Top 40 Huskers for 2021: 6-10

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.

Previous rankings: 36-40 | 31-35 | 26-30 | 21-25 | 16-20 | 11-15

Ty Robinson was one of the most significant gets in Nebraska’s 2019 recruiting class.

By only playing in three games last season and preserving his redshirt, and then getting a free COVID year in 2020, he enters this season as a third-year redshirt freshman with 11 games of experience and seven starts under his belt.

The former four-star recruit out of Gilbert (AZ) Higley was rated the No. 91 overall prospect in the country coming out of high school. He’s lived up to that hype in his opportunities thus far, finishing with 17 tackles and 2.0 TFLs while playing the second-most snaps (327) of any NU defensive lineman last season.

There doesn’t seem to be a limit on Robinson’s potential going forward, and his best is likely still yet to come as a Husker.

Cam Jurgens is back as a third-year starter at center, and if he can get his snapping figured out, he has all-conference athleticism.

At 6-foot-3, 290 pounds, Jurgens ranked in the top-six on the team’s strength index with a hang clean of 405 pounds and a squat of 723 pounds. But, maybe most impressive was that he also registered a top-10 vertical jump on the team at 34.5 inches.

However, one reasonably important aspect of playing center that Jurgens has failed to master over the past two seasons is snapping the ball.

He seemed to limit the snap mistakes toward the end of last season to his credit, and there wasn’t much conversation about it this spring or even after the Red-White game.

If the Beatrice, Neb., native can finally get that issue solved, Jurgens could quickly become the elite level center that head coach Scott Frost has hoped.

Turner Corcoran had only played 18 snaps through the first seven games of his first season at Nebraska in 2020. But when Brenden Jaimes unexpectedly left the team a week early to prepare for the NFL Draft, Corcoran’s window of opportunity flew wide open.

The freshman out of Lawrence, Kan., made his first career start at left tackle in the season finale at Rutgers and played all 88 offensive snaps. He scored a pass-blocking grade of 79.7 (third-highest on the team) and looked every bit of NU’s left tackle of the future.

The biggest thing Corcoran has worked on this offseason is improving his body. He’s kept his weight right around 295 pounds but dropped his body fat from 28 percent down to 24 percent this spring.

Corcoran also didn’t come to campus as your typical freshman. He’s one of the highest-ranked offensive line recruits in modern-day school history as a 6.0 four-star in the 2020 class.

Even with such lofty expectations set for him from the moment he committed, Corcoran has done everything thus far to live up to them.

Austin Allen quickly became quarterback Adrian Martinez’s go-to guy when it came to a critical play.

The stats reflect that Allen was, in fact, the most reliable tight end in the Big Ten. According to PFF, the 6-8, 260-pound native of Aurora, Neb., didn’t drop a single catchable ball during the 2020 season.

Allen set a career record with 236 receiving yards on 18 receptions last season when he became Nebraska’s No. 1 tight end after Jack Stoll was injured.

While Allen had the best season of his career, there are still improvements to be made. He let three interceptions happened and was 33 out of 40 in the pass-blocking grade (37.3).

Nebraska tight end coach Sean Beckton said he and Allen are working hard on his blocking skills, which is a little more difficult for such a tall player.

Allen will continue to be NU’s go-to tight end and could very well still be Martinez’s go-to receiver in general. If he can block better for his team, he’ll make this list again next season.

Most consider Nebraska Super Senior Ben Still a defensive end, but 393 of his 467 snaps last season came lined up on the interior at tackle or nose.

Stille had 22 quarterback pressures in 2020, the most pressures of any interior defensive lineman in the Big Ten. The Campbell Trophy Semifinalist is back for his last and sixth season with the Huskers and is looking to reak havoc.

Stille’s defensive grade was 79, the fourth-highest in the Big Ten, and he ranked second in the pass-rush grade. His pass-rush grade jumped from 69.1 in 2019 to 81.5 in 2020.

The 2020 All-Big Ten honorable mention recorded 23 tackles, 20 stops, and three tackles for loss. Stille ranked No. 3 in tackles made by Big Ten defensive tackles in 2020.

Stille heavily influenced the outcome of several Nebraska games, including a game-winning quarterback hit against Penn State. He will continue to be one of the defensive leaders for the Huskers in 2021.