3 questions still facing Nebraska Football after spring ball

Has the pass rush improved?

Last season Nebraska football was one of the worst programs in the country in terms of touchdown passes and also sacks.

The Huskers had a pretty solid passing offense in terms of yards per game but threw just 14 touchdowns in 12 games.

When you combine that with the 20 sacks registered by the defense and think about how that lack of pressure made life easier for opposing quarterbacks, it’s not that surprising that the Huskers went 3-9.

If you can’t affect the opposing team’s quarterback or get productive play out of your own, you aren’t going to win many football games. The good news is that the pass rush looked really good in the “spring game” Saturday especially Garrett Nelson, who had 11.5 tackles for loss and five sacks a year ago.

Nelson moved from outside linebacker a year ago to a more traditional defensive end role and it seems to have paid off. He had two sacks and two tackles for loss. Jimari Butler could be one of those guys filling his old role and the 6-foot-5 linebacker also had a sack/TFL.

Nebraska is also in the mix for transfer Ochaun Mathis, an edge rusher from TCU who was on campus for the spring game. If the Huskers added him to the roster, then the pass rush could be notably better. As it stands, it should still be improved as Nelson looks like he could have a double-digit season in sacks.