Identifying NU's nucleus in 2024

Like last summer, Nebraska's staff shared weekly lists of the players leading the way through the offseason. Should probably pay attention to that.

Courtesy Nebraska Athletics

Last June and July, Nebraska football began sharing graphics providing weekly updates on what it called “The Ten %.” It’s a reference to Urban Meyer’s 10-80-10 Principle, which posits that the top 10% of a team does everything right and forms the nucleus, the bottom 10% includes, as Meyer wrote in his book, “coach killers,” and a coach’s job is to move as many players from the remaining 80% up to the top.

Always happy to publicly acknowledge the guys doing it right, Matt Rhule and Nebraska shared seven such lists last summer. Did I track them? Sure did. The Huskers had three players appear on every list (100%ers), five make six-of-seven (85%ers) and 11 make five-of-seven (70%ers).

That group of 19 players produced the Huskers’ leading rusher and passer (Heinrich Haarberg), leading tackler (Isaac Gifford), receiving touchdowns leader (Thomas Fidone II) and what was arguably the heart of the o-line (Ethan Piper). Nash Hutmacher (8.0 TFLs) was among the 85-percenters and so was true freshman Cameron Lenhardt (5.0 TFLs). John Bullock (third in tackles) made every list, Phalen Sanford (eighth) made five.

You didn’t need this positive affirmation last summer to know players like Gifford, Hutmacher, Piper and Fidone were going to be important in 2023. But for some of the less-proven players, their presence on these lists sure looks like a sign to pay attention with the benefit of hindsight. Bullock had six career tackles before making 50 last year. Sanford was always a special-teams demon, which had resulted in 15 career tackles entering the season. He had 40 as part of the defensive rotation in 2023. Lenhardt was a highly-regard recruit, but making these lists was proof he was excelling at the college level, too. He started four games and earned honorable mention Freshman All-America honors.

This isn’t a perfect science, of course, and shouldn’t be treated as such. Nebraska had players make a jump without being fixtures on the list last year. But if you can treat this information as supporting evidence, Nebraska shared its lists again this summer, the last one arriving Sunday. Might not be a bad way to look smart on a couple of guys before they show up in the months ahead.

The 10% branding was gone this year. Instead, the lists were just labeled “Elit3,” but the lists behaved almost exactly the same as last year’s. Did I track the new lists? Sure did.

100%ers: John Bullock, Riley Van Poppel

If you’re scoring carefully at home, Bullock has appeared on every one of these lists over two years. Definitely not a bad sign as the Huskers have to replace 90 combined tackles from Luke Reimer and Nick Henrich at linebacker. Like Reimer, Bullock began his career as a walk-on. There was a stretch last winter when it was unclear if Bullock would return for another season. Nebraska is going to be very fortunate he did.

Up front, I’d say buy all of the Van Poppel stock now. He played in 11 games as a true freshman despite, as he put it, being “a little small out there.” Van Poppel has added weight—15 pounds according to the updated roster—and his continued development is important. Nebraska’s interior duo of Hutmacher and Ty Robinson, are among the best in the Big Ten, but they can’t play every snap. Van Poppel looks like a good bet to grab more than his share of snaps, and bigger numbers are ahead.

85%ers: Jahmal Banks, Marques Buford, Fidone, Gifford, Camden Witucki, Javin Wright

A good group that doesn’t offer many surprises. Proven players like Fidone, Gifford and Buford are here, though I’d count Buford’s presence as useful additional information given an injury cost him two-thirds of last season. If you listened to what Rhule has been saying since January, it’s not a surprise to see Wake Forest transfer wide receiver Jahmal Banks here with the second-most-frequently-elite¹ group. Will he be the fourth consecutive transfer to lead the Huskers in receiving yards? He has to be the odds-on favorite.

If a long snapper is good, nobody notices. Did you notice Florida transfer Marco Ortiz last year? Nope. He was one of three finalists for the Patrick Mannelly Award last season, but Nebraska should be in good hands with Witucki. In addition to making six-of-seven lists this summer, he did it last summer, too. By Nebraska’s own internal evaluation of leadership, Witucki is basically the John Bullock of long snappers.

Javin Wright makes an interception during Nebraska’s 2023 win over Northern Illinois. | Courtesy Nebraska Athletics

Wright just missed the 70% cutoff last summer, but his play during the season more than cemented the gains he’d made. Prior to 2023, he’d made nine tackles and blocked a punt. Last season, Wright ranked third on the team in tackles (51), grabbed two interceptions, forced a fumble and had one tackle for loss with credit for half of a sack. While not as under-the-radar as Van Poppel, I’d buy stock here, too.

70%ers: Bryce Benhart, Elliott Brown, Ty Robinson, Vincent Shavers Jr.

The first three names here won’t come as much of a surprise. You never want to take anything for granted, but you’d hope a team’s veteran fixtures are some of the best culture-keepers and Benhart, Brown and Robinson all fit the description. Robinson and Brown were both among the top groups last year, too.

The fourth name, though? It’s the only true freshman among the group. Much like with Lenhardt last year, the recruiting rankings pointed to Shavers, a 4-star linebacker from Miami, being pretty good. Here is an indication that Nebraska might already be getting something more than just his raw athletic ability.

A few more for your files

Thirteen additional Huskers made four-of-seven lists, making them majority-elite. I won’t list them all here, but I wanted to make note of the four who came on strong and made the last four lists leading up to fall camp: running back Izaac Dickey, linebacker Vincent Genatone, offensive lineman Tyler Knaak and wide receiver Isaiah Neyor.

Momentum matters.

Odds & Ends

• After an MVP season with Birmingham in the UFL, Adrian Martinez is getting another shot at the NFL. The Jets announced his signing over the weekend.

• Very good profile here of Jordan Larson by Aishwarya Kumar of ESPN.com. Carve out some time for this one.

• Japan’s men’s basketball national team lost its Olympic opener 97-77 to Germany. Keisei Tominaga played just 49 seconds. I’m no expert on Japan’s team dynamics, but I watched a lot of that game and, uh, Tominaga is definitely good enough to play for this team. Anyway, another former Husker, Jack McVeigh, scored 13 points in 20 minutes off the bench in Australia’s 92-80 win over Spain. McVeigh was 4-of-8 from the field, including 3-of-6 from 3. If you missed Erin’s story from last week, it’ll get you pointed in the right direction for all of the Huskers competing in the games.

1. Doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, but we have to work within the bounds of what we’re provided.