The new guy

Talent needs to translate into results for Husker Football

Coming into 2020 there will be no shortage of experience brought back for Nebraska in the defensive secondary and linebacker department. The Huskers return a handful of starters, to go along with some key contributors.

Now before you can get too excited, this was also a group that looked very dismal at times a season ago. Need I remind you of the 231 yards passing they gave up against South Alabama or the 351 passing yards that Indiana torched us with.

The point is, we have the experience, we need to find a way to translate it into better stats.

To do this, they will need to improve in the scoring defense category where they ranked fourth from the bottom in the Big Ten. Nebraska’s overall defense was tenth in the conference and in terms of third conversions the opponents got by the marker 40.1 percent of the time. On fourth teams were able to convert it 43.8 percent of the time.

Positives for the secondary are that they were among the best at creating interceptions. The Huskers picked off 11 passes for 177 yards, which was good enough for fifth in the conference.

Players returning for the Huskers include two Honorable Mention Big Ten selections at cornerback in Cam Taylor-Britt and DiCaprio Bootle. Britt had 45 tackles and four for a loss, while Bootle had 31 tackles and six pass breakups.

Both inside linebacker Collin Miller and Safety Marquel Dismuke return after starting every game at their respective positions. It showed as Dismuke led the secondary with 67 tackles while Miller was the Huskers Linebacker of the year with 67 tackles and 7 for a loss.

Players to watch out for this season in the secondary include Deontai Williams, Jackson Hannah, and Garret Nelson.

After a promising 2018, which included 23 tackles, Williams was hurt for the season in the first game against South Alabama. In his senior year, he looks to add depth to the safety position.

Both Hannah and Nelson are underclassmen outside linebackers who have tons of promise.

Coming out of high school in Tennessee, Hannah had 157 tackles and led Montgomery Bell Academy to three state championship game appearances. Nelson from Scottsbluff got on the field in 11 out of 12 games as a freshman. He had 15 tackles, and most notably had a five-tackle performance against No. 15 Wisconsin.

Throw into the mix Eteva Mauga-Clements, one of the top Junior College transfers out of California and you cannot help but like the direction Nebraska is moving in.

In 2019 he had 61 tackles and 23 tackles for a loss for Diablo Valley Community College. He is considered the number one inside linebacker and the number eight overall junior college recruit by Rivals in 2020.

The coaching staff for the most part stays the same this year. The only difference is Mike Dawson is taking over as the outside linebacker coach after being the coach for that same position for the New York Giants in 2019.

In my opinion, Nebraska needs to stop hanging their hats on we have the talent and start showing it on the field. I am sorry, but when you give up 21 points in nine out of 12 games there are still needed improvements.

I am like many Husker fans where I don’t care about the talk of how great are secondary and linebackers on defense could be; I want to see the results on the field.