As Nebraska gears up for its first showdown of 2016 against Fresno State, its defense will be doing so knowing one of its most prominent players will only be watching from the sidelines on Saturday.
Senior safety Nate Gerry, who was just voted one of four full-time team captains for this season, will be suspended for the opener for what head coach Mike Riley described last week as a violation of team rules.
While the back end of NU’s defense is one of the team’s biggest overall strengths, there’s no denying that not having a guy who has played in 39 career games with 29 starts will leave a major void in the secondary.
While Gerry’s on-field leadership - not to mention his 199 career tackles and nine career interceptions - will undoubtedly be missed, defensive backs coach Brian Stewart said he’s confident that his group will get by just fine without him.
“Nate, being a veteran, that’s always a hard pill to swallow,” Stewart said. “But since we’ve been here, we haven’t started a season with just one DB, whether it’s a safety or a corner. So we’re fine.
“We knew (about the suspension) ahead of time. Coach (Mark) Banker has done a really nice job preparing the staff as well as the players for the situation. It’s next man up. Take advantage of your opportunity.”
Based on the first depth chart released on Monday, Kieron Williams and sophomore Aaron Williams - who played in all 13 games and made three starts last year as a true freshman - will be the starting safeties against Fresno State.
But last week Banker stressed there would likely be a heavy rotation with the Williams's and sophomore Antonio Reed.
Stewart added that the trio has made big strides over the course of the offseason, particularly in the past few weeks of fall camp.
“I think all of those guys, all the safeties on the back end, are playing well, picking up things well,” Stewart said. “The familiarity with the defense really helps. It’s the same terminology, the same stuff, so I don’t think that will be a problem.”
Kieron Williams said that while he and the rest of the safeties will have big shoes to fill without Gerry on Saturday, they would definitely be up for the challenge.
"That guy, he's like the quarterback for us on defense," Williams said. "When we're in the film room, anybody that knows Nate, he'll point out something and I'll be like, 'Bro, how do you even know that?' And he'll be right every time.
"I think the goal for me and Aaron is to go out there and try to be the communicators of the defense and try to get everybody set up and make sure that we're in the right places so we can make plays on the ball, and the major thing, get us a win."
