Stukenholtz: Signs of a Blackshirt Rebound
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It was either a blip or a trend. It’s the difference between
a couple of wrong turns vs getting completely lost in a bad part of town.
Merely a missed opportunity…or the beginning of the end.
After two seasons of strong defense under Matt Rhule’s
guidance, it was fair to expect at least a high floor level of basic
competence. Even with some important departures, Rhule himself referred to the
2025 defensive line as “hell on wheels” pre-season.
Narrator: He was right about the hell part.
It’s not hyperbole to call last year’s performance by the
Blackshirts a disaster. Even acknowledging the changes – defensive tackles Ty
Robinson and Nash Hutmacher graduated, defensive line coach Terrence Knighton
and defensive coordinator Tony White both moved on to Florida State, and three
of the top four tacklers also left – the standard had been set and Husker fans anticipated
a strong year three for Rhule in Lincoln.
Then the run fit busts against Michigan, getting manhandled
at Minnesota, a tough loss to USC after Dylan Raiola’s broken ankle, and three
straight 20+ point losses to Penn State, Iowa, and Utah to finish. Like I said, hell.
Once the dust settled, it was an ugly post-mortem. After
turning in top 20 national rankings in scoring defense in 2023 (18.3 ppg) and
2024 (19.5 ppg), NU gave up 24.6 points per game to fall to 67th. Two straight
top ten rush defenses (92.9 and 101.2 ypg) crumbled to 175.3 yards per game, way down at 100th nationally.
Worst of all was 2025’s terrible red zone execution. In 2023, the Blackshirts were 4th in the country – remember that? – in preventing touchdowns when their
opponent entered the red zone, allowing a mere 16 TDs on 38 chances, just a
42.1% rate. Then in 2024, Nebraska ranked 20th in red zone scoring conversions
allowed, holding their opponents scoreless on 9 of 37 trips inside their
20-yard line – seriously, that happened? – for an impressive 24.4% success rate. In 2025? They plummeted to 136th
nationally – or *dead last* – in allowing red zone touchdowns on 30
of 38 opponent chances, and 135th in total red zone scoring, giving up
points on 37 of 38 opportunities. Gross! Thank
you to Riley Van Poppel for blocking that field goal against Akron to not only
preserve a shutout, but also prevent what would have been a perfectly awful
red zone defense score.
Then, the fallout. One-year defensive coordinator John
Butler and one-year defensive line coach Terry Bradden were out. New DC Rob
Aurich arrived from San Diego State, along with three defensive assistants who
had worked at least one season with him: DL coach Corey Brown, edge coach
Roy Manning, and safeties coach Tyler Yelk.
Only two significant transfers left the defense in defensive
lineman Keona Davis and defensive back Malcolm Hartzog, landing at Miami and
Arizona, respectively. Ceyair Wright, DeShon Singleton, and Javin Wright departed as seniors. Much of the roster on defense returns from the
disappointing 2025 campaign, illustrating the confidence Nebraska coaches still have in their talent and potential.
There are some reinforcements, though. Aurich brings
linebacker Owen Chambliss and safety Dwayne McDougle III with him from San Diego
State. Chambliss was first-team All-Mountain West in 2025 with 110 tackles and
four sacks. McDougle has played 40 games with 22 starts, most of which have come
under Aurich at SDSU in 2025 and at Idaho in 2023, where he played in the same
secondary as another former Vandal, current NU corner Andrew Marshall.
Other transfers include linebackers Dexter Foster (Oregon State) and Will Hawthorne (Iowa State), cornerback Victor Evans (FIU),
safety Jasin Shiggs (Towson), defensive tackles Jahsear Whittington (Pitt) and
Owen Stoudamire (Boston College), and edge Anthony Jones (UCLA, Michigan State,
Indiana, and Oregon…seriously).
While the two former Aztecs are forecasted to be starters, it wouldn’t
surprise me to see the other nine starting spots go to returnees. Even though
the D-line struggled mightily last season, Riley Van Poppel is talented in the
middle and should improve. Sua Lefotu has the frame to be a run stuffer, and we
may see more from David Hoffken, Malcolm Simpson, and Tyson Terry this season.
