Nebraska Football: Projecting the impact of RB Markese Stepp

Nebraska football landed running back Markese Stepp from USC out of the transfer portal and here’s a look at what his impact will be in 2021. 

One thing that the Nebraska football program desperately needs heading into the 2021 season is some consistency at running back.

Dedrick Mills had some moments for the Huskers during 2020 and his return to Nebraska football would have been welcomed. Instead, he wanted to try his hand in the NFL draft, after an especially strong game to close out the season against Rutgers.

Mills ran for 191 yards and Nebraska ran for 365 total as it overcame four turnovers to beat a pretty decent Rutgers team on the road.

The point of that is that Nebraska football was a better team with a bell-cow running back and that’s been missing during the Scott Frost era.

There have been flashes but Markese Stepp, who was a four-star running back in the 2018 class, should have three years of eligibility remaining, so he could lock down the position for next season and beyond.

He was also recently ranked as the No. 6 running back transfer and one of the top 50 transfer overall according to 247 sports.

 What will his impact be in 2021?

In 2019, before he was injured Stepp averaged 6.7 yards per carry on 48 attempts for the Trojans and scored three touchdowns as he finished with more than 300 yards.

Last season, he wasn’t as productive for USC but still had a 39-yard run. In 12 games the last two years, he has run for at least 50 yards six times but has never carried the ball 20 times during a game so he really does have some untapped potential.

With mobile quarterbacks such as Adrian Martinez and Luke McCaffrey, Nebraska football has appeared better running the ball than it really has been.

A lot of those yards were on scrambles and while the quarterback run should still be a big part of the offense with Martinez, it would be nice to have a true No. 1 back too.

Stepp isn’t going to walk into the job with a  number of talented recruits ready to fight him for it, but there seems like a strong chance that he’ll be the starter and if he’s able to avoid injuries, I see no reason why a 1,000-yard season isn’t a realistic expectation.