Last September may as well have been five years ago as far as Cam Jurgens is concerned.

Once a four-star tight end prospect coming out of Beatrice, Neb., Jurgens had spent the offseason leading up to his redshirt freshman year bulking up to 285 pounds and taking on an entirely new position at center.

Despite injury setbacks that held him out of most of fall camp, Jurgens was Nebraska’s starter for the season opener. His debut did not go nearly as planned.

Wild snaps and confusion had Jurgens admittedly feeling rushed and unprepared over the first half of the season. But things steadily started to slow down for him as the year went on, and Jurgens was playing his best football by November.

That confidence has only continued to build over the past 10 months, and now Jurgens is fully entrenched, both mentally and physically, as Nebraska’s top man at center.

“It definitely slowed down throughout the year,” Jurgens said. “I think, as I keep progressing, the game is going to slow down a little bit more. Yes, at the start of (last) season, I feel like I was just way too rushed, and I was getting sped up. I wasn't seeing things as well as I am now…

A lot of it is just the speed of the game. When you're getting rushed in there, you've got to make a lot of calls. I feel like a lot of times I was rushed, and not being able to have those practice reps where I can see all those looks and going out there, it's just a lot of things I've been watching on film, but I wasn't able to get practice reps.

“I think having that season of just seeing defenses and being able to have that experience and making calls, it's going to be a lot better for me this year.”

Offensive line coach Greg Austin has seen Jurgens’ development over the past year as much as anyone. While last season was the definition of being thrown into the fire for Jurgens, Austin said that experience has clearly made him a much more confident player.

“He's done a really good job of getting that command presence, and that's a big deal at that position,” Austin said. “His command presence a year ago is 180 degrees from where it is right now — his ability to have control of the offense, to make the calls that he needs to make. During camp, you're going to be putting a lot of situations…

“It's been really good to see from him being able to take some things that we learned in the past, whether it be in fall camp or throughout the season last year, and bring them forward.”

Austin added that Jurgens would only be aided further by playing alongside two veteran seniors in guards Matt Farniok and Boe Wilson, who have played as many snaps as most any member of the Huskers’ o-line.

As for those snaps, Austin said that remained a point of emphasis for Jurgens, but they too have seen significant improvement.

“Just continuing to make sure that he's consistent with his snaps,” Austin said. “Mechanically, he's good. But certainly, we got to make sure that he's dialed in and focused on that. Give the quarterback the ball consistently in the same spot.”