Nebraska
Dana Holgorsen on 2025 offense: “I think it's about balance”
Dana Holgorsen on 2025 offense: “I think it’s about balance”
Dana Holgorsen remembers the old days.
The days when fax machines were being used on signing day, which was always the first Wednesday of February. But as Bob Dylan once wrote, the times, they are a-changin’.
The sport of college football is changing drastically off the field. The early signing period in December has been the primary signing time for high school recruits since its inception in 2017.
“A lot of the times, we knew who we were going to sign at this point in time right now, in early December,” Holgorsen said during an appearance on Nebraska football’s #2FiveCrew Signing Day Show. “But you had to recruit them all December, then you had to recruit them all January and waste a whole lot of money recruiting these guys, and then you sign in February.”
It’s truly a whole new world for college football players, coaches, staffers, everyone. They’re adjusting to a new normal no one has experienced before at this level. Holgorsen, brought in following the UCLA loss in early November, has a lot of catching up to do.
Part of catching up involves Nebraska’s 2025 class, which, as one can imagine, Holgorsen is still learning about.
“I still don’t know who they all are,” Holgorsen joked. “I don’t know when they’re coming. I hear a lot of them are going to be here in January, which I’m excited about that.
Holgorsen touched on a bunch of topics during his appearance. Here’s a quick breakdown of what the Huskers’ offensive coordinator said.
Holgorsen is enjoying time away from the stresses of being a head coach in today’s college football
Chip Kelly may have started a new trend when he chose to be the offensive coordinator at Ohio State following six years as UCLA’s head coach.
Why be a head coach and have to deal with everything the new landscape of college football requires — be friends with donors, be a fundraiser, recruit next year’s class, re-recruit your own roster — when you can, for the most part, worry about calling plays and creating game plans as a coordinator. You know, worry about the football.
We’ve seen Gus Malzahn leave Central Florida to be the offensive coordinator at Florida State. Now Holgorsen, who’s been a head coach for 13 years across West Virginia and Houston, can’t hide his excitement for calling plays and thinking up ways for Husker players to score touchdowns.
“When you’re head coach, you think you got your hands on everything and you’re coaching all the positions — you’re not,” Holgorsen said. “You’re doing a whole lot of things other than coaching football. So I think the thing that has been fun for me is just sitting in there and really coaching football, coaching the kids on the field and focusing on specific things as opposed to the big-picture stuff.”
Why Holgorsen wanted to stick around in Lincoln
Holgorsen signed a two-year contract with Nebraska that will pay him $1.2 million annually.
Securing Holgorsen was a massive and positive move from head coach Matt Rhule during a time of shock and confusion in the fan base as several Huskers started announcing intensions to enter the transfer portal when it opens.
Why did Holgorsen want to stick around?
“We should have won three games when I was here. I think that’s kind of the biggest thing,” Holgorsen said. “I’d sit back and I watched the USC game. Probably had as much fun as I’ve had in the Wisconsin game. And then the Iowa thing, we let that get away from us. And that…that bothers me.”
Holgorsen is a competitor at the end of the day. Just like the players he’s calling plays for. The USC and Iowa games left a bad taste in his mouth. May have even pissed him off a bit, too, because Nebraska was so close to winning both games.
But the Huskers didn’t, of course. They weren’t good enough. Not buttoned-up enough. It all created motivation for the OC. He wants another crack at this.
“For as odd of a situation as this was, for me to go into a room and not know anybody or anything, including the calls and the offense and stuff, the way that our staff came together, the way that the players respected responded to it, for us to be able to be close was encouraging,” Holgorsen said. “Give us another month and the product should be a little bit better. Give us another year, and the product will be better.”
Holgorsen understands roster construction is going to be a year-by-year endeavor, but he’s taking it week by week right now
In the new college football, rosters will drastically change each offseason. Coaching staffs will likely do it, too.
The transfer portal, which opens on Monday, will be as crazy as ever with players looking for new homes, new NIL deals and better situations. Holgorsen isn’t worried about what his roster and personnel will look like when the Huskers kick off against Cincinnati to open the 2025 season.
He’s worried about practicing with the young guys and seeing who’s developing. And, of course, winning the bowl game. That’s important to him.
“We need to go win this game. The fact that Nebraska hasn’t been to a bowl game in eight years or whatever it is, is just mind blowing to me. It’s just, I can’t fathom it,” Holgorsen said. “So we need to take advantage of this and go have a good performance in the bowl game. And then we’ll shift to next year.”
