Nebraska Football: TE position continuing to find their footing

It would be an understatement to say that the Nebraska football offense has to get back to the drawing board this Saturday against Northern Illinois. However, it’s true. The Nebraska football offense needs to find a spark, and it could find one by way of the tight end position. Tight ends coach Josh Martin appeared on Sports Nightly Tuesday, and gave a positive prognosis of the room.

The tight ends played a small role in Saturday’s loss to Colorado. Thomas Fidone caught two passes for 13 yards and a touchdown on Saturday. It was the first touchdown of his collegiate career. Nate Boerkircher played a role in last Saturday’s game as well. He tallied 10 catches for 33 yards, averaging 16.5 yards per catch.

The production was certainly a step in the right direction for the position. Nevertheless, the tight ends are going to need to step up. Yes, the play of quarterback Jeff Sims is not the best right now. That point has been made multiple times over the past couple weeks. Even with that in mind, the tight end position itself has gotten off to a slow start. To be fair, the Colorado game is something they can build off of.

Tight ends need to step up for Nebraska football

Generally speaking, the tight end position is often a safety valve for the quarterback. More targets to guys like Fidone and Boerkircher could inject some life into the passing game. Sims needs to find them as often as possible. Easy throws to the tight end could help him get things going.

Tight ends coach Josh Martin believes that change could be coming for the position, in a good way, on Saturday. Specifically, he believes Fidone could take a leap, as transcribed by Husker247’s Michael Bruntz.

“The only way that you get better at football at any position is playing football,” Martin said. “To get those first two games, plus a tough training camp under their belt, for Thomas, Nate, Janiran Bonner, Luke Lindenmeyer, Jake Appleget, all those guys to get some playing time under their belt, I think you really stated to see a jump.

“This week you could see it with Thomas.”

The tight end position will need to play at a high level on Saturday. Getting more production from Fidone and the tight ends overall would be important. Saturday against Colorado was something the unit could build off of. Now, the unit needs to be able to continue the positive momentum.

The program needs the tight ends to make an impact. Martin’s comments lead me to believe that could happen this week.