Nebraska must replace its four captains from 2021; where might the Huskers’ leadership come from? | Football

Nebraska in 2021 had four juniors as its team captains. All four of them departed after the season — defensive back Cam Taylor-Britt, tight end Austin Allen and defensive tackle Damion Daniels to the NFL, and quarterback Adrian Martinez to Kansas State — so a new crop of leaders will have to emerge for the Huskers in 2021.

Back in December, defensive coordinator Erik Chinander was talking about cultivating leadership and said, “The thing about football is, that word ‘leadership’ gets thrown around so much. You don’t have to have 50 leaders and you don’t necessarily have to have one in every room. … Let’s develop the two or three on defense that we can all rally around. And if there’s not one at every position, that’s OK, if it’s a youthful position and one gets developed through there, even better.

“Sometimes we cast leadership onto guys too quickly and it’s not fair to them, but there’s definitely some good candidates.”

Here are several potential budding leaders in the program to cap off a week in which the Journal Star has also looked at players who need a big spring, impact newcomers, breakout candidates and guys who will be in wait-and-see mode this spring.

The list, perhaps not surprisingly, tilts toward Chinander’s defense as several positions on offense head into spring ball still in flux.

Nebraska would have rather gone into 2021 with Nick Henrich, Luke Reimer and Will Honas all healthy, but Honas missed the whole year with a knee injury. The silver lining: Henrich and Reimer stayed healthy and turned themselves into a staple pair in the middle of the Husker defense.

Each is his own individual player, of course, but Henrich and Reimer almost come off at this point like a package deal in the middle. They finished one measly Henrich-assisted tackle away from both hitting 100 stops for the year.

Then outside linebacker Garrett Nelson took another big step forward in 2021 and became a reliable presence and even a big-play threat. He led the Huskers in sacks (five) and tackles for loss (11.5), and played a ton of snaps.

If you were to put odds on captaincy prospects, perhaps Nelson would be the favorite because of his combination of experience and fiery, passionate personality, but any of the three will likely be in consideration on their own merits.

Consider this, though: For as much as the trio, who all came into the program together as part of the 2019 recruiting class (Reimer as a walk-on) contributed in 2021, they could theoretically all be together for two more seasons. That’s a pretty nice foundation for defensive coordinator Erik Chinander to build on moving forward and it’s part of the reason the defensive picture looks relatively stable — there are still needs and uncertainty — despite all of the veterans who must be replaced.

Like the linebackers above, Rogers is often mentioned in the same breath as fellow defensive linemen Ty Robinson. Their rise to prominence up front for the Huskers has happened on roughly parallel tracks and they are both critical to the Huskers’ success in 2022, especially considering the current lack of proven front-line depth.

Just like a coach would want to draw it up, Rogers has had the opportunity to learn from several past leaders, from the Davis brothers and Darrion Daniels to Ben Stille and others. Now, he’ll be essentially the elder statesman in the defensive line group. The New York native may be limited this spring after he aggravated a knee injury against Iowa, but the multi-year contributor is a safe bet to make his presence felt on the practice field even if he isn’t participating and to be part of the leadership group, if he hasn’t been already.

Tannor got consideration for the breakout candidates list, but it’s possible his breakout really started in the second half of 2021. Now he’s got a chance to be one of the voices of Nebraska’s defense. It’s been a long road for the former four-star prospect out of Georgia to go from talented young player to someone who Mike Dawson had to challenge to be more consistent and accountable. But Tannor has done it, and his stock in the program took perhaps as big a jump as anybody’s in 2021.

If he makes a similar jump on the field in 2022, he’s got a chance to be a real difference-maker on the edge for the Huskers. Even if he just continues to rise steadily, he’ll be a core part of a defense that has got a good number of guys who can be leaders in their own ways.

Whoever wins the starting quarterback job is going to be a leader by default, but that’s not the only reason to suspect Thompson will earn leadership responsibility in some way, shape or form. He’s clearly already put time and effort into getting to know his teammates, in particular on offense. Transfer defensive lineman Darrion Daniels was named a captain after just a few months in the program back in 2019, and Thompson could put himself on a similar track by the time spring ball is out.

If you want another candidate among the newcomers, perhaps Trey Palmer is a good bet. Samori Toure served as a leader in 2021, his lone season in Lincoln. Maybe the receiver room becomes Omar Manning’s group or even Zavier Betts’. Palmer, though, is supremely confident and it won’t be surprising if his teammates naturally follow his lead.

Vokolek is as close to a no-doubt leader as there is on the offensive side of the ball. He’s at the top of what should be a deep tight ends group and he’s established himself as a consistent presence on the field. He’s recovering from postseason shoulder surgery, so he’s in for a light spring, but the fifth-year junior will be counted on heavily both in the run game — he’s perhaps the Huskers’ best run blocker — and probably increasingly in the passing game with Allen off to the NFL.