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Nebraska Cornhuskers 2020 Preview: previewing, predicting, and looking ahead with what you need to know
Photo Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
Nebraska Cornhuskers 2020 Preview: previewing, predicting, and looking ahead with what you need to know
Photo Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
Gabe Ervin of Buford, Georgia released his top-five schools and included the UGA football program.
Running back Gabe Ervin has released his top-five schools.
Out of Buford, Georgia, Ervin released a top-five of Georgia, Duke, Arizona State, Nebraska and Michigan State.
Considered a 3-star back in the class of 2021 by 247Sports, Ervin ranks as the nation’s No. 734 overall player, No. 54 running back and as the No. 61 ranked player in Georgia. (247Sports Composite)
The 6-foot-0, 200 pound ball carrier was tasked with trimming a list of 16 reported scholarship offers down to five finalists.
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Schools like Tennessee, Ole Miss, Georgia Tech, FSU and Virginia Tech all offered but did not make the cut.
Georgia running back coach Dell McGee extended a scholarship offer to Ervin back in January.
It’s been a hard road but it’s coming down to it!!! Stay tuned 🤫✌🏾@ChadSimmons_ @Mansell247 @Coach_Davis22 pic.twitter.com/tUwlJUcomD
— Gabe Ervin (@gabe_ervin) May 21, 2020
Check out Draft Wire’s exclusive interview with Nebraska defensive line prospect Darrion Daniels
It’s a unique challenge to be a graduate transfer at a top college football program, but Nebraska’s Darrion Daniels made the most of his new surroundings after leaving Oklahoma State.
A well-rounded defensive line prospect in the 2020 NFL Draft, Daniels recently spoke exclusively with Draft Wire about the transition from Stillwater to Lincoln, his experience at the NFL Scouting Combine, and what kind of player he’ll be at the next level.
DD: It was one of my most focused years. I came in as a grad transfer, just like you said. I was instantly viewed as one of the most experienced guys on the team. I’m very thankful for how my coaches and teammates welcomed me with open arms at Nebraska. They respected me and I wanted to make sure that I lived up to the billing. I didn’t want anybody’s confidence in me to waiver. I tried to conduct myself like a professional in everything that I did. I wanted to study film like a pro, I wanted to practice like a pro and so on. I used 2019 as a way to set up my future. I think the accolades that you read off were a result of the hard work that I put into everything.
DD: At first, it was a complete leap of faith. I’m gonna be honest with you. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I didn’t get recruited to go to Nebraska. I didn’t have any connections within the Nebraska coaching staff until two weeks after I graduated from Oklahoma State. It was a total leap of faith. I was really nervous about it. I was a new graduate entering the transfer portal, and I didn’t have a guaranteed destination. I didn’t know what was gonna happen.
When I got there, everything worked out way better at Nebraska than I could have hoped. My expectations were very low, because I had no idea what to expect. I didn’t think that I would get the opportunity to come in and have the impact that I did. Everything worked out so well. I really think that the decision to come to Nebraska was the right decision for me.
DD: I received a degree in marketing from Oklahoma State. When I started discussing my enrollment at Nebraska, I hopped on the phone with several members of their academics department. We were trying to figure out the best fit for me in terms of what master’s program I could enroll in. We discussed various programs and applied science was one of them.
I didn’t know a whole lot about it but as we continued our discussions and they broke down the program outlook for me, my interest was piqued. I was able to pick and choose different courses that could be valuable to me. I was able to take a lot of advertising and business classes. Those courses made a lot of sense for somebody that already had a degree in marketing. It could set me up for a future after football.
DD: It was a great experience, albeit a very long one. Outside of the medical checks and how long you spend in the waiting room, I made some really great memories out there. I really appreciated everybody that was there. I had some conversations with a lot of great athletes. It was just a fun time. It gave me a chance to showcase my abilities among all of the top athletes all over the country. I’ve been waiting my whole life for the opportunity.
DD: I think I left a really good impression. I’m a very patient guy. I conducted myself like a professional out there. I was very humble in all of my interviews and I thought they went well. I was very articulate throughout the formal interviews. I feel like I did a good job showcasing my knowledge of the game. Being in the waiting room for the medical checks, I was very patient and kept my composure. I was very respectful to everybody I encountered. I think from a personality aspect, I left a very good impression on everybody there.
