Nebraska freshmen showing potential early in careers

Young players appearing early in the season against nonconference opponents is common — but in the middle of Big Ten Conference play, it’s easier said than done to get young players on the field.

Try telling that to a Nebraska football coaching staff that managed to give extensive playing time to 10 players who are redshirt and true freshmen in the Huskers’ win over Purdue on Saturday.

Quarterback Dylan Raiola, offensive lineman Gunnar Gottula and wide receivers Jacory Barney Jr. and Carter Nelson led the charge on offense.

Defensively, linemen Keona Davis and Vincent Jackson were accompanied by linebackers Vincent Shavers and Willis McGahee IV and defensive backs Jeremiah Charles and Mario Buford against the Boilermakers.

Defensive coordinator Tony White likes what he’s seen from those freshmen, and he knows they’re only going to get better from having been inserted into those game situations.

“Anytime Rio (Mario Buford) and Keona Davis and Vincent Shavers and those guys go on the field, that’s the worst they’re ever going to look,” White said. “Every snap is valuable.”

Charles and Buford played key snaps at cornerback against Purdue as Tommi Hill (foot) missed the contest and Ceyair Wright briefly needed medical treatment.

NU’s most consistent freshman defender, however, has been Shavers with 70-plus snaps played in the heart of the Husker defense.

Shavers’ inclusion in Nebraska’s defensive plans was hardly a surprise after a standout spring camp in which his explosiveness and aggressiveness jumped off the page. The true surprise has come in the form of Davis, a true freshman who didn’t go through the spring as a late addition to Nebraska’s 2024 recruiting class.

Davis’ size — he stands at 6-foot-5 and 255 pounds — was one of the first things White noticed, alongside the agility he showed on the practice field.

A five-week fall camp was all Davis needed to earn a role in the Husker defense and having played in each of NU’s first five games, there was no talk of a redshirt season for the freshman.

“As he continues to get snaps and feels what it’s like playing there in the trenches against some grown men, he’s realizing what he can do,” White said of Davis. “The guys know what he can be around here in the future, and so they’re hard on him, they’re coaching him and they’re consistently telling him techniques and stuff.”

Of course, the Huskers’ most impactful freshman has been so good that it’s easy to forget he’s five games into his college career. Raiola, a player who’s thrown for the 25th-most yards nationally this season, is going through this process too.

Raiola isn’t doing it alone, though, with many players around him on offense who are in the same boat.

Nelson has played in four games with a unique skillset which Nebraska continues to utilize, evidenced by a goal-line carry against Purdue last week. Then there’s Barney, the Huskers’ electric slot wide receiver who Raiola shares a room with and considers one of his close friends.

“I know he’s just scratching the surface,” Raiola said of Barney. “… It’s pivotal to have live-game reps with these guys and I think that’s only going to speed up that process of getting better for all of us.”

Raiola could not have operated the Nebraska offense last week without the help of another young Husker who’s been entrusted with a key role.

Gottula, a Lincoln native who made his first career start in place of the injured Turner Corcoran (hamstring) last week, was tasked with protecting Raiola’s blind side and giving the quarterback enough time to throw.

Considering the Boilermakers tried to target Gottula by placing edge rushers such as Kydran Jenkins on him, the freshman lineman did his part by keeping his quarterback clean.

“He did awesome, and I couldn’t be more happy for him,” Raiola said of Gottula. “A young guy making his first start, they had a good player on their team and for him to go out there and execute the way he did, (I’m) just really proud of him.”

Senior offensive lineman Ben Scott said it was “no shock” for Gottula to take on a starting role given that he’d prepared as though he was the starter for over a year prior. So while there are 10 freshmen who’ve been a part of Nebraska’s recent wins, there are far more whose work behind the scenes has been just as crucial.

Gottula, who spent a redshirt season on Nebraska’s scout team fighting for every rep in practice, knows the grind well. Some of Nebraska’s talented freshmen have done the same and come out of the process as better players — and many more are undergoing the same journey right now.

“Our scout team guys get better every single week of the season; we don’t just throw ‘em away to read a card,” offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield said. “We demand a standard of our scout team and they play really, really hard against some really good players.”