As Scott Frost talked Wednesday night on the radio about his 2020 offense and a variety of other topics, perhaps nothing jumped out more than what he said about a pair of incoming wide receivers — Omar Manning and Zavier Betts.
"To be honest with you, in my coaching career, I've never really had guys that look like those two," Frost said in an interview on the "Husker Sports Nightly" radio show. "Both those guys have NFL bodies and I think Omar looks like a Sunday guy right now. It's up to us as coaches to make sure we get them to play that way."
Just as interesting, though, is what Frost said about the Huskers’ backfield for the upcoming season.
It doesn’t take anything more than a glance at the running back depth chart to see that there are question marks behind senior Dedrick Mills.
Mills got better as the season went along in his first year at NU as a junior college transfer, finishing the season with 745 yards (5.2 per carry) and 10 touchdowns.
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His 143 attempts were one off sophomore quarterback Adrian Martinez’s team high. The next two after that? Freshman receiver Wan’Dale Robinson (88) and sophomore running back Maurice Washington (50). That’s where it gets interesting for the Huskers.
At 5-foot-9 and 180 pounds, Robinson showed a willingness to run between the tackles, but Nebraska doesn’t want him confined to lining up in the backfield at all. Frost and company would prefer to use him in a variety of ways and find ways to get him the ball in space. Washington, of course, was dismissed from the team in January.
Junior Jaylin Bradley transferred, senior walk-on Wyatt Mazour graduated, so on and so forth.
“We were thin there when we got here (in December 2017) and then a couple of unfortunate things happened and now we’re thin there again,†Frost said. “I do feel great about Mills coming back and then Rahmir Johnson did some really good things at the end of the year and obviously has the speed we’re looking for.â€
Behind Mills on scholarship, NU has redshirt freshmen Rahmir Johnson (21 carries for 64 yards and a touchdown) and Ronald Thompkins, plus incoming freshmen Sevion Morrison and Marvin Scott.
Johnson will have every chance to become NU’s No. 2 back behind Mills after playing in four games and redshirting last fall, but there will be several newcomers in the mix, too.
“Sevion is a kid that I just love being around,†Frost said. “I think he has a chance to be a complete back for us. Marvin fits our offense perfect and I think he’s going to be physically ready to come help, so we’re going to have to rely on some young kids.â€
Thompkins has battled multiple knee injuries dating to his junior year of high school and his health status remains unclear and the two incoming freshmen don’t arrive until the summer.
Nebraska also has a pair of incoming players in Alante Brown and William Nixon who project to playing a versatile, multipurpose role like Robinson, and both have experience playing out of the backfield.
Frost said Brown, who played quarterback at Simeon High in Chicago before playing more of a backfield role for the 2019 season at St. Thomas More in Connecticut, can be a combination running back and receiver for NU. Nixon played mostly receiver as a junior at Midway High in Waco, Texas, but switched to running back early in his senior season and racked up 1,837 rushing yards (plus 250 receiving) and 29 total touchdowns.
“They’ve said that they think if I work hard enough, get the playbook down and everything, that I can make a big impact early,†Nixon told the Journal Star recently. "I just have to keep working hard and nothing’s ever guaranteed, but as long as I keep working hard and be a great team player on and off the field, I feel like I can do great things at Nebraska.â€
Brown has the advantage of being the only midyear enrollee among all of Nebraska’s backs and receivers in the 2020 class, so he’s going through winter conditioning and will have spring ball to make his case for early playing time, too.
"I'm really an all-purpose back, so from running back to inside receiver to outside receiver," Brown told BTN when he signed with the Huskers. "If I'm not at running back, I'm at receiver and if I'm not at receiver, I'm at running back. Those are the things that I like to do.â€
One way or another, it’s going to be a young backfield for Nebraska in 2020, even if the Huskers look to add a graduate transfer to the mix, too.
“We’re starting to get those type of weapons that this offense needs,†Frost said.