Holgorsen knows the roster will change, and Nebraska’s staff as transfer candidates already lined up to take visits, which can begin this weekend.
“We’re going to probably bring in 20, 30 transfers on visits. We’re not gonna take that many, but we’re gonna bring that many in to be able to fill the spots that we need, to be able to change our team,” Holgorsen said. “I look forward to that process.”
The way Holgorsen sees it, he’ll be evaluating the players on the current roster and deciding if they can help the team win next season or if they’re not ready to do that yet.
“Based on the amount of people here who can help us, you’re not bringing in people to replace guys who can help you win. You’re bringing guys in to fill spots on where you need people to be able to help you win,” Holgorsen said. “So I’m looking forward to that process, it’s already been fun to evaluate guys out there.”
Holgorsen’s offensive philosophy during his three-game stretch, and what he wants the 2025 offense to feature
Holgorsen wasn’t sure what to call the offense he called the final three games of the regular season. He was taking suggestions from each assistant coach on offense. If it made sense to Holgorsen, he kept it on the play sheet. If it didn’t, he took it off.
It was pretty simple, Holgorsen said. He was going to call a limited amount of plays in the games. And those plays would be repped at practice over and over and over. And then again.
Simplifying the playbook was a major positive, especially with a true freshman quarterback who’s mentally capable of handling it, but was a true freshman playing Big Ten defenses at the end of the day.
For Holgorsen, if he sees success with a play, he has no issue doing it again.
“I’m going to call the same play twice if it works,” Holgorsen said. “And if it works, I’m going to call it three or four times. So why do you need 150 plays on your sheet? You’re not going to get to them. So quit putting them on the sheet because you can’t practice them and you’re not going to call them all. So that’s just what I did.”
So, the next question: What’s the 2025 offense going to look like with an entire offseason to work on it for Holgorsen?
While he got his coaching start in the Hal Mumme/Mike Leach Air Raid, Holgorsen has made his own unique tweaks to his offenses over the years. But he keeps coming back to the same trait: balance.
“It’s a lot easier to hand the thing off and score,” said Holgorsen, who had multiple West Virginia teams that had successful run games. “…Just the execution of calling to play, if you can turn and hand it and go score, I mean, that’s a lot easier than dropping back and pass sets and routes and progressions, and that’s coming from me. At the end of the day, I think it’s about balance.”
What’s Holgorsen looking for on the recruiting trail and transfer portal?
As Husker fans have learned, Holgorsen is blunt. He’s direct. He doesn’t really send mixed signals. He says what he wants to say.
When asked about what kind of player he’ll be searching for on the recruiting trail and transfer portal, Dana was Dana.
“Guys who can really make plays,” Holgorsen said, which got a chuckle out of studio hosts Jessica Coody and Damon Benning. “Athletic playmakers is kind of who we’re after. I don’t care if that’s at receiver, inside receiver, outside receiver. I don’t really care about the size. We’re not looking for specific size and stuff like that. Bigger, faster, stronger is always better.
“But just guys that are good humans, good kids, good people, hard working guys that are intelligent, that can learn and will work hard, I think is kind of what fits what we’re trying to do here.”
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College Football’s 2026 transfer portal process is in its very early stages. Right now, we’re in the period where teams are losing players into the portal, while hosting visitors they hope to sign and bring in sometime in the next couple of weeks. So pretty much everyone is a net negative at this moment.
With that being the case, the negative impact of the portal for Nebraska so far has been minimal…if you consider losing your former five-star, two-year starting quarterback minimal.
Dylan Raiola is the only Husker of real note to enter the portal thus far. Former starting kicker Tristan Alvano and legacy defensive lineman Maverick Noonan announced early, along with several others. The small number (13 so far) is a win. Several starters and reserve contributors have also confirmed they are staying put, while the reserve players who are leaving are presumably looking for a chance at more playing time and/or a slightly bigger payday.
Next season will be the second year of college football under the NCAA mandated roster limit of 105. Teams will still be allowed to go slightly over that limit to accommodate returning players being “grandfather in.” This exception is for players who have been in their program prior to last season when the rule took effect. It allows them to exhaust their eligibility. Right now, Nebraska still has over 100 players on the roster, so depending on how many players stay and how many more they sign out of the portal, some level of roster reduction will still likely need to take place.
As for who head coach Matt Rhule and his staff are targeting, that list starts with now-former Notre Dame quarterback Kenny Minchey. Minchey lost out on the starting job for the Fighting Irish last preseason and played only sparingly 2025. He’s set to visit Lincoln soon.