DD: I wasn’t asked anything strange. I expected to cover every topic that was discussed with me. I didn’t get any off-the-wall questions.
DD: I was blessed that our pro day was actually one of the last ones that happened. We had our pro day, and we had a great turnout of NFL personnel there. Everything started shutting down just a few days later. I had an opportunity to run through some drills with the D-line coach from the Tennessee Titans. That happened right after my pro day. He got together with myself and Khalil Davis on the morning of pro day and gave us a bunch of plays. He let us catch our breath after pro day, he set up some drills and we re-joined him on the field to run through the plays and drills he had given us in the morning. He wanted to see how we were able to memorize the plays from that morning.
I also worked out privately for the Miami Dolphins after my pro day.
DD: I’ve spoken with the Cardinals, Jaguars and Bears recently. Those are the only ones I can think of right now.
DD: I’m very comfortable playing against the run. The run game comes easy to me. I’m a big guy and I take up a lot of space. I eat up blocks, I’m used to taking on double teams. I’m very hard to move off my spot. Stopping the run has been my bread and butter. I’m very disciplined in the run game. I’m able to out-man the person in front of me. I’ve done a great job in the run game.
I’m comfortable as a pass rusher as well. It really just depends on the down and distance. My film does a good job showcasing my athleticism and ability in the passing game. I move well for my size. I’ve always felt like stopping the run is one of the most important aspects of the game. Not every team was fortunate to have great receivers or even a great quarterback at the collegiate level. When you can’t run the ball, you can’t win a game. That’s why I’m more comfortable in the run game.
DD: I’m a big, powerful guy. I love using the bull rush. It’s definitely one of my favorite ways to rush the passer. I’m a big guy, but I move well for my size. I can catch an offensive linemen off-guard. Once they start expecting the bull rush, I have a few counters up my sleeve as well.
DD: It’s pretty funny when I look back at that. I don’t think I fully appreciated the beauty of what we did on defense from a system point of view until recently. As I’ve been meeting with these NFL coaches and answering questions about our scheme, they’ve been pulling up our tape on defense and asking me to break it down for them. We did such a great job disguising things. I’m hearing the same thing from a lot of these NFL coaches and that’s that every play looks the same to them. They can’t tell what’s what and that’s because our coaches did such a good job disguising our packages.
I played the zero-nose in our 3-4 defense. I double gapped. I was responsible for both A-gaps and I manhandled the center. I had to make sure that nothing was ran in-between the A-gap and the B-gap.
DD: I’m gonna be somebody that adds something to the culture. I’ve always been a team-first, team-oriented kinda guy. I feel like I raise the level of intensity and motivation in the locker room. I’ve always held the guys around me accountable. I expect greatness out of my teammates. I’m gonna be the same guy at the next level. They’re gonna get somebody that’s gonna improve the locker room morale.
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Check out Draft Wire’s exclusive interview with Nebraska cornerback prospect Lamar Jackson
He may not be the reigning NFL MVP, but Nebraska cornerback prospect Lamar Jackson still plans on making his mark at the next level.
A big, physical cover man who has been battle-tested by some of the nation’s top pass-catchers, Jackson recently spoke exclusively with Draft Wire about his experience at the NFL Scouting Combine, what led to his improved play last season, and what kind of player he’ll be in the pros.
LJ: It was really just my sense of urgency. I had some friends that fell short of their goals or got drafted later on than they expected. You see guys falling out of the draft altogether. I just came to a realization. It just prepared me for the future. I started to realize that I wasn’t where I needed to be. I had a big step to take. I just started to be more diligent. I definitely put in more work than ever before.
LJ: The combine is a grind. It’s a little less than a week. It can be a little strenuous, you have the interviews, the medicals, stuff like that. It can get a little repetitive. You’re up all night doing interviews or writing tests or whatever. You’re up late at night taking a drug test or you’re at the hospital getting your medicals checked on. All of the medical stuff is very thorough. There’s a lot that goes on before it’s time to perform on the field. You just have to continuously remind yourself that it’s a blessing to be there. I just took it all in. It’s a process. I had a positive mindset. I was trying to take advantage of the opportunity. I didn’t take anything for granted. I got through the week and performed to the best of my abilities. I was trying to prove that I belong on Sundays. That was my mindset when I was out there.
