Nebraska Football: Time for freshmen WR to earn their stripes

Several Nebraska football receivers will have to step up in the wake of the injury to Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda. Two of those receivers is are freshmen Jaylen Lloyd and Malachi Coleman

LIoyd played a little bit in Thursday’s loss to Minnesota. He had a carry for nine yards, and showed off his explosiveness. in total, the freshman had four snaps. It wasn’t a major sample size, but at least we got to see a bit of what he could do.

Malachi Coleman is a bit more of an interesting case. He was battling injury throughout the course of camp, and is still trying to get up to speed.

With that being said, there’s no doubt Coleman has tremendous athletic talent. We saw it at the high school level. He tallied 48 receptions for 1,057 yards and 16 touchdowns in two years of recorded statistics. He was a big-time playmaker for Lincoln East. Yes, this has to translate to the collegiate level. However, there is no doubt the playmaking ability is there.

For what it’s worth, it sounds as though the youngsters will also have help from veterans. A big topic of conversation has been getting wide receiver Billy Kemp more involved this week. As I wrote about on Monday, that will be important as well.

Freshmen could step up for Nebraska football

Nevertheless, the freshmen could be in line for a big role.  Receiver Alex Bullock named Coleman and Lloyd as two receivers who may need to step up when he met with the media on Tuesday, as transcribed by Evan Bland of the Omaha World-Herald.

Receiver Alex Bullock named multiple receivers set to step up in the wake of the ACL injury to Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda, among them Marcus Washington, Billy Kemp and freshmen Jaylen Lloyd and Malachi Coleman. Said Bullock of Kemp, who went without a catch at Minnesota: “He’s been working hard. He’s ready to have a big week.”

It’s going to be intriguing to see how Lloyd and Coleman. Both of them possess playmaking ability. Lloyd may be a bit shiftier. Lloyd is more of a straight burner. Coleman can beat defenders with his height and speed .

It wouldn’t surprise me to see some growing pains between the two receivers in extended action. Truth be told, they may not be quite ready to make the biggest impact at this time. Nevertheless, there are no doubts about their athletic ability and we may see quite a bit of that beginning on Saturday.