With only TJ Lateef returning as a scholarship QB, Rhule will likely need to also bring in a second transfer portal signal caller for depth purposes. Nebraska has not signed a quarterback in it’s 2026 high school recruiting class.
Also targeted and set to visit are several of the defensive players transferring from San Diego State, where new Husker Defensive Coordinator Rob Aurich coached last season. At the top of that list is All-Mountain West Linebacker Owen Chambliss. Chambliss racked up 110 tackles during his Aztec career, plus 9.5 tackles for loss that includes four sacks. He’ll have two years of eligibility remaining. Chambliss was one of six Aztecs to garner All-MW honors last season, and at least two of these former SDSU standouts are set to visit Aurich at his new job site.
Right now, the visitor list is extensive, which is a good thing for Rhule considering the players he’s chasing will all have multiple other offers. When his contract extension was announced back on October 30th, Rhule pointed out that he expected Nebraska to have a good deal more financial resources available to help lure transfers to Lincoln starting this off season. That time has arrived.
Mark Knudson Mark is a former MLB pitcher for the Houston Astros, Milwaukee Brewers and Colorado Rockies. He’s the only person ever to play high school, college and professional baseball in Colorado. Mark earned a BA in Technical Journalism from Colorado State University and has worked in radio, television and print sports media since 1994. He’s the co-author of “Pitching to the Corners” with former teammate Don August and the author of “Just Imagine,” a historical fiction novel about The Beatles.
Mark is currently a feature writer and columnist for Mile High Sports in Denver and recently joined the team at Heavy.com. Mark is also a high school baseball coach in the Denver area. More about Mark Knudson
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The stage is set for Utah and Nebraska to go toe-to-toe in the 2025 Las Vegas Bowl.
The Utes (10-2, 7-2 Big 12) and Cornhuskers (7-5, 4-5 Big Ten) are set to kick off from Allegiant Stadium on Dec. 31 at 1:30 p.m. MT. Fans not making the trip to Las Vegas will be able to tune in via ESPN.
With several bowl game opt-outs and a significant head coaching change headlining the major storylines, here’s what to watch for when Utah and Nebraska take the field on New Year’s Eve.
Morgan Scalley Takes The Wheel
Kyle Whittingham’s expedited takeover in Ann Arbor, Michigan, puts Utah’s longtime defensive coordinator, Morgan Scalley, at the helm of the Utes for the first time as the head coach.
Scalley was previously in charge of the Utah defense for 10 seasons, helping reaffirm the same principles Whittingham established when he was the team’s defensive coordinator; relentless, smart, tough and not prone to giving up a lot of points.
Since 2019, the Utes have held opponents to 15 points or fewer in 36 games, including seven times during the 2025 regular season. Scalley’s defense in 2025 ranked No. 5 in the Football Bowl Subdivision in passing efficiency defense, No. 15 in interceptions (14) and No. 16 in scoring defense, allowing just 18.7 points per game. Utah was No. 2 in the Big 12 in passing yards, allowing 177.5 per game.
It’s safe to assume the transition to Scalley — a Salt Lake City native who’s been on the Utes’ sidelines in some capacity since 2007 — will be seamless for the most part, and that Utah’s defense will continue to be stout as it faces a Nebraska offense that’s being led by a true freshman making his fourth career start. How the Utes as a whole come out of the gate and their intensity and focus on both sides of the ball after the abrupt head coaching switch, will be worth monitoring, though.
Utah’s Bowl Game Opt-Outs
From the sidelines to the field itself, Utah will be without several key figures for its postseason game.
The offensive line, especially, won’t look the same, as both Spencer Fano and Caleb Lomu have opted out of the Las Vegas Bowl while declaring for the 2026 NFL Draft.
It’ll be interesting to monitor how the Utes — who averaged the second-most rushing yards per game (269.8) in the Football Bowl Subdivision in the regular season — function without their two best offensive linemen bookending their front line against a Cornhuskers defense that allowed the third-highest yards per carry average in the Big Ten (4.8).
According to reports, Keith Olsen and Zereoue Williams will fill in for Fano and Lomu along the offensive line. Olsen, a 6-foot-6 junior, started at right tackle for the Kansas game and has allowed one pressure and one hurry in 64 pass blocking opportunities this season, according to Pro Football Focus. Williams, a 6-foot-8 Arizona native, played in all 12 regular season, mainly at left tackle, and recorded 79 total snaps, including 59 on run plays.
