Nebraska football’s offensive inventory check: Future at QB, transfer portal needs

LINCOLN, Neb. — Before anyone moves in or out, the Nebraska football roster for 2024 stands about 20 over the scholarship limit. That includes all players with remaining eligibility and the recruits committed to the Huskers.

Understand, though, that the numbers are of little significance.

Nebraska could climb to 30 players over the 85-scholarship limit, and it would not present a major problem. Not a problem, that is, if coach Matt Rhule in his second year is ready to do what’s needed with the roster to make a run at marked improvement after a 5-7 debut season in Lincoln that ended with four consecutive defeats.

“I know this program is in really good hands,” departing offensive lineman Noure Nouili said after Iowa beat Nebraska 13-10 on a 38-yard field goal as time expired at Memorial Stadium, “and that the next few classes are all going to destroy everybody in front of them.”

The Huskers have not produced a winning season since 2016. The seven-year postseason drought, the longest in the Power 5, is a drain on the program’s positive energy.

Realistically, Nebraska needs more good players.

It can develop them. Rhule and his assistant coaches displayed a knack in 2023 for identifying and cultivating talent. A second offseason under the guidance of this staff ought to do wonders for the readiness of Huskers to win battles in their second or third seasons in Lincoln.

But Nebraska needs more. It needs help from the transfer portal, which fully opens for business on Dec. 4.

“We’re just not quite there yet,” Rhule said. “That’s why I’m so proud of these guys because they battle and they fight and we don’t make excuses. We just come back.”

Below is a look at the offensive scholarship distribution before the offseason announcements begin and the portal gets overcrowded. Several players on this list will depart. Some have already made that decision.

But until official word arrives, they’ll stay here as part of the running count.

Offensively, Nebraska ranked 124th nationally in scoring (18 points per game) this year and 118th in yards per game (312.8). Both rank as the worst in a single season at the school since 1968.

Nebraska sits 105th in yards per play at 5.08. And that’s with eight gains of 50 yards or more, equal to College Football Playoff contenders Alabama, Georgia, Oregon and Texas; more than Washington, Ole Miss and Notre Dame; and more than Colorado and Michigan combined.

So it was boom or bust for the 2023 Huskers — and too often bust. Nebraska’s 15 lost fumbles led the FBS. Its minus-17 turnover margin was better only than Temple’s.