3 reasons why Mekhi Nelson's addition to Nebraska football is massive

The thing that Nebraska football fans thought happened on Sunday, officially happened on Monday afternoon. The Huskers have themselves a new running back to add to a room that is goingt to have some serious fights for playing time.

Connecticut running back Mekhi Nelson is now officially a member of the Huskers and he’s able to join the team right away. The question now almost immediately becomes whether he has a real shot at starting or is going to be more depth as a true freshman this fall.

Nebraska football adds surprise 2024 addition

Easily the biggest thing about Nelson committing is that he can enroll right away and go to fall practices next month. The Huskers did not have a high school running back commit in the 2024 class … until now. 

That was one of the reasons why Matt Rhule and company went out and got Dante Dowdell. The Nebraska football team wanted another body in the running back room. Now they’ve got two for the price of one, in a way. 

Relationship with EJ Barthel goes back a ways

Of all the backs in the Huskers’ running back room, it’s possible that Nelson knows RB coach EJ Barthel the best. That’s because he was getting recruited by him when Barthel was still at UCONN.

“I have a very strong relationship with coach Barthel that we’ve been building for over two years,” Nelson said in an interview earlier this year. “He’s always shown me genuine love and always keeps it real which separates him from a lot of people and that means a whole lot to me.”

Michigan was a late entry in the race

While some might look at Nelson as nothing more than a depth builder because there weren’t a ton of Power 4 schools after him, it turns out that the Michigan Wolverines entered the picture late. The good news there is at that point, the Nebraska football team has basically sewn things up.