Whittington and Stoudamire will bolster the interior as well.
On the edge, Jones will get plenty of passing downs to rush
the QB. Williams Nwaneri could realize some of his 5-star potential. Cam
Lenhardt has splashed before, but struggled for consistency in 2025. Kade
Pietrzak and Willis McGahee IV will be in the mix, too.
This is the key to the entire defense. When the trenches
were handled by Ty & Nash with Knighton and White coaching them and their teammates, life
was good. Then they all left, and it went bad. Get better here – even a little! – and it makes
everything easier. Rhule didn’t dump a bunch of players; he kept most of them while replacing the coaches. That's intentional. If the line can't hold up, it'll hurt the whole operation. It has to work.
At the second level, Vincent Shavers is the incumbent and
has all-conference ability. He and Chambliss are written in ink on my 4-2-5
depth chart, but there's a lot of depth behind them. Who will emerge at second and third string? Foster and Hawthorne are the newbies, and guys like
Dylan Rogers, Dawson Merritt, Christian Jones, and Pierce Mooberry will look to
earn snaps as well. This linebacker group has a lot of potential, and I’ll be
curious to see how heavily Rob Dvoracek rotates those guys early to see what he
has.
And finally, the secondary, which is the strength of the
defense. They were excellent last year, allowing the 3rd-fewest passing yards
nationally at a paltry 154.1 per game. I would argue teams just ran the ball because
they knew they could, but credit where it's due; these guys were really good last year.
Andrew Marshall is perhaps the best player on the roster,
and the best Blackshirt for my money. He holds one outside cornerback spot and will not see many passes thrown his way if opposing quarterbacks are smart. The
other could be Jeremiah Charles, Amare Sanders, or incoming 5-star true
freshman Danny Odem. Then there’s Donovan Jones, who can play just about
anywhere and has been the secondary’s best tackler. I see his ideal fit in the slot as a nickelback, where his tackling and blitzing skills could best be utilized.
McDougle should play most snaps at one safety spot. The
other could go to Jamir Conn, Rex Guthrie, or Caleb Benning. Run fits were a
problem at times last season (Michigan, cough cough), so Aurich may sacrifice
some coverage skill for a more reliable tackler. I welcome that trade-off.
Those are the players…back to the stats.
My mantra about Rhule’s hire of Aurich to
lead the defense has been simple: in 2025 Nebraska sucked against the run and
in the red zone, and Rob Aurich has shown how to quickly improve rush defense
and red zone stops. San Diego State was 122nd against the run in 2024 when
Aurich only coached edges. Elevated to DC for 2025, he improved their rank to
39th, going from allowing 207.2 to only 129.5 yards per game on the ground. In 2024,
the Aztecs were 120th and 132nd in allowing red zone scores and red zone TDs,
respectively – the next season under Aurich, they rocketed to 3rd and 11th
nationally.
Bottom line for the Blackshirts is that Rhule bet on his player
development and hiring acumen. Is Aurich more Tony White than John Butler? His
track record says yes. The same goes for Corey Brown needing to be more Terrence
Knighton than Terry Bradden. Rhule has pushed his chips to the middle of the table with these two, and he'll see the next card soon enough.
Maybe the overlooked piece to the 2026 defense is the
familiarity. Not only are there 43 defensive returnees from the 2025 squad with
experience in Matt Rhule’s program and Corey Campbell’s weight room routines,
but this defensive staff has worked together in the past, too. Aurich
knows Brown, Manning, and Yelk from his past stops, and they have seen success. Addison Williams, Rob
Dvoracek, Phil Simpson, and Phil Snow were all here last year, and while they may have performed inconsistently, you could chalk that up to the poor defensive front. If Rhule nailed his hires, then we'll see a Blackshirt revival drive his most talented team
to more on-field wins.
The signs are there for a rebound. They can’t go anywhere
but up in the red zone, and the bar to beat last year’s run defense is quite
low. I’d say it’s a safe bet to see a better bunch of Blackshirts in 2026.
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