Nebraska Football Tailgate Talk: What we know and what we want to believe

Nebraska Football Saturdays are fast approaching! Single numbers are coming soon, according to HC Matt Rhule. Captains may or may not happen, but there will always be single-game captains. Blackshirts… who knows.

I think I know that TJ Lateef has an edge over Danny Kaelin for QB2, but that could be because TJ was actually QB1 for a while last year. The B1G Ten recently instituted a rule saying you can’t sign an NFL contract and come back to a college roster in the B1G. It’s stupid to kick a current young man off a college roster for someone who couldn’t cut it at the next level in my humble opinion. This rule change was sparked after Lane Kiffin at LSU brought back players into the SEC (Dae’Quan Wright, for example), but that’s Lane doing Lane things.

I know MONEY was well $pent by Nebraska. Buying players in the NIL/Portal era is a thing. Huskers wallet opened for 16 transfers. Of those transfers, 13 will most likely be starters. That’s a great return on investment. Those who won’t start are for valid reasons so still a good get for the cash. Quite a few of them are on the defensive side of the ball. The defense needed an overhaul, especially after the 2026 season’s last three games. They couldn’t close an umbrella with both hands, let alone block runners in or out of the red zone.

The “14th” player not starting is QB Danny Kaelin, who comes back to Nebraska after limited playing time at Virginia. I’m ok with it since that means that top transfer money went for Anthony Colandrea (one of the 16). Mostly the defense needed a spending overhaul, especially after the 2026 season’s last three games. They couldn’t close an umbrella with both hands, let alone block runners in or out of the red zone.

Nebraska football tailgate talk brings answers to many questions

Player “15” on the shopping list is Linebacker Will Hawthorne (IA St). He probably won’t see a start, but that room is a lot more improved by other additions like Owen Chambliss (WILL position), who has recently been named to the Butkus Award watch list. That room also boasts transfer Dexter Foster (Ore St) who will be in the MIKE position and will be competing against Vincent Shavers who is expected to battle for the starting job. Keep an eye on Dawson Merrit, who is back from a 2026 injury, and sophomore local product Christian Jones, who is making waves in that room.  

The last of those purchased players at 16 is Defensive Back (Safety) Jasin Shiggs (Towson). It’s understandable that Shiggs won’t start, given the logjam of other notable DBSs like Andrew Marshall (safety) and hard-working senior Jamie Conn (safety) ahead of him. It’ll be interesting to see if Dwayne McDougle (SD St)  gets an edge because he was already familiar with DC Aurich’s system. Other names to be brought along in that room are Danny Odem (corner) and Mario Buford who plays both Safety and Corner. DB Donovan Jones, who plays both but is listed as a corner, was named to the Weurffel Trophy watch list. He was out of the spring game to become a daddy. I expect BIG things from him.

I'm busy recipe-testing for the first Nebraska tailgate. Shout out to my nephews and office people who have to be my guinea pigs. Get those coolers ready, patch up the canopies, and get that invite list ready for the best fans in college football. I'll be back to sharing a weekly opinion with you soon. As always, GO BIG RED!

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