When Nebraska football head coach Matt Rhule brought in Dana Holgorsen to be the Huskers’ offensive coordinator for the rest of this season and hopefully next, the former West Virginia and Houston head coach was billed as a “quarterback whisperer.” However, the fact of the matter is that Holgorsen is a veteran offensive mind who has turned players at every offensive position into real weapons.
During his first Tuesday press conference as a member of NU’s staff, Holgorsen reminded those listening of that skill. He talked quite a bit about his new mentee in Dylan Raiola but he also talked about his desire to find some new weapons for Raiola to use in the season’s final two games. Chiefly, guys who are a bit younger than who we’ve seen on the field so far.
Holgorsen teased that he’s found someone who fits the bill. And that Nebraska football fans will see this young weapon more often on Saturday. "I found one today, not going to mention it until we go talk about it as a staff, but I found a young kid today that I think can help us play on Saturday. Just keep your eyes open for that."
Who is the mystery Nebraska football ‘young kid’ Holgorsen is talking about?
Since that tease, there have been more than a few guesses on social media about who the new OC is referring to. Out of that group, Quinn Clark, Malachi Coleman and Carter Nelson are considered the most likely choices.
Clark hasn’t seen action since UTEP and Coleman hasn’t been on the field yet at all this season. However, with just two games left in the season, both could be big contributors to the offense from here on outand still retain their redshirt. Nelson’s redshirt is gone, playing in eight games this year, though it feels as though that might be another strike against former OC Marcus Satterfield.
Nelson has snaps in eight games, but mostly as a blocker. He’s only been targeted twice since the Big Ten slate started and he has one catch, for 6 yards against Purdue. He had one target against Indiana. On the season, the true freshman has 8 catches for 75 yards and a touchdown against Northern Iowa.
Those numbers could hint at a bigger role for the Nebraska football program agains Wisconsin and Iowa.