Nebraska football post-spring O-line depth chart projection

Nebraska football fans are over the moon right now due to the potential of quarterback Dylan Raiola. He showed during the spring just how high the ceiling can be for this program at the quarterback position.

Yet, as important as quarterbacks are, the offensive line is just as important. Adrian Martinez is a great example of that. Surround a dude with talent and suddenly, things look a lot better.

The good news is that the Nebraska offensive line has gotten demonstrably better since the arrival of Matt Rhule. Donovan Raiola has played a huge role in that. He’s recruited well and last season, the player development aspect came to the forefront.

Bryce Benharht started playing like a four-star recruit and when Teddy Prochazka returned from injury, he looked like the fixture at left tackle he was always supposed to be.

Another huge positive for the Huskers is the return of Ben Scott. He’s one of the best centers in the Big Ten and is another guy who passed on a shot to play pro football to come back.

We only caught a glimpse of the offensive line this spring but there were positive rumblings about the starters and even some top backups. Freshmen such as Grant Brix and Gibson Pyle impressed this spring too, as well as returners Gunnar Gottula and Henry Lutovsky.

There will be some competition this fall for starting jobs and here’s a look at how we see the depth chart following the spring and headed into the fall.

Nebraska football projected O-line depth chart

Starters: (left to right) Teddy Prochazka, Justin Evan-Jenkins, Ben Scott, Micah Mazzccua, Bryce Benhart 

Backups: Gunnar Gottula, Turner Corcoran, Henry Lutovsky, Sam Sledge, Grant Brix 

The first five seem fairly set outside of the guard spots. Rhule said Mazzccua had some work to do this spring in terms of conditioning, but I have no doubt he’ll start and will absolutely maul people. Nebraska football fans are going to like his game.

Turner Corcoran is the wildcard. If he’s healthy, he will compete with Evan-Jenkins for the starting spot at left guard, as well as being a backup for left tackle. Guard is his best position though. Evan-Jenkins is essentially the backup center and is probably going to take that job over next season.

For 2024, it will be hard to unseat him, even for Corcoran. But as everyone knows, Nebraska isn’t going to make it through the season with just five offensive linemen. Henry Lutovsky is another starting-caliber player.

I also wouldn’t be surprised to see Gottula and Grant Brix play meaningful snaps. I’m sure Nebraska football would love to have the luxury of redshirting Brix and Gibson Pyle but life doesn’t always work out how you want it. Yet, if those guys do need to play, the Huskers should be just fine.

Matt Rhule said when he arrived that you need to be able to protect and affect the quarterback and he’s built a roster that can do exactly that.

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