Scott Frost and the Husker coaching staff released the first depth chart of the season. There aren’t a ton of surprises but some interesting things to take away nonetheless.

Offensive Depth Chart

Battle for QB2

Noah Vedral is listed as the backup QB to Adrian Martinez with Luke McCaffrey as QB3. I think most of us expected the coaching staff to do this as Vedral has their trust and a redshirt year for McCaffrey makes a lot of sense looking toward the future. Luke is the presumptive QBOTF (quarterback of the future) when Husker Nation reaches “Life after Adrian”.

Of course, with all the high-profile quarterback transfers we’ve seen recently, guessing who your team’s quarterback will be two or three seasons from now can be a futile exercise. Fortunately for us, McCaffrey showed up on campus knowing he was likely to sit behind the freshman All-American Martinez. That seems to bode well for some continuity in Mario Verduzco’s room.

Running Back

Dedrick Mills and Maurice Washington are separated by an “OR”. This seems to indicate that Washington will be available this weekend. It could be a precaution in case he isn’t. Regardless, this is a classic thunder and lightning combination and both will get plenty of touches. Wyatt Mazour and Rahmir Johnson sharing the RB3, to me, appears to be your second team thunder and lightning combo.

Offensive Line

No surprises here either. Broc Bando appears to have slid into the backup left tackle spot after Christian Gaylord’s season-ending knee injury. In reality, I wonder if Matt Farniok would slide over to the left if Brenden Jaimes suffered some kind of injury. Then again, it isn’t as easy as it sounds to switch sides. True freshman Bryce Benhart is listed as the backup at right tackle.

Cameron Jurgens and Will Farniok are the #1 and #2 centers. Jurgens’ foot injuries that limited him through spring and until the very end of fall camp are still a concern for me, but we’ve heard enough good things about Farniok for me to feel okay about the talent - just unsure of experience and durability at this spot.

The recent news that walk-on Trent Hixson was given a scholarship foretold his ascension to the starting LG spot with the RG spot seemingly locked down by Boe Wilson early.

Tight End

Jack Stoll and Austin Allen are separated by an “OR”. I expect Stoll to start, but coaches have mentioned multiple times that Allen and Kurt Rafdal have closed the gap on him. After a spring with a lot of shoutouts, Katerian Legrone wasn’t able to make a move onto the depth chart but he seems like the likely TE4 and may see time if he is on special teams or if the game plan calls for a lot of two tight end sets.

Wide Receiver

JD Spielman and Wan’Dale Robinson seemed likely to snag starting spots with grad transfer Kanawai Noa getting constant praise from the coaches. Noa and Mike Williams being separated by and “OR” indicates Williams really did step up in practice like we’ve been hearing. Javeon McQuitty or Jaron Woodyard are listed behind Spielman with freshman Darien Chase behind Noa/Williams. Redshirt freshman Miles Jones is separated from Kade Warner by an “OR” behind Wan’Dale.

Missing - Redshirt freshman Andre Hunt had gotten a lot of shoutouts in spring ball but isn’t on depth chart. True freshman Demariyon Houston and Jamie Nance also appear to be buried behind the more experienced players for now.

Defensive Depth Chart

Defensive Line

The Davis twins are the starting bookends around the Daniels brothers with Darrion (as expected) the #1 nose guard and Damion backing him up. Deontre Thomas and Ben Stille are the reserve ends. Juco transfer Jahkeem Green made it to fall camp in the final week, so he isn’t on the depth chart...yet.

Linebackers

We’ve been hearing about the rise of Alex Davis on the outside and that is backed up by his presence on the chart as one of the starting OLB. Caleb Tannor OR JoJo Domann will be starting at the other spot. JoJo has been dealing with injuries which delayed his arrival to fall camp. Tyrin Ferguson OR true freshman (and Nebraska native) Garrett Nelson will back up Davis. Those are all the names we’ve been hearing through fall camp, so no surprises there.

At inside linebacker Mohamed Barry will be running with Collin Miller OR Will Honas. In other words, still no clarity on that second spot. What is surprising is that Joseph Johnson (a redshirt freshman from Nebraska) is listed as Barry’s backup. Fellow Nebraskan Luke Reimer had been getting a lot of attention in fall camp, so that is a bit of a surprise.

Safety

There are 11 safeties listed on the Huskers roster and six of them are on the depth chart. The big surprise is that true freshmen Myles Farmer and Noa Pola-Gates are not among those names. Instead juniors Marquel Dismuke and Deontai Williams will start redshirt freshman and Nebraska native Isaiah Stalbird and Eric Lee, Jr. listed as the backups. Eli Sullivan and Reid Karl (a senior from Seward, NE) are on the third team.

I’m not sure what to make of that, but it appears the highly touted freshman recruits have some work to do.

Cornerback

Dicaprio Bootle will start at one spot with Lamar Jackson OR sophomore Cam Taylor at the other side. Tony Butler is listed behind Jackson/Taylor.

Bootle’s backups will be either redshirt freshman Braxton Clark or true freshman Quiton Newsome. The freshman, Javin Wright (tallest corner on the team at 6’3”) received a lot of media interest through fall camp but isn’t on the depth chart for now. Ethan Cox was another player (sophomore from Blair, NE) that received some mentions in spring ball and was part of the fall camp roster, so he might be one to watch for special teams time?

Special Teams

Senior Isaac Armstrong appears to have held onto his position as starting punter after a battle in fall camp with Will Przystup (redshirt freshman). If the coaching staff has two more scholarships to give, Armstrong seems to be a likely candidate for one of those after he took over mid-season for Caleb Lightbourn in 2018 and went on to have an excellent season (ranking in the top 10 in school history for net average).

No surprise that sophomore Barret Pickering will still be doing the kickering.

/Groan

Senior Chase Urbach is listed as the starting long snapper with former Navy SEAL (cue the camera shots and patriotic music) and redshirt freshman Damian Jackson as the backup.

Returning kicks will be Maurice Washington OR Wan’Dale Robinson with Rahmir Johnson and Miles Jones listed at 3 and 4 respectively.

Punt returner is JD Spielman (not sure I want to see him back there taking those hits) with Cam Taylor his backup and Wan’Dale Robsinson or Kanaway Noa as the third option.

More News and Notes

Scott Frost spoke to the media and the Blackshirts were handed out. There are conflicting tweets about how many were given out, but here’s what I could piece together. It looks like the starters (and the “OR”s) all received them along with Ben Stille.

Darrion Daniels
Carlos Davis
Khalil Davis
Ben Stille

Alex Davis
Mo Barry
Collin Miller
Caleb Tannor
JoJo Domann

Dicaprio Bootle
Cam Taylor
Lamar Jackson

Marquel Dismuke
Deontai Williams

Each position group is separated by an extra space.