Nebraska has brought in 16 transfers this cycle. Of the 16, perhaps the biggest fish and instant-impact-maker is Dasan McCullough. He's in that group, at least.

Standing 6-foot-5 and 235 pounds, McCullough is obvious first-man-off-the-bus material and looks like someone who will have a professional career on a football field. Nebraska is his third school in four seasons, something that's not out of the ordinary these days.

After a 2022 season at Indiana where he was named a Freshman All-American, McCullough transferred to Oklahoma, where he spent the past two seasons playing for head coach and defensive guru Brent Venables.

McCullough played Oklahoma’s ‘Cheetah’ position, which is a hybrid linebacker-safety. The role is uber versatile and meant for players who can play in the tackle box and defend the run on one play while dropping in coverage or manning up on a receiver in space on the next.

While playing for Tom Allen at Indiana, another defensive-minded head coach, McCullough was primarily an EDGE, aligning outside of offensive tackles as a 5 technique or even a wide 9 when there was an in-line tight end.

According to Pro Football Focus, McCullough played 477 snaps as a true freshman at Indiana, a program he signed with because his father, Deland, was Allen’s associate head coach and running backs coach for one season in 2022. Of those 477 snaps, 331 came on the defensive line while 87 were in the tackle box at the second level and 59 in the slot.

McCullough finished his freshman season with 51 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, four sacks and four pass breakups while being named honorable mention All-Big Ten. He was second on the team in quarterback hurries with 14. But after transferring to Oklahoma, he dealt with the injury bug.

As written in McCullough’s film analysis last month, in 2023, his first season at Oklahoma, McCullough played in 10 games but banged up both knees against Oklahoma State. He played through the setbacks but needed meniscus surgery on his left knee and had quad tendonitis on the right. Then last July, McCullough had a stress fracture in his foot that forced him to miss the first five games of 2024.

The injury situation led to McCullough playing just 160 snaps at Oklahoma in 2024. Of those 160 snaps, 57 came in the tackle box while 54 came in the slot and 49 on the defensive line. McCullough aligned all over as a Sooner, but the production never met or exceeded what he did at Indiana. In two seasons at Oklahoma, McCullough was credited with 47 tackles and six TFLs, but no sacks and only six QB hurries.

“He's just an absolutely great athlete that people have tried in a lot of different spots,” Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule said of McCullough Saturday during a press conference. “And so you see kind of like a player who hasn't really found his home.”

Rhule is hoping John Butler’s defense provides the perfect home, fit and position for McCullough, who has one season of eligibility remaining before he’s off to the next stage of his career.

What defense is that, exactly? As Rhule thinks about the evolution of that unit, he sees what will ultimately be a hybrid defense. A unit with the ability to throw out different fronts that have elements of a 3-3-5, a 3-4 and four-down.

That’s nothing new or different than what former defensive coordinator Tony White was doing in 2024. The Huskers often used three-, four- and even five-man fronts depending on the style and tendencies of the opposing offense, which changed each week. But to be effective that way, coaches need versatile players who can stay on the field and be used in all three ways — McCullough is exactly that.

What position will McCullough begin at? From the sounds of it, McCullough will begin in the Jack linebacker room — and that position is probably getting a rebrand to a more traditional outside linebacker or EDGE name. It's a group coached by Phil Simpson that already includes Willis McGahee IV and Maverick Noonan, among others.

“He can be an outside backer/edge player, come off the edge, play in the 3-3-5, play in the 3-4, and then also be a pass rusher in four-down,” Rhule said of McCullough, who some thought would be an intriguing option at other positions, like rover.

At this moment, Nebraska lists McCullough at 6-5 and 235 pounds. To be effective on the line of scrimmage against veteran Big Ten offensive lines and tight ends, Nebraska wants a bigger version of McCullough while keeping his explosiveness.

“We have to take his athleticism, we have to add some bulk to him so that he can withstand rushing the edge, and then hope that that translates, and I think it will,” Rhule said.

We’ll have to wait and see what McCullough looks like during spring ball, and what his new measurements are when the roster updates. Could Nebraska want a 6-5, 245 or 250-pound version of Dasan McCullough? Perhaps that would help McCullough become more attractive to NFL teams looking for an athletic EDGE who can both create havoc in the backfield and set edges in the run game.

Adding McCullough was a no-brainer for Nebraska. Rhule always likes it when a player is the son of a coach. Usually, those kids know the game on a deeper level than others because they’re living it on the field and off at home.

Rhule also remembered offensive line coach Donovan Raiola talking about how productive and hard to block McCullough was when Indiana played Nebraska in Lincoln in 2022. Nebraska won the game 35-21 with McCullough recording five tackles and one 13-yard sack on Casey Thompson.

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