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Nebraska Football: Depth chart shows running back by committee for North Dakota

By Oliver Vandervoort

Aug 27, 2022; Dublin, IRELAND; Nebraska Cornhuskers running back Anthony Grant in the Aer Lingus college football series against Northwestern at Aviva Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brendan Moran-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 27, 2022; Dublin, IRELAND; Nebraska Cornhuskers running back Anthony Grant in the Aer Lingus college football series against Northwestern at Aviva Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brendan Moran-USA TODAY Sports /
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As the Nebraska football team gets back to business and prepares for North Dakota, it appears things are achieving a sense of normalcy regarding information coming out before the game.

That includes a depth chart for this week that doesn’t have a ton of surprises, though one area that’s quite notable is the fact that despite seemingly having a feature back against Northwestern, this week’s alignment appears to still be sporting a running back by committee approach.

While Anthony Grant, who led all Husker running backs in carries and yards (19 for 101), is still listed at the top, the depth chart shows Ajay Allen, Gabe Ervin, Rahmir Johnson, or Jacquez Yant could all be considered the starter.

That might be most notable because neither Ervin nor Johnson had a single touch in the Cornhuskers’ Week 0 game. The tilt against Northwestern didn’t really see much in the way of a “committee” either, considering that no other running back had more than three carries outside of Grant.

For his part, head coach Scott Frost touched on the fact that Grant had so many more plays go through him than anyone else. Saying that he thought there were some guys that didn’t play enough. It’s likely that was at least part of what he meant when he talked about a lack of creativity by the offensive staff in his post-game press conference.

I wrote over the weekend that one back who didn’t see the field who should have was indeed Rahmir Johnson and Frost also addressed that in his Tuesday press availability.

"“I think he got caught between outside and playing in the backfield (in practices) but he’s good enough we need to find a role for him and get him some touches.”"

The question for the Nebraska football team now is whether or not they can find touches for Johnson and the others, without hurting the flow of the game or putting them in situations that are best for the team. That’s been an issue in the Frost regime and one that’s hopefully been fixed with the new staff.

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