Nebraska Cornhuskers news: Mourning Cole Pensick, defense steps up, more

Nebraska Cornhuskers fans all over the country are mourning Cole Pensick. The Nebraska football defense is making strides and more in today’s news.

Nebraska football fans were shocked and saddened when the news broke of Cole Pensick dying in a one-car accident on Saturday morning. The former Husker offensive lineman was just 32 years old. The accident occurred about 14 miles outside his native Columbus around 6:45 AM.

According to the Omaha World-Herald, law enforcement officials, the former Nebraska Cornhuskers star was driving his truck when it went through a T intersection and left the roadway, finally stopping when it collided with some trees.

Pensick played under Bo Pelini from 2009 to 2013 and rose to a starter position with about two games left in his junior season. He started every game in his senior campaign and anchored an offensive line that was partly responsible for one of the best rushing attacks in the country.

Nebraska football defense stepping up

After taking a few days off for Easter break, the Nebraska Cornhuskers are returning to spring practice on Monday and it will certainly be interesting to see whether the offense or defense looks like it has the upper hand.

Quite a bit was made of the fact that the Huskers’ quarterbacks seemed to take the defense out for a ride in a scrimmage where the coaches removed the green jerseys from the quarterbacks. It appears the most recent practices before the break saw the defense get a measure of revenge.

It goes without saying that while it’s nice to see the quarterbacks having success, it doesn’t hurt to hear that the defense is having “the better day” from time to time.

Myles Farmer gets some run

Among the defensive players that stand out this spring, Myles Farmer is at the top of the list for Rhule. The Huskers’ head coach recently talked about the defensive back’s leadership on that side of the ball and how he thinks it’s going to lead to big success this fall.

"“You can turn a team into a good team when your best players… everyone buys into the things they like, can they buy into the things they don’t like? Can they buy into the things that don’t make sense? Myles is one of those guys. When I first got here part of his edge – which I love — is to be a little bit chippy and he’s gotten to the point now where he understands like “Hey, let me coach you.”"

Huskers host some talented recruits

A couple of recruits took to social media over the last few days to thank the Husker coaches for some impressive sights. The first was Wyatt Gilmore.

Gilmore is a 4-star edge out of Minnesota that is currently the top player in the state for the 2024 class.

The other prospect to visit Lincoln recently and love what he saw is Andrew Dudley. The offensive lineman is a 2025 prospect that has largely flown under the radar so far.

It just so happens that Dudley plays, or at least played alongside Dylan Raiola in Chandler, Arizona. Dylan is going to play with a new high school this year but Dudley and his quarterback are still obviously close.

Other Nebraska Cornhuskers news

• Denim Dawson entered the transfer portal not long after the 2022-23 season came to an end and now he’s found his new team. The guard landed at Tennessee State.
• Former Nebraska basketball star Isaiah Roby has himself a new home as well. He’s signed with the New York Knicks. He’ll be under contract with them for the entirety of the 2023-24 season as well. Roby’s averaged 7.7 points and 4.4 rebounds in 151 games with Oklahoma City and San Antonio.
• After a 2-1 weekend against Michigan, the Nebraska Cornhuskers baseball team is tied for third in the Big Ten but very much has first place in sight as they’ve played three less games than Indiana and Michigan State in the conference.  Sunday’s win allowed the Huskers to move up a bit in the RPI rankings, but they’re still ranked just 79th. Lower than the other four B1G teams near the top of the standings and even one lower than the Wolverines’ team they beat up on this weekend.