Nebraska football’s top rival for grad transfer could be Frost’s old boss

The Nebraska football team has been inquiring about Arizona graduate transfer Brandon Dawkins. Now it appears the team has a new rival in the race in the form of their head coach’s old boss.

Arizona backup quarterback Brandon Dawkins might be the most sought-after grad transfer of the spring. It’s not a big surprise that the Nebraska football team is one of the teams that has shown at least some interest.

The Cornhuskers are far from the only team that has dipped its toe in the Dawkins water but it seemed like they might have been the front-runner. Until Sunday, it appeared the Huskers were doing battle with Indiana and Florida Atlantic.

When looking at those three schools side-by-side it’s not a surprise some thought Dawkins was indeed headed to Lincoln. Then a shift happened, where another grad transfer quarterback experts thought was headed to UCLA decided on Colorado State instead.

Suddenly, Scott Frost found himself going head to head with his old boss. Chip Kelly is the man who helped put Frost on the map.

Frost was a receivers coach under the former Oregon Ducks coach and it’s there where he started to rise through the ranks. Now, Dawkins appears to have some real interest in UCLA.

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Rivals is reporting that the quarterback believes Kelly’s offense is the perfect fit for his skill set. The good news there is that means he’s a perfect fit for Frost’s offense too.

In the end, it will likely come down to the two schools. It also likely will come down less to fit in an offense and more to fit on a roster.

The Huskers have quite a few young quarterbacks. That includes Adrian Martinez, who some believe could push for the starting job this season.

So what exactly does Dawkins bring to the table? He’s got significant game time for one thing. In his three years in Arizona, he played 22 games (10 in 2016.)

Over those three seasons, he completed 56.3 percent of his passes for 2,418 yards, 15 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions. While that career completion percentage isn’t great, the fact that he jumped to 61.4 percent in 2017 has to be good news.

Dawkins also rushed for 1,582 yards and 20 touchdowns. Those numbers include 944 yards in 2016.

Next: 3 storylines to follow in Scott Frost’s first Spring Practice

It’s not a surprise that the Nebraska football team wants Brandon Dawkins. Even if they can only get him for one season, he looks to be exactly who the Cornhuskers are looking to run their offense.