Football is almost back in the building.
Nebraska Football Fan Day is set for Saturday, Aug. 8, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. inside the Hawks Championship Center, with doors opening at 2 p.m. The event is free, and yes, that is another sign that the calendar is officially shifting.
We are not quite to game week but we sure are getting closer. Watch lists are out. TV schedules are filling in. Preseason honors are being announced. Fall sports are starting to move from “coming soon” to “actually here.” All that and more in this week’s Friday Five.
Let’s get to it.
Justin Evans and Anthony Colandrea land on watch lists
Watch list season is here, folks.
Center Justin Evans was named to the Rimington Trophy Watch List on Thursday. The 40-player preseason list is selected by the trophy committee using Pro Football Focus data, and the Big Ten led all conferences with 13 players included.
Evans enters the season as one of Nebraska’s most important veterans. He has 31 career starts and 38 appearances as a Husker. Last season, he started all 13 games at center and helped pave the way for Emmett Johnson’s first-team All-America season. Before that, Evans started all 12 games at guard in 2024 and had five starts as a redshirt freshman in 2023.
Quarterback Anthony Colandrea also received preseason recognition, landing on the Maxwell Award Watch List on Monday.
Colandrea transferred to Nebraska after a big season at UNLV, where he was the Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year. He threw for 3,459 yards and 23 touchdowns, while adding 649 rushing yards and 10 scores. He also helped lead a UNLV offense that ranked 18th nationally in scoring and 20th in total offense.
In three college seasons, Colandrea has thrown for 7,542 yards and 49 touchdowns and rushed for 1,151 yards and 12 more.
Justin St. Clair extended through 2031
Not long after last week’s Friday Five went out, Nebraska announced a significant move for track and field.
Justin St. Clair has signed a contract extension that runs through the 2031 season. Nebraska also finalized its staff with the addition of Kareem and Jackie Streete-Thompson as assistants for the 2026-27 season.
The extension makes plenty of sense. Nebraska’s men’s and women’s teams both finished in the top 10 at outdoor nationals this spring, and the Huskers won two individual outdoor national titles. Axelina Johansson won the shot put, while Dyson Wicker won the pole vault. They became the ninth and 10th national champions under St. Clair.
“Justin St. Clair has built a track and field program positioned to continue to ascend at the Big Ten and national levels,” athletic director Troy Dannen said in a statement. “Justin has everything you want in a head coach. He develops world-class athletes, is an outstanding recruiter and leader, and has been a great representative of Nebraska both locally and in the track and field community. Behind the leadership of Justin and his staff, combined with our championship facilities the future is bright for Nebraska Track and Field.”
St. Clair’s response sounded like someone still very much invested in what comes next.
“There’s no place like Nebraska. The level of support, vision, and commitment to our student-athletes is remarkable,” he said. “I am grateful to Troy, our administration, and our entire athletic department for entrusting me to continue leading our program now and into the future. We have assembled a staff committed to raising the standard within the Big Ten Championships and at the NCAA Championships. We are excited to get our team back on campus and continue building something special together.”
The staff additions are notable too.
Kareem Streete-Thompson comes from UTSA, where he was associate head coach for eight seasons. He will coach sprints and horizontal jumps at Nebraska. As an athlete, he represented the Cayman Islands in three Olympic Games and owns personal bests of 9.96 in the 100 meters and 28-3 ¾ in the long jump.
Jackie Streete-Thompson also comes from UTSA, where she coached long sprints and hurdles. Her athletes set 10 school records and won 15 conference titles during her eight seasons there. She also spent time at Florida State, helping the men’s program win three straight national titles from 2006-08.
Nebraska volleyball will be easy to find
Nebraska volleyball’s TV schedule is taking shape, and the short version is pretty simple: the Huskers will be on your television sets a lot this fall.
The Big Ten Network announced its 2026 volleyball TV schedule Monday, with 10 of Nebraska’s 20 conference matches nationally televised, plus at least five nonconference matches. Nebraska Public Media later added four more broadcasts: the Red-White Scrimmage on Aug. 16 and regular-season matches against Georgia Tech, Rutgers and Illinois.
The national schedule includes the Sept. 6 match against Missouri at Wrigley Field on FOX, home matches against Baylor, Creighton and North Carolina on BTN, and the Oct. 10 Wisconsin match on FOX. Nebraska’s matches against DePaul and Washington will be on FS1, along with a home match against UCLA.
This tells us what we already knew: the Huskers are not just one of the best programs in the sport. They are one of the biggest television draws too.
Soccer earns preseason recognition
Nebraska soccer had three seniors named Big Ten Players to Watch this week: Kayma Carpenter, Ella Guyott and Ella Rudney.
Carpenter and Rudney both had 15 points and six goals last season. Carpenter tied for the team lead in both categories and had multi-goal matches against Southern Indiana and Kansas State. Rudney started every match in 2025, added three assists and put 22 of her 45 shots on goal.
Guyott missed last season because of injury, but she was a regular presence in 2024, starting all 17 matches and logging more than 1,300 minutes.
Nebraska was picked No. 12 in the Big Ten preseason coaches poll, with Michigan State, UCLA and Washington taking the top three spots.
The Huskers also played their exhibition match at Colorado State on Wednesday, falling 3-1. Reese Borer scored Nebraska’s goal in the 13th minute, while Karli Williams, Reese Snowden, Carson Bohonek, Charlie Wistrom and Rudney each had a shot on goal.
Nebraska opens the regular season at Louisville on Wednesday, Aug. 12, at 6:30 p.m. CT.1
Rienk Mast and Gena Jorgenson add more summer notes
A couple of former and current Huskers also had strong summer updates this week.
Former Nebraska forward Rienk Mast was named to the Netherlands preliminary roster for this month’s FIBA World Cup Qualifiers. The final 12-player roster will be announced closer to the qualifying window, with the Netherlands set to face Germany on Aug. 27 and Croatia on Aug. 30.
Mast recently played in NBA Summer League with the Indiana Pacers, averaging 15.3 points and 9.0 rebounds in four games. That included a 23-point, 10-rebound game against Toronto and a 16-point, 11-rebound performance against Cleveland.
He also joins a group of former Huskers helping their countries in World Cup qualifying, including Thorir Thorbjarnarson with Iceland, Jack McVeigh with Australia and Tai Webster with New Zealand.
In swimming, Gena Jorgenson closed her Nebraska career with five school records and five personal-best marks at the 2026 U.S. National Championships in Irvine, California.
Jorgenson finished second in the 800-meter freestyle with a time of 8:31.18 and third in the 1500 free in 16:12.73. She also placed seventh in the 400 free and added school-best marks in the 200 back and 400 IM.
“Amazing finish to an amazing career,” head coach Pablo Morales said. “Gena has been one of the highest performers and most consistent improvers in program history. True to form, she wraps up her senior year (collegiate season and summer) with an incredible run of personal best times and school records.”
Riley Miklos also competed at her first Nationals, finishing 20th in the 200 free final, while Amelia Riggott won the 50 breast at the TYR Futures Championships in Madison, Wisconsin.
That will do it for this week, but settle in. The calendar is about to get crowded again.
Honestly? Good.
TV note for soccer too. Nebraska’s game against Notre Dame on Thursday, Aug. 20 is set for 7 p.m. (CT) and the Huskers’ match at Iowa on Sunday, Sept. 13 will start at 1 p.m. (CT). Both will be televised on the Big Ten Network.
excellent. I had not heard about Gena Jorgenson's finish. That is exactly the information that needs to get out. She literally left it all in the pool. What a way to close out.