There are so many names on that Husker football roster over there – enough to occasionally lose track of some for even those who can remember a Nebraska-Oklahoma score from 1989.
Sometimes a guy redshirts, or suffers an injury, or just isn't quite ready to crack the two-deep right away. Or there's more build up about another newcomer for some reason. And sometimes, in turn, we cast eyes elsewhere. Because there is a new commit, or recruiting target, or transfer, or because you're also forgiven for not knowing the latest on 150 players of the football team you follow.
But just because certain Huskers escape constant public attention during their recruitment, or for a season, or even multiple seasons, doesn't mean Nebraska coaches aren't considering what that player can get done for this program.
As Husker assistants have conducted interviews on the 'Sports Nightly' radio show in recent weeks, I was reminded of a few such cases, with some names below perhaps fitting into this category more squarely than others. Still, you get the idea: They are all guys who could start to garner more conversation about themselves if things break right.
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Tate Wildeman: This one jumped out the most to me, with D-line coach Tony Tuioti offering some encouraging words about the third-year sophomore who was the No. 321 player overall in the 247Sports composite back in 2018.
Injuries, more than anything, have slowed Wildeman's progress on a defensive line that is going to look much different in 2020, but can be as good if not better than last year in the minds of coaches. One of the reasons they think that is all the size they have, and Wildeman is part of that. He stands 6-5, 290, and Tuioti described him as "a warrior" for how he has fought through some injuries.
"We're going to need his length. He's got good athleticism and for a guy as long as he is, he can give offensive tackles some problems because he's got long levers." Tuioti only got to see him in two practices in the spring, but the early indications were that Wildeman was much closer to joining the fray.
Will Farniok: It was thought up until about a week before the 2019 opener that Farniok might be the starting center, with Cam Jurgens still on the mend from injury. After Jurgens came back and won the job, and after Husker coaches were rewarded late in the season by sticking with him through snap issues and early growing pains, it'd be easy to just say, 'That's it! Center is Cam's job for the next three years."
Perhaps it is. But it's also a position where you better have some depth at the ready, and the Huskers have this in mind. Farniok, Trent Hixson and Matt Sichterman are all other O-linemen who had been taking some snaps since this spring. Sichterman is another name to not forget about in the competition on the interior of the O-line. But let's focus in on Farniok. Austin was quite complimentary of the third-year sophomore.
"Close behind (Cam) is Will Farniok," Austin said. "Will has been a guy that's been working his tail off since he came here. He's been competing his ass off. I'm excited about Will this year as well. I'm excited about seeing where he ends up. We talk a lot about Cam and we expect him to potentially be the Day 1 starter, but we're not just going to give it to you. You have to earn it and Will is really clipping at his heels to be the next guy."
Considering this weird season that looms, if it's played as we hoped, having multiple options ready to snap the ball is no small thing.
Mosai Newsom: I think Husker fans paying close attention in recent weeks have started to figure out the redshirt freshman is positioning himself much closer to the D-line rotation (if not in it) than we realized in the early spring.
Listed at 6-4, 285 pounds, he's added about 30 to 35 pounds to his frame since he arrived to Lincoln. Newsom was ranked among the top 40 strong-side defensive ends nationally as a 2019 recruit, and I think his growth this season is significant because a year from now Nebraska will be without one of its more important pieces up front in Ben Stille. Ty Robinson for good reason gets much of the attention among D-linemen in the 2019 class, but all indications are Newsom is a central figure in future Big Red plans for the D-line too.
Broc Bando: When you talk about the competition for jobs on the O-line, Bando seems like he takes a backseat in many conversations I hear. That might be a mistake, given that Bando made one of the most impressive charges of anyone last year to go from being almost completely off Greg Austin's radar (the coach told us as much) to on the two-deep, backing up Brenden Jaimes at left tackle for the opener last year. We later in the year saw Bando step in for Trent Hixson at left guard against Minnesota when there were struggles there. So he's a versatile junior who could land anywhere in this deep O-line competition ahead. Just saying, don't leave his name out of the mix.
"He started owning his job, really putting in the effort. He really had a desire. He had an ambition to be better," Austin said last year. "Sure enough, that carried into spring ball. We saw him come on in spring ball and be a real dude. Come fall ball, he was the same guy."
While some might believe youth from the 2019 class is soon to take over key roles, including Ethan Piper on the interior, Austin recently expressed confidence in Hixson and Bando being able to step to whatever is asked of them. "We feel confident in their preparation and what they're going to do to produce for this offensive line."
Niko Cooper: Some of you are shaking your head seeing this name because for starters, he just showed up, and maybe you're big on the potential of Niko Cooper too. Maybe you don't see him as under the radar. He's definitely been in our view at Husker247 since he committed. I included him, however, because I think to the general Husker fan base, which does not devour every word about the team every day (which is understandable and healthy), Cooper arrives to Lincoln a little beneath the surface.
Cooper might agree with that, or at least think that on how he was recruited. He had a tweet in the spring that read, "I love being slept on!!!! #NoHandouts"
Among the recent JUCO additions, Omar Manning will always be the headliner everyone hears about first this offseason. And if you're going to talk about incoming linebackers, true freshman Keyshawn Greene will often get first mention. Or even JUCO newcomer Eteva Mauga-Clements, who has an intriguing mystery attached to his sudden recruitment to Nebraska. But at outside backer, where the Huskers need to find depth in a hurry, a sophomore like Cooper has a shot to quickly join the likes of JoJo Domann, Caleb Tannor and Garrett Nelson as those known to the general public around the state.
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Mike Dawson's recent soundbyte on Cooper recently added to my thinking on this, which is another reason I wanted to include him here.
"I think Cornhusker fans are really going to like him," Dawson said. "Very intense about his football. He's very prideful about what he's done so far, and at the same time wanting to get better and better and better."
Garrett Snodgrass: At middle linebacker there are a lot of guys who will have elbows out to make their space. Beyond the seniors Collin Miller and Will Honas, there's the rundown of names that maybe start with Nick Henrich and Luke Reimer, and then include Greene, Mauga-Clements and Jackson Hannah. But don't forget York's own Garrett Snodgrass. In fact, former Husker Mo Barry told reporters last spring he was a 'dark horse' people should know at the position.
He won Defensive MVP Scout Team honors, and the son of a coach consistently shows how well he understands the game.
Barrett Ruud said Snodgrass is "easily one of our sharpest players" who knows the defense in and out despite not getting a ton of reps early on. While the redshirt freshman is developing athletically, the coach added,"He's always going to be a guy that I think is going to be on the elite level in just knowledge of the system and just understanding football. He's really a valuable guy for our room."
The most encouraging thing about the middle of Nebraska's defense? It's going to be a real scrap for a few of these guys named mentioned to be on the two-deep at the start of this season. Such is how you want to get it across the board.
By the way, the score of that game, that one from '89? It was 42-25. The Husker quarterback that day was a guy named Gdowski who spent much of his career in the shadows until he suddenly wasn't anymore.
The Link LonkAugust 02, 2020 at 02:32AM
https://247sports.com/college/nebraska/Article/Nebraska-Huskers-football-2020-season-preview-Tate-Wildeman-Broc-Bando-Garrett-Snodgrass-Niko-Cooper-149764600/
Don't forget about these Huskers - 247Sports
https://news.google.com/search?q=forget&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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