Nebraska Football: Can Tate Wildeman finally break through?

Could this be the year for the Nebraska Football sophomore?

When you take a look at the makeup of the current Nebraska football roster, there aren’t too many players left over from the Mike Riley era. There are a couple holdovers however, and some are impressing the coaches.

Defensive line coach Tony Tuioti spoke about one player in particular that has caught his eye. Tate Wildeman was a four-star recruit out of legend high school in Parker, Colorado. As a senior, he totaled 61 tackles and 40 stops in 2017. He also recorded six sacks and eight tackles for a loss in only eight games.

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He has not appeared in any games so far to this point for Nebraska football. He redshirted last year, but did travel with the team to Colorado.

It’s stories like Wildeman’s that make for an intriguing outlook to the season. Nebraska football now has a ton of depth on the line. Wildeman can certainly make an impact. A member of the Academic All-Big Ten team and a member of the Nebraska scholar-athlete honor roll for Fall 2018 and 2019, Wildeman can certainly get things done off the field. That is great to see too.

This year may be the year that he can get things done on the field. Like many players last year, he didn’t see the field in an effort to preserve his redshirt. Now, that redshirt restriction is no longer upon him. When you take a look at the defensive line and the talent that it has, Wildeman kind of falls by the wayside.

It will be interesting to see what he can bring to the table as he is sort of an unknown player. Granted, a lot of players are unknown on this roster. However, he is a player with a ton of upside that could lend help on the line. Especially when you think about rotations, I see him as a guy that the coaches can place on the field when one of the other starters needs a break.

Tuioti certainly had praise for him when speaking to the media earlier this week

"“Early on in his career, when he got in here, he was looking at being a guy that could contribute early, but then got injured,” Tuioti said. “He’s been a warrior. He’s been battling through that and I think he’s back to 100%, so I can’t wait to see him be able to come out and help us out this year.“We’re going to need his length. He’s got good athleticism and for a guy that’s as long as he is, he can give offensive tackles some problems because he’s got long levers. For the two practices that we had in the spring, I really liked what I saw out of him.”"

With how much turnover the program has gone through, I give him credit for sticking with Scott Frost and his staff. Hopefully, Wildeman will be able to get an opportunity this year and make an impact. This is a year of discovering what Nebraska has for depth. Wildeman is certainly a part of that.

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