Nebraska head coach Mike Riley officially announced on Saturday the five players who were voted to be the Huskers' team captains for the 2017 season.

After playing in all 13 games as redshirt freshman in 2015, Jerald Foster was set up to be a mainstay at left guard entering last season.

But an MCL injury during fall camp derailed his sophomore year before it even began, as he was forced to miss the first nine games of the season.

Foster returned to start the final four games of 2016, and now he's once again looking to cement himself as a permanent piece on the Huskers' starting offensive line for the next two years.

Foster is the third Lincoln native to make captain in the past four seasons, joining Jake Cotton (2014) and Josh Banderas (2016). He also gives the Huskers an offensive lineman captain for the fifth straight season.

When a coach like defensive coordinator Bob Diaco, who's generally not one for throwing out praise very often, goes out of his way to call you potentially one of the best safeties in the country, it says all you need to know about Joshua Kalu's potential.

That holds even truer considering the senior from Houston, Texas, has never even played a single game snap at the position.

After racking up 28 starts at cornerback with 168 career tackles over the past three seasons, Kalu is now locked in as a starting safety for NU entering his final year.

Kalu is the fifth defensive back to be named a captain since 2013, joining Ciante Evans (2013), Corey Cooper (2014), Josh Mitchell (2014) and Nathan Gerry (2015, 2016).

There isn't a single player on Nebraska's entire roster who will ultimately decide what the 2017 season will bring more than junior quarterback Tanner Lee.

After sitting out last season, the transfer from Tulane takes the reigns from four-year starter Tommy Armstrong. Lee and Armstrong are completely different styles of quarterbacks, and as a result Nebraska’s offense should take on a much different look this year.

Lee started two seasons at Tulane before transferring to NU last summer, and the hype train is now charging full speed ahead about his potential.

Lee’s selection marks the fourth time in six seasons an NU quarterback has served as a captain, joining Taylor Martinez (2012, 2013) and Tommy Armstrong Jr. (2015).

While the role of the fullback in college football is shrinking more and more by the year, a player with Luke McNitt's versatility is bound to make an impact in 2017.

A former quarterback at Nebraska-Kearney who started his Husker career as a tight end after transferring to NU in 2014, McNitt provides a solid lead blocker with the ability to make plays as a receiver.

The senior from Kearney, Neb., played in all 13 games last season and emerged as one of Nebraska's top special teams players.

McNitt is the first fullback to serve as a captain since Judd Davies in 2003.

If there was one player you would tab as the "quarterback" of Nebraska's new 3-4 defense, it would have to be senior inside linebacker Chris Weber.

Not only is he one of the most cerebral defensive players on the team, Weber has also shown to be a natural playmaker on the field. He racked up 49 tackles in just 10 games as a sophomore in 2015, but injuries limited him to just 17 stops as a junior.

Few players have adapted to NU's move to the 3-4 better than Weber, and the fact that he was selected as one of the team's three player representatives for Big Ten Media Days in Chicago says everything you need to know about what his coaches think of him.

Weber, Foster, and McNitt,mark the most in-state captains since Nebraska also had three in-state captains in 2001 (Eric Crouch, Jeremy Slechta, Dave Volk). · [endif]The Huskers have had at least one Nebraska native as a captain for 12 consecutive seasons.