Looking for the Huskers' "guy" in 2024

Who is Nebraska's best player right now? Let's start a discussion.

Courtesy Nebraska Athletics

I’ve had a question I couldn’t answer for the past few weeks, so I’m finally asking for some help answering it:

Who is Nebraska’s best player in 2024? Which player is just a problem for opposing coaching staffs trying to game plan? Who do we know will make the play when it needs to be made?

The shortest way to put it: Who is the guy this season?

There’s evidence that things are trending up for Nebraska entering 2024, from the experience it returns to its projected power paired with a favorable schedule. The one thing the Huskers may not have right now, however, is the guy.

Or, at least I haven’t been able to settle on who it is. So, I’m opening it up for discussion because I think there is a good discussion to be had here. (The comments section is open to everyone.) I’ll talk through my candidates for a later newsletter, but for now, a little light homework for the weekend.

To offer a bit of guidance—if that’s even needed—I tried to put myself in the offseason of every Nebraska season since 2009, and ask myself the question above.

This is the list I came up with. These were the guys.

2009, DL Ndamukong Suh: I started here because this is the easiest example. When Suh opted to return for his final season, anybody could look at NU and think, “Well, there’s your guy right there.” And he was, producing the best defensive lineman season I’ve ever seen.

2010, CB Prince Amukamara: The competition this year was extremely tough as seven Huskers would be drafted in 2011. Jared Crick received plenty of offseason buzz, including a Sports Illustrated cover, but the guy was Amukamara. He’s Nebraska’s last first-round draft pick to date, and we all knew he was that type of talent entering the season.

2011, LB Lavonte David: The popular vote may have gone to Taylor Martinez following his breakout freshman season, but David was the guy that any team in the country would’ve taken.

2012, RB Rex Burkhead: You could make a case for Martinez here, too, but his sophomore season wasn’t a step forward from the previous year, and there was the constant tension of not knowing if a play would end in a 68-yard touchdown run or a bizarre interception. So, I retroactively think the steadiness of Burkhead probably earned him the title. Unfortunately injuries limited him to eight games that season.

2013, OL Spencer Long: This was the year I struggled with the most and I keep going back and forth between Long and Ameer Abdullah. Long was second-team All-America the previous season while Abdullah ripped off an 1,100-yard season in his first crack at being the top back. Both have good guy cases, but Long was a little more experienced, a little more credentialed.

2014, DL Randy Gregory: Abdullah can’t get the nod after rushing for 1,690 yards in 2013? Well, Abdullah was the guyin 2014, but Gregory was probably perceived as the guy. Pass-rushers will always draw outsize attention, and Gregory, who had a frame that was draftnip for scouts, was coming off a 16 TFL, 9.5 sack season.

2015, DL Maliek Collins: Dogear this entry because things start to change from here. Collins was a pretty easy pick for this season, though fellow defensive lineman Vincent Valentine would, like Collins, be a third-round pick in 2016.

2016, DB Nathan Gerry: I don’t think there’s much argument for anyone else to take this title leading up to the 2016 season, but is it a problem if a team’s guy only manages third-team All-Big Ten? Gerry was a really good player, to be clear, and went on to have a long NFL career. Was he keeping opposing coaches up at night? That’s debatable.

2017, DB Chris Jones: This was the toughest year of the bunch. Nebraska lost a ton of players off its 9-4 team from 2016, and Jones—coming off a year with three interceptions and 10 pass breakups—was probably the closest thing NU had to the guy. Jones would go undrafted after missing most of this season due to injury, but he hung around in the NFL for four seasons.

2018, WR Stanley Morgan Jr.: The only real intrigue towards the end of 2017 was if Morgan would become the first 1,000-yard receiver in program history. He came up 14 yards short, but earned that distinction in Scott Frost’s first season.

2019, QB Adrian Martinez: There probably wasn’t a Husker that worried opposing coaches more than Martinez entering 2019, but it’s worth at least giving honorable mention to Khalil and Carlos Davis.

2020, DB Cam Taylor-Britt: Frost’s first recruiting class at Nebraska fell apart quickly for a variety of reasons, but the first undeniable hit from that group was Taylor-Britt. As Martinez never took a huge step forward from his performance as a true freshman, Taylor-Britt emerged as NU’s best player.

2021, OL Cam Jurgens: I don’t think Nebraska got the full upside of Jurgens’ immense promise as a player, but entering 2021 he was starting to look like the second-round pick he would become. Taylor-Britt was selected nine picks after Jurgens, and if you wanted to make the case for him here, I wouldn’t fight you on it.

2022, LB Garrett Nelson: Maybe Nelson didn’t have the classic guy profile, but coming off an 11.5-TFL season in 2021 Nelson continued to exceed expectations, just as he had from his first day on campus. Maybe he wasn’t a player Big Ten coaches had to game plan around, but any of them probably would’ve taken him on their team.

2023, LB Luke Reimer: Another year with no clear answer, but I have a hard time picking anyone over Reimer after he had led the team in tackles the previous two seasons.

All of those Huskers were very good college football players, but if you’re even vaguely aware of Nebraska’s draft history you probably sensed that there’s a slight downward slope here. In 2009 and 2010, the guy is a first-rounder. Over the past few seasons, sometimes we’re talking about undrafted prospects.

That’s part of the reason I’m interested in where this discussion goes. There are some good guy candidates with proven production, but none anyone’s labeling as a first-rounder right now. There are some under-the-radar, high-upside options. This year might be unique in that determining the guy almost requires projecting a bit.

Anyway, let the discussion begin.

Courtesy Nebraska Athletics

Odds & Ends

• Shortstop Billie Andrews was named the National Player of the Week after she hit four home runs, drove in six runs and scored eight over five games last week. The Huskers (8-6) make their home debut today at 5:30 p.m., hosting Wichita State to kick off the Big Red Invitational.

• Per 247Sports national recruiting analyst Tom Loy, Nebraska appears to be the leader for 2025 quarterback TJ Lateef. A 4-star prospect from California, Lateef has offers from Florida State, Miami, Mississippi, Penn State and Texas A&M, among others. He is schedule to visit Lincoln for the spring game.

• Had a good time in my first appearance on the Common Fan podcast, where we discussed home-field advantage, the Huskers’ ceiling in 2024 and more. You can find that wherever you get your podcasts, or watch it right here.