Advertisement
football Edit

Can a running back emerge in Fall Camp for Nebraska?

Nebraska has gone two straight seasons without a 1,000 yard running back, and if it happens again in 2017 that will be the first time since 1974 to 1976 the Huskers have gone three years.

When you look at NU's current situation heading into the season, it remains a complete crap shoot if a single back can emerge.

Through one week of Fall Camp, it appears sophomore Tre Bryant has the early edge, but juniors Devine Ozigbo and Mikale Wilbon are both right there, as is true freshman Jaylin Bradley.

Sophomore Tre Bryant hopes to make a big jump forward in 2017.
Sophomore Tre Bryant hopes to make a big jump forward in 2017. (Nate Clouse)

“You would love to have one take off with the job. That hasn’t happened yet," offensive coordinator Danny Langsdorf said. "You always have some concerns about hits and being tired, but you also want a guy that can get in that groove and that rhythm of a game.

"We’d rather not have a bunch of guys playing, but they are all worthy of playing and they’ve looked pretty good, so we are trying to sort that out still.”

What makes evaluating the running back position difficult in camp is the fact the Huskers do very little live tackling in practice.

That's why the handful of scrimmages the Huskers will conduct this August will weigh heavily into who wins the job.

“It’s hard to evaluate without pads on," Langsdorf said. "We might like some guys with what we’ve done the first couple of days. It will change once we get some contact practices. As a whole that group has looked pretty good, but as we start to hit them it will sort itself out.”

The wildcard in the discussion remains Bradley. He's obviously the least experienced, but he has piqued the interest of running backs coach Reggie Davis.

“He’s learning fast," Davis said of Bradley. "That’s really what you want to find out about freshmen, and that’s how much can they handle the mental aspect of it. The physical you can pretty much see pretty fast. The mental you have to wait until you throw it all on them and then you throw in a situation and see how they handle it.

"Those are the things we are trying to figure out about him to see how he can handle all of the mental things we are going to ask him to do, along with the physical stuff. He’s coming along just fine right now.”

It seems like a committee approach is more likely, but Davis hopes that can change over the next few weeks.

"Always the ultimate goal is to get that one guy that has that 'all in one' package," Davis said. "That's what you are looking for first. If you don't have that, then you look to see how you can put the pieces together."

Advertisement