Another member of that receiver class,
Jaevon McQuitty, also enrolled early in hopes of getting on the field as a freshman. Unfortunately, a shoulder injury kept the 6-foot, 195-pounder out of contact in spring ball. Early in the second week of fall camp, McQuitty injured his knee during a blocking drill. It required surgery and he will miss the upcoming season. Coaches like McQuitty's potential, but like Johnson, they will have to wait until 2018 to see it.
That leaves just one member of the 2017 class who can potentially help the Huskers' depleted receiving core. But boy is he expected to help.
Tyjon Lindsey, the centerpiece of the Huskers' 2017 recruiting class, is Nebraska's highest-rated wide receiver recruit in the modern era. Many pundits considered the 5-foot-9, 160-pound Lindsey to be one of the best slot receiver prospects to come out in at least two years. He was rated as a five-star prospect heading into his senior season, but saw that rating drop slightly after separate injuries - a broken clavicle and a torn right meniscus - limited him to just three games last fall.
He is completely healed now, however, and has spent fall camp wowing coaches and teammates with his burst and playmaking ability in the open field. There is no doubt that Lindsey is in elite company, athletically. Last summer he was laser-timed at 3.86-seconds in the shuttle. To put that in perspective, the best time at the 2017 NFL Combine was 3.89-seconds. Lindsey came in with a great attitude and a thirst to learn and improve. He spent a lot of time in the summer with Tristan Gebbia studying, and it showed during camp. Coaches are hoping Lindsey can continue to digest the playbook and play fast, because when he knows what he's doing out there, he is difficult to stop. He is currently working at flanker behind De'Mornay Pierson-El, and you can expect the coaches to find creative ways to get the ball in his hands.
Depth will certainly be a concern, but Nebraska's starting trio will be among the best in the Big Ten.
Stanley Morgan Jr. enters the season with 58 career catches for 757 yards and five touchdowns. I think it's safe to assume the junior will match those numbers this season. He has a great chance to become Nebraska's first 1,000-yard wide receiver. The 6-foot-1, 195-pounder will be Nebraska's go-to-receiver and the guy Tanner Lee looks for when he needs a big catch.
Playing on the other side will be senior
De'Mornay Pierson-El. The 5-foot-9, 190-pound senior is reportedly finally back to playing with the same speed and athleticism that he showed as a freshman. Heading into his sophomore year, Pierson-El suffered a Jones fracture in his left foot while making a cut during a non-contact drill during fall camp. He missed the first four games of the 2015 season and was eased back into action in October. Unfortunately, just as he started to get into a groove, he tore up his knee and fractured his left leg during a celebration against Purdue on Halloween. I felt with the depth Nebraska had heading into last season, that Pierson-El should have used his available redshirt. Despite not being 100%, Pierson-El decided to play last year and spent much of the season gaining confidence in his left leg. Coaches think he is finally back and ready to return to his old form.
There was a competition for the starting slot position for most of spring and into the start of fall camp. It looks like
J.D. Spielman has won that job. The 5-foot-9, 180-pound Spielman nearly cracked the wide receiver rotation last year as a true freshman, but the coaches decided to redshirt him so he could spend the year better learning the position after playing primarily running back and defensive back in high school. Spielman went on to share Scout Team Offensive MVP honors with Tanner Lee. The two of them developed a bit of a rapport last year playing together and that should come in handy this season. He has a lot of the same traits as guys like Lindsey and Pierson-El. He has impressive speed, agility and moves in the open field.
Backing up Spielman, and expected to get plenty of reps, if healthy, is
Keyan Williams. The son of receivers coach Keith Williams, the 5-foot-10, 195-pound junior is eligible this season after sitting out a year due to his transfer from Fresno State. Williams saw action for the Bulldogs as a redshirt freshman in 2015, playing in five games. He caught seven passes for 34 yards, with one rushing attempt and one punt return. Williams missed most of the last half of fall camp because of a severe hamstring pull. This position group has been hit by soft tissue injuries the last couple seasons, so expect the team to monitor situations like this closely.
The Huskers will need to rely on a group of walk-ons to make contributions when called upon. Expect junior
Bryan Reimers to get a lot of snaps this season. The 6-foot-5, 210-pounder is backing up Stanley Morgan at split end and should be a big red zone target. Seniors
Gabe Rahn (6-1, 195) and
Brett Classen (6-2, 200) - who were just put on scholarship, and sophomore
Conor Young (6-2, 180) will also vie for snaps this season. Young is currently the No. 3 split end, while Rahn is the No. 3 slot and Classen the No. 3 flanker.
At tight end, the Huskers graduated the top three players from last year's depth chart and currently have four scholarship freshmen on the roster. The tight end spot at Nebraska has not had a prominent role in the offense in several years, but Riley and Langsdorf have made their intentions known to revitalize the position in the offense moving forward. There is hardly any game experience, but after spring and fall camps, the coaches are quietly confident in the position group heading into the season.
The No. 1 tight end will be
Tyler Hoppes, who has had one of the better camps of anyone on the team according to coaches. Danny Langsdorf compared the 6-foot-4, 245-pound senior to one of his former players at Oregon State; Connor Hamlett. That's pretty high praise. Hamlett ended his career ranked on OSU’s top-five all-time lists for career receptions (104, third) and yards (1,109, fifth). Hamlett is entering his third season in the NFL now as a member of the Dallas Cowboys. There is a good chance that Hoppes, who was just put on scholarship, will be Nebraska's No. 3 pass-catcher behind Stanley Morgan and De'Mornay Pierson-El. The Husker record for receptions in a season by a tight end is currently 32, set by Mike McNeill in 2008. With Tanner Lee now running the offense, there is a good chance that Hoppes breaks that record. If fall camp is any indication, Lee will incorporate the check down to a tight end more than we’ve ever seen at Nebraska. Hoppes should be a big beneficiary of that.
Despite high expectations out of Hoppes, the position group as a whole still needs other guys to develop into reliable players. To that end, the team has seen youngsters
Matt Snyder and
Jack Stoll step up during the spring and fall. Snyder, a 6-foot-5, 240-pound sophomore, and Stoll, a 6-foot-4, 245-pound redshirt freshman have both made big strides this offseason. The two of them struggled through injuries to start their careers, but those issues seem to be behind them. They should have a heated battle next year to determine Nebraska's starter in 2018.
Also in the mix for playing time is senior
Connor Ketter, who was just put on scholarship. The 6-foot-5, 245-pound senior is the best blocker of the bunch. Ketter dealt with a bad back in the spring, but if he stays healthy, he should be valuable in short yardage situations. Throw in promising redshirt freshman
David Engelhaupt (6-3, 240), and you have the makings for a solid, yet unproven, position group. The team should be allowed to redshirt both of the guys they signed this past February.
Kurt Rafdal (6-7, 230) and local standout
Austin Allen (6-8, 210) have shown promise this fall too. Tavita Thompson has done a good job of building this group. I expect some pretty big things in the future.
Position Grade: B-Prior to contributing to HuskerMax, Jeremy Pernell co-founded the all football website N2FL.com. He served as the editor in chief of the college football portion of the website which focused heavily on recruitment and talent analysis, including the NFL Draft. You can email him at N2FL@hotmail.com.
