Lindsey fully 'focused' on taking the next step this off-season
The expectations were hard to ignore for Tyjon Lindsey in 2017. The California native came to Nebraska as one of the highest ranked recruits in years, but like many true freshmen, it took some time to adjust.
Lindsey had his moments last August where Tanner Lee connected with him on a few deep play action passes, but it never transferred over to the game.
In fact, Lindsey had just 19 offensive touches for 80 yards in 2017, despite being regarded as one of the most explosive receivers in the country.
During his junior year in high school, Lindsey averaged 24.8 yards per catch on 45 receptions for national high school power Las Vegas Bishop Gorman. His missed most of his senior year with an injury, but before that, he was named the wide receiver MVP at the Rivals Challenge in Atlanta that June.
Lindsey was a can't miss prospect in most people's eyes, but the only roadblock was he never played in a pro-style offense before.
As Lindsey learned, the style was different than he was used to, and his opportunities were far less. Typically the former coaching staff would try to call at least one or two designed calls Lindsey's way, but he failed to have any play go longer than 8 yards in 2017.
"For my confidence, basically I just needed the amount of touches,” Lindsey said. “Just getting hit here and there, it was more than that. It was hard to get comfortable.
“That was my biggest thing. One touch isn’t going to define the person. You can’t be perfect all the time. You’ve got to warm up and get a feel. (Receiver) is just like running back. Running backs don’t get one ball every ball; they continuously run it in. Once they start clicking, they go straight to it, straight to it. That’s what they are starting to try to do with me. That’s why they moved me to running back and wide-out, just trying to get me in my comfort zone back in the day.”
Head coach Scott Frost and his staff were very familiar with Lindsey from his time on their time at Oregon.
The Ducks recruited Lindsey, and at one time he felt like the Chip Kelly offense was a perfect match for his skill set.
This spring, you can argue no player on the offense has benefited more from the move to Frost's offense than Lindsey. On Saturday, Lindsey had a 28-yard run and a team-high four receptions for 14 yards. The 42 yards of offense in the Red-White game was over half his 2017 output and a pretty good indication of what's to come.
“The chemistry, it’s going up right now,” Lindsey said. “We are not all on the same page right now, but as you can see from the spring game, we’ve been clicking on a couple of things."
No player is happier to see Lindsey step than redshirt freshman quarterback Tristan Gebbia.
The two have known each other for quite some time, going back to their days in Southern California.
“Tyjon is a great athlete,” Gebbia said. “I think you guys all knew that when he was getting recruited and I think everyone in the country knew it. He finally got the chance to get out there and show what he can do in a faster-paced offense than what he did in high school. He’s my roommate, so I’m pretty proud of him.”
This summer Lindsey doesn't plan to slow down either. He hopes to take things up another level, and in order to do that, he'll stay in Lincoln over the month of May.
“I’m focused,” Lindsey said. “I’m staying here. I’m doing summer school. I’m trying to get in here – get in, get out. Football is fun to me. When I’m around my brothers like this, I’ll be straight. I came here just to get away from all the distractions and stuff. Stuff out there, besides my family, is nothing but a distraction.
"I’m here to get my mind set. I see the year I’m trying to have, and with that, I have to make sacrifices.”
