Nebraska
Rifle Begins 2024 Schedule Saturday at Army, Sunday vs. Nebraska
LEXINGTON, Ky. – As the calendar turns to 2024, the University of Kentucky rifle team begins the second stretch of regular-season competition, traveling to West Point, New York this weekend for dual matches at Army and vs. Nebraska on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
The action starts Saturday as Kentucky takes on Army inside the Tronsrue Marksmanship Center at West Point. Sunday, Kentucky will take on Nebraska in a neutral-site dual match in the same facility. Live targets and a NCAA Scorecard are available both days online at UKathletics.com. Both matches are scheduled to start at 9 a.m. ET.
“Excited to get the 2024 portion of the schedule underway,” UK head coach Harry Mullins said. “I was very proud of how we ended the season up in Alaska with some good performances and look forward to seeing how we can continue that momentum into 2024. We know the regular season is all about getting better and perfecting our craft as we head into the GARC Championships and NCAAs. It will be great to be back in the range with the team this weekend.”
Kentucky is coming off its best performance of the season in its last match, posting a season-high team score of 4745 in a tri-match with both Alaska-Fairbanks and Akron in Fairbanks, Alaska. It was a career day from fifth-year senior Emmie Sellers, who set career highs in both smallbore and air rifle for a new career-high aggregate. Kentucky scored a season high score in both disciplines, posting a 2357 in smallbore and 2388 in air rifle for the high aggregate. The season-high mark surpasses the previous season high of 4727 secured in the season opener vs. Morehead State.
Kentucky’s 2357 smallbore was the sixth-highest smallbore score in the nation this season as the Wildcats are one of only two teams in the nation to score a 2357 or higher in smallbore this year. UK’s 2388 in air rifle tied the third highest team score in the discipline this season and UK is one of only three teams with an air rifle team score of 2388 or higher. The 4745 aggregate tied the fifth-highest team score in the nation this season as only UK, TCU, Alaska-Fairbanks and WVU have hit 4745 or higher.
Sellers was the star in the second relay for Kentucky, scoring career-high marks in both smallbore and air rifle. She scored an impressive 588 in smallbore thanks to a perfect 200 in prone, marking the third-straight match that she has upped her career-high smallbore score. In air rifle, Sellers scored a 598, which also was a career best and was just two shots off a perfect 600. The two strong scores earned her a 1186 aggregate, which also is a career high and placed her fourth individually at the match.
Sophomore Sofia Ceccarello was fantastic in both disciplines, scoring a 591 in smallbore and 599 in air rifle. This was the fifth 599 of the year in air rifle for Ceccarello, who is the only athlete in the nation to have five or more 599s in air rifle. Her two high scores total a 1190 aggregate, which tied for the highest individual score of the match. Freshman Braden Peiser and sophomore Martin Voss also excelled in smallbore in the first relay, scoring high marks. Peiser posted a 589, including a 199 standing, which is an outstanding score in the hardest of the smallbore positions. Peiser ended his day with a 595 air rifle for a 1184 aggregate, which was good for sixth overall at the match. Voss tied a career high and set a new season high in smallbore with a 589 and followed with a 583 air rifle for a 1172 aggregate.
Ceccarello leads Kentucky this season in both smallbore average and air rifle average. She is averaging a 588 in smallbore and 598.571 in air rifle for an aggregate average of 1186.571. Sellers is right behind her averaging 584.714 in smallbore, 593 in air rifle and a 1177.714 aggregate, while fellow fifth-year senior Jaden Thompson is third on the squad in aggregate average at 1175.428 with a 581.714 in smallbore and 593.714 in air rifle. Peiser is earning a 582 in smallbore and 592.714 in air rifle for a 1174.714 aggregate, while Voss is posting a 584.143 in smallbore and 587.143 in air rifle for a 1171.286 aggregate. Buesseler is earning a 580.286 in smallbore and 590.286 in air rifle for a 1170.572 aggregate average. Junior Kayla Kalenza, sophomore AJ Hotko and freshman Emily Marne are all having good seasons. Kalenza is averaging 570.5 in smallbore and 588 in air rifle, while Hotko is earning a 567 in smallbore and 586.5 in air rifle and Marne a 556.25 in smallbore and 566.5 in air rifle.
As a team, Kentucky is averaging a 2342.86 in smallbore and 2379.29 in air rifle for an aggregate average of 4722.14.
Army is averaging 2323.67 in smallbore and 2355.67 in air rifle for an aggregate average of 4679.33. Anusha Pakkam is leading the team with a 582.5 in smallbore and 592.667 in air rifle. Fellow UK national champion and All-American Richard Clark is now an assistant coach for Army.
