Ex-Nebraska football Blackshirt is nation's top portal player

Now that the transfer portal is officially open, Nebraska football fans should brace themselves for the kind of exodus they’ve never seen before. Matt Rhule warned fans weeks ago that things were going to look dark. NU has to shed dozens of bodies to reach the new roster limit.

That doesn’t mean that every departure is the same, though. The Huskers narrowly averted star running back Emmett Johnson, leaving with a last-second reversal. The same couldn’t be said of Blackshirt Princewill Umanmielen.

Umanmielen officially entered the portal on Monday morning and in doing so, the now former Nebraska football star became the top player. The question remains whether the Huskers might be able to get him back, or being the guy who will be among the top NIL earners this year is very much gone.

Nebraska football losing a star defender in Princewill Umanmielen

It’s likely that one big reason why Johnson decided against entering the portal after all was the Huskers locked down the offensive coordinator he liked working with. That isn’t the case with Umanmielen.

While it’s expected that defensive backs coach John Butler will be named the new defensive coordinator, that might be the problem. Quite a few defenders have signaled, or officially entered the portal since Tony White and Terrance Knighton left. 

At the very least, it appears that Nebraska football not having a defensive coordinator officially is not helping keep Blackshirts in Lincoln. We’ll just have to see how many more enter and whether the Huskers have any chance to keep a defender who tallied 35 tackles and 1.5 sacks in his two years in Lincoln.