Nebraska football rival sees pair of offensive weapons ready to transfer

The Nebraska football team is preparing for a bye week, followed by Indiana. However, in just a few weeks, they’ll take on the Iowa Hawkeyes. When the Huskers do take on their yearly rival, Kirk Ferentz’s squad will be down a pair of offensive players who have seen a decent amount of time.

As has been a bit of a trend this year, running back Leshon Williams and wide receiver Kaleb Brown both announced they are redshirting for the remainder of the season and will enter the portal once it opens later this winter.

The Nebraska football rival’s losses are the Huskers gains to some degree, though it should be pointed out that neither player was getting as much playing time as they thought, or they got a year ago. 

Williams ranked sixth in the Big Ten in rushing yards in 2023 with 821 yards and scored two touchdowns for the Hawkeyes a year ago. He missed time in fall camp due to injury and did not play in the last two games after rushing for just 21 yards on 11 carries in three games this year.

Nebraska football rival loses two offensive weapons

Iowa’s starting running back this season has been Kaleb Johnson. He ranks second in the nation in rushing with 771 yards and 10 touchdowns. The back started the year with four consecutive 100-yard performances. Those performances included a career-high 206 yards and three touchdowns in a win over Minnesota two weeks ago.

Brown is in a similar situation to Williams in that he was one of Iowa top receivers in 2023 with 215 yards and a touchdown on 22 receptions.  However, he’s fallen down the depth chart (as Iowa’s offense has seemingly gotten better) and has played sparingly in three games this season. He has just one catch for 18 yards.

While neither of these losses are going to cripple the Nebraska football rival, they are a bit of a hit to the Hawkeyes’ depth. Perhaps that is a least a small boon as the Huskers. After all the Hawkeyes are still dealing with Cade McNamara being bad.