The spring semester at Nebraska is officially in the books and the latest wave of departures from the football program appears to have settled down. With that being the case, now is a perfect time to take stock of where the roster stands heading into the summer.
We’ve already broken down the offense and defense. Today we’ll take a look at the special teams and put it all together.
Place-Kickers (3)
Scholarship (1): Barret Pickering (SO)
Walk-On (2): Dylan Jorgensen (FR), Gabe Heins (FR)
Walk-on Cole Frahm transferred to South Dakota State seeking an opportunity to play after failing to win the starting job last season as a redshirt freshman. Noah McCashland, who redshirted last season after making the team through a walk-on tryout, is no longer on the roster. That leaves a pair of incoming freshman walk-ons — Dylan Jorgensen from Lincoln Southwest and Gabe Heins from Kearney — as the back-ups to Nebraska’s only scholarship special teams player, Barret Pickering.
Punters (4)
Walk-On (4): Isaac Armstrong (SR), Jackson Walker (SR), William Przystup (SO), Grant Detlefsen (FR)
Caleb Lightbourn stuck it out through the spring but wasn’t able to make up any ground on the man who took his job last season, Isaac Armstrong. After another shaky performance in the spring game, Lightbourn entered the transfer portal, freeing up a scholarship at Nebraska and leaving the Huskers with just three punters.
Armstrong will start and look to build off the strong close to the season we saw after he took over for Lightbourn. Jackson Walker, a Kansas native who transferred to Nebraska in 2017 and provided depth the last two years without appearing in the game, provides a veteran back-up. Lincoln Southeast product Grant Detlefsen will join that room as a walk-on this summer.
Update: I forgot about William Przystup when I put this together since he’s not yet on Nebraska’s roster. The transfer from Michigan State is set to join the program this summer and add another punter with experience. The walk-on punted in Michigan State’s last four games including against Nebraska and averaged 40.6 yards per punt.
Long Snappers (3)
Walk-On (3): Chase Urbach (SR), Cameron Pieper (rFR), Cade Mueller (rFR)
Chase Ubach took over as the long-snapper for Jordan Ober mid-way through the season and is back for one more go-around. Behind him is a pair of redshirt freshman walk-ons in Lincoln Southwest’s Cameron Pieper and Gretna’s Cade Mueller.
Class Tally
Seniors: 3 (0 scholarship, 3 walk-on)
Juniors: 0 (0 scholarship, 0 walk-on)
Sophomores: 2 (1 scholarship, 1 walk-on)
Redshirt Freshmen: 2 (0 scholarship, 2 walk-on)
True Freshmen: 3 (0 scholarship, 3 walk-on)
Total: 9 (1 scholarship, 8 walk-on)
Overall Roster Review
Total: 152 (82 scholarship, 70 walk-on)
Offense: 68 (37 scholarship, 31 walk-on)
- Quarterback: 6 (3 scholarship, 3 walk-on)
- Running Back: 12 (6 scholarship, 6 walk-on)
- Wide Receiver: 16 (10 scholarship, 6 walk-on)
- Tight End: 9 (5 scholarship, 4 walk-on)
- Offensive Line: 24 (13 scholarship, 11 walk-on)
- Athlete: 1 (0 scholarship, 1 walk-on)
Defense: 74 (44 scholarship, 30 walk-on)
- Defensive Line: 24 (16 scholarship, 6 walk-on)
- Linebacker: 27 (14 scholarship, 13 walk-on)
- Defensive Back: 24 (14 scholarship, 10 walk-on)
Special Teams: 10 (1 scholarship, 9 walk-on)
- Place-Kicker: 3 (1 scholarship, 2 walk-on)
- Punter: 4 (0 scholarship, 4 walk-on)
- Long Snapper: 3 (0 scholarship, 3 walk-on)
Class Review
Seniors: 23 (15 scholarship, 8 walk-on)
Juniors: 23 (17 scholarship, 6 walk-on)
Sophomores: 29 (15 scholarship, 12 walk-on)
Redshirt Freshmen: 31 (10 scholarship, 21 walk-on)
True Freshmen: 48 (25 scholarship, 23 walk-on)
Jacob Padilla has been writing for Hail Varsity since 2015. He covers football, volleyball men’s basketball and prep sports. He also co-hosts the Nebraska Preps Postgame and Nebraska Shootaround podcasts for the Hurrdat Media and Hail Varsity podcast networks. His love of basketball can best be described as an obsession and if you need to find him, he’s probably in a gym somewhere watching, coaching or playing hoops.
