Nebraska Football: Ex-Husker Maurice Washington declares for the NFL

Former Nebraska Football star Maurice Washington will test the NFL waters one year after returning to the college football scene.

As the Twitter account, The Bluebloods pointed out, the running back announcing he is going pro after just one season at Grambling State is more than a little surprising. And that’s not just because he’s seemingly been out of football entirely for a couple of years.

It also seems like spending another full year in college might actually give his NFL profile a boost. After all, it’s not like Washington was a workhorse this season. He never had more than 10 carries in a game this year. He only had that many twice.

On the other hand, Washington made the most of his limited action. He averaged 9.7 yards a carry in 2022. He averaged more than 19 yards per carry in a game twice this season. He finished his first year back since 2019 with 589 yards and seven touchdowns.

All of those numbers would be very impressive if you were talking about what the former Nebraska football was putting behind him for one more season in college. But those numbers are not exactly the best resume for a professional career.

Maurice Washington has the kind of talent that could see him find some success in the NFL. One has to wonder if he might not have found a bit more if he’d take some more time to mature, both as a player and a man.

Having said that, no one knows better when it’s time to make the leap to the next level more than the person making that leap. It’s safe to say that he came back to college to show that he is still able to rack up some very big numbers when he’s running around the football field.

Nebraska football fans know that he’s got talent. It will be interesting to see just how far it can take him.