Despite limited roles, Frost excited about young skill players

While head coach Scott Frost had no update on Nebraska’s most pressing issue of the week at quarterback, he did provide some insight on the other question fans and media alike have been asking for weeks.

When will the Huskers’ cast of talented young running backs and wide receivers finally breakout and key pieces in this year’s offense?

Many expected the offensive skill players from the 2019 and ’20 recruiting classes to have notable impacts for NU this season, partly due to their perceived potential and also out of necessity.

But through two games, only freshman receivers Marcus Fleming (51 snaps) and Alante Brown (32) have played more than 14 of Nebraska’s 148 total offensive snaps against Ohio State and Northwestern.

Fleming is the only wideout with more than two catches (five for 75 yards), and redshirt freshman Ronald Thompkins is the team’s second-leading rusher at running back behind senior Dedrick Mills with just four carries for 22 yards.

Frost gave a handful of reasons why the young receivers and backs hadn’t been more involved thus far, saying it was mainly due to seemingly all of them missing valuable practice time this fall due to injury or other factors.

As a result, those players had been thrown right into the fire by having to learn on the fly against Big Ten defenses.

“We really could’ve benefitted from a preseason and playing some non-conference games,” Frost said. “I think by the time we would’ve gone into the conference, a lot of these things that we’re working through would’ve been worked through already.”

Fleming has been the bright spot of that group, as he ranks second behind sophomore Wan’Dale Robinson in both receptions and yards this season. After him, though, the production of NU’s young wide receivers has been almost non-existent.

True freshman Zavier Betts (two receptions for 17 yards) and Brown (one for 16) are the only young scholarship wideouts to catch a pass this season. Heralded junior college transfer Omar Manning played just four snaps without a target in his debut at Northwestern.

“We’re bringing those guys along as fast as we can,” Frost said of the young receivers. “I think those are all really talented guys… We’ll keep trying to get those guys improved. Like I’ve said, they’ve all missed time because of certain things that have kept them from knowing the entire offense and being able to play.

“But every week they’re learning more, getting better, getting more reps, getting more detail. We’ve got to keep them all healthy. That’s been an issue, too. But we’ll keep trying to integrate those guys as much as they’re ready to.”

As for the running backs, Thompkins showed flashes in the opener at Ohio State after winning the No. 2 job to start the season. But he did not make the trip to Northwestern after missing practice time last week.

That left true freshman Marvin Scott as the new top backup, but he only played seven snaps against the Wildcats and carried just three times for 14 yards. Redshirt freshman Rahmir Johnson has one catch for 17 yards and zero carries, while true freshman Sevion Morrison has yet to play while dealing with an injury.

Still, Frost said he’d been nothing but encouraged with what he’d seen from his young backfield thus far.

“Coach (Ryan) Held does a really good job with those guys, and I’ve been really impressed with the improvement…” Frost said. “Some of those young guys are going to be special players… I’m excited about those guys, and we’re going to keep playing the guys who practice the best that week and give guys a chance.”

It remains to be seen how much any of those roles will increase when Nebraska takes on Penn State in its home opener on Saturday. But the gradual development Frost has seen from his young skill players has been a welcomed silver lining to an otherwise disappointing 0-2 start.

“All week, our team was frustrated that we didn’t get it done on Saturday,” Frost said. “I’ve been more frustrated than anybody else, but I balance that with just being really excited about the future and what we have in this program right now with young players. We’ve got to keep bringing those guys along, and we’re excited to do that.”