New coordinators. Different faces at key spots. Uncertain outlooks.
No one knew exactly what to expect from Nebraska on defense or special teams entering the season. Now a third of the way through the regular season, each unit is leaving clues. Hints. Evidence of what the Huskers are and could be in those areas with eight Big Ten games still ahead.
During an idle week to recover and review, let’s look at four Big Red lessons learned so far:
Special teams are objectively better — maybe much better
The Mike Ekeler Effect is already taking hold.
The former NU assistant who thrived coordinating the third phase at Tennessee has wasted no time impacting a previously moribund Husker group. Not only are special teams not costing Nebraska games, but they’ve mostly been an asset.
Ekeler brought in his own specialists to early success. Cal transfer Kyle Cunanan has hit on 6 of 7 field-goal tries and assumed kickoff duties. Punter Archie Wilson and his bipedal, rugby-style operation has the Huskers 31st nationally in net punting at 43.12 yards.
That net punting number is up from 37.14 last year — when NU ranked second to last in the FBS — and 37.14 (93rd) in 2023. Its best full-season mark since 2012 was the Isaac Armstrong-led 2019 (39.42, 37th).
Punt returns are providing a spark for the first time in a decade. Eleven returns (tied for eighth nationally) have produced 154 yards so far. Nebraska mustered 225 yards in the previous four full seasons combined and last topped its current total in a complete season in 2016 (168). That’s Jacory Barney (nine returns for 111) and an Ekeler emphasis on aggressiveness.
It’s all adding up to a field-position advantage Nebraska has rarely enjoyed as a Big Ten member.
BCF Toys tracks net starting field position — the difference between offensive starting field position and opponent offensive starting field position – in FBS-only matchups while filtering out “garbage” possessions. NU ranks 18th at plus 7.3 yards. It last finished positive in 2016 (1.2, 45th). It has finished outside the top 100 in six of the last seven campaigns.
Nebraska fired special teams coach Bruce Read after the 2016 season and has shuffled through a line of point men since including an analyst, a quality control coach and multiple position assistants splitting duties. Coach Matt Rhule reassigned Ed Foley last winter to make room for Ekeler.
“The only mistake (players) could make is not making a full-speed decision,” Ekeler said. “That’s it. We’re going to go out, we’re going to play with our damn hair on fire.”
Veteran presence paying off in the secondary
Statistics, the eye test and intangibles all agree: Nebraska defensive backs are playing like dudes.
This isn’t so much a surprise as confirmation. Marques Buford, Malcolm Hartzog, DeShon Singleton and Ceyair Wright are all multi-year starters. Each wears a single-digit number for their toughness and leadership abilities as recognized by their peers.
Yet their level of production to this point has exceeded all but the most optimistic of projections. NU leads the country in passing efficiency defense and is second in yards allowed per attempt (3.4). Hartzog sealed the Cincinnati win with a high-point interception. The DBs helped limit Bryce Underwood and Michigan to 105 aerial yards.
Each of the four starters could have realistically turned to the NFL last winter. They’re improving their pro stock now.
Meanwhile, redshirt freshman Donovan Jones has emerged as a de facto third starting cornerback, joining transfer Andrew Marshall and Wright. Redshirt frosh Rex Guthrie is also coming on at rover with meaningful snaps behind Singleton. Jamir Conn, Caleb Benning and Amare Sanders are others on the depth chart whose time is coming either this fall or in 2026.
The group is receiving teaching from three coordinator-level coaches including John Butler, positional assistant Addison Williams and associate head coach Phil Snow. Butler, who was the secondary coach last year, has emphasized that his defenders watch the receivers instead of the quarterback.
“If your guy doesn’t catch the ball,” Butler said, “then you’re going to get paid.”
Only three of Nebraska’s remaining opponents ranks inside the top 50 in yards per attempt – Michigan State (42nd), Minnesota (32nd) and USC (second). The Huskers are on their way to a major upgrade from last year’s pass-efficiency defense that finished 89th.
Defensive line is indeed a question mark
Nebraska up front has been less hell on wheels and more stationary heck.
The position group had as much external uncertainty attached to it in the offseason as any on the team. Mainstays Ty Robinson, Nash Hutmacher and Jimari Butler all moved on with no obvious replacements.
An ensemble cast has had its moments, like the Elijah Jeudy strip sack against Michigan. It can bottle up an opponent for stretches.
Chunk gains have been the problem — 21 rush plays of 10-plus yards is 101st nationally. Michigan broke free for touchdown sprints of 37, 75 and 54 yards. Houston Christian popped one for 45. Cincinnati QB Brendan Sorsby repeatedly improvised his way downfield with his legs.
Average it out and the 5.18 rush yards allowed per carry is 122nd nationally and ahead of only UCLA and Northwestern in the Big Ten. Nebraska under Rhule and former defensive coordinator Tony White posted numbers of 3.37 (17th) last year and 2.97 (sixth) in 2023.
What can be done midseason? Personnel is what it is, though perhaps more rotational tweaking is coming as freshman Kade Pietrzak continues to settle in and transfers Jaylen George and Gabe Moore prepare for larger roles with health.
Nebraska is also working through how and when to “stunt,” a strategy of linemen switching gaps to create confusion and pressure that Big Red hasn’t finished well this month. The D-line solution may be as much about having what John Butler calls a “pointed approach” — a specific plan and scheme to attack specific opponents — as effort and execution.
The Huskers are applying just so-so pressure on quarterbacks too. Pro Football Focus ranks the unit 78th in pass rush while six total sacks (91st) back up the evaluation.
Potential in flashes. Upcoming Big Ten teams will be happy to test it further.
“There’s a lot of good things there but it’s not good enough,” Rhule said. “That’s the important message is we’ve got to get better as we move forward.”
Takeaways ticking up
Nebraska has rarely been on the positive end of turnover margin in the last 20 years. The defense is doing its part to help change that trend.
Forcing fumbles is an early strength. No team in the country has recovered more than the Huskers’ five so far.
Three of those loose balls have come in meaningful moments. Linebacker Vincent Shavers laid down a hit against a Cincinnati receiver that led to a Williams Nwaneri recovery and subsequent Nebraska touchdown. Riley Van Poppel produced a strip sack against Houston Christian — Nwaneri scooped up the ball and scored to turn the game into a blowout.
Jeudy’s strip and Van Poppel’s recovery against Michigan led to an NU field goal in a tight contest.
Big Red’s only interception remains perhaps its biggest play of the season, when Hartzog one-handed a pick near the goal line to seal a win over Cincinnati in the final seconds.
The program’s high-water mark for takeaways in the last decade is 21, generated by the 2019 Blackshirts. If it can maintain its positive turnover margin — plus-four right now — it would be only its third since 2003.
NU’s biggest challenge to its pace is still ahead. It is minus-40 in the previous six seasons in Big Ten play.
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Evan Bland
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