Five Huskers entering spring ball at a critical juncture in their college careers | 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. As the week goes along, we’ll look at leadership candidates, potential breakout players, newcomers to watch and players who will be in wait-and-see mode this spring.

To kick things off, though, here are five Huskers who enter spring ball at crossroads-type moments of their careers.

If you need a reminder about how fast college football moves, look no further than Benhart, who is entering his fourth year as a Husker in 2022.

The 6-foot-9 offensive lineman has been on the fast track essentially since he arrived at NU from Lakeville North High in Minnesota. He saw action in three games in 2019 and then became the Huskers’ starting right tackle in 2020. Instead of taking a step forward in 2021, though, Benhart struggled and was benched in the middle of the season. After two games, he was back in the lineup in the wake of Teddy Prochazka’s season-ending knee injury.

So, what is the next step for Benhart? Can he unlock more of his vast potential under new offensive line coach Donovan Raiola? Is he a tackle or can he slide in and potentially be a Zach Sterup-sized guard?

Benhart still has three seasons of eligibility remaining and now is up to 18 starts under his belt. A starting job does not feel like a sure thing this fall, though.

On the flip side, with Prochazka and Turner Corcoran out for the spring due to injuries, there will be plenty of opportunity for Benhart to stake his claim somewhere along the line. He’ll be competing with transfers Kevin Williams and Hunter Anthony plus other interior/swing players on the NU roster for positioning headed into the summer.

You could make a case for any of NU’s six sophomore-eligible scholarship offensive linemen, but none has the starting experience that Benhart does. Corcoran (12 starts) and Ethan Piper (10) have the next-most experience. Prochazka is the favorite at left tackle if he can get fully healthy after an October knee injury. Brant Banks has started once and Michael Lynn has appeared in late-game duty twice.

The list here is alphabetical, but the final spot came down to Newsom or cornerback Braxton Clark. The edge goes to the fourth-year sophomore defensive lineman from Iowa because, in part, of the extreme nature of need on the defensive front line. Funny enough, though, Newsom is the only player on this list who was also considered heavily for a set of potential breakout candidates that will run in the Journal Star later this week.

Just the way you’d want it to unfold, Newsom has been behind a series of veterans the past couple of years. He’s learned from the likes of the Davis brothers, the Daniels brothers, Ben Stille and 2022 returners Ty Robinson and Casey Rogers. The Waverly, Iowa, native missed most of the 2021 season with an injury. He didn’t suit up until an Oct. 9 home game against Michigan and didn’t travel at all for NU.

The 6-foot-4, 285-pounder has not appeared in a game in his first three seasons at Nebraska, but he was consistently mentioned by defensive line coach Tony Tuioti as being among the potential next wave of players for the Huskers. With four defensive linemen departing this offseason and no transfer additions so far — that will likely change this summer — Newsom has a golden opportunity this spring to show he belongs in the rotation or at least in the conversation. He’ll be competing with the likes of Nash Hutmacher, Marquis Black and Ru’Quan Buckley, all players younger than him, for playing time.

The Arizona native is, like Benhart, a former four-star recruit from the 2019 class. Like Benhart, he’s a fourth-year sophomore with a fight for playing time on his hands.

Pola-Gates, though, has to this point in his career not been able to crack into regular secondary work for assistant coach Travis Fisher. That’s not necessarily a knock, considering Marquel Dismuke and Deontai Williams have been solid, multi-year starters at safety.

Now that they are gone, though, Pola-Gates is a veteran of the defensive system and this is his best chance yet to earn a full-time job. Myles Farmer figures to be a prominent factor for one of the two safety spots and the other will likely come down to Pola-Gates, junior college transfer DeShon Singleton and perhaps others like juco transfer Javier Morton or another player who slides to the middle of the field from corner. If the Huskers are concerned about safety depth coming out of spring ball, they could look back to the portal for yet another defensive back, too.

Pola-Gates could quell that worry to some degree if he shows this spring that he is ready to be more than the special teams regular and spot defensive player that he’s been so far in his college career.

Smothers is the youngest player on this list and has three years of eligibility plus a redshirt remaining at his disposal. Bottom line: He’s got a lot of football in front of him.

This was always going to be a big spring for the Alabama native once Adrian Martinez entered the transfer portal. Smothers made his starting debut on Black Friday against Iowa and figured to compete for the starting job going into 2022. He’s still in position to do that, but the competition changed substantially when NU signed not only fifth-year Texas transfer Casey Thompson but also redshirt freshman Florida State transfer Chubba Purdy.

Coach Scott Frost loved Smothers out of high school and he showed flashes of why against the Hawkeyes and in five appearances overall last fall. It is also fair to say that when you look at the rest of the room, new offensive coordinator Mark Whipple had a hand in recruiting the two new guys, Richard Torres is just getting to campus as a new freshman and Heinrich Haarberg possesses more of the traditional pro-style skill set that Whipple has traditionally pursued.

None of that is to say that Smothers couldn’t make a run at the job or cement himself as the No. 2 behind Thompson. He certainly could. But there’s no denying that the spring will be critical for the sophomore in terms of figuring out Whipple’s style and playbook and showing what he can do in a situation that looks much different than it did six months ago.

Don’t be mistaken, it’s game on for all five of the Husker running backs who are set to take part in spring ball. In that way, Stepp is not in a dramatically different situation than Rahmir Johnson, Jaquez Yant, Gabe Ervin and junior college transfer Anthony Grant.

Stepp, though, joins fellow junior Grant as the oldest in the room as far as eligibility and wasn’t able to work his way into consistent playing time as last season progressed.

Expected to be a potential front-of-the-pack back for the Huskers when he arrived on campus as a USC transfer a year ago, Stepp instead missed most of the spring due to foot surgery and then logged just 45 carries for 177 yards over seven games in the fall. Frost at one point wondered whether the 6-1, 230-pounder was fully healthy, but Stepp insisted he was. He’s another who has a new position coach and perhaps a fresh start with Bryan Applewhite now in charge.

NU is heavy at running back with seven total scholarship backs. Five are on campus for spring ball and then freshmen Ajay Allen and Emmett Johnson arrive for the summer conditioning program. The Huskers, too, may still be cautious with Ervin this spring as he recovers from a September knee injury that ended his season.

This is the time for Stepp to leave a big first impression on Applewhite and make a move up the depth chart.