As for the other side of the ball, Utah will be down without its main edge rushers in John Henry Daley and Logan Fano. Daley’s absence has been felt since his season-ending injury against Kansas State in November; Logan, meanwhile, recently announced with his brother that he’ll be entering the 2026 NFL Draft.
Utah’s Offensive Play-Calling
First-year offensive coordinator Jason Beck has orchestrated the Utes offense to the tune of 41.1 points per game — the third time since 1930 that Utah averaged over 40 points per game — and 478.6 total yards of offense per game, ranking No. 6 in the Football Bowl Subdivision. He’s been creative, too; from wildcat packages, flea flickers, defensive players lined up at skill positions and designed run plays for both the starting and backup quarterback.
A standalone postseason game to cap off the 2025 campaign will give Beck more opportunities to show what he’s got up his sleeves as a play-caller. And given his name has been attached to the list of assistants Whittingham will reportedly target to join him at Michigan, it’ll be interesting to see how Beck approaches what could be his final game as the Utes’ offensive coordinator.
Not to mention, Utah won’t have its top two tackles leading the way in the run game. If the Utes can’t move the ball with the same consistency they had in the regular season, it’ll be worth monitoring how Beck adjusts.
Will Ryan Davis Play?
Utah’s top receiver wasn’t involved during the home finale against Kansas State and was ruled out for the Kansas game in the days leading up to kickoff. It’s unclear what sort of ailment Davis has been dealing with, though he’d certainly like to be on the field for what will likely be the final college football game of his career.
Davis, a New Mexico transfer who began his career at UAB in 2019, led Utah with 659 receiving yards on 57 receptions, hauling in four touchdowns across 11 regular season appearances.
Nebraska Without Emmett Johnson
The Cornhuskers were middle of the pack in the Big Ten in rushing, averaging 144.7 yards per game during the regular season, due in large part to Emmett Johnson’s success on the ground. The 5-foot-11, 200-pound junior from Minnesota was named the Big Ten Running Back of the Year after totaling 1,451 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns, plus 46 catches for 370 yards and three more touchdowns. His 1,821 scrimmage yards ranked No. 2 in the country.
The Utes won’t have to worry about trying to slow down Nebraska’s dynamic tailback, though, given he’s already declared for the 2026 NFL Draft.
Utah struggled defending the run down the stretch of the regular season, giving up 275.3 rushing yards per game and yielded 7.1 yards per carry in November, including 472 yards on the ground to Kansas State on Nov. 22.
MORE UTAH NEWS & ANALYSIS
The Las Vegas Bowl offers a spotlight for Nebraska players looking to further cement themselves with the current coaching staff or showcase their abilities for future ones, potentially in the transfer portal.
That makes the New Year’s Eve bowl game an important one for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the Huskers having a chance to end the season on a strong note after back-to-back ugly losses to Penn State and Iowa to close the regular season.
A lot of focus will be on Nebraska’s offense, as the Huskers have plenty of questions about how TJ Lateef plays with more lead time, how they replace All-American running back Emmett Johnson and what offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen can cook up after an up-and-down season. But some of the most interesting players for the bowl game are on the defensive side, including freshman linebacker Dawson Merritt.
2025 stats
- Eight tackles
- One tackle for loss
What to know
It isn’t a new feeling for Nebraska fans to be excited about seeing a true freshman linebacker get more opportunities in a bowl game. Just a year ago, Vincent Shavers was in the same spot Merritt is now and turned in a strong performance during the Pinstripe Bowl. Merritt has had plenty of time to get healthy and to learn more of what Rob Dvoracek wants. Could that put him in a position to play more in Las Vegas?
What’s at stake
Merritt could go a long way in helping fans and coaches feel better about a linebacker room that wasn’t Nebraska’s biggest problem, but was far from the level of play the Huskers received in Matt Rhule’s first two seasons.
Merritt has shown himself to be an intriguing player who has flashed when he’s been in games, but clearly also needs more time and more reps to fully become the player he was recruited to be after the Huskers flipped him from Alabama last fall.
Merritt’s bowl game and expected ascension make for an interesting picture at linebacker. The Huskers have to see what the portal holds, both in terms of linebackers leaving and the need to add veterans for depth, as players like Merritt, Christian Jones and others continue to grow and develop.
Spotlight series
- Opportunity Knocks for TJ Lateef in Las Vegas Bowl
- Nyziah Hunter’s Chance to Reassert Himself As Top Receiver
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