I have to admit, every time I have been to a practice this spring, it is truly eye-opening to see how many linemen we have going through practice. I can think of not too long ago when Nebraska would only have 14 or 15 offensive linemen for spring ball, and usually 2 or 3 were out for the spring, with a handful of others sitting out a practice here and there. Nebraska now has over 20 players on scholarship or NIL packages along the OL, and 25 total on their 2024 roster. This spring, they are running 3 deep lines with ease, and have another 4th string and fit-ins for other places.
The tough thing about watching practices is that these coaches truly are giving everyone a chance, but it makes people like me who aren’t in the meeting struggle to figure out who is truly the 1s. They are giving everyone a chance and working from there.
Nebraska loses Nouredin Nouilli as well as Ethan Piper, but the interior is not an issue for what Matt Rhule and Coach Raiola have stockpiled. We go into that here…
Center and Right Tackle Are Set
Ben Scott and Bryce Benhart have their positions locked up to help anchor a line that may actually return some of the most starts not only in the B1G, but the entire nation. With center and right tackle under control, it gives Donovan Raiola a chance to start mixing and matching who can play where to help figure out the best 5 players to start.
Turner Corcoran, Teddy Prochazka, and Jacob Hood
These 3 I grouped together as they have had injuries that are hindering how they develop in Lincoln. Starting with Corcoran, he was already behind as he was such a swiss army knife that we moved him from tackle to guard to tackle to guard and he never got a chance to hone his craft at one spot. Corcoran had such a tough injury that Matt Rhule has stated you may not even see him until into the fall. With that said, he is out there with a green jersey on this spring from what I saw.
Prochazka is another one that has just had some bad luck with injuries. With how big he is, it makes it tough to get confident and get better when he is on the sidelines for so long. But this spring he has taken another step forward after starting the final 2 games at LT for Nebraska. Could this mean we finally have our LT to get us through?
Jacob Hood is one of those guys that everyone got pumped up about when he came from Georgia. While I continued to beat the drum that the best indicator of success in Lincoln transferring in was success elsewhere whether that be FCS or FBS, people still started to say “he was just behind a bunch of great players at Georgia.” Last year, he couldn’t even practice many times, but those days seem to be behind him. With that said, I still think 3rd string at best for right now.
The Interior
Interior linemen are plentiful, you have Corcoran that has pretty much moved there for now, but also new OL Ru’Quan Buckley, Henry Lutovsky, Justin Jenkins, Sam Sledge, and new transfer Micah Mazzccua.
We will start with Mazzccua, as he was called out early by Rhule for needing to know the standard. If he figures that out, his abilities are far and away better than the other interior players. But there are things people like you and I can’t predict, such as how he will mentally handle things here.
Buckley was moved to OL after struggling along the DL in his time here. He has looked pretty decent to me, but sometimes I wonder when someone continues to move back and forth at different positions if they just can’t make an impact?
The 3 that are really in a battle with Mazzccua are Henry Lutovsky, Justin Jenkins, and Sam Sledge. As of now, I would give the edge to Jenkins. Lutovsky has all the tools but just hasn’t seemed to be able to put it all together to get starts. Sledge may be your guy that takes over for Ben Scott when he leaves, but Jenkins has taken snaps there as well.
The Edges
Gunnar Gottula is backing up Prochazka in my opinion at LT right now, but I don’t think they believe he is quite ready at this point. Knaak is manning the RT side beind Benhart and looks much improved from his time last year there, with Hood a distant 3rd for that RT spot. I hesitate to put true freshman here right now, but Grant Brix could give Gottula or Knaak a run for their money at the edge spot. I assume preserving the redshirt is the plan, but if Prochazka goes down for an extended period of time, we may see a battle there.
The First And Second Year Players
Head Coach Matt Rhule brought in 11 scholarship and NIL offensive line recruits in his first two seasons here trying to rebuild that line and regain depth there. All of these guys are waiting their turn for when guys like Ben Scott and Benhart are gone. While Rhule grabbed a ton of local guys in year 1 highlighted by guys like Sam Sledge, Gunnar Gottula, Mason Goldman, Brock Knutson, and Jason Maciejzcak, every single player was from Nebraska or South Dakota listed there. He turned around in year 2 and went high profile grabbing the #1 ranked player in Hawaii in Preston Taumua and the #1 ranked player in Iowa in Grant Brix. An unbelievable start. He found Gibson Pyle, Landen Davidson, and Jake Peters at camps and getting eyes on them live. And to put an unbelievably large cherry on top, he somehow convinced Xander Ruggeroli to walk-on here with an NIL scholarship. We are stocked and loaded with young talent waiting their turn.
2024 Prediction
I do believe you will see at least 2 guys in the transfer portal from the OL after spring ball. It is just too loaded there and kids want to play. However, this is one of the deepest OLs I believe we have had in quite some time, and I do think Raiola is getting the most out of them as I see guys like Benhart and Jenkins making massive improvements last year.
The biggest key is going to be bringing the young guys along so they are ready. The biggest question is will someone like Brix or others press to maybe not even redshirt? The only way that happens is if they end up having to start for us, which I don’t see for right now. But an injury happens and you may be pressed for action.
Depth Chart Prediction
LT1 – Teddy Prochazka
LT2 – Gunnar Gottula OR Grant Brix
LG1 – Justin Jenkins
LG2 – Sam Sledge
C1 – Ben Scott
C2 – Justin Jenkins OR Sam Sledge
RG1 – Micah Mazzccua OR Henry Lutovsky
RG2 – Ru’Quan Buckley
RT1 – Bryce Benhart
RT2 – Tyler Knaak
RT3 – Jacob Hood
Don’t forget we also did the defensive line preview today!
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When Rhule was hired, many of us thought keeping Raiola as Oline Coach was not a good thing. However, here we are today and it seems like keeping him was a good decision by Rhule.
I have to admit I wasn’t on board and was ready to go clean slate… but the OL looked much better at the end of 2023 and his recruiting has been extremely good.