The Nebraska Cornhuskers are one of the more storied programs in College Football history. They are 4th all time in wins with 865, they have 5 National Championships, and 43 Conference Championships. They have 3 Heisman winners in Johnny Rodgers, Mike Rozier, and Eric Crouch. Despite their lack of recent success, the Huskers still have 24 players in the NFL, most notably defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh of the Detroit Lions. Last year there was a lot of drama surrounding the team because of an audiotape of Pelini from a few years prior complaining after a home game against Ohio State where fans were seen leaving early. The Cornhuskers had some disappointing losses as well, most notably a loss on the road against Minnesota, which left a sour taste in Husker fan's mouths. They had chances against the big boys of the Conference as well though, competing better against Michigan State's defense than anyone else, but giving up 6 turnovers in the game, which simply is unacceptable to try and win despite that. Here is a full look at the results from the 2013 Nebraska Cornhuskers:
Playing a close opener against Wyoming almost caused a state wide heart attack in Nebraska. Losing 2 straight home games against Northwestern probably would have done the same, except Nebraska was saved by a late Hail Mary to Jordan Westerkamp as time expired. They beat Penn State in overtime, and had a narrow bowl win. They come into this season ranked 22 overall in both the VAVEL USA and AP Preseason top 25. They already have lost multiple players in Charles Jackson, LeRoy Alexander, Michael Rose-Ivey, and Adam Taylor, either to injury or suspension for the season. But they still have additional time in practice to fill those spots and make sure that the newcomers get experience and build chemistry with the starters. Here is a look at the Huskers official video to get their fans charged up for the upcoming season, and then we will get to the players to look in 2014.
Offense
The quarterback for the majority of the Bo Pelini era at the University of Nebraska has been Taylor Martinez. Martinez did not play all that much last season due to injury, but he was definitely one of the most electrifying players that the Huskers had played in recent years. The player that took his place, and appears to be the most likely starter for the Cornhuskers at quarterback, is redshirt Sophomore Tommy Armstrong Jr. Armstrong played a dual role last year for the Huskers, running some but mainly playing as a pocket passer. In 8 starts, he completed 52% of his passes for 966 yards and 9 touchdowns, the longest being a 99 yard completion against the Georgia Bulldogs in the Gator Bowl. He also ran for just 202 yards on the season with 2 touchdowns. He will need to improve his accuracy though to remain as the starter. and he also threw 8 interceptions last year. His 9-8 touchdown to interception ratio is abysmal and needs to get better. Nebraska quarterbacks are not usually known for their passing prowess, but Armstrong should be able to do quite a bit better than he showed this past season.
The Cornhuskers best and strongest position on the field is the one that is typically the strongest for them, their backfield. It all starts with senior Ameer Abdullah. Last year Abdullah ran for 1,690 yards, which was the fourth highest season total in Nebraska history, and highest since Ahman Green back in 1997. He also topped 100 rushing yards in 11 of the 13 games, which simply is very impressive. They handed him the workload and he carried it quite literally over the course of the season. Abdullah is a potential Heisman candidate in 2014 and could even set the career record for rushing yards if he can get 1,804 rushing yards this season, putting him just ahead of Mike Rozier. Joining Abdullah in the backfield are junior Imani Cross and sophomore Terrell Newby. Cross is the primary goal line back, as he led the Huskers in touchdowns last year with 10 and had 447 yards as well. Newby had 298 yards rushing and 2 touchdowns as well. It is good for the Huskers to have two running backs since Abdullah is 5' 9" and 195 pounds and Cross makes more sense at the goal line, as he is 6' 1" and 230 pounds. Newby is more in the middle at 5' 10" 200 pounds. Either way, the Huskers are expected to pound the ball on the ground extensively this year again since they had 2,804 yards on the season. They averaged 4.8 yards per carry with 584 carries which is quite impressive. The ground game is exactly how Nebraska's offense works under Tim Beck's system with the pistol and I formation being used very often this season.
