Most think Greg Bell left the Nebraska football team because he wasn’t starting, but was he really just reading the tea leaves?
The Nebraska football team appears to be down another offensive player. Just days after Tyjon Lindsey announced his departure, Greg Bell appears to be heading out of town as well.
The interesting thing about this particular transfer is that it might have more in common with Tristan Gebbia than it does Lindsey. While most people believe Bell is leaving because he lost the starting job to Devine Ozigbo, it might be more about the JUCO transferring looking ahead to future seasons and realizing the time to get going is now.
Yes, Devine Ozigbo is gone after this season. The problem Bell may be having, when it comes to seeing a clear path to starting next year, is Dedrick Mills.
Nebraska Cornhuskers Football
Mills was a bit of a surprise commitment for the Cornhuskers just as the season was kicking off. At the time, it appeared he might be basically replacing Tre Bryant on next year’s roster. Now it looks more likely he’s replacing Bell.
For his part, Mills has kept whatever heat was on for the starting running back job on high. Playing for Garden City Community College, the former Georgia Tech star has 815 yards rushing in five games. He’s also already got nine rushing touchdowns.
Yes, it helps that Mills is playing for a team that loves to run the ball. Take Garden City’s most recent game. The Husker commit had 27 carries for 240 yards and three touchdowns.
The man he splits carries with, Charles West had 18 carries for 237 yards and three touchdowns. Garden City threw the ball nine times. In the first game of the year, they threw it once.
Mills numbers are obviously padded a bit but when you consider he’s also shown he can do this kind of thing in the ACC, it makes sense that Greg Bell might be seeing the writing on the wall.
Many people think Gebbia left in a fit of pique because didn’t get the starting job. The more likely rationale is that he knew this season was going to be the best chance for him to get the starting job, and hold onto it moving forward.
The Cornhuskers are clearly recruiting more mobile QBs moving forward. If Gebbia was going to stake his claim, it was going to be in 2018. Bell, who would be a senior next season if he had played in a fifth game this year, might have looked at the impending arrival of Mills and decided losing the job to Ozigbo was the death blow. Unfortunately, much the quarterback position, the running back spot for the Nebraska football team is thin, though it’s not nearly as thin as it is under center.