Nebraska Football: Jovan Dewitt departure makes sense for all involved

Nebraska Football will be in the market for a new assistant coach.

A former member of the Nebraska Football coaching staff is headed to the ACC. Special teams coordinator and outside linebackers coach Jovan Dewitt will leave Nebraska Football for North Carolina. There, he will join head coach Mack Brown. He also will be reunited with co-defensive coordinator Jay Bateman. Bateman worked with Dewitt at Army in the 2014-15 seasons.

Dewitt was battling throat cancer last season. He missed spring practices and had to stay in the hospital for quite a bit.

Special teams was an issue last season for Nebraska Football. In particular, the kicking game struggled quite a bit. However, that was not entirely Dewitt’s fault. They could just not seem to get things going.

According to a report from the Omaha World-Herald, Mike Dawson could be a potential candidate to return to Nebraska. He left Nebraska for the New York Giants last February. With Pat Shurmur being fired, this could open up a return for Dawson.

I am happy for DeWitt that he was able to find a job with a successful football program. No matter what you thought of them as a coach, you had to admire his perseverance throughout his battle with cancer. I will be interested to see who Nebraska replaces him with. Whomever gets the job has a lot of work to do. Special teams was certainly not a strong point on the part of Nebraska.

I certainly didn’t expect DeWitt to leave, but I wish him all the best. He certainly has a very intriguing opportunity at North Carolina, and I hope he will be able to find success there. Mack Brown has certainly laid the foundation for the program to be successful. A coach like Dewitt could help Brown experience additional success. The ACC is tough in its own right, and North Carolina is certainly has the talent to be in the middle of things