Nebraska’s offensive line has a center who brings exactly what coaches crave when the ball is about to be snapped and the chaos starts: calm, command and trust.
Justin Evans is the guy in the middle, and the Huskers are leaning on him heavily heading into 2026. He’s a five-year Husker, has logged 1,989 college snaps and has the full respect of the room around him. Matt Rhule put it plainly this spring: " Justin Evans is clearly the leader in that room, there's no doubt about that," Matt Rhule said this spring.
That kind of standing matters at center, where one player touches every offensive snap and has to keep everything organized before the play even begins. Evans has become Nebraska’s most indispensable player in our countdown, and the case for him starts with reliability. It also helps that his stock is rising in a very public way: he earned a 91 rating in College Football 27, making him Nebraska’s highest-rated player and a top-100 offensive player in the game.
But the video game number is just the appetizer. The real story is what Nebraska believes Evans can become on the field this fall. Offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen has already said Evans can grow into one of the nation’s best centers, and new offensive line coach Geep Wade saw that right away after arriving in December.
"I think he's a great kid, he's a smart kid, he's always locked in," Wade said soon after arrival in December.
Evans’ path has been one of steady climb. He developed first as a guard, then moved to center, and his game kept moving with him.
The former wrestler from New Jersey fits the position in the way coaches always talk about: tough, smart and steady. Wade lit up when wrestling came up.
"Love it," he said. "They're tough. They fight through adversity."
Last season showed how far Evans had come. After Emmett Johnson, he was Nebraska’s highest-rated starter by Pro Football Focus, finishing with an overall grade of 78.6. He didn’t look like a liability anywhere, posting an 84.0 grade in pass blocking and a 75.0 grade in run blocking in his first season starting at center.
For Nebraska, there’s also something simple and important about Evans choosing to come back. He said it was about the people around him and the chance to finish the job.
"Honestly, just the guys on this team. I love everybody on the team," he said of why he came back.
"And I know that being this is my last year, I know I can give it my all for them. And I know we're headed in the right direction ...
I know the guys need me and I need them."
The next question is whether he can go from dependable to dominant. Holgorsen has already pushed that idea hard, saying last year when Evans was still settling into the center spot: "He's always been kind of an undersized overachiever," Holgorsen said last year when Evans was just taking on center.
"And I'm like 'You got to get that mindset out of your head. You are a dude.'
He can be as good a center as exists in college football, I firmly believe that."
Wade sees the same ceiling and said there’s still room to sharpen Evans further.
"There's some things I would like to work with him over the spring and summer to make him a better football player," Wade said then. "Because I think he can be an elite football player."
Evans, for his part, doesn’t seem interested in getting swept up in the praise. When he heard Holgorsen’s comments about his potential, he kept the response as even as everything else about his game.
"It's honestly just motivation. I don't get too high, I don't get too low.
I just stay the same," Evans said. "Put my head down and work and know that I can believe whatever I believe in."
If that next step comes, Nebraska won’t just have a steady center. It could have one of the Big Ten’s biggest edges right in the middle of everything.
In Other News...
Teddy Prochazka Just Began A Bittersweet New Chapter After Nebraska
Teddy Prochazkas football path has taken an unexpected turn, but it has not taken him far from the game. The former Nebraska offensive lineman has moved into coaching at Elkhorn South, where he is working with the freshmen program and putting the techniques he learned as a player to use in a new setting.
Prochazka is handling the 9th-grade team as its head coach and offensive play caller, and he has stayed hands-on with the group by demonstrating techniques himself. For Nebraska fans who watched his career get interrupted by injuries, the shift carries a bittersweet feel, but it also offers a glimpse of a football future that still seems to suit him. [Read more 🡒]
Memorial Stadium Just Took A Brutal Hit To Nebraska Pride
Memorial Stadium still carries the kind of history that makes it one of the defining venues in college football, but a recent USA Today ranking put Nebraskas home field seventh in the Big Ten and underscored a reality the program has been working through for a while. The building remains iconic and the sellout streak still matters, yet it is no longer viewed as the sort of place that automatically rattles visiting teams the way it once did.
Nebraska has already responded by trying to reshape the game-day experience, rolling out smaller season-ticket packages and discounted ticket options as part of the Big Red Rebuild. The stadium is also being reduced in capacity, a sign of how much the Huskers are adjusting to a new era while still trying to protect the atmosphere that made Memorial Stadium such a point of pride in the first place. [Read more 🡒]
Nebraska May Have A New Plan For Carter Nelson In 2026
Carter Nelson has been one of Nebraskas more interesting developmental pieces since arriving on campus, and he has been around the program enough to matter in whatever the Huskers decide next. The junior athlete has played in all 26 games since 2024, which is part of why his role is worth watching closely as Nebraska shapes its offense for 2026.
The coaching staff appears to be weighing how best to use him with the roster and competition at his position group both in the mix. Nelson came in as a tight end recruit, but Nebraska is considering ways to maximize his contribution next season, and that kind of adjustment can say as much about team needs as it does about the player himself. [Read more 🡒]