Nebraska’s offensive line has its headliner heading into 2026, and it comes in the middle.
Fifth-year senior center Justin Evans was named a second-team All-American by The Athletic on Thursday, a nod that lands 16 days before the Huskers open their 2026 season. The New Jersey native has already logged 31 starts in Lincoln and is being viewed as one of the top interior offensive line prospects for the 2027 NFL Draft.
Evans was one of 15 players from Big Ten programs to make either the first- or second-team list. The conference’s footprint showed up heavily across the offensive line group, too, with five of the 10 linemen coming from Nebraska or one of its league opponents.
His inclusion tracks cleanly with what he did in 2025. Evans started all 13 games and helped clear the way for Emmett Johnson, who finished as the Big Ten Running Back of the Year after piling up 1,821 all-purpose yards. Johnson also earned first-team All-American honors.
Nebraska’s line gave up 33 sacks as a unit last season, but Pro Football Focus credited Evans with none of them. He heads into this fall with 31 career starts and more than 1,900 collegiate snaps, a resume that makes the All-America call look less like a surprise and more like a formality.
The recognition also puts Evans in position to make a little Nebraska history. There’s a chance he becomes the first offensive lineman drafted by an NFL team since Cam Jurgens went in the second round to the Philadelphia Eagles in 2022. Jurgens later made the Pro Bowl team and is now one of the highest-paid centers in the league.
Now Evans gets a new offensive line coach in Geep Wade, who takes over a group Nebraska hopes can make a clear jump this season. Wade’s Georgia Tech line allowed just nine sacks in 2025, while Nebraska under Donovan Raiola gave up nine against Minnesota alone.
The size profile up front is also changing. The projected starting group and the depth behind it are bigger than what Nebraska has rolled out in recent years.
Elijah Pritchett, the expected left tackle, is listed at 6-foot-6 and 330 pounds. Projected left guard Paul Mubenga is 6-foot-5 and 320 pounds.
At right guard, Evans is expected to line up next to Iowa State transfer Brendan Black. The right tackle spot is projected to go to either returning starter Gunnar Gottula, who is 6-foot-6 and 320 pounds, or South Carolina transfer Tree Babalade, who checks in at 6-foot-5 and 340 pounds.
Evans’ path to this point has already been unusual. 247Sports originally profiled him as a defensive tackle, and even Evans probably couldn’t have predicted this exact rise when he first arrived. But after proving people wrong along the way, he enters 2026 as Nebraska’s most decorated lineman and, perhaps, the top draft prospect on the roster.
If Nebraska is going to move forward in the win-loss column, it figures to start with Evans setting the tone in the middle. Reliability has been his calling card, and that’s exactly what the Huskers will lean on again.
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