Nebraska is averaging a 2333.33 in smallbore and 2375.17 in air rifle for an aggregate average of 4708.50. Cecelia Ossi leads the team with a 585.667 smallbore average and 594.833 air rifle average.
For more information on the Kentucky rifle team, visit UKathletics.com or follow UKRifle on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Nebraska
York lottery player wins $3,125 in Nebraska Pick 4 drawing
LINCOLN, Neb. (KSNB) – One lucky player who bought a Nebraska Pick 4 ticket for the Wednesday, Dec. 10, drawing is holding a ticket worth $3,125.
The ticket was sold at Pump & Pantry No. 16 at 109 Lincoln Avenue in York. The winning numbers from Wednesday’s Nebraska Pick 4 drawing were 02, 00, 01, 05.
Winning Nebraska Lottery tickets expire 180 days after the drawing. Tickets with total prize amounts of $501 to $19,999 must be claimed by mail or at a regional lottery claim center. Additional information about claiming prizes can be found at nelottery.com or by calling 800-587-5200.
Nebraska Pick 4 is a daily lotto game from the Nebraska Lottery. Players select four numbers, each from a separate set of digits from 0 through 9, for a chance to win up to $6,000. Players choose one of six bet types to set their play style and potential prizes. The odds of winning the $3,125 prize in Nebraska Pick 4 are 1 in 10,000.
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Nebraska
Emmett Johnson leaves Nebraska with sterling legacy, All-America status
LINCOLN, Neb. — One month ago, on the heels of a breakthrough performance by Emmett Johnson against UCLA, Nebraska launched a Heisman Trophy push for the junior running back.
Johnson enjoyed the limelight. Fans flocked to see him during an appearance in downtown Lincoln and at the high school championship games inside Memorial Stadium. He traveled home to Minneapolis during the Huskers’ bye week and visited his high school, Academy of Holy Angels. He had stopped in previously, but this trip was different.
“It was like a celebrity came to the school,” Holy Angels coach Jim Gunderson said.
In the final two games of the regular season with Nebraska, Johnson rushed for 320 yards, but the Huskers lost them in ugly fashion against Penn State and Iowa to cap a 7-5 regular season. As fast as the Heisman campaign began, it was over — but worthwhile, nonetheless.
Johnson ran this season in part so that running backs at Nebraska who follow him can fly. He leaves Nebraska with a sterling legacy.
On Wednesday, Johnson became the first Nebraska player to receive first-team All-America mentions since linebacker Lavonte David in 2011 — and the fourth running back in the past 70 years, matching Mike Rozier (1982 and ’83), Jarvis Redwine (1980) and Jeff Kinney (1971). His final year ranks among the top five in school history by a running back. Stack it alongside Rozier’s 1983 Heisman season, Lawrence Phillips in 1994, Ahman Green in 1997 and Ameer Abdullah in 2013.
Nebraska coach Matt Rhule and his staff aim to use Johnson’s success to help bring backs to Lincoln who can finish what he started.
“It’s very much not in vogue anymore not to wait your turn,” Rhule said. “Sometimes, it’s like, ‘I’ll just go here and do this, just go there.’ But guys like Emmett had chances. And they stayed. And he deserves everything that he’s getting.”
Johnson was named the Big Ten running back of the year, a first at Nebraska. Last Friday, he declared for the 2026 NFL Draft, foregoing his final season of eligibility and the Dec. 31 Las Vegas Bowl.
High praise for the B1G’s top back@Emmett21Johnson pic.twitter.com/g7EhpUE2EP
— Nebraska Football (@HuskerFootball) December 11, 2025
What separated Johnson this year?
• His 1,130 yards in Big Ten play were the most by a Power 4 back in conference play. He stands alone with 1995 Heisman winner Eddie George as the only Big Ten players to total 1,100 rushing yards and 300 receiving yards in one season of league play.
• Johnson led the nation by accounting for 40.8 percent of his team’s total yards.
• He was the fourth FBS player since 2017 to average 120 yards rushing and 30 yards receiving.
• His 1,821 yards from scrimmage and 1,451 rushing ranked second and third, respectively, in the FBS.
In form true to his roots, Johnson proved wrong skeptics who believed he could not handle 20 carries per game in Big Ten play.
Does everyone realize how freaking good Emmett Johnson is for @HuskerFootball ? Dude is a straight balla. Quick, decisive, tough, great as a receiver. One of the most underrated RB’s in the Country!
— David Pollack (@davidpollack47) November 28, 2025
“He has always had that chip to prove people wrong and be great,” Gunderson said. “This is how he envisioned it going, and he wasn’t going to be denied.”