One player that will be sorely missed on offense this season is Quincy Enunwa. He was drafted by the New York Jets. He had 51 catches for 753 yards and 12 touchdowns this past season. His partner in crime though was the man with the afro, Kenny Bell. He had 52 catches for 577 yards and 4 touchdowns. The players that are on the lookout for who will rise to the occasion are sophomore Jordan Westerkamp, senior Jamal Turner, and junior Sam Burtch. Westerkamp had the most memorable touchdown of the season last year when he caught the deflected Hail Mary against the Northwestern Wildcats. Sadly though, it was his only touchdown on the season. Turner also only had 1 touchdown last year, but he is an explosive play maker who had a lot of injuries that derailed his 2013 season. Burtch was more of a red zone threat last year. He had 12 catches but 3 of them were for touchdowns.
Defense
The big stud on the Nebraska Cornhuskers defense last season and into the future is defensive end Randy Gregory. He is a 6' 6" 240 pound junior who last year recorded 10.5 sacks, 19 tackles for loss, 66 total tackles, and surprisingly an interception as well. With his size and skill that he showed last season for the team, he is being projected as a potential top 5 pick. Gregory is a player to look this year and he is a force to be reckoned with as he can dominate the opposing offensive lineman. They will focus on him throughout the year and it will be difficult to keep down as the Huskers rely so much on him in the 2014 season.
The top linebackers on the 2014 Huskers are senior Zaire Anderson and junior David Santos. Anderson had 52 tackles last year for the Huskers and added 3 sacks as well. He will have to fill in some of the gaps with the absence of Michael Rose-Ivey since he tore his ACL earlier in practice. Santos was also effective getting 87 tackles, 7 of which went for losses, and 2 sacks. He was the most productive linebacker on the 2013 Huskers and will continue to do so again in 2014.
The Huskers are hurting in the secondary. They lost Stanley Jean-Baptiste and Ciante Evans to the NFL. Then the Huskers lost secondary help to injury as previously listed above as well. The main returning player in the secondary was also their leading tackler, Corey Cooper. He is a senior safety, last year he had 91 tackles, 5 for loss, and 1 interception. Cooper is looking to have an even bigger impact in 2014, and in 2013 he was one of very few players that started all 13 games.
Special Teams
The Nebraska Cornhuskers' primary kicker last year was Pat Smith for field goals and Maruo Bondi for kickoffs. Bondi is a junior and he kicked only 1 field goal last year in the game against South Dakota State. He is the front runner for field goal duties this year as well. The challengers for field goal duties include freshman Drew Brown from the Dallas area, who is the younger brother of former Nebraska kicker and current NFL player Kris Brown. Sophomore walk-on Spencer Lindsay from Kearney, Nebraska and redshirt freshman walk-on Grant Schumacher from Lincoln are both in the field goal kicker competition. It will be interesting to see who will be the primary kicker for the Cornhuskers this upcoming season with 4 potential kickers on the team, which is pretty crazy.
The punter on the 2013 Huskers is sophomore Sam Foltz from Grand Island, Nebraska. On 71 total punts, Foltz had 7 touchbacks and 16 punts inside the 20 yard line. It's not the top level for punters in college, but at the same time it was his freshman season, so Foltz should continue to improve in 2014.
2014 Season Outlook
The Huskers were coming into the season with high hopes, but some of the early injuries were awful to the team. It is a transition season since the Huskers are no longer in the Legends division and into the much simpler titled West division. They have to be considered a competitor for the West divisional title, but let's take a closer look at the Husker's schedule in 2014:
The toughest opponent on the schedule is Michigan State up in East Lansing. Wisconsin at Camp Randall Stadium is also a very difficult opponent, which Nebraska has noticed that on several occasions before. Rutgers and Michigan State are the two crossover opponents from the East. But the West is primarily a 3 team competition between Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Iowa. The dark horse contender is Minnesota. Nebraska has quite a bit of time before they play them, but they primarily play them on the road, and they are the final three games of the season. Hopefully, the injuries are done for the Huskers because long term health will be incredibly important. Bo Pelini will have some work to do in order to pass that 10 win ceiling, and winning the Big 10 for the first time would be excellent, and it just depends on how it will go from here.