Five Husker newcomers whose impact is likely to be felt this spring | Football

Nebraska gets spring ball rolling on Feb. 28. Between now and then, the Journal Star is compiling lists of players who are in particular points of their careers. We already covered five players who enter spring at a crossroads and as the week goes along we’ll also get to leadership candidates, potential breakout players and players who will be in wait-and-see mode this spring.

Today, a look at five newcomers this semester who will have an impact this spring.

It’s no surprise there are a lot of candidates considering the Huskers have 16 new scholarship players on campus for spring ball. Every single player on this list has another teammate at his position that could have cracked the top five, too.

Hill gets the nod among cornerbacks because of his combination of production — he played 59 defensive snaps and 99 special teams snaps in 11 games as a true freshman at Arizona State, according to Pro Football Focus — and potential. Hill is listed at 6-feet tall but he’s got the type of length and range that secondary coach Travis Fisher covets.

Along with junior transfer Omar Brown (whose spring status is to be determined as he missed the end of Northern Iowa’s season with an injury), Marques Buford and Braxton Clark, the race for a starting cornerback job opposite Quinton Newsome is going to be fierce.

Either Palmer or New Mexico State transfer Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda could easily have made the list, but Palmer gets the nod because he’s the favorite to slide into Samori Toure’s place in the slot, and figures to be a featured member of the Husker offense, regardless of how much change is introduced by new coordinator Mark Whipple.

Palmer has upper-end speed, caught 30 passes last year at LSU and understands exactly what Mickey Joseph wants from his receivers since he played for him the past three seasons. He is also a dangerous return man on special teams.

Both Palmer and Garcia-Castaneda should immediately push to join Omar Manning, Zavier Betts, Oliver Martin and perhaps Alante Brown in Nebraska’s receiving rotation.

Singleton has just one year of junior college ball under his belt, but is a big, rangy player at 6-3 and 200 pounds. He’s going to compete with Noa Pola-Gates and perhaps others for a starting safety job this spring and will get a ton of snaps, given NU’s general lack of depth at safety.

Singleton, a Louisiana native, bet on himself and chose the Jayhawk League over FCS or Group of Five offers because he thought he could convince Power Five schools of his readiness. He did just that. Now, is he ready to win a starting job right away? He’ll make that case this spring.

You didn’t think we’d make it through the list without a quarterback, did you? The Texas transfer is the most experienced of the three new quarterbacks in Lincoln for spring ball. He’ll be considered the favorite to win the job, and with good reason after he led the Big 12 with 24 touchdown passes over 10 games for the Longhorns.

There are other priorities to get straightened out during spring ball — who makes a charge at running back, what do the offensive and defensive lines look like, how does the secondary shake out, installing the new stuff on offense — but what Thompson and the other quarterbacks are capable of will have as big an impact as anything.

The final spot on this list also could have gone to fellow offensive line transfer Hunter Anthony or to junior college running back transfer Anthony Grant, but let’s go with Williams.

The former Omaha North grad was the first transfer to join NU this offseason. He played in only two games last year for FCS Northern Colorado, but was the starting left tackle there.

He’s got the versatility to play either guard or tackle for NU and, though neither he nor Anthony is guaranteed a starting spot as new assistant coach Donovan Raiola works through all of his options, Williams is going to have a chance.

Could he compete with redshirt freshman Henry Lutovsky for the right guard job? Maybe he’ll be the No. 1 left tackle this spring with Teddy Prochazka and Turner Corcoran both injured and then a candidate for either that job or the left guard spot, with Lutovksy and Nouredin Nouili competing for right guard and Anthony and Bryce Benhart if Corcoran gets healthy and makes a run at the center job.