McKewon's Mailbag: The running back race, D-line depth and why a Big Ten and SEC alliance won't happen
Nebraska athletics is done for the season on the field of play, but there’s plenty of news anyway — and Husker fans have question. World-Herald Sports Editor Sam McKewon has answers.
In this version of Big Red Mailbag, we selected questions from Twitter and Facebook, edited them for clarity, and provide answers here:
What on earth will this team do at interior DL beyond Ty Robinson? Seems awfully bare.
Nash Hutmacher and Elijah Jeudy are guys to watch. Hutmacher, a house with limbs, has slimmed down and improved his lateral quickness. Jeudy, a Texas A&M transfer, had a nondescript spring and may be a year away. Redshirt freshman Brodie Tagaloa remains in the mix, too and Ru’Quan Buckley, at 6-foot-6, 290 pounds, probably moves inside at times, too.
NU’s 3-3-5 defense will move around linemen and linebackers in a way that often makes standard “nose tackle” positioning moot. The 3-3-5 is what you run when you’re consciously trying to defend an offense in a different way.
Do you think an SEC-Big Ten scheduling alliance is a possibility in football or basketball? It would be an opportunity to highlight the Big Two but I do acknowledge with the Big Ten playing 9 conference games in football, coaches w/ bowl hopes might push back even with 12 qualifiers.
No chance of the Big Ten and SEC pairing up in football. Won’t happen. Don’t see the Big Ten desiring such an arrangement, either. Save those games for bowls and playoffs.
Don’t see it in hoops either, since ABC/ESPN owns none of the Big Ten’s inventory and the SEC basketball almost entirely belongs to ABC/ESPN. Why would Fox and ESPN come together for a series where the primary property — Indiana vs. Kentucky — would alternate networks based on which home court is used?
There’s going to be a big wall between the Big Two for the duration of the Big Ten’s contract.
What is your over/under on wins for this season?
Probably 5.5. Between five wins and six. I look at the roster and think under. I look at the schedule and coaching and think over. If Nebraska wins more than six, Rhule will be in the running for Big Ten Coach of the Year. It’s one of the least experienced (at Nebraska) rosters in the last 60 years.
What has been your assessment on the differences in the way Rhule and his staff handle recruiting vs. the previous staff?
NU recruited its 500-mile footprint aggressively in an unexpected way — by inviting, and then offering, 2024 prospects from the region. Callen Barta. Landen Davidson. Rex Guthrie. Donovan Jones. Jake Peters. In coming years, it’s likely the Huskers will offer prospects one year earlier based on camp attendance. But still — no recent Nebraska staff has done it quite like this.
And no staff has ever recruited Texas this hard. When Nebraska left the Big 12, coaches Bo Pelini, Mike Riley and Scott Frost backed off Texas and hit Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Louisiana much harder. (Riley's staff also set up shop in California.) Not Rhule. He’s pitched the presence of nonstop flights to and from Texas and Lincoln. He’s stuffed his staff full of Texans. He’s offered Texans without any other FBS offers.
Rhule likes Texas. It’s a good strategy, too. I’d probably recruit Atlanta over Miami, but NU’s current staff has more connections in Miami. Pelini had the best connections in Kansas City, and it’s important Nebraska get back into the area, which has nine three, four or five-star prospects in this cycle.
Does this upcoming basketball season in the state have the potential to be the best in a very long time for both universities?
By this I assume Nebraska and Creighton, though UNO is Division I, too. The most recent “best year” would have been 2013-2014, when the NU women won the Big Ten Tournament, the NU men last qualified for the NCAA Tournament, the CU men had Doug McDermott and the CU women advanced to the WNIT.
Three of those four teams for sure can make the NCAA Tournament in 2023-2024. The jury remains well out on the Husker men. The trip to Spain will provide some clarity, but not all of it, given Keisei Tominaga and Rienk Mast won’t be playing. Smart money puts any NCAA Tournament bid, out of the Big Ten, at a 19-win minimum — preferably 20.
The Husker women should make the NCAA Tournament if the backcourt stays healthy. On paper, they’re one experienced frontcourt player short of being a top five team in the Big Ten, but coaches may know stuff about incoming freshmen Natalie Potts and Jessica Petrie we don’t.
Who gets the first snap of the Minnesota game at RB, (Anthony) Grant, or (Gabe) Ervin?
Presuming health, Gabe Ervin. He’s fully recovered from a knee injury suffered in September 2021 and has the combination of size, speed and aggression coaches love. Anthony Grant should get a chance to earn playing time, though, based on 915 yards and six touchdowns last season. He remains a gifted, second-level runner and looked every bit Ervin’s equal in the spring game.
Ervin’s potential remains theoretical until he has that first breakout game. Remember: Ervin and Grant played at the same Georgia high school, so it’s like a battle for the starting job at Buford, all these years later, only Ervin isn’t a 9th grader.
Rahmir Johnson needs — and should have — a role, too. He’s a tough, downhill guy for 5-foot-10, 185 pounds.
Give me your view of 2024 Husker baseball after the draft.
NU had four draft picks inside the top ten rounds, including two in the first 45 picks. The Huskers should have made the NCAA Tournament, and the fact that they didn’t — didn’t even bounce on the bubble, really — should make the offseason pilot light burn red hot.