Four years ago, on a Sunday in mid-December, less than a week before the signing period opened, Johnson accepted a Nebraska scholarship offer. Ron Brown extended it.
A month earlier, Scott Frost, the Nebraska coach from 2018 to 2022, fired four offensive assistants. Brown, with 24 years of experience as a Nebraska assistant under three head coaches, was elevated late in that season from offensive analyst to running backs coach. He reviewed tape of Johnson, who scored 42 touchdowns and rushed for 2,500 yards at Holy Angels in 2021.
And Brown wondered why no big school had snatched up Johnson.
“I was perplexed,” Brown said. “Because when I saw Emmett play, I thought, ‘This guy is special.’”
Brown had recruited Abdullah from high school in Alabama to Nebraska in 2011. And Brown coached Abdullah in his back-to-back 1,600-yard seasons as a junior and senior before an NFL career that continues this year in its 11th season. In Johnson, Brown saw some of Abdullah’s vision, change of direction, endurance and ability to recover.
Brown quizzed Gunderson, the Holy Angels coach, about Johnson.
“I probably threw 100 questions at him,” Brown said, “looking for something that might be a little bit off, something that I had missed.”
Nothing.
“Coach Brown could just see the intangibles,” Gunderson said, “the stuff that isn’t measured. He saw the potential and the kind of kid who was going to work and who believed in himself.”
Johnson started six games as a redshirt freshman in 2023. He started five in 2024 and found his rhythm in the Nebraska offense when Dana Holgorsen arrived as coordinator last season. In December 2024, Johnson considered entering the transfer portal.
Holgorsen’s commitment helped get him to stay.
“ I think he just wanted to know that somebody had a plan for him,” Gunderson said.
The plan was never to leave Nebraska early. Johnson simply wanted the chance to receive a heavy workload.
He got 32 offensive touches against Cincinnati in the 2025 opener, 24 against Michigan, 23 against Maryland and 29 against Northwestern. In November, after quarterback Dylan Raiola was injured, Johnson stacked three games with 31 opportunities apiece and a 27-touch effort against Penn State.
“This dude really did what he said he was going to do,” Nebraska tight end Luke Lindenmeyer said.
His reliability never came into question.
“I’m so proud of Emmett, man,” senior cornerback Ceyair Wright said. “I think his success is a product of who he is as a person, how he treats people and the work that he puts in.”
Emmett Johnson shouldered a heavy load late in the season, garnering 27-plus touches in each of his final five games for Nebraska. (Harry How / Getty Images)
His humility and care for others rate as Johnson’s most admirable trait. Johnson said he wanted to share credit with his teammates for the accomplishments of this season. He rushed for 177 yards in the first half against Iowa and 217 for the game. But he stressed in the aftermath that he felt badly for older teammates who played their final games in Lincoln on Black Friday.
Turns out, he was among them. Johnson takes pride, he said, in building a new reputation for Nebraska running backs — more than a decade after Abdullah departed, three decades after Green and 42 years after Rozier’s Heisman.
“It matters a lot,” Johnson said, “because Nebraska is a special place. I want to be able to have recruits look at this place and know it’s special. It is special. I’m blessed to be the one doing that and helping. It’s bigger than just football.
“There are a lot of great humans here. That’s what I want to help push.”
Nebraska
Nebraska lands commitment from DL Jayden Travers adding to early Top 5 recruiting class
Baltimore (Md.) St. Frances Academy 2027 defensive lineman Jayden Travers announced his commitment to Nebraska on Wednesday evening during the broadcast of the Overtime National Championship game.
The Panthers are playing Draper (Utah) Corner Canyon.
The 6-foot-4, 260-pound Travers becomes commit No. 7 for Matt Rhule and the Huskers in the 2027 class, adding to a haul the Rivals Industry already ranked No. 5 nationally early in the cycle.
Nebraska offered Travers in May and he got a chance to visit Lincoln during the fall. He spoke about his decision prior to kickoff with Rivals.
“The culture there is amazing for football,” Travers said. “The coaching. They really care about your well-being. I like the defensive front they run. It’s somewhere I can play and develop at.”
The Rivals Industry tabs Travers as the nation’s No. 56 defensive lineman.
“He is from an extremely tough neighborhood in Baltimore and he has worked his butt of to be in this position for change. very dedicated to the sport and natural leader,” St. Frances head coach Messay Hailemariam said.
Hailemariam likes the decision for Travers as well.
“He felt great about the coaches and his chance at being developed for Sundays,” Hailemariam said before talking about what stands out about about him as a player. “Extremely strong and can use his hands extremely well.”
Other offers for Travers included Michigan, Miami, Maryland, Pittsburgh, Texas A&M, South Carolina and Syracuse.
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