With a year of experience under his belt and a group of inexperienced players behind him, it will be up to Dedrick Mills to carry the load this fall for Nebraska's running backs, both on and off the field.
"He's done a really good job. He's been a leader in our room. Obviously, we're fairly young experiencewise, so he's got to be the bell cow," Nebraska running backs coach Ryan Held said Thursday. "I expected a big senior year for him. He's going to have to carry a good amount of reps for us."
The 5-foot-11, 220-pound senior came on late last season, running for a season-high 188 yards against Wisconsin in Nebraska's 10th game of the year, and finishing 2019 with a 24-carry, 94-yard performance against Iowa in the regular-season finale.
Mills' 347 rushing yards over his final three games represented nearly 47% of his total for the season. He led the Huskers with 745 yards and 10 touchdowns, averaging 5.2 yards per carry.
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"He's definitely gotten a lot better over the past year," Held said. "And you can see how much progress he made at the end of the year. It was just more reps he was getting, understanding the footwork and the offense, where the runs could hit."
Now Mills will have to pass that knowledge on to a room full of young players. Of the 14 running backs listed on Nebraska's roster, 10 are true freshmen or redshirt freshmen. Sophomore Brody Belt and redshirt freshman Rahmir Johnson are the only other NU backs to get carries last season.
Staying ready: Held likes his room so far, saying young players such as Johnson, Ronald Thompkins, Marvin Scott and Sevion Morrison have made good strides.
But there’s a long way to go to build the depth NU will need with so many unknowns ahead.
“You better have a fully loaded room because you just don’t know what’s going to happen with everything going on,†Held said. “One minute you might have a full room, the next minute you might have two guys in the room. So it’s all hands on deck. You’re never going to feel comfortable this year.â€
With no clear No. 2 behind Mills, Nebraska is down to two weeks to figure out how things will shake out.
“I got a good group. But like Coach (Scott) Frost said, we’ve got to figure out how this is going to look. We’ve got great competition. The beauty of it is, we have some more time to keep going through practice.â€
Wan’Dale staying wide: Held likes the depth at running back enough to say that Wan’Dale Robinson won’t be making a return appearance to the position as a sophomore.
“There will be some different things we can do with him, but he’s our slot receiver, and he’s very dynamic, and he’s really gotten better in the offseason,†Held said. “I don’t plan on him being in the backfield very much. We can game plan some things here and there, but his game is going to be slot receiver.â€
Robinson filled in at running back last season, mostly out of necessity, and ran for 340 yards and three touchdowns. His 88 carries were third-most on the team behind Mills and quarterback Adrian Martinez.
Johnson in the mix: Among the big group of players attempting to earn snaps at running back behind senior Mills, the one with the most experience is redshirt freshman Rahmir Johnson.
The New York native saw time in four games in 2019, most prominently an 18-carry outing against Maryland in November. He logged 55 yards and a touchdown in addition to a 12-yard catch in that 54-7 victory.
“We were prepared to burn the redshirt if we needed to and he knew that, but we were able to salvage it, which was nice,†Held said.
In the offseason, Johnson put on about 10 pounds of muscle.
“He brings a nice speed factor to it,†Held said. “He’s a guy that can run and give us a threat that can be a big-play capability, but he needs to continue to keep working and grinding and figuring out where the cuts are going to be and his footwork and fighting through when he’s tired, just like everybody else.â€
Martinez talks mental health: Junior quarterback Adrian Martinez has learned about life in the fishbowl over the past two years and the continual praise and criticism that comes along with it.
On Thursday, he was asked about mental health and the spotlight that some professional athletes, including Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, have put on the conversation.
“I think it’s definitely talked about enough, especially in college sports,†Martinez said. “Obviously, we’re amateur athletes, but we also have a pretty big stage, similar to professional sports. I would say that’s something where I’m just thankful to be part of Nebraska. We have a great support system here and our coaching staff, Dr. Brett Haskell — she works with players kind of on the psychology piece — so we have a great staff and I’m really just thankful that I chose to come here, that I chose to be a part of this community.
“I think despite everything that happened last year, I’ve received nothing but support from the people here in this building.â€