Nebraska Football Player Power Rankings: Jamal Rule Rising, Jacory Barney Sliding, Justin Evans Still No. 1

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Welcome to the most recent edition of my Nebraska Football player power rankings. As I have said before, this list will be completely subjective in several ways and may not follow a logical path. Or maybe it will.

This Power Ranking list will be a combination of the most important, most impactful, a recent contribution, waiting in the wings, rumors of greatness, rumors of not-so-great, players that made one great play to change a game (for better or worse) or any other type of metric that I think should go with this subjective list.

So without further ado, here is my most recent definitive and completely subjective Nebraska Football Player Power Ranking.

Here are links to prior Nebraska Football Player Power Rankings.

Start of Fall Camp
Halfway through Fall Camp
Week One: Ohio
Week Two: Bowling Green
Week Three: North Dakota

The List

10. Donovan Jones – Defensive Back

Prior Ranking: Unranked

The junior from Omaha is starting to let his presence be known. He had an interception against Bowling Green and got a sack last Saturday against North Dakota.

He is leading the team in pass deflections and had one of the best hits in the game. A lot of fans were chiming in saying that he utilized the hit stick on his tackle of North Dakota’s Deng Deng.

Donovan Jones is probably not one of the names that immediately comes to mind when you are trying to think of Nebraska’s best defenders but I think that is starting to change. You can tell he has really been developed by this coaching staff.

He had a higher grade than Andrew Marshall for the North Dakota game.

9. Luke Lindenmeyer – Tight End

Prior Ranking: 6th

Anthony Colandrea’s best throw of the night was a 33-yard strike to Lindenmeyer. The throw itself was about 15 yards but the rest of it was Lindenmeyer trucking some North Dakota defensive backs. I do not think they wanted to tackle him.

He only had that one catch in the game but there were not a lot of catches to be had as they ran the ball a lot against North Dakota.

Lindenmeyer continues to be one of the best blockers on the team and with the loss of Carter Nelson to an injury he will become even more important.

8. Andrew Marshall – Defensive Back

Prior Ranking: 4th

It might not be fair to drop him to 8th but he did give up North Dakota’s only touchdown. He is still probably Nebraska’s best defender but Owen Chambliss is the most important one on the defense.

He will likely be tasked to cover Michigan State’s Rodney Bullard Jr., who has 12 catches for 182 yards on the season. He has almost 100 yards more than any other receiver on the team.

7. Kwazi Gilmer – Wide Receiver

Prior Ranking: 7th

Matt Rhule is loving himself some Kwazi Gilmer.

If you watch Jamal Rule’s 55-yard touchdown run to start the second half against North Dakota you will see Gilmer just leading the way as he blocks downfield. If he is not blocking like that then Jamal Rule does not score on that play.

Dana Holgorsen has repeatedly said that explosive plays are almost always the result of wide receivers blocking and Gilmer is doing just that.

He is second on the team in receptions this season but I think we are going to see one or two huge plays from Gilmer in Big Ten play.

6. Jacory Barney – Wide Receiver

Prior Ranking: 3rd

He had to move down so others could rise.

On that same note, I am nervous this week because of how aggressive he is with catching punts. The Michigan State special teams coordinator is LeVar Woods. If that name sounds familiar it is because prior to this season he has was Iowa’s special teams coordinator and he has made Jacory Barney’s life difficult when it comes to returning punts.

5. Jahsear Whittington – Defensive Lineman

Prior Ranking: 2nd

Whittington got his first full sack of the season on Saturday which brings his total sack number to 1.5. I think he still might be our best defensive lineman but there just is not a ton of production in terms of sheer numbers. He has six total tackles on the season.

PFF is still grading him out as the best defensive lineman on the team. However, in order to move some players up I need to move some players down and unfortunately Whittington is on the clock.

I do enjoy watching him on the clip below as he got the sack. He shows of his quickness and doesn’t give up on the play.

4. Jamal Rule – Running Back

Prior Ranking: 9th

Like Colandrea, I am trying not to anoint Jamal Rule but he is making it difficult. Against North Dakota he had 15 rushes for 119 yards on 7.9 yards per carry.

Through three games he is averaging 8.7 yards per carry which is insane.

It has a lot to do with the offensive line but it also has a lot to do with his talent. I still find it impressive that as a true freshman he is considered their short yardage back.

Rule has also taken the reins of the running back room as he has 38 carries on the season and Mekhi Nelson has 27.

If we are able to run the ball against Michigan State then I think we need to take this unit seriously going forward.

3. Owen Chambliss – Linebacker

Prior Ranking: 10th

Chambliss has gone from 2nd in these rankings to 10th and now he’s back down to where he probably belongs.

We continue to hear how important he is to this defense as far as players being able to play with more confidence and you can see that through three games.

He was on Husker Online’s post game show on Saturday night and you can tell he has come a long way and clearly understands his role on the defense. Kind of like Justin Evans below, how the unit plays as a whole generally gets attributed to him and I have no problem with that fact.

2. Anthony Colandrea – Quarterback

Prior Ranking: 8th

I wanted to wait to move him up but at some point it is just denial in terms of how important he is to this team. The concern coming into the season was how he was going to do with turnovers. At this point he has zero. Yes, he is credited with an interception but that was a fluky play which easily should have been considered either a fumble by Barney or a completion and Barney’s knee was down.

That was not on Colandrea.

On Saturday, it was the throw to Luke Lindenmeyer that shows what kind of quarterback he can be. Colandrea threw a rope on a seam route to Lindenmeyer. It was placed exactly where it needed to be.

If you are going purely based off PFF grades then he is a Top 3 quarterback in the Big Ten and one of the best in the country. Now we always have to talk about the competition and he likely will come back down to earth a bit but it will all become clearer on Saturday when they play at Michigan State.

1. Justin Evans – Center

Prior Ranking: 1st

The running backs have the following per carry average on a total of 89 carries:
Jamal Rule – 8.7 yards per carry
Mekhi Nelson – 6.1 yards per carry
Isaiah Mozee – 5.3 yards per carry

The offensive line as a unit is playing the best that we have seen at Nebraska in nearly 10 years and Justin Evans is the clear leader of that unit. As I have already said, that will be tested on Saturday against Michigan State.

Previous Ranking

10. Owen Chambliss – Linebacker
9. Jamal Rule – Running Back
8. Anthony Colandrea – Quarterback
7. Kwazi Gilmer – Wide Receiver
6. Luke Lindenmeyer – Tight End
5. Janiran Bonner – Swiss Army Knife
4. Andrew Marshall – Cornerback
3. Jacory Barney Jr. – Wide Receiver
2. Jahsear Whittington – Defensive Lineman
1. Justin Evans – Center

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