Nebraska’s opening depth chart offered a pretty clear message in the secondary: the jobs are still there to be won, but a few players have already made strong cases.
Victor Evans and Rex Guthrie are both right in the middle of those conversations, and defensive coordinator Rob Aurich made it sound like neither one has simply been handed anything. What they have done is stack good days in camp and force their way into the picture before the season even starts.
Evans, a fourth-year senior transfer from Florida International, has been one of the quieter names around Nebraska’s roster, but his fall camp has changed that. He’s listed with an OR next to Jeremiah Charles at one cornerback spot, and Aurich said Tuesday that Evans has been consistently sharp when the competition gets real.
"Vic's played a lot of college football. He's played in some big games.
I don't think the moment's ever been too big for him in camp, whether he's repping with the 1s or the 2s," Aurich said Tuesday. "And so when he's had a chance to win competitive reps, he's done that at a pretty consistently high level."
The numbers behind Evans back up why he’s in the mix. He’s 12th among Husker defenders in college snaps, with 618 at FIU, and he played 481 snaps last season. He posted an overall 66.0 PFF grade and a 67.8 mark in coverage.
Aurich also pointed out that Nebraska’s receivers are “elite,” which has made the cornerbacks work for everything in camp. Kwazi Gilmer has won his share of those battles, but the staff hasn’t felt like it has to shield him.
"That's the great thing about camp is you get to win some, lose some and learn from your mistakes," Aurich said. "But whenever we've put him out there, it's never been like we have to protect him. Let him go."
The corner picture isn’t settled there, either. Charles still has a real shot to keep pushing for the job, and Danny Odem, who is listed behind Andrew Marshall at the other corner spot, is expected to get early-season opportunities as well.
"I don't want to say it's a position battle between those two and Danny. I know that's kind of the conversation where it's heading to," Aurich said. "We're excited to see them in game action and see who comes out there ready to play."
That kind of evaluation, according to Nebraska’s staff, won’t be complete until the games start counting.
"Truth be told, we're not going to really know until we get into those winning moments in the game," secondary coach Addison Williams said last week.
Guthrie’s situation carries a different kind of story. He’s listed with an OR next to Dwayne McDougle at one safety spot, and Caleb Benning is also in that mix. Guthrie spent all of spring rehabbing a shoulder, then came back in camp and looked like he hadn’t lost much ground at all.
He played 532 snaps as a redshirt freshman and finished with 63 tackles, becoming only the third freshman in the modern era to reach 60 tackles. After shoulder surgery and a cautious return, he’s apparently made it back into the race.
"Rex is playing above my expectation for coming back from that injury," Aurich said. "No signs of lingering pain or whatever with the shoulder have come up."
It did take Guthrie a couple of practices to get comfortable again, especially with the new terminology at safety, but he’s settled in enough to stay squarely in the competition.
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