Post-spring progress and projected depth chart for Nebraska running backs
When discussing high-level players and hard workers from his coaching past, Nebraska’s Matt Rhule often points to Christian McCaffrey.
Rhule and running backs coach EJ Barthel learned plenty from McCaffrey during their time with the Carolina Panthers. However, players like McCaffrey are one of a kind — the current San Francisco 49er is a three-down running back who hardly leaves the field.
A committee approach with multiple running backs sharing the workload is increasingly common, and Rhule’s return to the college game showed why. Nebraska lasted just two games with a healthy backfield in 2023, losing both Gabe Ervin Jr. and Rahmir Johnson to season-ending injuries in Week 3.
“Going through what we went through last year, that was the first (time) ever I came into the office and you lose your one and two on the same day,” Barthel said. “From the experience of last season, I’d think the more depth the better.”
A multi-back approach with two or three players featuring heavily over the course of the game appears likely for Nebraska this fall. As for who will hold those roles, that competition is far from settled.
Sophomore Emmett Johnson, who took over the starting role last season, continued to impress Nebraska coaches in the spring. Sophomore transfer Dante Dowdell and redshirt freshman Kwinten Ives went through the spring as well, with Dowdell scoring twice in NU’s Spring Game.
Ervin and Rahmir Johnson were limited during the spring, with Johnson able to participate in positional drills while Ervin did not. For both players, the question remains — can they reclaim the roles they’d worked to achieve last fall?
Rhule and Barthel believe highly in both players. Rhule said in early April that he’d instructed the Nebraska coaching staff to watch Johnson’s 2021 game against Michigan, one of the most productive of his college career.
Barthel echoed the point later that month, saying, “We’ll watch cut-ups (of film) and we’ll watch him out there from years past and to me, there’s no reason why he shouldn’t have been on the field.”
Having played in just seven games over the last two seasons, Johnson is eager to return to the field. So is Ervin, who’s had multiple seasons cut short due to injury.