LJ: I think I left a good impression out there. I was able to show off some of my athleticism. I had some good measurables. I was showing off the God-given ability. I feel like I made my biggest impact in the interview room, though. I enjoyed all of the meetings that I had. I was letting everybody know that I’m a high-character guy. I was letting that passion shine through. They gave me a platform to tell my story. I left a piece of me with all of the scouts and teams that I met with. I had some great meetings. I walked away from them with a good feeling. We had a lot of great conversations. We talked about football and life. I was trying to sell myself. I’m a very capable and willing person.
LJ: I had a lot of informals. I had formals with the New York Jets and the New York Giants.
LJ: I was lucky that our pro day was an early one. We got to squeeze that in before the outbreak really got out of hand. I went for lunch with the Chicago Bears after pro day. I thought it went well. A lot of other coaches and teams have just told me to keep my head on a swivel. Things can change quickly. Nobody really knows what’s going on right now. I’m just staying in shape and staying ready to go.
LJ: I wouldn’t say that I was asked any weird questions. Everything was pretty straight-forward. We really just talked about football and life. It was just interesting. You’re talking to the coaches and everybody is so different, personality-wise. You’re just learning really. Sometimes they wanna boost you up, other times they wanna talk you down. Each person presents something different to you. All of the differences were definitely interesting. I thought I did well. I just answered their questions to the best of my ability.
LJ: Every school pretty much has that one guy. Most of the time, it was my job to follow their best receiver around. It could have been anybody. Tyler Johnson from Minnesota was a good one. Quintez Cephus from Wisconsin is another guy that comes to mind. Iowa had some good ones. I feel like I played well against all of those guys. Every team has their guy and I went up against a bunch of them.
LJ: They’re gonna get a high character guy. I truly love the game of football. I’m gonna be the best version of myself. I’m gonna continue to work on my craft. The goal is to get better every year. I love doing what I’m doing.
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4-star OLB Ian Jackson from Alabama included Georgia football in his top-ten schools.
On Thursday, 4-star outside linebacker Ian Jackson released his top-ten schools.
In no specific order, Nebraska, Georgia, Oklahoma, Florida State, Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Tennessee, Louisville and Texas A&M were the schools that he announced as his finalists.
From Prattville, Alabama, Jackson ranks as the nation’s No. 309 overall player, No. 25 ranked OLB and the 10th ranked player in the state.
Kirby Smart knows he has his work cut-out for him with both home-state universities Alabama and Auburn being listed in his most recent post.
Prattville, which is smack-dab in the middle of Alabama, is only a one hour drive to Auburn and a 90 minute commute to Tuscaloosa. In comparison to Athens, it’s a 3.5 hour drive.
During his junior season for Prattville, Jackson tallied 91 tackles, 18 tackles for loss and six sacks.
Top 10‼️‼️ (In no order) pic.twitter.com/h06FT5YmpX
— Ian Jackson (@IMJack003) March 26, 2020
20 for 2020 key college football offseason topics: No. 9. Every Power Five league’s sleeper team.
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20 for 2020 key college football offseason topics: No. 9. Every Power Five league’s sleeper team.
– Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak
Really? Last offseason you actually thought that Baylor was going to be a player in the College Football Playoff chase?
You thought Virginia could end up in the Orange Bowl, and Illinois actually had a shot at going bowling?
Okay … we had those last two in the 2019 version of this, but please cheerfully ignore just how off we were on everything else. (Arkansas … really?)
Of course the Alabamas, Oklahomas, Clemsons and Ohio States of the world are going to do what they do, but other Power Five fan bases want to have some fun, too.
It’s always fun when teams rise up and be a factor? Which Power Five programs could be this year’s Minnesota, Louisville or Tennessee?
It was a whole lot of ugly last season.
