Targeting transfer RB CharMar Brown is a no-brainer for Nebraska football

If Nebraska football is serious about making the College Football Playoff this season, it needs to do whatever it can to add former North Dakota State running back CharMar Brown to the roster.

Brown, a former standout running back for Creighton Prep in Omaha, was part of the 2023 recruiting class. The 5-foot-11, 218-pound running back redshirted during that first season. However, the Nebraska native rushed for 1,181 yards last season, winning the FCS Freshman of the Year Award in the process.

Brown also entered the transfer portal this week. He averaged 4.8 yards per attempt for the Bison this past season as they won the FCS National Championship.

The Omaha native rushed for over 100 yards in four games and had six games with at least 93 yards rushing. I know that Nebraska football head coach Matt Rhule said he was happy with the running back room. Dana Holgorsen also said that Kwinten Ives is RB2.

Ives can be a good player. So can Mekhi Nelson, but would Ives have been good enough to be the FCS Freshman of the Year last season? That feels like a stretch. Both were three-star recruits, and both would still have roles, but if anyone says they are comfortable with Ives starting a game, in the case of an Emmett Johnson injury, they are kidding themselves because we have no idea how he would perform.

That’s a huge unknown, and there is too much at stake for this Nebraska team to stand pat. They might not get Brown, but they at least have to try or try to add another back, such as former Illinois ball-carrier Josh McCray. 

Ives and Nelson have seven career carries for nine yards. That’s all of the past production behind Johnson, who isn’t a big back and has never been anywhere close to a bell cow, outside of a few games.

That doesn’t mean he can’t be. Johnson played well down the stretch, but he has 209 career carries. He’s also just 205 pounds. Can he really carry the rock 200-250 times in 2025? In the Big Ten?

I have my doubts. Nebraska football should, too, and frankly, this team has too much potential to take that risk. Miami was already showing interest in Brown. Other big-time programs will join the mix soon.

If the Huskers are serious about being a playoff team in 2025, they should, too.

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