“We’ve got a lot of athletic guys up front, and it’s really letting us show our athleticism, and putting the ball on the edge,” Knevel said. “And I think if we continue that throughout fall camp, that could be a staple play for us.”
Whatever the play or plays might be, Nebraska points toward the 2017 season with a strong urgency to run the ball better.
The Huskers slipped from 5.3 yards per carry in 2014 to 4.7 in 2015 — after Ameer Abdullah left and a new offense arrived with Riley — and then sagged to a 4.2 average last season that ranked No. 87 nationally.
While the line could point to injuries and youth as potential reasons, that didn’t lessen the blow as that unit went to the offseason.
“We know this last year that our rushing decreased, and that bothered us,” Knevel said. “And for whatever reason it was — tougher opponents, or falling off at the end of the year — we talk about that a lot in our room. We want to try to keep that consistent.”