While the Nebraska football team is losing quite a bit of veteran leadership off its defense, it looks like the Blackshirts are in good hands. Not just with new defensive coordinator John Butler but with some of the youngsters who are returning for a bigger role in 2025.
Among those youngsters on the defensive side of the ball is Vincent Shavers Jr. who didn’t get a ton of playing time in his freshman season but made the most of it when he did. He also showed, towards the end of the season that when he got into the game, he was one of the best on former defensive coordinator Tony White’s unit.
When talking about the talent that Vincent Shavers Jr. showed, you don’t have to take Nebraska football fans’ word for it. Pro Football Focus has been taking a look at the best performers in the 2024 season and it turns out that Shavers was rated as the site’s highest ranked true freshman linebacker. Shavers garnered a 71 overall rating.
Highest Graded True Freshman LB from the 2024 Season:
— PFF College (@PFF_College) February 20, 2025
🌽 Vincent Shavers Jr, Nebraska: 71.0@HuskerFootball pic.twitter.com/TtnIRYa2Ue
Nebraska football freshman linebacker Vincent Shavers at top of his class
Shavers finished his first season with the Huskers with 25 tackles, a sack and a forced fumble.
According to PFF, where he really shone was on run defense as he garnered a 75.4 rating in that department. He earned a 74.2 tackling grade and a 69.1 pass rush rating. In other words, while he might have been best against the run, he wasn’t really poor in any department.
In 2024, Vincent Shavers appeared in 12 games for the Nebraska football team and played just over 200 snaps. The biggest sign that his role is going to improve is that the most snaps he had all season were 44 against Boston College in the Pinstripe Bowl.