Top 40 Huskers for 2021: 36-40

Voting Criteria: Player’s importance to the team in 2021, overall talent, and future potential for the upcoming season. A player’s long-term/NFL prospects were not taken into consideration.

Voting Panel: Publisher Sean Callahan, HuskerOnline.com senior writer Robin Washut, videographer Gregg Peterson, KETV Sports Director Andy Kendeigh, and HOL intern Abby Barmore.

Nebraska receiving corps was one of several positions that got a depth boost with the free year of eligibility the NCAA granted to 2020 seniors due to COVID-19, as Levi Falck opted to return for a sixth season of college football.

The South Dakota graduate transfer played with the Coyotes from 2016-19 before joining the Huskers last year. Falck was a steady role player in NU’s offense in 2020, finishing with 13 catches for 122 yards and one touchdown.

The 6-foot-2, 205-pounder’s best game came in the Huskers win at Purdue, where he finished with five catches for 39 yards. Falck played in all eight games for the Big Red in 2020, making four starts.

He was second in overall snaps played for wide receivers with 322, only behind Wan’Dale Robinson, who saw 464 snaps this past season. According to PFF, Kade Warner was third with 162, while Oliver Martin was fourth with 159 in 2020.

Logan Smothers began his quest to lockdown Nebraska’s No. 2 quarterback job this spring after sitting out his first season with the Huskers in 2020.

While the second-year freshman got a somewhat unexpectedly strong push from true freshman Heinrich Haarberg, Smothers still has every opportunity to make his case when NU gets back to work in fall camp.

The Muscle Shoals, Ala., native made his unofficial Nebraska debut during the Red-White Spring Game. He got the start for the White team and completed 8-of-14 passes for 76 yards and a touchdown while moving over to the Red team at the half.

Will Nixon was poised to get on the field last year as a true freshman before a knee injury ended his first season at Nebraska before it began.

But the 5-foot-11, 185-pound freshman from Waco, Texas, picked up right where he left off this spring.

Reports from his coaches and teammates alike were glowing about Nixon and what he’d shown during his comeback. He backed that up by leading the White team with five catches for 38 yards in the spring game.

Nixon runs excellent routes and could emerge as a reliable option working out of the slot this season.

The addition of Jordon Riley as a transfer from North Carolina/Garden City (Kan.) C.C. last season was supposed to provide Nebraska with an immediate impact piece on the defensive line.

Riley did see action in six games in 2020, but his lone tackle in his debut at Northwestern was his only stat to show for it.

A year older, stronger, and better versed in NU’s defensive scheme, Riley looks ready to cement himself in the d-line rotation this year.

Defensive line coach Tony Tuioti said the 6-foot-6, 330-pound native of New Bern, N.C., was among the top-six n his group coming out of spring ball. There’s no reason to think Riley won’t remain there once the season gets underway.

The competition for the other cornerback spot opposite Cam-Taylor Britt was one of the most intriguing position battles to follow during spring practices.

There is still plenty of competition remaining for that spot, especially after the addition of Ohio State transfer Tyreke Johnson. But Braxton Clark has put himself in a position to see the field early and often this season.

Defensive backs coach Travis Fisher said last month that Clark was nearly fully recovered from a season-ending injury he suffered last fall camp. In fact, Fisher added that he made it a point to play Clark in the spring game longer than most of the other top cornerbacks to get him some extra reps.

The 6-foot-4, 210-pound native of Orlando, Fla., has played in 16 games with one start in his NU career, and he’s likely to add to those numbers this season.