What impact do the receivers have in Nebraska’s QB battle?

The premise is straightforward. You ask me some questions — or vent your frustrations — about Nebraska Athletics. Any sport. I attempt to answer them.

If you want your question included in the next edition of the mailbag, find me on Twitter/X at @Amie_Just, Threads/Instagram at @_amiejust or email me at ajust@journalstar.com. I suppose you can attempt a carrier pigeon as well.

The receivers haven’t been tipping their hand on who they “prefer” in a QB, but it would be natural to presume that whichever receivers are on each QB’s Spring League team, they’d naturally grow comfortable with that guy and vice versa.

The general age of the receiver room is like the room’s position coach: not very old, but intelligent as heck with a bright future. Two of the four older guys are transfers — Jahmal Banks and Isaiah Neyor. Of the two who’ve been in the program for a while, Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda is still recovering from his torn ACL, so Alex Bullock has been shouldering a lot of the established veteran responsibilities.

As far as the young receivers go, I’m really looking forward to seeing the progress that Jaylen Lloyd, Malachi Coleman and Jaidyn Doss can make this year and in the future. Imagine a world where those guys get years of experience with the same quarterback, regardless of whether it’s Heinrich Haarberg, Daniel Kaelin or Dylan Raiola. (No, I’m not hinting at a depth chart. Listed them in alphabetical order.)

As the saying goes, a rising tide lifts all ships. So when you have a quarterback who makes sound decisions and when you have receivers who run crisp routes and hold onto the ball, you have to think that good things will follow.

We’ve seen flashes of those good things, especially with the young guys who had the chance to play last season. The hope is, for the coaching staff, that those flashes become routine.

“Everyone sees the ‘wow’ plays,” coach Matt Rhule said. “We put out the highlights every day. Everyone sees the catch over the top, the one-handed shoulder catch, but there might be three other plays where we couldn’t get off press, and so it’s our job just to keep working at the things we aren’t great at.”

I know it feels like it was a long time ago because it was, but Nebraska Athletics did send out that survey in January 2022, asking for input from fans on Memorial Stadium. It’s not as if Trev Alberts and the Athletic Department didn’t do their due diligence in researching what they ultimately proposed.

The thoughts of nearly 22,000 fans were reflected in that survey. That’s a massive sample size. It obviously doesn’t include everyone, and everyone has different opinions on what should or shouldn’t happen with Memorial Stadium.

The common thread, regardless of what Troy Dannen decides to do or not do with the renovations, is this: Someone will be upset about what will or will not happen. The Athletic Department cannot make everyone happy. It’s impossible.

The fact of the matter is this: Something needs to be done about South Stadium. Those with seats in South Stadium deserve better. If that side of Memorial gets temporarily torn down, yes, that will be a major bummer for people in South Stadium and for the domino effect that will have on the rest of the stadium.

Look at the University of Kansas. Or Northwestern. Or the handful of other schools farther along than Nebraska in the renovation process. Kansas won’t have home games AT ALL in Lawrence for this season, and Northwestern will be playing at its practice facility for two years.

That would be a tougher pill to swallow.

For now, we’re waiting to see what Dannen and the Athletic Department decide to do. But make no mistake. Something will happen. There will be renovations of some sort.

As he said after the Board of Regents meeting last week, “There are things that need to be done inside that stadium,” Dannen said. “Chairbacks, upgrading the club facilities, some ADA work. There’s restrooms and concessions, wireless, there’s a lot of things that I think everybody’s known, but it’s already very obvious to me that that needs to be done. A lot of those things monetize themselves. I think if you look at any project, it’s its ability to pay for itself, whether it’s through donor gifts upfront or whether it’s through monetizing those improvements to pay for whatever debt you have to take on. You have to look at it in that context.

“But it’s obvious. The stadium is a gem. Like any good facilities, and Nebraska has great facilities, you have to keep them up and you have to make them appropriate for the times that lie ahead, not just relish the fact that they were appropriate for the times that lie behind.”

Another quote of Dannen’s that itches the brain is the “Does it help us win?” quote from his introductory news conference. My opinion is, yes. Some of these things will help Nebraska win. Getting the student section closer to the field should help Nebraska win, especially when opposing teams are lined up near the south end zone. Getting people who want to be there in Memorial Stadium but can’t due to disabilities, and how the stadium is woefully inadequate by modern ADA standards, should help Nebraska win. Providing amenities closer to seats and therefore getting fans back to their seats faster so they can cheer should help Nebraska win.

But with the fans, there is no winning right now. Because not everyone will be happy.

It certainly feels inevitable, doesn’t it? Zero idea on any timeline there, but as it stands, having alcohol in Devaney feels like it would happen sooner than Memorial Stadium. Why? Just from a logistics standpoint, there’s more space in the Devaney concourse for additional vendors than there currently is at Memorial.

It’s important to note, though, that neither Pinnacle Bank Arena nor the Haymarket Park complex is owned by the university. So it’s easier to take those baby steps at those venues than it would be to allow alcohol on university property.

Do I think it will happen eventually? Yes. But I wouldn’t have the slightest idea as to when that change would happen.