Huskers Big Red Daily: Injury concerns for Nebraska football, NFL standouts, volleyball soon

Welcome to Husker Big Red Daily, your daily stop for the latest Nebraska football news, recruiting buzz, transfer portal updates, and Huskers headlines. Here’s a quick look at the latest storylines surrounding Nebraska athletics.

Nebraska football wrapped up fall camp over the weekend with a final scrimmage on Saturday.

Head coach Matt Rhule met with the media after practice. He named Anthony Colandrea as the starting quarterback. That didn’t surprise anyone, or shouldn’t have surprised anyone, but it was the first time that Rhule confirmed Colandrea would be the No. 1 quarterback.

The bigger news is on the injury front. For starters,  Rhule said that Tree Babalade missed the scrimmage. He also missed the open practice earlier in the week.

Rhule also said that regardless of the position, Gunnar Gottula was one of the Huskers’ five best offensive linemen, so either way, it feels like the 16-game starter over the past two seasons will be the right tackle, or maybe he will wind up at left guard.

Either way, expect Gottula to start for the Huskers against Ohio, at least if Rhule was being honest about him being one of Nebraska football’s five best offensive linemen.

Defensive coordinator Rob Aurich said that linebacker Owen Chambliss, who could easily be Nebraska’s best defender, missed the last week due to injury. There have been rumors of a toe injury. Hopefully, it’s nothing serious. Dexter Foster, Vincent Shavers, and Dawson Merritt provide some great options if he is out for any games, but Chambliss was a first-team All-Mountain West selection and should thrive if he can play this season.

Huskers stand out in the NFL preseason

Emmett Johnson scored his first career NFL touchdown in the Chiefs preseason game on Saturday. He carried the ball seven times for 25 yards (one TD) and caught a pass for 10 yards. That was on top of 12 rushes for 59 yards in the preseason opener, as well as three receptions for 10 yards.

In all, Johnson is averaging 4.4 yards per attempt in the preseason. His roster spot seems safe at this point. Ty Robinson’s roster spot with the Eagles wasn’t in jeopardy, but it looks like he will have a key role to play after two sacks on Saturday.

The second-year pro has three sacks in two preseason games. That means two former Nebraska football players, with Cam Jurgens on the offensive line, could play heavy snaps for the Eagles in 2026.

Nebraska volleyball season starts this week

The Huskers will open their season Thursday at Spikes Under the Lights at AT&T Stadium in Dallas. The Huskers will take on Florida at 7:00 PM CST on TNT.

No. 1 Nebraska is also going to take on second-ranked Texas on Sunday in Las Vegas, following a match against UNLV on Saturday (7:00 CST, FS1).

The Longhorns dropped their first match of the season to 12th-ranked Arizona State. Nebraska and Texas will play Sunday at 2:30 PM on Fox in a rematch of the 2023 national title game won by Texas.

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