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Nebraska Football: Top 3 graded offensive stars from the first half of the season

By Oliver Vandervoort

Sep 23, 2023; Lincoln, Nebraska, USA; Nebraska Cornhuskers offensive lineman Bryce Benhart (54), offensive lineman Henry Lutovsky (59), Nebraska Cornhuskers offensive lineman Ben Scott (66) and teammates before the game against the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Dylan Widger-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 23, 2023; Lincoln, Nebraska, USA; Nebraska Cornhuskers offensive lineman Bryce Benhart (54), offensive lineman Henry Lutovsky (59), Nebraska Cornhuskers offensive lineman Ben Scott (66) and teammates before the game against the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Dylan Widger-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Nebraska football team struggled mightily on offense in the first half of the 2023 season, so who were the three guys who stood out the most?

That question comes with a degree of difficulty for several reasons. The first is that there are plenty of guys who got some very high grades because they didn’t play all that much. Someone like Josh Fleeks fits this bill. However, it doesn’t seem fair to rank him higher than guys that have been in the trenches since opening day.

There’s also guys like Gabe Ervin who were certainly offensive stars before they went down from injury. There are guys like Jeff Sims who might have been contenders if they’d stayed healthy (and fixed the turnover bug.)

That’s why for this exercise we’re going to be taking the top 3 graded offensive players from the first half of the season who saw at least 100 snaps. That narrows down the list quite a bit while seeming to be the most fair approach to everyone.

Nebraska football’s top 3 graded offensive stars of the first half of the season

Bryce Benhart: There’s likely going to be a few people who think that I am not able to read the grades offered up by PFF if I think that Benhart is the top-rated offensive player from the first half of the season. However, Benhart is the man.

He finished the first six games of Nebraska football’s season with a grade of 69.1 overall. He also leads the team in total snaps played this season with 375. One does have to wonder how long Benhart will be at the top as the season goes on, considering he’s coming off his two worst games of the year against Michigan and Illinois.

Nouredin Nouili: When it comes to Nouredin Nouili it feels like the fact that we haven’t heard much about him means he’s having a pretty good season. When Nebraska football fans have talked about offensive linemen the last few years, it’s only been to complain about them.

In 293 snaps, Nouili has posted a grade of 66.4 overall. While Benhart is equally decent in both pass and run blocking, Nouilli has been quite a bit better pass blocking (84) vs run blocking (63.1). The right guard has played 130 snaps as a pass blocker and allowed just one sack, one hurry and one hit and never in the same game. That’ll play.

Billy Kemp IV: One need look no further than Billy Kemp’s 65.4 overall grade as the top skill position player ranking to see why the Nebraska football team’s offense has struggled. Maybe it’s not Marcus Satterfield’s fault after all?

Kemp had his second-worst graded game of the season in the Huskers’ 20-7 win over Illinois despite hauling down 3 passes for 26 yards. With Marcus Washington now out for the season, Kemp is going to have to find a way to produce better numbers.

On the year, Kemp has caught 20 passes for 219 yards and just one touchdown. He’s also got two carries for 13 yards and a touchdown. That TD came for Nebraska football in their game against Louisiana Tech.

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