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Nebraska football focusing on running back in swath of new offers

Oliver VanDervoort
Oliver VanDervoort

Husker Corner

(Photo by Steven Branscombe/Getty Images)

Nebraska football offers 2019 recruit
(Photo by Steven Branscombe/Getty Images)

The Nebraska football team has had a special focus on the running back position this week.

The Nebraska football team already has one commit this week. Since the 2019 class only has three commits so far, the staff is working hard to get on the radar of as much talent as possible.

While there have been players offered from many different positions and many different states, one of the interesting trends this week has been that the Cornhuskers are focusing a bit on the running back position.

That’s an interesting development because it seems as though the school has a pretty good stable of backs already. That’s actually going to be one of the most interesting aspects of Spring Practice.

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Still, it appears Scott Frost and company are very much interested in building up the running back position to a large degree. Among those offered this week are some truly talented and truly speed backs who seem to fit the bill that position coach Ryan Held and company are looking to bring to Lincoln.

The real question at this point is just how many backs they are looking to bring in. This is hardly the only week the Huskers’ staff has looked at running back. There are several already being recruited in the 2019 class, as well as the 2020 class.

We also have a brand new arrival in Greg Bell, who would like to be able to hold that position down for the next few years. Read on and check out some of the talented running backs the Nebraska football coaching staff has been going after most recently.

Dez Melton could play either running back or receiver for the Nebraska football team.

Dez Melton is listed as an athlete by 247 Sports but that isn’t because he doesn’t have a position. For the Glendale native, it appears he’s just really good in more than one spot.

Melton is a 3-star athlete that is considered the 12th best player in the state of Arizona. While he has indeed played the wide receiver role, it appears he might be most comfortable running the ball.

Melton has been quite dominant almost from the get-go. He managed to run for over 1,300 yards in his sophomore year and had more of the same as a Junior.

The Huskers are going to have some stiff competition, not the least of which is both of his home state’s major universities. Arizona, Arizona State, and Iowa State have all offered and UCLA is giving him some serious eye.

One of the reasons the athlete is so impressive is because he’s got good size. Already standing at 6-4, if the Cornhuskers or another school wanted to move him to the wide receiver spot, they would automatically have a real vertical weapon.

Dez Melton is one of those players who looks like he’s going to be getting quite a bit of attention in the very near future. While it’s not clear if this is really a sign of anything, but the Nebraska football scholarship offer is his pinned tweet at the moment.

Darwin Barlow could be the scat back the Nebraska football team needs.

Of the running backs that were offered recently by the Nebraska football team, Darwin Barlow might be the toughest nut to crack. The small in stature, big in talent back out of Newton, Texas appears to be a pretty heavy lean for Baylor at the moment.

Barlow is a 4-star prospect according to 247Sports and there’s good reason for that. the 5-11 back ran for over 2,000 yards a season ago and found the endzone an insane 38 times. Oh, he can also catch the ball out of the backfield when he needs to.

Barlow caught 14 passes for 189 yards and found the end zone another four times. That followed up a season where he saw less action but still ran for over 1,000 yards and 13 TDs.

https://twitter.com/darwin_barlow/status/970741769855004672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.trello.services%2Ftweets.html%3Fver%3D342daaa7e3%26%23%257B%2522secret%2522%253A%2522YdOtUCrj35KXgUNzECY1JCvUEviVQqNL1HBO7sR53CWvaUgqMf4d06GBEalzZjAy%2522%252C%2522context%2522%253A%257B%2522member%2522%253A%252257e0a44240fe08ea57a27878%2522%252C%2522permissions%2522%253A%257B%2522board%2522%253A%2522write%2522%252C%2522card%2522%253A%2522write%2522%257D%252C%2522board%2522%253A%25225a71bf2b3c1c148d98944420%2522%252C%2522card%2522%253A%25225a9dbe903ab32c370d5110bc%2522%252C%2522command%2522%253A%2522attachment-sections%2522%252C%2522options%2522%253A%257B%2522entries%2522%253A%255B%257B%2522id%2522%253A%25225a9dbe91f0cc3428b0e44e91%2522%252C%2522url%2522%253A%2522https%253A%252F%252Ftwitter.com%252Fdarwin_barlow%252Fstatus%252F970741769855004672%253Fs%253D12%2522%252C%2522name%2522%253A%2522https%253A%252F%252Ftwitter.com%252Fdarwin_barlow%252Fstatus%252F970741769855004672%253Fs%253D12%2522%252C%2522edgeColor%2522%253Anull%252C%2522previews%2522%253A%255B%255D%257D%255D%257D%252C%2522__insecure_signature%2522%253A%252228bc0f994b2640786d90715770055dca%2522%257D%252C%2522locale%2522%253A%2522en-US%2522%257D

