As the Nebraska football team gets farther into fall camp, some storylines are starting to emerge. Chief among the most important storylines is how the defensive line looks under new coaches Roy Manning, Corey Brown and Rob Aurich. It appears there's some good and bad news when it comes to the unit that caused the most problems for the 2025 iteration of the Cornhuskers.
On the worrying side, open practices have shown that the defensive interior is still having some problems getting past anyone blocking them. To some degree, that could be a good sign regarding the offensive line, but considering penetration was a problem last fall, the lack of push and the size of most of the tackles is more than a little disconcerting.
Guys like Riley Van Poppel have talked quite about this spring and summer about believing the 4-2-5 defense that Aurich runs will unlock them. However, at the moment, it's hard to see whether the lock has really been popped or if poor recruiting at the position followed by poor development will still be an issue.
Rivals analyst Steve Sipple echoed these sentiments during a Thursday appearance on 93.7 The Ticket. "It's not a great looking group in the interior, but the edges look representative, and I think they'll be pretty good, the edge guys... There's some of the (interior) guys that are just small," Sipple said.
Jahsear Whittington emerging for Nebraska football amid defensive tackle concerns
The good news is that there is one defensive tackle that looks like he could be an impact player. He could in fact, change the narrative if he can keep playing the way he's been playing so far in fall camp once it counts. Jahsear Whittington has been everything the Nebraska coaching staff hoped he would be when they went after him in the transfer portal this offseason.
Defensive coordinator Rob Aurich talked about Whittington the last time he met with the media when he was asked which players were standing out.
"Jahsear's a dog. Jahsear has a pro attitude in the way he approaches the game," Aurich responded. "He's got elite twitch, obviously. But I think what separates him is the way he approaches his work."
"Elite twitch" is something that coaches have said more than once about the former Pitt defender. That's been a bit of a surprise considering his playing time was limited with the ACC squad. He played in 14 games with one start for the Panthers in two seasons, totaling 13 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, 1.0 sack and one fumble recovery.
Granted, some of his limited playing time was due to injuries and some was simply that DT was one of the Pitt's best defensive units. it now looks as if he's plenty healthy and taking to Aurich's defensive scheme like a duck to water. He played in 14 games with one start for the Panthers, totaling 13 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, 1.0 sack and one fumble recovery.
The 6-foot, 270-pound Whittington is one of the reasons why some analysts have said that Nebraska looks a bit small up the middle. However, if he's able to use his athleticism to make some noise in the Big Ten, it's possible the early camp worries will be for naught.
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