Observations from Nebraska's Thursday spring practice
by:
HuskerOnline Staff•about 1 hour
Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule (Photo: Casey Fritton/HuskerOnline)
Nebraska opened up roughly the first 20 minutes of Thursday morning’s spring practice to the media. Here are some of the HuskerOnline staff’s immediate impressions of the 2025 Huskers…
Nebraska injury update
***Here are the players wearing sitting out with yellow jerseys and those wearing green no-contact jerseys:
YELLOW
Gabe Moore
Maverick Noonan
Jackson Carpenter
GREEN
Sua Lefotu
Roger Gradney
Evan Taylor
Dawson Merritt
Henry Lutovsky
Teddy Prochazka
***Kicker
John Hohl also did not practice, though he wore his normal red jersey.
New coaches have plenty of fire
***In our first look at
Mike Ekeler back on the Nebraska sidelines, it was almost as if he never left. Ekeler was the same guy he was during his first go-around the Huskers, commanding the special teams drill work with as much intensity as anyone.
***
Terry Bradden also has plenty of fire to him. From the beginning of practice, he set the tone for his group and was very particular in how he wanted every rep executed.
***
Phil Snow was heavily involved during the portion we saw. He was specifically working with the safeties.
Early spring roster takes
***With roster cuts looming after spring ball, you can just sense the intensity and pressure for how important every rep is for some guys. There’s always a high level of this, but we could sense it even more knowing what must happen after spring ball.
***If you saw
Dylan Raiola on Thursday, it wouldn’t even enter your mind that there was a discussion about his weight. He looks excellent physically. It’s a non-issue at this point, at least in our minds.
***
Elijah Jeudy looked every bit of the 300 pounds head coach
Matt Rhule said he was up to on Tuesday. He looks plenty suited to hold his own on the interior defensive line.
***
Heinrich Haarberg was also noticeably bulked up. He no longer looks like a quarterback playing tight end. He’s a TE all the way now.
The wide receiver room is impressive
*** It’s hard not to be excited about Nebraska’s wide receiver room. That group is loaded with impressive athletes and speed. We got a taste of what that group could be during some one-on-one passing drills with the DBs.
Jacory Barney,
Cortez MiIls, and
Isaiah Mozee all had some nice plays during the session.
***We got our first look at Kentucky transfer wide receiver
Hardley Gilmore. You can just sense the confidence he already carries himself and that he’s come here ready to play.
***
Jaidyn Doss made a nice catch on a slant against tight coverage from transfer corner
Andrew Marshall. Doss, a sophomore, is back at receiver after trying DB last season.
***If you’re picking guys to get off the bus first – to impress people – you might start with
Quinn Clark. The redshirt freshman receiver is listed at 6-5 and 205 and is all of that.
Running backs and d-line
*** Nebraska’s running backs also impressed with their route running and catching out of the backfield.
Emmett Johnson,
Mekhi Nelson, and
Kwinten Ives put linebackers on skates during their one-on-one work.
***Freshman running back
Jamarion Parker caught a pass over the middle and looked good doing it. He’s listed at 5-11 and 175. That’s not big enough. But Rhule said he’s now 190. That
is big enough or at least getting close to big enough. Bottom line, he looks big enough but with room to grow, obviously.
***Transfer DL
Williams Nwaneri (6-7, 255) is physically impressive. But not so imposing when standing next to redshirt freshman
David Hoffken, who’s listed at 6-7, 255 but appears to be much bigger than 255
***It was hard to get a good look at
Gabe Moore and just how big he is. The official Nebraska roster we got on Thursday lists him only at 250 pounds. His previous listed weight at Mississippi State was 290.
***
Jordan Ochoa, a redshirt freshman who came on strong late last season, was working with the Jack linebackers. That group also has transfer
Dasan McCullough and
Willis McGahee. In other words, it is a position of strength. Ochoa seemingly is rising in the program.
Offensive line talk
***
Elijah Pritchett,
Nolan Fennessy,
Grant Seagren,
Tyler Knaak,
Grant Brix, and
Brock Knutson worked with the offensive tackle group on Thursday morning. The rest of the linemen were separated as an interior group.
***Just off first look, there isn’t a lineman on the team anywhere near the physical stature of Pritchett in terms of getting off the bus.
***One notable offensive line grouping was:
LT –
Elijah Pritchett
LG –
Jason Maciejczak
C –
Justin Evans
RG –
Rocco Spindler
RT –
Tyler Knaak
Again, the o-line unit is pretty limited right now due to injuries, but that might be one of the primary groupings this spring.