Scott Frost has coached a lot of talented wide receivers over the years.Â
He’s got a couple of good ones on his roster now in JD Spielman and Wan’Dale Robinson.
But it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why the Nebraska head coach is excited to get junior college signee Omar Manning to campus in 2020.
“He looks different than anybody I’ve ever coached and has tape to match,†Frost said Wednesday, several hours after the 6-foot-4, 225-pound receiver from Kilgore College in Texas sent in his National Letter of Intent. “I’m really excited to get him.â€
Manning is the central piece of a sizable talent infusion for Nebraska not only at wide receiver but at the offensive skill positions in general in its 2020 class. The Huskers still expect to add another physically imposing receiver in February or spring of 2020 with Zavier Betts (Bellevue West), but for now Betts is the biggest, literally, of a group the Huskers are high on.
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“All year we kind of wished we were a little more productive at our outside receiver spot,†Frost said. “That’s one place where we thought we wanted a kind of guy that could come in and potentially help us right away. … He’s got a little work to do yet before he gets to campus, but I think he has a chance to change our offense.â€
Another element the Husker offense lacked: explosive speed. Nebraska had some guys on its roster who could run, but they either couldn’t lock down regular roles (departing seniors Jaron Woodyard and Mike Williams) or weren’t physically ready (freshmen De’Mariyon Houston and Jamie Nance) for action. Nebraska on Wednesday landed a signature from four-star receiver Marcus Fleming, who is small but ran in the 10.4-second range in the 100 meters in high school and turned in a 21.01 200 meters.
“He can really go,†Frost said. “He played on one of the best teams in Florida (Miami Northwestern) and was one of their stars. You talk about a kid who oozes his love for football. He just loves being out there. I think if you asked him to play on a parking lot, cement track, he’d go out and play football.
“He has a chance to help us and help us quick.â€
Nebraska also had prep school standout Alante Brown, originally from Chicago, sign along with longtime commit Will Nixon (Waco, Texas) who got late interest from Stanford and Purdue but stuck with the Huskers. Brown is the only of the skill players who’s an early enrollee. He and Nixon add to a room that significantly lacked in production last fall, but does have some young developmental pieces around Robinson and Spielman, who Frost praised extensively on Wednesday.
“JD has been a phenomenal player around here for a long time. We’re lucky to have him back another season,†Frost said. “I’m excited to coach a guy who could be the all-time leading receiver in Nebraska history and have a piece of that as a coach. I’m really impressed with his toughness and what he’s done for his entire career at Nebraska. Obviously with Wan’Dale, everyone saw what he could do this year. It was a shame to have him hurt a bit at the end of the year, but we’re excited for what he can bring next year.â€
NU would like it if Robinson wasn’t relied upon so heavily in the backfield next season, and in addition to versatile players like Brown and Nixon, the Huskers signed two running backs in four-star Sevion Morrison (Tulsa, Oklahoma) and three-star Marvin Scott III (Port Orange, Florida).
Scott is the more compact of the two at 5-9 and 205 pounds, and both had prolific senior seasons.
“The thing about (Scott) is he’s got tremendous balance, he’s got really good speed, he’s very powerful — he’s a powerlifting champion,†running backs coach Ryan Held said. "He can get us the short yards, he can get us the long yards. He’s a guy that physically, there’s no question he’ll be ready to play early. With where our running back room is, he’s got to be ready.â€
Morrison is longer and leaner at 6-0 and 200 pounds and Held said he’ll add more good weight.
“He had a lot of people that wanted him and, you can just see, when he gets in the open field, it’s gone,†Held said.
“I think at times this year, if we were going to run certain plays in our offense, we wanted one guy out there, and if we were going to do other things, then we wanted another guy out there,†Frost said.
It makes life a lot easier as a play-caller if one guy can do all those things. Sevion is that type of running back. He catches it well. He runs it well, has speed, and can run between the tackles with his size. He’s really an all-around guy.â€