Nebraska
2026 NFL Draft Scouting Report: Emmett Johnson (RB – Nebraska)
FantasyPros will be taking a look at early NFL Draft scouting reports before the Combine in February. Here’s a look at Nebraska running back Emmett Johnson.
2026 NFL Draft Scouting Report: Emmett Johnson
Emmett Johnson (RB – Emmett Johnson)
5-foot-11 | 200 Pounds
Background
Emmett Johnson was a three-star recruit who redshirted in 2022, then worked his way into the running back rotation over the next two years, finishing with 90-411-2 (4.6) in 2023 and 117-598-1 (5.1) in 2024, also catching 39-286-2 that season. This past season, Johnson took over as the team’s workhorse and put together a huge 251-1,451-12 (5.8) line with 46-370-3 receiving.
Positives
Established himself as the lead back in Nebraska’s balanced rushing attack in 2025. Shows nice flexibility and knee-bend, with a naturally low center of gravity. Bread and butter are one-cut concepts where he can stretch the defense laterally before planting his foot and getting upfield. Has solid speed to outrun defenders to the corner on sweeps, tosses, etc. Makes very clean, crisp cuts as a runner.
Johnson skinnies through congestion, with a good feel for pockets of space. Shifty jitterbug type with impressive suddenness and lateral quickness to make defenders miss in a phone booth; very difficult to tackle one-on-one, and was rarely brought down by the first defender in range. Has a lot of creativity in his game and can salvage something out of nothing at times. Mixes in a lot of different moves, from stutter-steps to jukes to spins to back-jukes, with outstanding stop-start movement skills.
Not the most powerful back, but shows the ability to work through some arm tackles. Good competitiveness and leg drive in short-yardage situations. Ball security has been very solid, with only three career fumbles as a runner, plus one as a receiver. Johnson’s role as a receiver expanded significantly this past year, where he showed reliable hands. Has ideal quickness/creativity to scheme into space against opponents.
Negatives
On the smaller side for a feature back, with a thinner build than usual. As his size might suggest, Johnson doesn’t bring a ton of power as a runner and isn’t going to consistently push the pile. Rather than burrowing ahead for what he can get, his tendency to escape and bounce runs can compound problems when the blocking isn’t there.
Johnson’s pad level rises on contact. When combined with his competitive finishing, it leads him to take a lot of punishment from opponents. Struggles in pass protection. Doesn’t have the ideal contact balance when taking on opponents in blitz pickup. Might not be the ideal choice to protect the quarterback on third downs, which may limit his usage in the passing game overall.
Summary
A very quick, agile back who makes crisp cuts upfield and shows excellent creativity to make defenders miss in space. His impressive, statement-making 2025 campaign put him on the map.
While Johnson is not a very powerful back and struggles in pass protection, he should be able to contribute as a change-of-pace type at the next level. Looks poised to be among the first handful of backs off the board on draft day.
Projection: Round 4
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The future of data centers in Nebraska took center stage at a North Omaha town hall Thursday evening.
The event was hosted by State Sens. Terrell McKinney and Ashlei Spivey, who alongside Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh sponsored a bill in the Nebraska Legislature that looked to help regulate data centers.
Parts of their bill were adopted and passed in LB1010, which requires reports on annual power usage, water usage and ownership.
“Having this passed in a package showed a lot of bipartisan work,” Spivey told a crowd of attendees at Nelson Mandela Elementary School.
The proposed regulations were shaped in part by Bold Nebraska, an advocacy group focused on eminent domain and clean energy. Jane Kleeb, chair of the Nebraska Democratic Party and founder of Bold Nebraska, said before the bill passed there were “zero laws on the books” to address a boom in data centers.
“If one is coming into the community, we wanted to make sure that there were some basic transparency things in place,” Kleeb said.
Political discussions around data centers heated up in recent months following reporting by the Flatwater Free Press that showed Google is considering a data center in Nebraska that could require more than three times the amount of power the entire city of Lincoln uses at peak demand in the summer.
The Nebraska Legislature recently passed another bill, LB1261, that allows private developers to build and own power plants to serve a large industrial customer, including data centers. That bill was proposed by the governor’s office and celebrated by Gov. Jim Pillen.
“Our state is once again taking a bold and strategic step – one that will create an environment that attracts business and multibillion dollar investment, while legally preserving Nebraska’s unique and consumer-friendly public power model,” Pillen said at the time.
At Thursday’s town hall, McKinney called LB1261 “the bogeyman bill.”
“It’s a bill that the governor pushed through the legislature to allow for data centers to create their own power,” McKinney said. “It’s a bill that I stood on the floor and said this is going to harm our communities.”
LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) – Hundreds of people are without power in southeast Nebraska after a severe storm passed through Thursday morning.
The Lincoln Electric System outage map showed 115 customers without power across the city at 11:36 a.m.
Norris Public Power District’s outage map also shows 45 customers affected by the storm. As of 11:36 a.m., there were nine active outages.
According to the Nebraska Public Power District outage map, 657 customers were affected by the storm. Most of the affected customers were near Plattsmouth in southeast Nebraska. As of 11:37 a.m., 27 customers remain without power.
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Mandatory evacuations have been ordered near Crawford, including Fort Robinson State Park, as the South Fork Fire continues to spread in western Nebraska.
According to the City of Crawford, evacuations are currently underway for an area north of Crawford that includes the area south of Dodd Road, west of Dodd Road, and FF Street.
Fort Robinson has also been evacuated.
The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission said Fort Robinson State Park and Peterson Wildlife Management Area have been temporarily closed due to the fire.
The fire has burned approximately 9,000 acres and is currently 0% contained, according to the U.S. Forest Service.
Nebraska Game and Parks said the park and the WMA will remain closed until further notice to support firefighting operations and protect public safety.
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