NC State had turned into a consistent rock under head coach Dave Doeren – going to five straight bowls and winning nine games two years in a row before 2019. But last year was supposed to be a bit of a rebuilding campaign.
That should’ve meant winning six games and fighting to get into a bowl, but instead, all of the wheels came off with a six-game losing streak to finish up the season against a relatively easy schedule.
Let’s try this again.
The schedule is still relatively easy.
Practice 5: full pads #HTT pic.twitter.com/1zAoi1Vuz9
— NC State Football (@PackFootball) March 6, 2020
There’s a trip to Clemson that’s as tough as it gets, and the regular season is bookended by road games at Louisville and North Carolina, but that’s about it.
Oh sure, Mississippi State is a tough non-conference game, but that’s at home. Outside of the trip to Death Valley, the two other road games in the middle ten are at Troy and Syracuse.
Fine, but is the team any better after having major quarterback issues, massive turnover problems, and with the defense not able to overcome the problems on the other side?
QB Matt McKay is transferring to Montana State, but there’s a great chance that almost all of the offensive two-deep depth chart will be back. The hope will be that last year was a big step back to potentially see a giant leap forward, and for the D to be far stronger with nine of the top 12 tacklers are expected to return.
– NC State Schedule & Analysis
National Signing Day has come and gone and the Wisconsin Badgers have put together a fairly decent class compared to the rest of the Big Ten. In the spirit of looking at recruiting classes compared to the rest of the conference, Badgers Wire is …
National Signing Day has come and gone and the Wisconsin Badgers have put together a fairly decent class compared to the rest of the Big Ten. In the spirit of looking at recruiting classes compared to the rest of the conference, Badgers Wire is taking a look at Wisconsin’s class on a national level and a conference level. We’ll be including their national rankings and their conference rankings. Next up on our list is a newer program to the Big Ten, but one of the most storied programs to reside in the conference: Nebraska.
While the Cornhuskers are a tradition-rich program due to many decades of success in the second half of the 20th century, that success came when they were in the Big Eight and then the Big 12 Conference as opposed to the Big Ten. The school’s administration is hoping Frost, a former quarterback at Nebraska himself, can tap into the winning ways he had at UCF and apply them to the Cornhuskers. So far, it has not gone well at all for Frost, who has yet to win more than five games in a season during his time as head coach at Nebraska. Only in his fifth year of head coaching, Frost is trying to figure out what he can do to bring in enough recruits to turn things around, but Nebraska isn’t the type of program that is going to accept a lot more five-win seasons.
Yes, Frost will get at least two more seasons no matter what else happens, but if he doesn’t begin to show improvement in 2020, the 2021 season will be a hot-seat year. Even though Frost is family in Nebraska — and will therefore get a little extra time an outside hire would not have received – he will have to turn things around relatively soon.
The Cornhuskers have the nation’s 20th-ranked recruiting class in 2020. They finished with the Big Ten’s No. 4 recruiting class with a player average rating of .8838. Their best player is offensive tackle Corcoran Corcoran. At 6-foot-6, 280 pounds, Corcoran (.9751) is the No. 47 player in the nation and the 4th-best offensive tackle in the class of 2020. The Badgers (.8782) have a lower per-recruit average than the Cornhuskers (.8838). The Badgers’ best player in 24/7’s composite rankings is offensive tackle Trey Wedig (.9643). The 6-foot-8, 320-pound behemoth is ranked (.0108) lower than Corcoran for the Cornhuskers.
The position where both classes compare: cornerback. The Badgers signed Max Lofty (.8526), a 5-foot-11, 170-pound player out of Pine Creek High in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He’s the No. 86 player at his position in the country and the 9th-best player coming out of Colorado. The Cornhuskers signed Ron Delancy. At 5-foot-11 and 160 pounds, Delancy (.8551) is the nation’s 76th-best cornerback, but he’s the 124th-best player in a football recruiting hotbed: Florida. In both cases, these players are likely going to redshirt their first year and start contributing the year after.
20 for 2020 College Football Topics, No. 19: The five teams that should rebound with a big 2020 after a mediocre 2019.
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20 for 2020 College Football Topics, No. 19: The five teams that should rebound with a big 2020 after a mediocre 2019.
– Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak
Let’s give the voters in the two major polls a little bit of credit on this – the 2019 preseason AP and Coaches polls weren’t all that bad when it came to getting them close to the pin.
Granted, it’s not hard to pick Clemson, Alabama, Georgia, Oklahoma, Ohio State and LSU to be good – the preseason top six in both polls – but there are always a few misfires.
Here are five teams ranked in the 2019 preseason top 25 that didn’t live up to expectations, but should be a whole lot better this year. The list is based on last year’s preseason ranking going from the bottom up, starting with …
What Went Wrong?
The expectations weren’t exactly through the roof from the pollsters – the Huskers were only ranked in the top 25 in the AP poll – but there was a whole lot of buzz about Year Two under Scott Frost being the launching pad for a new Big Red Machine.
After all, if Northwestern could play for the Big Ten title like it did in 2018, then why not Nebraska? The schedule didn’t look that bad, QB Adrian Martinez had a year under his belt, the talent level was starting to come together, and …
Nope.
Both lines were mediocre, the offense was way too inconsistent, the explosive plays were duds, and there were too many mistakes and turnovers as the Huskers dropped five of their last six games.
It was the first time Nebraska experienced three straight losing seasons since a rough run from 1956 to 1961.
Why 2020 Will Be Better: Returning Talent
The defensive line will be the early issue with three starters gone from the front three, and CB Lamar Jackson is going to be a star at the next level, but just about everyone is back on a defense that now has a little bit of depth, too.
It all comes down to how good Adrian Martinez is. If he’s great in Year Three, the offense should finally be what Husker fans have been waiting for with the potential of ten starters returning.
Why 2020 Will Be Better: Schedule
– 2020 Nebraska Football Schedule Analysis
If Nebraska is close to being Nebraska again, the first half of the schedule is a dream.
Nebraska isn’t supposed to lose at home to Cincinnati, or Purdue, or Illinois, and Nebraska is supposed to win at Northwestern. 7-0 is an attainable goal before a brutal finishing kick, but the possibility is there to at least be the Minnesota of last season with a hot start.
At the very least, it’s time to go bowling again.
Wisconsin vs. Nebraska
As the 2019 season brings to a close another decade of college football, Badgers Wire has been engaged in a series of reflective pieces. “Record Review” is another series examining how the Badgers have fared against the rest of the Big Ten Conference this decade. Next up is an examination of the Badgers’ record against one of the more recent additions to the Big Ten, Nebraska. This is a series Wisconsin has controlled since the Cornhuskers joined the league. Let’s take a look at the numbers.
Using Stassen, Badgers Wire pulled up every result against Nebraska in the 2010s. The vast majority of the meetings between these two teams have taken place since 2011, a direct result of Nebraska’s new Big Ten membership. Prior to the past decade, UW and NU met twice in the 1970s (1973 and ‘74), in which the two schools split, and twice in the 1960s (1965 and ‘66), both Wisconsin losses. Then they also met in 1901 in Milwaukee. So, 2011-2019 represents 64 percent of their total meetings. This decade belonged to Wisconsin against the Cornhuskers.
The Badgers have lost only once since in the decade to Nebraska. That loss came in 2012, and they avenged it by beating the absolute hell out of Nebraska in what has been NU’s only appearance in the Big Ten Championship Game. So, as gut-wrenching as the 30-27 loss was for Wisconsin in the 2012 regular season, beating the Huskers in a conference title game more than made up for it.
If Nebraska head coach Scott Frost has the success he had at UCF, it’s only a matter of time before the Huskers will be competing with Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota for the West Division crown. Yet, Frost hasn’t shown he can move the Nebraska program forward. Wisconsin needs to stay the course and not give ground to a Nebraska program that can recruit with the best of them when the program is firing on all cylinders.
Wisconsin has done a great job of keeping Nebraska quiet and impotent. Maintaining that reality in the 2020s — never giving the Huskers a chance to kick-start their attempt at a revival with an upset of the Badgers — is an important task for UW football.
The Georgia Bulldogs made ESPN’s all-time college football all-America team. UGA has the third most players on any school on the team.
