No overnight transformation, but Huskers’ WR group showing steady signs of progress in recent weeks | Football

Nobody in college football is going to mistake Nebraska’s offense in 2020 for a juggernaut, but the Huskers have turned in arguably their two most efficient performances passing the ball over the past two weeks.

The Huskers averaged 8.2 yards per attempt and completed 77.4% of their passes in a 37-27 win against Purdue one week after hitting 7.1 per attempt and 84% the week before against Iowa.

The reasons for the increase in efficiency likely start with improved quarterback play. Junior Adrian Martinez has completed 41 of 50 passes over those two games at a clip of 8.32 yards per attempt and has not thrown an interception.

Not to be overlooked is the steady progress from a mostly inexperienced wide receiving corps. There’s been no overnight transformation like many hoped for this offseason, but the longer the Huskers continue to play, the more of an idea you get for why head coach Scott Frost and offensive coordinator Matt Lubick think things are headed in the right direction.

“I’ve been happy as far as guys striving to get better every day and focusing on daily improvement,” Lubick said. “The last two games have been two of our better games. Especially in the run game and blocking. Guys look at stats and fans see guys catching balls, but we were on the right hats and guys were moving some guys on crucial bubbles, which is a big part of our offense. That was good to see.”

It was also a step forward in the passing game.

Frost said that Nebraska’s staff decided it was doing “a disservice” to the receiver group by spreading game repetitions around to so many different players, so it tried to narrow down the rotation a little bit.

Freshman Marcus Fleming transferred after not seeing the field much after a breakout performance against Northwestern. In recent weeks, junior captain Kade Warner has seen his playing time reduced significantly and freshman Alante Brown has seen fewer chances, too. Redshirt freshman Chris Hickman has been essentially a package player in run-heavy personnel.

That’s left sophomore Wan’Dale Robinson — far and away Nebraska’s leader in catches (39), targets (50) and yards (341), freshman Zavier Betts and a trio of walk-ons in senior Levi Falck, junior Oliver Martin and sophomore Wyatt Liewer as the primary rotation in recent games.

Betts and Falck, in particular, have seen their roles and production steadily grow over the course of the season. Falck joins Robinson and tight end Austin Allen as the only players on the roster with at least one catch in every game this season. Betts didn’t play in NU’s opener against Ohio State but has at least one catch in each of the five games since.

“He’s a freshman, he’s coming on, he’s talented and he just had to get comfortable with everything,” Frost said of the gifted freshman from Bellevue West, who is third on the team with 131 receiving yards. “Know the signals, know the plays, know the details, know the routes.”

Betts and Falck had their best joint outing against Purdue, combining for 11 catches on 12 targets. They didn’t make any huge plays — the 11 catches went for a modest 76 yards — but that level of involvement and catch rate speaks to a growing sense of dependability between the receivers and Martinez.

“I’ve said it a bunch, we have a lot of players that really could have benefited from spring ball, fall camp, a nonconference schedule, all those things and they didn’t get the luxury of any of that,” Frost said. “So we’re working overtime to try to get those guys more and more comfortable with what we’re doing and I think they’ve been improving every week.”

It certainly doesn’t hurt that Robinson has 18 catches on 20 targets for 189 yards the past two weeks, either. He had his best receiving game of the year against Purdue, hauling in nine for 114.

To be sure, there is still plenty of room for improvement. Nebraska has not shown an ability to throw the ball over the top of defenses — its longest passing play remains a 45-yard touchdown on a fly sweep shovel pass to Betts in the backfield — and its 254 yards passing against the Boilermakers was just the second outing with 200-plus yards of the year.

Lubick called a 10-yard touchdown pass to Liewer on a quick throw to the flat his favorite play of the year so far because of the way Falck and Allen blocked for the walk-on from O’Neill, allowing him to get into the end zone untouched.

“Guys don’t come here to block. They come here to catch balls,” Lubick said. “Naturally, as receivers, they want to make plays and that’s kind of innate to the position. But once they get here, they learn pretty fast that if you don’t block, you don’t play. Nothing says more about who you are as a person than by the way you block for your teammates.”

That’s an area where Falck has shown proficiency and Betts has shown want-to.

“We feel like we’ve got seven to eight guys that can play for us,” Lubick said. “We feel good about that and we feel that if we get nicked up, the next guy, because he has taken reps in practice, is ready to roll. I like our depth situation.”

It’s certainly nowhere near a finished product, but NU would happily take continued small steps forward in the coming weeks. Everybody is eligible to return next year, plus the Huskers could get healthy returns from freshman Will Nixon and junior Omar Manning. They will also add three incoming freshmen who are 6-2 or taller and are expected to sign their national letters of intent next week.