Standing calmly behind the podium with a “Bussin’ with the Boys” t-shirt repping a former Husker, Garrett Nelson spoke with a voice hoarse from encouraging his teammates in the weight room.

Nelson, a senior outside linebacker, will most likely be a starter for his third season at Nebraska and is now being looked at as one of the main leaders on the Huskers' defense and team by his coaches and teammates.

When asked about his goals for this season from a leadership standpoint he said, chuckling through his rough voice, “Being a smart leader, I can’t be yelling all the time.”

The Huskers lost seven leaders on their defense last season in team captains Damion Daniels and Cam Taylor-Britt and seniors JoJo Domann, Ben Stille, Marquel Dismuke, Deontai Williams and Deontre Thomas.

“Last year, there were a ton of seniors, I tried to help where I could and whatever they told me to do,” Nelson said. “This year with a limited amount of seniors, I stepped in that role as a leadership guy on defense and as a team and try to do the best I can.”

Head coach Scott Frost said he is impressed with the leadership on defense but singled out Nelson.

“Garrett Nelson has done an unbelievable job on defense throughout all of winter conditioning,” Frost said.

Nebraska’s defensive front has several other leaders including defensive linemen Ty Robinson, Casey Rogers and outside linebacker Caleb Tannor, to name a few.

Just like Nelson, Robinson has been focusing on developing his leadership skills as several defensive linemen left open leadership roles.

“Watching the old guys like Ben Stille and Damion Daniels, those guys really helped me understand how to take on the role of leadership in that room,” Robinson said.

The 6-foot-6, 305-pound lineman said the leadership role will be “pretty well handled” with players like Tannor, Rogers, Blaise Gunnerson and Nelson.

While Robinson said he is more a “lead by example guy”, Nelson is “probably the most vocal guy in our room.”

Nelson said one of his main goals as a leader is to teach his teammates to “control what you can control.”

“For me personally, that’s what I try to teach our guys as a leader,” Nelson said. “There’s a lot of outside factors, new coaches, new plays, a lot of new stuff going on. Just focus on what you can do, attitude and effort-wise, control that.”

Outside linebacker/defensive line coach Mike Dawson said he has specifically seen Nelson’s leadership style develop since his freshman season and that his voice and what he says, carries more weight now.

“When he says something now, guys listen rather than if you just yell the entire time and no one knows what you’re yelling about, you don’t get a lot of street credibility,” Dawson said. “So now when he speaks up, he says something, it’s to a point, it’s smart, it’s football educated and the guy’s listening to him they respect the way that he works and the way that he trains.”

Defensive coordinator Erik Chinander said Nelson now understands when to be positive and when to come down on someone.

Chinander said leadership can come from anywhere, whether it’s the best player on the team or not, but “when your best players are your leaders that probably carries the most weight.”

In 2021, Nelson had 57 tackles including 11.5 tackles for loss and five sacks. His sacks and tackles for loss added up to 95 total lost yards. He also recorded two pass breakups and four quarterback hurries.

“To have a guy like (Nelson), that’s got so much respect for the way that he works, the way he carries himself, the way that he does everything you ask him to do and then on top of it, he’s been a two-year starter and he’s played a lot of good football,” Chinander said. “When you have a guy like that that’s barking, that means a lot.”