Injuries could vault young safeties up NU depth chart
Nebraska’s safety position potentially suffered another significant blow during Saturday’s win over Northern Illinois, as sophomore Cam Taylor-Britt left the game with a shoulder injury in the second quarter and did not return.
That came two weeks after the player Taylor-Britt replaced as a No. 1 safety, junior Deontai Williams, went down with a shoulder injury of his own that required surgery.
Taylor-Britt’s status for this week’s Big Ten opener at Illinois remains unknown, but if he's unable to play, the Huskers would likely turn to senior Eric Lee Jr. – who initially took over for Williams the first two games – and walk-on Eli Sullivan.
However, NU defensive backs coach Travis Fisher didn’t rule out the possibility of a couple of true freshmen, Noa Pola-Gates and Myles Farmer, making a push up the depth chart sooner than later.
“Yeah, they’re doing very good right now,” Fisher said. “Farmer and Pola-Gates, they’re looking good in practice and doing everything I’m asking them to do… Those guys are ready to go on the sideline. It always depends on what kind of week it is.
“If it’s going to be a straight air show, you’ll start to see those guys a lot more, and if they want to pound the ball, you’ll see those guys a lot less because of the different packages that we have. But right now, practice-wise they’re practicing just as much as the rest of them.”
Defensive coordinator Erik Chinander said for guys like Pola-Gates and Farmer, it wasn’t as much of an issue where they were on the depth chart when it came to the number of opportunities they got each day in practice.
By nature of the way Nebraska practices, Chinander said players on the first, second, and third-team defenses all got near equal reps with the roughly 90 plays of daily team drills.
“The way we practice, you’re always developing players because, like when you’re in the NFL, we had like 12 reps in the team period and the starters got eight and the twos got four and the threes got zero,” Chinander said.
“Here we’re getting equal amounts of reps for the ones and twos and then the threes are getting reps too… Everybody on the team is getting equal reps. It’s not 75/25, it’s 50/50. That develops our team.”
Fisher has seen plenty from Pola-Gates and Farmer over the first few months that they’ve been on campus. With Pola-Gates, Fisher said the former four-star prospect was able to make up for whatever he still might lack in his understanding of the defense with pure talent and ability.
“Noa is lightning speed, so he can make up for some of the things that guys like Javin (Wright) probably can’t because of his speed,” Fisher said. “So Noa can play corner and can honestly play safety, and he’s quick enough to play nickel as well. Noa can strike, too.”
For Farmer, Fisher said he brought an element of physicality that could make him a versatile piece in the secondary down the road.
“He’s very good on the line of scrimmage,” Fisher said. “It’s hard to get off the line of scrimmage against him. He uses his hands very good, he’s physical, and he can run, so we’re able to put him at corner, able to put him at safety, even learning some nickel would be very helpful for him. He’s very smart, and I think that’s one of his key assets, is that he’s very smart.”