Of the positions on Nebraska’s roster that will look different in 2025 — basically all of them, but that’s how it will be in the new era of player empowerment — tight end is among them.

Gone is Nate Boerkircher, who transferred to Texas A&M. Also gone is Thomas Fidone II, whose Jan. 4 social media post heavily suggested he wouldn’t be returning to Nebraska in 2025. AJ Rollins, a depth piece in 2024 who also played some defensive line for the Huskers in his career, hit the transfer portal as well.

The cupboard isn’t bare at tight end, though.

Luke Lindenmeyer had a strong finish to 2024 and is someone offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen seemed to rely on as a blocker at the line of scrimmage on runs and in space on perimeter screens. And while the 6-foot-3, 250-pound in-state product isn’t a blazer, he can be effective enough as a pass catcher, too.

Heinrich Haarberg will be a tight end in 2025, and we saw what that could look like for the 6-5, 225-pounder in the Pinstripe Bowl against Boston College. Haarberg, one of the best jumbo athletes on the team, was moved around the formation with motion, used as a blocker in the run game and a receiver on routes close to the line of scrimmage, almost like a safety blanket for quarterback Dylan Raiola. A full offseason for Haarberg as a tight end/H back should help grow his game at the position.

There’s always the Carter Nelson angle to the room, too. At 6-5 and 230 pounds, Nelson looks like a tight end but has the athleticism of a smaller receiver. He’s a dynamic athlete whose size and speed might be better utilized as a big-body receiver/H back instead of a traditional hand-in-the-dirt tight end.

Whatever the case is, Nelson will miss the spring as he rehabs hip surgery. Nelson, a former 8-man player who needed game reps in 11-man football and played in all 13 games as a true freshman in 2024, caught 10 passes for 86 yards and one touchdown.

The dust of roster movement has yet to settle of course, and the spring roster will need to be trimmed to 105 by the start of fall camp. But as of today, others in Marcus Satterfield's tight end room include Ian Flynt and Eric Ingwerson, both of whom came to Nebraska on scholarship, and walk-ons Connor Schutt, Danny King and Cayden Echternach. Receiver Janiran Bonner is another H back body who can block and catch.

Schutt, who's out of Wahoo (Neb.) Bishop Neumann, has always intrigued because of his blend of size — he stands 6-6 and 215 pounds — and explosiveness. He played in one game in 2024, UTEP, and redshirted.

There's also Jeremiah Jones, the 6-4, 215-pound three-star signee in the 2025 class, but he appears set to begin his career as a receiver, which he's listed at by Nebraska.

But there’s another name in the tight end room that may have been forgotten: McClain "Mac" Markway.

This staff writer sure had forgotten about him until this post from Markway’s X account popped up over the weekend:

"Coming for a vengeance in 25," Markway wrote. "Will make every Big Red fan swell with pride."

Now seems like a good time to revisit Markway, who was a very late addition to the roster in August, just days before the season-opener against UTEP.

It’s important to note Markway is coming off an ACL injury, which he suffered in just his third practice with the team. So what his spring looks like, we won’t know until the time arrives. And like most ACL injuries, Markway likely won’t return to his old self until the back half of the 2025 season or spring ball 2026.

So yes, it's simply a post on social media from a young player. But Markway sure sounds excited to show everyone what he's got, and to let everyone know he plans to be around when fall camp kicks off.

And while Holgorsen comes from the Air Raid coaching tree, the play-caller says he wants to build an offense that uses tight ends.

"We're not turning this into an Air Raid, four-wideout program," Holgorsen said in December prior to the bowl game. "That's not going to happen, so these tight ends are important. There are probably two or three other ones who got a whole bunch of reps here over the last nine practices that excite me, that are all young and are going to keep getting better and better."

If you'd like to read more about what a healthy Markway can bring Nebraska's offense, check out the analysis I wrote on him from August, because much of what you're about to read is taken from that story.

When healthy, the 6-foot-4, 260-pounder is your traditional hand-in-the-dirt tight end who can make an impact in both the run game as a blocker and the throw game as a receiver. In that way, he's closer to Lindenmeyer and Flynt than he is to Haarberg, who at this stage of his quarterback-to-tight end transition is more of a receiving threat than blocker, though some Boston College Eagles may disagree with that.

Markway was good enough to see backup snaps as a true freshman at LSU in 2023. He played in 12 games with one start, but is still a young, developing player who will be entering his third season of college football in 2025 with three seasons of eligibility remaining if 2024 was used to redshirt.

Markway played 160 snaps in 2023, with 60 of them coming in his lone start, at Mississippi State, when LSU's starting tight end, Mason Taylor, was injured.

Markway was primarily used in short-yardage and goal-line situations when the LSU offense went to 12 personnel sets, putting two tight ends on the field. He caught three passes for 16 yards and one touchdown.

Markway is a former blue-chip recruit from the 2023 class out of De Smet Jesuit High School in St. Louis, a talent-rich city inside Nebraska's 500-mile radius it wants a stronger presence in on the recruiting trail.

Markway comes from a football family. He's an Iowa legacy as his father, Matt, played tight end for the Hawkeyes in the 1990s under head coach Hayden Fry. Mac also has a cousin, Kyle Markway, who was a tight end at South Carolina for five seasons (2015-2019).

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