More weapons? Just maybe, as Husker receivers leave spring with confidence

Sure, you should be a little anxious, but simply let your talent shine. When Jacory Barney Jr. arrived at the stadium on Saturday, that was his perspective.

Letting the talent speak, 66 receiving yards and a 78-yard kick return serve as the cherry on top.

It was a positive day and seemingly the beginning of spring for all the Husker receivers, not just Barney.

It’s been going well; I see each of us—from Jaylen Lloyd to Isaiah Neyor to Jahmal Banks—as brothers. Some of them, I can learn from,” Barney remarked. “They’re decent folks. Everyone wants the best for one another. You all should expect a lot of huge things from us this season, and I think this is a terrific room.”

BRUNEY HAS IMPELLED TEAMMATES TO LISTEN TO EACH SPRING
The actual novice Barney’s 41-yard touchdown catch and deft move to bust a kick return that would have resulted in a touchdown during the Spring Game brought a lot of joy to Husker fans. IF… the kicker hadn’t fooled him into thinking he was a teammate by dressing in gray.

Whatever. Barney had demonstrated his juice to the believers. The Miami native was already well-known to his teammates.

Quarterback Dylan Raiola, a fellow freshman, remarked, “That’s my best friend.” “We have a great time together, and he is my roommate. Every day at roughly the same time, we wake up, and he decides to go do something amazing. To start with, I’m pleased of him for simply showing up each day. Secondly, he has a certain type of speed. There is a grudge he has against you. He plays with such intensity. And all he does is practice his art every day. I’m not surprised by what he did today, then. He started doing it in the spring.

Husker quarterback Heinrich Haarberg said Barney showed on Saturday what he’s been putting on display to teammates all spring.

“He’s a deep threat but at the same time I think his route-running is going to become elite and make him a threat at three different levels. I think it gets to a point where if the corner is eight yards off, we flip it out there and let him do his thing. Because I don’t know if there’s an athlete out there that can tackle him one-on-one.”

Unless he’s in a gray jersey maybe. That misunderstanding slowed down a receiver who said he’s gotten up to running 22 mph in practice, which was the highest clocked on the team this spring.

“The kicker, I thought he was my teammate, so I was going to get ready to celebrate with him,” Barney said with a smile. “Then I seen him tackle me. … But they’re going to forget all about that Week 2 when I’m taking it back on Colorado.”

Husker fans didn’t even see as much on Saturday of Jahmal Banks, who this staff already feels they have a pretty good read on based on his back-to-back 650ish yard seasons at Wake Forest.

Isaiah Neyor, meanwhile, had two catches for 26 yards and one bigger play called back from penalty. His long stride and quick burst was on display while working with the 1s.

“We’ve got some transfers, but also I think a lot of these freshmen taking steps,” Haarberg said. “Unfortunately Demitrius Bell got hurt today. I think he’s going to come back and he’s going to be a huge part of this offense. He’s a weapon that’s been used all spring and I think when he gets back healthy, he’ll be a big part. But we’ve got the transfers, we’ve got the guys who stepped up last year, and obviously we have Jacory Barney, some of those freshmen who are going to take steps and compete for reps out there.”

“LIKE A CAT”

Jaylen Lloyd proved his big play capabilities, but has been adding the finer points to his game at receiver since last season.

He had a 64-yard touchdown from Raiola and finished with a game-high 97 yards on three catches.

“Jaylen, he’s like a cat,” said tight end Thomas Fidone. “That kid, whenever he catches the ball he always comes down running. He’s freakishly athletic. And Jacory Barney has great hand-eye coordination. He’s made some pretty insane catches throughout the spring and turned a lot of heads from all of us. Everyone notices it. He holds himself to an extremely high standard. I love it because I can relate to it. If he drops a ball that he knows he makes a play on, he’s upset and I think it’s a good thing.”

Lloyd, meanwhile, looks so much more comfortable to Fidone out there in Year 2.

The adjustments the track and field standout can make on the ball while in air adds to his capabilities.

“When the quarterbacks get outside the pocket, he can turn up. To be honest with you, Dylan has the ability to get outside the pocket and make those big throws,” Rhule said. “And Heinrich can throw the ball 75 yards. So you have a feeling that, ‘Hey, I can turn up on these plays…’ Danny has a big-time arm and can do it as well. It’s contagious. But Jaylen has been one of the most improved players on the team. His becoming a receiver is just growing exponentially.”

Rhule gave a lot of credit to offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield and wide receivers coach Garret McGuire for working on specific drills that have aided Lloyd and receivers with their ball skills.

“They’ve introduced drills that I’ve always been against. Deep down I’m just a D-line coach, right? They do pat-and-go and all these drills. I was always against them. But we started doing them and the guys have just gotten better and better and better. From the first scrimmage to this scrimmage, the ball skills, the catching of football has just improved. And I think Jaylen is one of the prime guys with that.”

BONNER BRINGS MORE SIZE OUTSIDE

Janiran Bonner has NFL fullback capabilities in Rhule’s mind.

And the Huskers certainly used him some as a fullback/tight end hybrid last year. But Rhule also believes Bonner can add a dynamic piece at wideout. He caught four passes for 58 yards and a touchdown on Saturday, and was out there with the top unit.

“I think it’s a credit to Corey (Campbell), the way that Janiran has really improved his body. But he’s in that 218 range. So to me he is a true weapon. He’s a guy that we could conceivably play at wideout for 10 plays in a row or we could motion in and he’ll block defensive ends. He carried the football for us last year.”

He could be really useful for Nebraska when you think of all those short passes NU mixed in during the scrimmage. He can almost become a fullback outside the hash marks on certain plays.”

“What I love is you see the perimeter screen game we’ve got going on, to have a big 220-pound wideout out there blocking their nickel, that helps. And then you put Neyor and Jahmal out there. You have some big men on the perimeter.”

CONFIDENCE ALONG FOR THE JOURNEY

While confidence may be growing for certain Husker receivers, Barney has seemed to have it in high supply since his arrival. He came here to make it a difference right off the jump.

“I’ve just always had it. Coming from my mom, she had it, I had it. It’s just something you have at birth I was gifted. It’s just from inside.”

The goal now? A whole lot of touchdowns for his crew, he said.

“A whole lot of getting the crowd riled up. Just turning short catches, short plays into 90-yard touchdowns. Bringing that tradition back and getting this program where it used to be.”

Nebraska baseball dips back into Big Ten play this weekend in Minnesota against the Golden Gophers with three Big Ten conference series left on the docket.

Nebraska heads to Minnesota for a series for the first time since 2022, with the Huskers having won seven of the last 10 matchups in the series.

Here’s a quick look at the weekend matchup between the Huskers and Golden Gophers.