Nebraska Football: Standards are rightfully high for talented running backs

Nebraska Football has made it clear that they are expecting a lot out of their running backs in the fall.

When it comes to college football, many players will slack off and especially during the grind that is preseason camp, they will not take it seriously as they will expect a starting job at their preferred position to be given to them. That will not be the case in the Nebraska football program and that will not be the case for the running back unit, a position that is slated to have a ton of depth in 2019.

I like the fact that Nebraska football seems to be holding their players accountable. It shows that they are not willing to accept mediocrity and will do whatever it takes to win football games the right way. When the players are held accountable, the coaches have to be held accountable to a higher standard as well. That includes running backs coach Ryan Held. As he told Steven M. Sipple of the Omaha World-Herald on Tuesday,  this unit should be able to play at a high level come the fall.

"“My standard doesn’t change,” he said. “When Rahmir Johnson gets here, when Ronald Thompkins gets here, when Dedrick Mills gets here, I’m going to hold them to the same standard and I expect us to have a better — a way better — year than we did last year even though Devine (Ozigbo) had a really good senior year. I expect us to be lights-out in the fall.”"

I love this statement from Coach Held. He is not going to play favorites, and that is certainly a tough thing for any coach to do. Particularly when you have a lot of assembled talent at a certain position like Nebraska football does, it will probably be very tough for Held not to choose his favorite running back right away. He is expecting contributions from everybody, and if each of the individuals he talks about produces like we think they are going to, it should be a very powerful unit.

They have a tall task ahead of them as the unit looks to replace a guy like Ozigbo. Although we are not exactly sure how the depth chart is going to look come the season opener, it should be a truly fascinating position battle to watch. Each of the guys on the unit have had success, and tremendous success at that, with the last teams they have played on. Now, they will be tasked with facing each other.

Perhaps most intriguing will be to see which player crumbles in the face of adversity while which one will rise to the challenge. They all have the speed and skill necessary to play Division I college football. Now, it’s just a matter of who will fit Nebraska football the best.