HUSKERS FOOTBALL 2025-26 Part 4: Who’s Back, Roster Analysis AND…A Depth Chart!

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And growing up is a good thing, because a roster which has looked very young for a couple of years now has much more hair on its chest and a little gray in the beards.

Fine, I’m exaggerating about the gray, but whatever. If we can’t have a little fun while we nerd out over the numbers, then what’s even the point of tailgate arguments, and, of course I’d like another, just fill that red Solo cup right back up.

I lost my train of thought.

Oh, that’s right – the 2026 Nebraska roster! Let’s take a peek at where we stand.

WHO’S COMING BACK (& Who’s Coming In)

Who’s Back from the Final Depth Chart

Note this is just from the LAST depth chart of 2025 prior to the Vegas Bowl. Obviously, there are some returning who occupied a spot at some point, but I need to sleep at some point, so I’m not combing them all. And I threw Gunnar Gottula and Janiran Bonner in there since, prior to injury, they’d been on each one and are now right back in the mix.

QB – T.J. Lateef
RB – Isaiah Mozee, Mekhi Nelson, Kwinten Ives
WR – Nyziah Hunter, Quinn Clark
WR – Cortez Mills, Janiran Bonner
WR – Jacory Barney Jr, Keelan Smith
TE – Luke Lindenmeyer, Carter Nelson, Cayden Echternach
LT – Elijah Pritchett, Grant Brix, Brock Knutson
LG –
C – Justin Evans, Jake Peters
RG – Tyler Knaak, Sam Sledge
RT – Gunnar Gottula, Preston Taumua

DE- Williams Nwaneri, Cam Lenhardt, Kade Pietrzak
NG – Riley Van Poppel, Gabe Moore
DE – David Hoffken
LB – Dylan Rogers, Willis McGahee IV
LB – Vincent Shavers Jr
LB – Dawson Merritt, Jacob Bower
ROV – Justyn Rhett
CB – Andrew Marshall, Amare Sanders
S – Rex Guthrie, Caleb Benning
NI – Jamir Conn
CB – Donovan Jones, Jeremiah Charles

PK – Kyle Cunanan, John Hohl
P – Archie Wilson, Kamdyn Koch
H – Koch
LS –
KR – Nelson, Barney, Mozee
PR – Barney, Marshall

There are 42 others who also return from the 2025 roster this season. The full rosters can be viewed here. It’s worth taking a look at as there are some names not listed above or among the transfers who have been singled out as strongly competing for playing time.

Also, the complete lists of Transfer Portal Additions and the 2026 Recruiting Class were listed in Part 3 of this series last week – to view those so you have the full breakdown, please CLICK HERE.

Roster Breakdown By Position (Plus a Few Thoughts)

Quarterback – 4
Running Back – 6
Wide Receiver – 16
Tight End – 6
Offensive Line – 20

Defensive Line – 22
Linebacker – 13
Defensive Back – 21

Long Snapper – 2
Placekicker – 3
Punter – 2

• One thing to keep in mind is that the roster is currently at 115. The limit is now 105, but when the limit was set they were allowed to grandfather players who had been with the program but would have put them over, instead of having to cut or release them. As these grandfathered players drop off over time, their spots will not be replaced.
• That will make it a little difficult to get into how deep they would need to be at each position at this time, so I won’t dive too hard into that.
• Ideally, I think they would like to have at least five QB’s, but they lost four from last year’s roster and the fourth may have been a little unexpected, so they only had time to add a pair in the portal. I’m pretty sure they were shooting for that number since thought they had a late freshman recruit to round things out but lost him last minute.
• It’s splitting some hairs, but I would expect them to add to the offensive line room and, as I suggested last season, carve down the defensive back room a bit. The D-line is also a large number, but they may be trying to attack their biggest question mark with some numbers.
• And, per above, there will be some natural attrition over the next year or two as the grandfathered players age out.
• Three place-kickers is interesting, but all three have shown live legs including Aussie Michael Sarikizis, a freshman. Cunanan and Hohl each have one more season of eligibility after 2026, but after they have both exhausted their eligibility, look for just two kickers per season after that.
• Two long snappers is a must – you don’t want to be teaching someone else how to do THAT skill if an injury catches you short.
• 13 is a lot of linebackers for a 4-2-5, but will Big 10 play force more 4-3 out of Aurich?
• Same with six TE’s at first glance, but let’s see if Holgorsen will be going with more two TE sets with Bonner back and Lindenmeyer having played his way into NFL Draft conversations.

Roster Breakdown By Class

When looking over the roster, you may have noticed all of the redshirts designations have been removed, since the new “5 years to play 5” system was put into place. Please keep in mind that anyone who had eligibility remaining, as well as anyone currently committed to a program at that time, gets to use either the previous eligibility rules or the new ones, whichever they deem most advantageous to them.

(For some odd reason, they decided to shut out athletes who had just completed four seasons of play without redshirts by the end of 2026, oddly cutting only one specific group from a five year clock. Some folks just really enjoy paying legal fees.)

So now, the designations will simply be freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, 5th (or 5th year) and transfer Owen Stoudmire as 6th since, with a redshirt and medical redshirt under the old rules, he is eligible for one more season.

