Nebraska Cornhuskers (West Division)
Location: Lincoln, NE
Stadium: Memorial Stadium (85,000)
Coach: Mike Riley (1st year): 93-80 overall, 1-2 v B1G
2014 Nebraska Cornhuskers (9-4)(5-3) 2015 Nebraska
Cornhuskers
55 Florida Atlantic 7 S5 Brigham Young
31 McNeese State 24 S12 South Alabama
55 at Fresno State 14 S19 at Miami
41 Miami 31 S26 Southern Mississippi
45 Illinois 14 O3 at Illinois
22 at Michigan State 27 O10 Wisconsin
38 at Northwestern 17 O17 at Minnesota
42 Rutgers 24 O24 Northwestern
35 Purdue 14 O31 at Purdue
24 at Wisconsin 59 N7 Michigan State
24 Minnesota 28 N14 at Rutgers
37 at Iowa 34
(OT) N27 Iowa (Friday)
42 Southern Cal 45
(Holiday Bowl)
Only two
head coaches earned 9 or more wins each year over the seven previous
seasons. Nick Saban is regarded as one
of the best coaches in the game and Bo Pelini was fired. Taking over will be Mike Riley, who has had
head coaching stints in the CFL, WLAF, NFL, and Oregon State most
recently. Coach Riley will inherit
talent and experience at the QB position in junior Tommy Armstrong who threw
for almost 2700 yards and ran for over 700 last year. Coach Riley prefers a pro-style offensive attack,
which bodes well for the Nebraska offense as they will have to replace Doak
Walker finalist RB Ameer Abdullah.
Junior Terrell Newby and senior Imani Cross were vying for the position
in spring practice with very little separation between the two. Cross ran for 384 yards and Newby for 297 in
backup duty last year. With not much
experience at the RB position, Coach Riley will look to have Armstrong throw
downfield more often. Here, the Huskers
are in better shape. Even though they
lose their all-time leading receiver Kenny Bell, Nebraska returns experienced
WRs De’Mornay Pierson-El and Jordan Westerkamp along with TE Cethan Carter. Westerkamp was just behind Bell last year
with 44 receptions for 747 yards and five scores and will be Armstrong’s main
target in the deep passing game.
Pierson-El (23 catches/321 yards/4 TDs) will line up opposite Westerkamp
and Newby (8 catches/45 yards) will be more involved in the short and medium
passing game. Also figuring in the mix
will be junior Alonzo Moore (10 receptions/136 yards). The offensive line loses three experienced
starters in Jake Cotton, Mark Pelini, and Mike Mundy, but return outstanding
tackles seniors Zach Sterup and Alex Lewis.
Two of the three new starters still have some game experience, with
seniors Ryne Reeves manning the center position and Chongo Kondolo at RG. Redshirt freshman Jerald Foster looked to
have a leg up on the competition to secure the LG spot.
Even with
the loss of standout DE Randy Gregory, the Huskers return depth and experience
on the defensive line. Led by junior DE Greg McMullen (47 tackles in 2014),
they figure to be one of the best defensive lines in the conference. McMullen excelled in his pass rushing duties
last year with nine tackles for loss and four sacks to go along with his 47
tackles. (9 TFL, 4 sacks) McMullen’s
hardly alone on that defensive line as he is joined by fellow classmates Maliek
Collins and Vincent Valentine at the DT positions. Valentine finished right behind him with 45
tackles and pitched in seven TFL and three sacks while Collins also finished
with 45 tackles including a whopping 14 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks. Senior Jack Gangwish, who backed up Gregory
last year, will take over as the starter at DE opposite McMillen. At linebacker, the Huskers lose two standout
starters in Zaire Anderson and Trevor Roach, but return senior David Santos at
the WLB position. Santos had 50 tackles
a year ago, three tackles for loss, and an interception as his quickness and
agility allowed him to cover the under routes.
Juniors Josh Banderas and Michael Rose-Ivey look to start at MLB and SLB
positions respectively. Banderas started
six games last year and garnered 50 tackles, while injury-plagued Rose-Ivey looks
to be fully recovered and ready to contribute.
If he can stay healthy, this unit could be almost as good as last year’s
more experienced group. Nebraska’s
always had good secondaries under Coach Pelini and this year figures to be no
different under Coach Riley. Even though
they lose three starters, they return junior FS Nathan Gerry, a second-team All
B1G selection. Gerry was second on the
team in tackles with 88 and also turned in an impressive seven tackles for loss
and five interceptions as he showed his ability as a good run defender and
covering the deep routes. The rest of
the secondary returns players with experience.
Senior CB Daniel Davie covered the short and medium routes very well,
picking up 41 tackles and two interceptions, and also blitzed quite frequently,
picking up six tackles for loss.
Sophomore Joshua Kalu and senior Byerson Cockrell appear to have the
edge to start at the other CB and SS positions.
This appears to be the most experienced secondary they’ve had in a few
years and should make it difficult for most of their opponents to throw deep on
them.
The Huskers
return experienced FG specialist Drew Brown (14/21 FG long of 44) and punter
Sam Foltz (41.6 average), so Nebraska looks to be in good hands here. Pierson-El was one of the best punt returners
in the country in 2014, averaging 17.5 yards and scoring three touchdowns. During spring practice, he was also doing
double duty returning kickoffs and it remains to be seen if he will continue in
that role or they go with someone else to replace Abdullah, who did most of the
kickoff return duties last year.
Mike Riley
inherits a team returning 12 starters, but figures to switch up the offense to
more of a pro-set formation with more medium and deep passing routes. They have two tough road games at Miami and
at Minnesota and get Michigan State and Wisconsin at home. Fortunately, they don’t have to play Ohio
State and if they can adjust to the new offense quickly and avoid key injuries,
they will challenge for a trip to the B1G Title Game.
2015 Projection: 9-3 (6-2) 2nd
in West Division
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