For several months, Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule and offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield made their plans. As the coaches worked through the offseason conceptualizing how they wanted the Nebraska offense to operate, personnel was a big part of that picture.
The players Rhule and Satterfield thought they could count upon in August are not the same players taking the field in October. Six weeks into Nebraska’s 2023 season, every one of its offensive skill positions has been shaken up by injuries or departures. Overcoming injuries and making midseason adjustments is always to be expected — but the severity of Nebraska’s losses has even surprised Rhule.
“I’ve never been a part of this, to be honest, this many offensive injuries and defections,” Rhule said Tuesday.
At quarterback, NU coaches entered the season with all their trust in Jeff Sims. He started Nebraska’s first two games but has only played one snap in the last four weeks as he recovers from a high-ankle sprain.
At tight end, Arik Gilbert was never granted an eligibility waiver by the NCAA and soon faded from NU’s 2023 plans before being arrested on burglary charges twice during a three-week span.
At running back, two of Nebraska’s top runners — Gabe Ervin and Rahmir Jonson — both suffered season-ending injuries during a Week 3 win. In response, Nebraska had to turn to freshmen and shift wide receiver Joshua Fleeks to running back simply to have adequate depth at the position.
The losses might be more pronounced at wide receiver than at any other spot. First, a potential starter in Zavier Betts chose to leave the team during fall camp. Nebraska then lost its first offensive starter, Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda, to a season-ending ACL injury suffered in Week 1. Without Garcia-Castaneda, Nebraska turned to a three-man rotation for the bulk of its wide receiver snaps — only for starter Marcus Washington to also suffer an ACL tear on Friday.
Amid those personnel changes, Nebraska’s offensive output has suffered as a result. NU’s scoring average of 19 points per game ranks 120th nationally and is the lowest of any Big Ten school — but there’s no denying that losing a tight end, two running backs and three wide receivers has limited Nebraska’s offensive success.
“I think the offensive staff’s doing a great job of coaching (because) it limits you a little bit in some of the things you maybe want to do,” Rhule said. “At the same time, it’s an opportunity for our guys to go play.”
Particularly at wide receiver, there’s never been a greater opportunity for players to earn snaps than now. Nebraska still has two key contributors who it can count on at that spot — sophomore Alex Bullock and senior Billy Kemp — but who will play alongside them?
For five weeks, it was Washington who exclusively stepped into that role. Through Nebraska’s first six games, the trio of Bullock, Kemp and Washington have played 81.5% of the snaps at wide receiver while totaling 35 catches for 514 yards and three touchdowns.
Every other wide receiver on the Nebraska roster has combined for six catches. Two of those grabs are from Fleeks, who now plays running back, and one catch was from Garcia-Castaneda before his season-ending injury.
As for the players Rhule hopes will step up, the only nonfreshman is sophomore Ty Hahn, who recorded his first catch of the season last week. Then, there’s the freshmen — Malachi Coleman, Jaylen Lloyd and Jaidyn Doss. All three players traveled to Illinois last week and will be a major part of NU’s offensive plans moving forward.
“I think all three of them have to be ready to go,” Rhule said of the freshmen. “All three of them have come a long way, they’ve gotten better and better and better; they appeared ready to go on Friday night, and this is a great week for them to go out and practice. Those guys need to step up, and I’m sure they will.”
Particularly after Garcia-Castaneda’s injury, Nebraska coaches spoke about being patient with the team’s freshmen wide receivers. Learning the playbook, adjusting to the speed of the game and developing as run blockers would take time, NU coaches said.
A lack of playing time proved that. Lloyd played four snaps in Nebraska’s season opener before going three weeks without seeing the field on offense, while Doss was unable to practice for several weeks due to a broken arm. Coleman saw the most regular action, playing 18 snaps over a four-week period before being called upon for 57 snaps following Washington’s injury.
Nebraska will be counting on all three moving forward. Kemp and Bullock will still be Nebraska’s most-utilized wide receivers, but they can’t do it alone.
The time for patience with Nebraska’s freshmen wide receivers has passed; their time to perform is now here.
“Those young guys since the day I got here, I told you, ‘Hey, they’re going to be really good,’” Rhule said of the freshman wide receivers. “They’ve just got to be really good now.”