2013 – Year of the Corn

Another new year is here, and another group of Husker players will make it their New Year’s resolution to win a national championship.

2010 was the year of the Tiger, with Auburn taking home the championship. 2011 may be the same, with a different SEC West Tiger, LSU winning it. 2009 was the year of the Elephant, as Alabama hoisted the crystal football.

Next year may be too much to ask for the youthful Huskers, but 2013 shows promise.

2013 could be the year of the corn.

Nebraska’s schedule is very favorable, with Big Ten cross-division games changing from Ohio State and Wisconsin to Purdue and Illinois. The Huskers’ non-conference foes are UCLA, which may still be in rebuilding mode in two years, and Wyoming at home, with Southern Miss on the road. Nebraska still has one more non-conference game to schedule.

As with every season, the Legends Division will prove to be difficult. However, Michigan will be one year removed from star quarterback Denard Robinson, and Kirk Cousins will be long gone from Michigan State. Penn State could be a challenge, but there’s a strong possibility running back Silas Redd declares for the NFL Draft after the 2012 season.

For Nebraska, quarterback Taylor Martinez will be a senior, while wide receivers Kenny Bell and Jamal Turner will be juniors, with Quincy Enunwa a senior. This year’s trio of freshman running backs will be in their junior seasons, ready to take over for the departed Rex Burkhead.

On the defensive line, Chase Rome, Jason Ankrah and Thaddeus Randle will all be returning, as will defensive backs Andrew Green, Ciante Evans, Stanley Jean-Baptiste and Corey Cooper.

While the current tight end and linebacking units will be new, incoming recruits at those positions look to be promising role players, and should be ready to go by their sophomore seasons in 2013.

The most impressive thing about the 2013 team’s roster, however, will be the amount of players with starting experience on the offensive line. A unit that has looked weak at times for Nebraska will have no less than five players with starting experience before the 2012 season. That number may double in the coming year.

While safety and special teams may be a concern every year, Nebraska coaches seem to find a diamond in the rough on special teams and find a stellar JuCo to play safety.  That stellar JuCo could very well be Mohammad Seisay, who committed to Nebraska last week. On special teams, Mauro Bondi will be a junior in 2013, and will be ready to take over the kicking and punting duties from Brett Maher.

Across the board, Nebraska looks loaded for 2013. Still, a stacked roster isn’t always enough, you have to play the games. As Nebraska fans should know very well, it’s easy to drop one game by overlooking it, like the Huskers did with Northwestern this season.

If the Huskers can avoid that pitfall, the road looks clear for a conference championship, and possibly a national championship.

By Chris Peters

Contact the writer at ChrisHuskerCorner@gmail.com or on Twitter @_ChrisPeters

Follow Husker Corner on Twitter @HuskerCorner

Friend Husker Corner on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Huskercorner