NEW YORK — For the first time since 2015, the Nebraska football program has won bowl game.

The 20-15 win over Bill O’Brien’s Boston College Eagles in the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium in New York City wasn’t the prettiest thing in the world, but as the saying goes, a win is a win.

Nebraska won the battle on the line of scrimmage, limiting BC to just 47 rushing yards to came away with the victory, even when a late-game collapse looked like it was headed the Huskers’ way thanks to more special teams miscues.

Now NU has positive momentum heading into next year’s spring ball, fall practice and 2025 season, which kicks off against Cincinnati at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.

Before all that, though, one more Checkdown column to put a bow on 2024. Here’s what stood out to me on the rewatch:

Defensive back Donovan Jones, who was a three-star recruit in the 2024 class out of Omaha North, came out of nowhere to play 55 snaps (fifth-most on the defense). More on him later.

Inside linebacker Vincent Shavers Jr. isn’t a new phenomenon as he’s been flying around all season, but he did play 44 snaps against BC. That's 17 more than his previous snap high, 27, against Indiana.

Jack linebacker Willis McGahee IV played the most snaps of the season, too, at 27. His previous high was 21 against Northern Iowa.

Like Jones, another local product, safety Caleb Benning out of Omaha Westside, played eight snaps.

Corner Amare Sanders and defensive end Jordan Ochoa both played six snaps. We know about Sanders, the young talent out of Miami with a bright future. But some Husker fans might not know about Ochoa, and it's hard to blame them.

Ochoa was a late addition to Nebraska’s 2024 class. He was born in Albany, Georgia, but did most of his growing up in Nebraska. He spent part of his high school career in the state's panhandle, in Gering, before finishing in Colorado. Read more about him here.

Ochoa originally began his Husker career as a Jack linebacker. But on Saturday, the 6-4, 250-pounder was playing with his hand in the grass as a defensive end.

Some of the true freshmen made more impacts than others, but that’s not the point. The point is they were getting real game reps and real experience because the future is now.

Matt Rhule said at the end of the regular season that the program treated this bowl trip as the first day of next season, so if your number was called in the Pinstripe Bowl, there was your opportunity to show the coaches what you can do.

For a lot of those guys, the showings were good.

That’s what I thought to myself when I looked up from my laptop at cold and wet Yankee Stadium and saw Jones out there.

And it wasn’t just the fact that Jones was on the field for the defense’s second series of the game that piqued my interest, it was also because he was playing corner — not safety.

Ever since he impressed at a Nebraska summer camp at Memorial Stadium two summers ago and earned himself a scholarship offer — he ran a 40-yard dash in the 4.5 range — Jones has intrigued me because of his combination of size and speed.

The Omaha North product is listed at 6-foot-1, 195 pounds and, as he showed during his senior season of high school, can hold his own in pass coverage while being a physical downhill thumper.

Tackling is one of Jones’ strongest traits, I think, and I thought he displayed it well in the example below. BC faced a second-and-18 at its own 40-yard line in the second quarter.

BC had success with its screen game in the first quarter, so when faced with a second-and-long, it made sense the Eagles went back to it:

After John Bullock does a great job of keeping contain and forcing running back Kye Robichaux (#5) inside, Jones evades BC’s right guard, redshirt freshman Eryx Daugherty (#56) and makes the stop for a 5-yard gain.

Jones showed no fear in that moment as he attacked the 300-pounder and brought down one of the better running backs in the ACC, Robichaux. He finished with three tackles.

After the game, I asked Dylan Raiola what he saw from Jones lately as a corner, because I was under the impression his future with the team would be at safety, which it still very well might be.

"I think he's the next wave of great corners to come through here," Raiola answered. "I think what makes him great is his competitive spirit. He's not going to take no for an answer and he's going to go compete for what he wants. So I think, normally when you put those two things together, you get a damn good football player. Donovan, being in our class, I'm super proud of him. He showed why he can play at this stage and this level."

While he’s not the biggest linebacker in the world at 6-1 and 225 pounds, BC and several other of Nebraska’s opponents this season have felt the first-year ‘backer out of Miami.

BC quarterback Grayson James certainly did on the play below.

