Husker incoming D-line coach Terry Bradden has one more big game with the Chiefs. And then he’ll try to help these Huskers take the next step.
Terry Bradden will keep sporting that Kansas City Chiefs logo for two more weeks.
But the incoming Nebraska defensive line coach has kept himself engaged with his soon-to-be football home, and his players-to-be. That included celebrating Sunday with a couple Huskers.
When he arrives, a big part of the Huskers finding success in 2025 will be the development of some key returners in his room who will need to take on bigger roles.
Four Downs today hits on four key returning D-linemen Bradden will try to help take to another level.
It feels like we’ve just gotten the appetizer of what can be for Lenhardt.
The 6-3, 260-pounder actually had more snaps in 2023 (266) than 2024 (233), more tackles for loss that first year (five in 2023, three in 2024), and more sacks (3 to 1/2). It’s not all about stats but it wasn’t the bust-out season for the D-lineman some might have projected.
But his role was already increasing in December.
His snap count was by far the highest of the year in the Pinstripe Bowl (44; with a previous high of 34 against Northern Iowa and 21 in Big Ten games). Lenhardt also posted easily his best run defense grade of the year by PFF in that game.
Ty Robinson and Nash Hutmacher can speak on how it can take three or four years as a lineman to go from a player with potential to a consistent force. If you talk about Huskers who – if they made a big jump – could definitely shift the overall view of a position group? Lenhardt is one of those names.
Nobody from Nebraska who was linked – albeit briefly – to entering the portal bummed me more than Davis. And that includes Emmett Johnson.
But Davis, like Johnson, never actually entered it and it’s a big deal for Bradden and the whole defense that he’s still in red. He’s listed at 6-5, 255 pounds but he has one of those off-the-bus frames that should have him as ready for the B1G grind as a second-year college player could be. He played in every game in 2024 with 108 snaps total. Like Lenhardt, he saw his most action in the bowl game. Davis played 18 snaps in that one. And his 1 1/2 tackles for loss came in Big Ten games against Purdue and Wisconsin.
He’s the kind of player, with his size and traits, that Bradden has to be eager to try to mold.
The «wild card» of the room could still be the same guy as it was. You might remember Terrance Knighton said last offseason Jeudy was the wild card of his room. «I feel like he’s the wild card of our group up front because he can be dynamic on third down and has the quickness and strength to play on first and second downs,» was the exact quote from the former Husker D-line coach.
Jeudy announced pretty early in December he was going to be back for one more year at Nebraska. It might not have produced the fireworks of some announcements, but consider how much teams have their elbows out for D-lineman who weigh 285 pounds and have power conference experience. He played 171 snaps last year and 158 in 2023. Veterans like him are needed to be a reliable part of the rotation if a D-line is going to be good.
He seems to have high appreciation of being a Husker and has always been honest in what he has to do to get better. Bradden should find a pretty teachable senior here who played a career-high 30 snaps in the 20-15 win over Boston College.
No more tracking number of games he’s played in to keep a redshirt. It’s full go from here on out and you could tell at the bowl site Van Poppel was excited to have those weeks of sitting out behind him.
He also told us at the Pinstripe Bowl he’d been talking on the phone and on Zoom calls with Bradden.
«He’s out there obviously having a great season in Kansas City. So I don’t want to take too much away from that,» Van Poppel said then. «But he’s calling us and texting us pretty frequently, just building that relationship and what he’s all about. He’s a great guy. But it’s all about just building that relationship so when he does get here after the season, we just hit it running.»
Van Poppel played 65 snaps last season, with his high count of 23 against Boston College. His 13 snaps against Iowa were also quite productive. As was his help on the goalline stand against Rutgers.
Last year wasn’t easy not being able to play every week, but Van Poppel is hoping for a big benefit from it. He was using the year to develop even if his games count was down.
«I knew I was good enough to play but there were things I wanted to fine tune,» he said. «So that redshirt year just gave me the ability to do that.»
Redshirt gone, green light on.