Got all that? Perfect – here’s the current roster breakdown by class:

Freshman – 14
Sophomore – 18
Junior – 41
Senior – 30
5th Year – 11
6th Year – 1

• The most crucial observation here is that after three seasons of young teams, Matt Rhule now has an upper-class heavy roster. This means a lot in a conference like the Big 10 where coaches like P.J. Fleck and Kirk Ferentz have been trying to master the art of getting old and staying old, while Rhule was trying to restock young talent.
• Just an editorial thought here – Curt Cignetti’s success has and will continue to shorten the life span of coaches everywhere. Does that mean we will see fewer coaches playing the long game as Rhule has been doing (and said he would) from the start as athletic directors feel the pressure for Cignetti-type success from fans and boosters.
• Even though nothing remotely close to that had ever happened before.
• Rhule is well over 50% upper classmen now, even if we allow that a few of the juniors are redshirt sophomores. That’s a lot more bodies who, even if light on game experience, have at least two years of strength and conditioning at the Power 4 level under their belt.
• The offensive and defensive lines have maybe only three underclassmen in the competition for playing time. Good.
• The freshman and sophomore classes appear light, but that’s likely by design as they will fill those classes through the transfer portal as time goes by,
• The age of the current roster could be the secret weapon no one is really thinking about as they try for a breakout year against a rough schedule. Besides the physical aspect, older players are used to college life plus the football grind now. They are just mentally tougher.

WHAT THE HELL? LET’S PROJECT A DEPTH CHART!

They’ll probably release one within the next week, so you won’t have to look too far back to heckle me about the misses, and I’m sure there’ll be more than a few. Hopefully, I at least get most of the starters.

And yes – I’m gonna be pretty generous with that -OR- designation. The coaches likely have a good idea right now, but they want the competition going full blast to the wire. But here we are and let’s see how it goes! And, as always, please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts in the comments.

Quarterback – Colandrea, Kaelin -OR- Lateef

• AC is no surprise as QB1, so time for more Colandrea articles with funky titles over the next 9 days. Based on Lateef’s struggles in starting appearances & the spring game as well as Holgorsen’s recent comments about Kaelin when he was asked about T.J., his role as the backup is NOT cut & dried. Right now, I’m hedging with an -OR- but don’t be surprised if Danny is the initial QB2.

Running back – Mozee -OR- M. Nelson, Rule -OR-Ives

• I think the job will still be a Mozee/Nelson split unless one can make an Emmett-like leap…but Rule will get some chances to nudge his way into the mix in the three throwaway games.

Wide Receiver – Hunter, Mills

Wide Receiver – Gilmer -OR- Clark

Wide Receiver – Barney, Bonner, K. Smith

• If you saw Tuesday’s piece, you know I’m expecting big things from Clark, but adding that in with experienced playmakers Hunter, Barney and UCLA transfer Gilmer, and the Huskers have their most dangerous receiving corps in years.

Tight End – Lindenmeyer, Bonner, C. Nelson

• Lindenmeyer and Swiss Army knife Bonner get the majority of the snaps as Carter Nelson’s off-season surgeries have set his development back – he’ll have to level up on the fly if he wants to start realizing his crazy potential.

Left Tackle – Pritchett, Brix, Knutson

Left Guard – Mubenga, Knaak

Center – Evans, Peters, Sledge

Right Guard – Black, Sledge, Pyle

Right Tackle – Babalade -OR- Gottula, Taumua

• The starting five are set…or at least they were until Gottula stunned coaches coming back bigger and faster than previous to his season-ending ‘25 injury. He’s pressing for a starting job right now, and with ability to play multiple positions, he may be someone else’s injury away from a 3rd season full of starts.

Defensive End – Nwaneri -OR- Lenhardt, McGahee

Defensive Tackle – Van Poppel -OR- Whittington, Ochoa

Defensive Tackle – Stoudmire, Moore, Terry

Defensive End – A. Jones, Pietrzak, Hoffken

• Can Rob Aurich, Corey Brown and Roy Manning bring out potential here that last year’s coaches couldn’t tap into? The improvement may not be instant, but look for this group to go stronger as the season rolls along.

Linebacker – Chambliss, Merritt -OR- Rogers

Linebacker – Shavers, Foster

• Chambliss and Shavers appear to be the clear #1’s at the two LB spots. And with an on-field witch like Owen from whom to take his cues, this could be the season that Shavers levels way up, especially after playing through injury in ‘25. I didn’t go too deep here, but there is young talent at this position who could surprise.

Cornerback – Marshall, Hill

Safety – Conn, Odem, Benning

Safety – Guthrie -OR- McDougal, Shiggs

Nickel – D. Jones, Rhett

Cornerback – Charles, V. Jones
– The Huskers secondary was one of the top units in the nation in ‘25 (3rd nationally in pass yards allowed), so retaining Addison Williams as the room’s coach was a no-brainer. And their performance was amazing considering the Huskers inability to pressure the QB last season. If the rush can improve to the middle tier or even the back of the upper third, it will be very different to gain air yards against Nebraska in ‘26.

Kicker – Cunanan

Punter – Wilson

Long Snapper – Wills, Gana

Kick Returner – M. Nelson -OR- Barney -OR- Mozee

Punt Returner – Barney, Marshall

• Special teams lost only Kenneth Williams from their crazy 2026 Mike Ekeler-led resurgence. Can Brett Maher and Nick Humphrey successfully adopt and communicate Ekeler’s theories after the lone year of working under him? Cunanan and Wilson enter 2026 as the clear #1’s as does barney at punt return. Can someone emerge to replace Kenneth Williams’ explosiveness?

So there you have it – college football starts this weekend (as does Huskers volleyball!). And September 5th is just over a week away. Go Big Red.

BE SURE TO VOTE IN THIS WEEK’S CORN NATION REACTS POLL!

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