BC’s protection should have picked up Shavers, but it didn’t. With Nash Hutmacher occupying BC’s right guard and tackle, and Cam Lenhardt occupying the tight end, BC pulled the left guard, Logan Taylor (#65) but he never saw Shavers.

After the game, I asked Shavers about this play. The linebacker said the defense was playing man coverage. Because both the tight end and running back stayed in to pass protect, that gave Shavers the green light to be aggressive and blitz the quarterback.

Shoot your shot, kid:

Later in the second quarter, BC had driven to Nebraska’s 9-yard line and faced a third-and-1 situation with 53 second left before halftime.

The Huskers used a five-man front built from MJ Sherman, Riley Van Poppel, Hutmacher, Robinson and Lenhardt. It appears everyone else is in man coverage again, and Shavers was matched up with the off-line tight end hiding behind the right tackle. BC’s other tight end, Kamari Morales (#88), tries to crack block Lenhardt so the other tight end, Jeremiah Franklin (#17), can get a clean release for his flat route.

Shavers sees the play all the way, maneuvers around the vertical route of Lewis Bond (#11) and makes the stop short of the sticks. BC failed its fourth-and-short attempt on the next play, sending Nebraska into halftime with a 13-2 lead.

Big play from a big-time freshman.

With Raiola being the face of the program and QB1 for the 2025 season, plus the team adding transfer Marcos Davila from Purdue and TJ Lateef in the 2025 class, the Huskers have a talented and young quarterback group to develop for the next few seasons.

All of that allows Heinrich Haarberg to make his transition from quarterback to skill player. At 6-5 and 225 pounds, we all know and understand Haarberg is one of the top big athletes in the program. His combination of size, speed and power make him an intriguing athlete who can make an impact as a hybrid WR/TE.

On the example below, Nebraska faces a second-and-8 from the BC 25-yard line. Haarberg starts out wide and is motioned in to the boundary. No BC defender follows Haarberg, which tells Raiola he’ll be getting zone coverage and Haarberg’s little 5-yard sit route is going to be there to take.

Raiola gets the snap, immediately locates Haarberg and completes a simple, easy pass. Haarberg does the rest and falls forward for a first down:

While Haarberg is a natural athlete and receiver, the question of him as a blocker was always in the back of my mind. It’s a small sample size of course, but on Saturday he showed good things in the run blocking game. Things to build off of.

On the example below, Nebraska is on its own 46-yard line facing a first-and-10. After getting the inside run game going, play-caller Dana Holgorsen tests the perimeter with a screen to Jaylen Lloyd with Haarberg and Jahmal Banks leading the way as blockers.

As you can see, Lloyd is able to get around 8 yards to set up a second-and-short and Haarberg’s blocking is a big reason why as he plants slot safety Cameron Martinez (#29), who had a rough Pinstripe Bowl, and lets him know about it with a love tap while getting up:

We saw Haarberg’s ability to block on the perimeter. Next up is seeing how he holds up blocking line-of-scrimmage players. On the example below, Nebraska goes with a zone run to the boundary with a split block from Haarberg, who’s put in motion just before the snap.

We know Haarberg is a tank and a physical run-through-you player at heart, so it’s not a surprise he did his job and planted his left shoulder into the chest of BC’s edge, the 6-3, 246-pound Quintayvious Hutchins (#15).

Haarberg’s block helps open a large lane for Rahmir Johnson to run through while BC’s defense looks to be all over the place trying to defend the run:

I really liked what Ben Scott showed against BC's front. I especially liked what he did on the play below, Nebraska's first touchdown.

Watch Scott work against BC interior defensive lineman Kwan Williams (#55), a 6-2, 306-pound junior. Nebraska's left side of the formation washes down BC's defense, which was confused at the snap. No confusion on the Huskers' part, though:

One more and I'm about to board this plane to Omaha.

I had to add this play from Hutmacher, because while he didn't get a stat, he made the play possible for Robinson to clean up.

The snap started the chaos for James, BC's quarterback, but it was Hutmacher who spooked James and made him turn on scramble mode. Powerful right-arm whack from Hutmacher to create room against BC center Dwayne Allick (#53), who just had a bad rep all around:

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