Former Husker Says Emmett Johnson Should Go Pro After This Season

One of the top running backs in Nebraska football history believes the current lead-back is ready for the next level.

Speaking on Hurrdat Sports Live on Friday, former Huskers Ameer Abdullah and Kenny Bell joined hosts Damon Benning and Ravi Lulla. With three-time All-Big Ten running back and 11-year NFL veteran Abdullah on the show, the conversation quickly turned to Emmett Johnson.

“The similarities I see in Emmett is just the dynamic ability to do so many things,” Abdullah said after former teammate Kenny Bell said they had someone able to do it all from the running back position during their time in Lincoln. “You see the screen that he took for 56 (yards) last week. It’s just scratching the surface of what his potential can be as a weapon.”

Abdullah believes Johnson is displaying abilities that will earn him a spot at the next level.

“When you look at the NFL landscape, I know scouts are going to be drooling about a guy like that who can make guys miss in space,” Abdullah said. “I think what is most similar in our games is his anticipatory nature. He sees it before it happens.”

Abdullah said being able to anticipate and manipulate the defenders is a sixth sense that you have to have for success.

“You can’t really coach that for a back who can do it really consistently,” Abdullah said. “I feel like that’s what I had at Nebraska, which allowed me to have my senior year, tons of long runs. You saw that jump for Emmett this year, where it went from just marginal gains to boom, big runs, because that anticipation is right on mark.”

Johnson is expected to be in the running for the Doak Walker Award, and the university has put together a Heisman Trophy campaign for him. He’s just the second Husker to rush for more than 1,000 yards in a season since Abdullah, and in the UCLA game became the first Husker running back to notch rushing and receiving yards of more than 100 yards each.

“I’m proud, man, because it’s been a while since I could look at that backfield and be like, ‘That’s a guy.’ And Emmett is a guy. It took a while for a lot of people to really believe that, but he just shows up every single week,” Abdullah said.

Abdullah and Johnson have built a relationship over the past couple of years, with the current Husker seeking advice.

“He sought me out,” Abdullah said. “I didn’t go to him. He messaged me online and was like, ‘Dude, give me any game you can. Whenever you come back, let’s rap.’

“He came and volunteered at my camp two years in a row without asking for anything. He just wanted to be around me and soak up the energy and soak up the knowledge in any way that he could.”

As for that knowledge Johnson is soaking up, Abdullah is using his own experience to offer advice at a critical junction for the younger back.

“The advice I got was, ‘Go back and finish your degree,’” Abdullah said. “But if I could go back, I probably would have left early and the reason why is because I’m in my 11th year in the NFL and I play running back. It’s just a very gruesome position.”

Abdullah noted that he’s the only running back remaining from his draft class in 2015, and he’s the longest-tenured running back in the league.

“I just know from a wear-and-tear standpoint what could have been… if I had taken that one year off of my body in college,” Abdullah said. “I understand now the landscape of the NIL changes things.

“But when it comes to EJ, I definitely think that, looking at this draft class of running backs, looking at the year and the momentum that he has, I definitely think he needs to take advantage of this opportunity.”

Abdullah noted that a number of teams in the league have aging running backs and need a player who can do it all from the backfield, like Johnson has shown this season. The 2026 NFL draft is scheduled for April 23-25 in Pittsburgh.

Nebraska’s regular season continues Saturday with a night game at Penn State, before closing with a Black Friday affair at home against Iowa.

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