Nebraska football goes after their running back of the future in Damarius Yates

The Nebraska football team hasn't had a ton of success getting high school backs under Matt Rhule. They're hoping that changes with Damarius Yates.
Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports
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While the Nebraska football team is heading into June knowing that visits during the month could help them lock down one of the best classes for 2025, the Huskers’ coaches are working quite hard on the 2026 class. In particular, the Cornhuskers are looking to land their next great running back. A recent offer to Damarius Yates could mean they see the De Kalb, MS back to fit that description.

On Friday, the Nebraska football team officially came calling. They issued an official offer, and now the Huskers are the latest Power 4 team to come calling. 

The Huskers aren’t the only ones that are interested in Yates. In fact, the running back seems to be fast rising. He’s also got teams like Mississippi State and Florida state coming calling.

Nebraska football goes after their running back of the future

It’s not remotely surprising that teams like Florida State are interested. After all, Yates has put up some serious numbers despite being young. As a sophomore, he finished second on his team with 1,129 yards rushing on 103 carries while scoring a team-high 19 touchdowns. He also caught 13 passes for 365 yards.

Yates aso has offers from Alabama, Auburn and Penn State among others. He’s going to be a hard one to reel in. The first step is obviously going to be getting him to Lincoln. 

From there, the Nebraska football team can certainly make the case that they won’t have a ton of guys playing in front of him should he become a Huskers. He could in fact see a chance to play with guys like Dylan Raiola, and be the next guy who jumpstarts the tradition of great running backs at Nebraska.

As the Huskers start working hard for 2026, it looks like Nebraska football is trying to really build something. They’ll hope Damarius Yates sees that.