The Cornhuskers’ offer means that the Texas native is now up to 16 offers with most of those coming from Power 5 schools. It appears that the final tally of teams that are going to go after the back is only going to grow and grow quickly.

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Minnesota offered Barlow just a few days before the Cornhuskers and Louisville is the latest team to come after him, as they offered on Wednesday morning.

The one piece of good, and a bit confusing news is that so far, the Huskers are not having to square off against other premiere programs such as Texas, Alabama and Georgia. That might be a bit surprising considering Barlow is ranked as the 24th best back in the entire class.

The Nebraska football team is also not squaring off against the likes of Penn State or Ohio State. If they can get Darwin Barlow to leave Texas, it feels as though they have a decent shot at the talented back.

Tyler Goodson is just the latest Georgia player the Nebraska football team has focused on.

When it came to the 2018 recruiting class, the Nebraska football staff focused a lot of attention on Florida. While Scott Frost and company are still doing that this cycle, they are spending even more time and attention looking at Georgia.

The Cornhuskers appear to think that not only is there a ton of talent in the Peach State, but they can nab some of that talent for their very own. It’s clear that the idea they can get Georgia players has to be because of their relationship with their coaches from their UCF days.

Tyler Goodson is one of those players that does indeed look like he might be poachable. The 3-star prospect is the 47th best back in the class according to 247Sports.

https://twitter.com/tgood1110/status/971125116141645824?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.trello.services%2Ftweets.html%3Fver%3D342daaa7e3%26%23%257B%2522secret%2522%253A%2522YdOtUCrj35KXgUNzECY1JCvUEviVQqNL1HBO7sR53CWvaUgqMf4d06GBEalzZjAy%2522%252C%2522context%2522%253A%257B%2522member%2522%253A%252257e0a44240fe08ea57a27878%2522%252C%2522permissions%2522%253A%257B%2522board%2522%253A%2522write%2522%252C%2522card%2522%253A%2522write%2522%257D%252C%2522board%2522%253A%25225a71bf2b3c1c148d98944420%2522%252C%2522card%2522%253A%25225a9f4ecaf2f615ac79938952%2522%252C%2522command%2522%253A%2522attachment-sections%2522%252C%2522options%2522%253A%257B%2522entries%2522%253A%255B%257B%2522id%2522%253A%25225a9f4eccd7627f5eb2d4ba4b%2522%252C%2522url%2522%253A%2522https%253A%252F%252Ftwitter.com%252Ftgood1110%252Fstatus%252F971125116141645824%253Fs%253D12%2522%252C%2522name%2522%253A%2522https%253A%252F%252Ftwitter.com%252Ftgood1110%252Fstatus%252F971125116141645824%253Fs%253D12%2522%252C%2522edgeColor%2522%253Anull%252C%2522previews%2522%253A%255B%255D%257D%255D%257D%252C%2522__insecure_signature%2522%253A%2522370e9d604cade27f2f959da25426e23d%2522%257D%252C%2522locale%2522%253A%2522en-US%2522%257D

He’s also the 59th best player in the state. That means he’s pretty darn good and can also get lost in the shuffle.

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Getting lost in the shuffle might be one of the reasons Goodson hasn’t yet scored an offer from Georgia or most of the other major SEC schools. He does have an offer from Auburn, Tennesee and South Carolina.

Closer to the Cornhuskers, Goodson has offers from Iowa and Wisconsin. In total, Goodson has garnered 20 different scholarship offers.

It seems as if the Nebraska football team has at least a decent shot at getting the back, who is considered one that is hard to take down.

Oliver VanDervoort

Oliver VanDervoort

Oliver has loved the Huskers since could get his pudgy little hands to hold a red balloon. Now he gets to write about them for a living. You can contact him at olliev34@outlook.com, and read him on Huskercorner, and see him talk about anything and everything on Twitter @originalovandy