Brenden Jaimes in particular.Â
"Brenden has the opportunity to be one of the best in the conference and one of the best in the country at his position," Austin said on the "Husker Sports Nightly" radio program.Â
Nebraska has not had a first-team All-Big Ten offensive lineman since Spencer Long in 2012. Jaimes has started 33 straight games — including all 24 of the Scott Frost era at left tackle — and Austin said by the end of 2019 he considered the Austin, Texas, native to be a stalwart.Â
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"Really looking forward to seeing him grow and mature into the player that (former head coach Mike Riley's staff) recruited him to be," Austin said. "Last year, we saw that guy take his game to another level, especially playing some elite pass-rushers.Â
"He did a great job, especially late in the season against Iowa's premier pass-rusher (first-round draft pick A.J. Epenesa). So we're looking forward to watching him go out there and compete."Â
The Huskers return all five starters from 2019, though the lineup may well shuffle. Austin said the plan remains to have senior Matt Farniok continue to cross-train but focus at right guard, while redshirt freshman Bryce Benhart and sixth-year senior Christian Gaylord will focus at right tackle.Â
The left guard job will be a hot competition, but Austin counted several players — including last year's starting guard pair of Trent Hixson and Boe Wilson — as players Nebraska would definitely count on in 2020. Wilson, according to the coach, played at a high level in 2018, "and looking at that film, we attributed his production as a player to him being healthy." In 2019, Austin said, Wilson was not, and his play suffered for it. The plan in 2020 is to "take care of" Wilson and rotate more often given the depth NU thinks it has.Â
Even in talking about the backups, though, the conversation looped back around to Jaimes. Consider what Austin said when he talked about presumptive No. 2 left tackle and redshirt freshman Brant Banks.Â
"Brant is a guy that's going to compete at the left tackle spot and certainly, he's learning from a guy that, in my opinion, should be one of the better tackles, if not the best tackle, in the country.Â
"That he'll be behind Brenden is an awesome deal."Â
A couple of other quick-hitters from Austin:Â
* Behind sophomores Cam Jurgens and Will Farniok at center, Austin said both Hixson and Matt Sichterman have been getting at least some reps snapping the ball.Â
* Austin said in addition to Benhart and Banks, a group of redshirt freshmen that includes Ethan Piper and Michael Lynn (guard) and Jimmy Fritzche (tackle) will be competing for spots on the two-deep, if not starting roles.Â
* Austin complimented the work so far of freshmen Turner Corcoran and Alex Conn and spoke highly of Corcoran, the former four-star recruit from Lawrence, Kansas, who was a midyear enrollee.Â
"Seeing Turner, the two practices that we saw him, his future is extremely bright," Austin said.Â