Nebraska
Top 40 Huskers for 2024: 36-40
Huskeronline On Recent Nebraska Football Commitments, In-state Recruiting & Trev Alberts Parallels
With Nebraska’s 2024 season around the corner, the HuskerOnline team voted on the Top 40 Husker players going into Matt Rhule‘s second season in Lincoln.
The voting criteria were to rank the players based on their importance to the team, overall talent, and future potential for the upcoming season. Our voters focused specifically on the 2024 season, not future seasons, a player’s long-term importance, or future talent.
The voting panel consisted of HuskerOnline publisher Sean Callahan, columnist Steven Sipple, senior writer Robin Washut, and staff writer Abby Barmore. Each voter submitted their own Top 40 list from which the votes were tallied.
We kick off our annual Top 40 Huskers for 2024 with players 36-40, which features a mix of returning veterans and promising underclassmen.
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40. Alex Bullock, WR, Jr.
In many ways, Alex Bullock was Nebraska’s most consistent wide receiver in 2023. While his role catapulted after a handful of key injuries in the room, the former walk-on made the most of his opportunity.
Bullock appeared in every game for the Huskers last season, including making eight starts. He ranked third on the team with 15 catches for 221 yards and a touchdown.
NU has significantly upgraded the depth and talent in its wideout room this offseason, which explains Bullock’s ranking in this year’s Top 40. But you know what you’re going to get from the former Omaha Creighton Prep standout on every play.
| Sean | Sipple | Robin | Abby |
| NR | 26th | NR | NR |
39. Jeremiah Charles, DB, RFr.
Jeremiah Charles’ stock has risen exponentially over this offseason. He stole the show during Nebraska’s Football Dunk Contest at a Husker basketball game in February, and his momentum hasn’t slowed down since.
On the football field, Charles found his footing in the defensive back group. He came to NU in 2022 as a wide receiver but switched to DB early on.
He’s now become one of the top options at cornerback. One year after his position change and getting to digest the defensive scheme, Charles could have a big 2024 season.
Sean
Sipple
Robin
Abby
NR
36th
38th
33rd
38. Riley Van Poppel, DL, So.
While some of Nebraska’s true freshmen defensive linemen eased into last season, Riley Van Poppel jumped right into the fire. The former four-star recruit out of Argyle, Texas, played in 11 games and finished with five tackles, a TFL, a half sack, and one quarterback hurry.
He’ll once again be a depth piece in 2024 after the returns of seniors Ty Robinson and Nash Hutmacher. But that hasn’t stopped Van Poppel from preparing to be the Huskers’ next anchor on the d-line.
He’s put on 10-15 pounds this offseason and is up to around 290. With NU limiting Robinson and Hutmacher all spring, Van Poppel also took full advantage of a significant practice workload. The sophomore should be a fixture in the d-line rotation and ready to take the baton in 2025.
Sean
Sipple
Robin
Abby
34th
33rd
37th
NR
37. Janiran Bonner, WR, So.
One of the bigger surprises of the spring was Janiran Bonner‘s quiet switch from a tight end/fullback to a wide receiver.
The move raised eyebrows after the sophomore showcased his skills during Nebraska’s spring game. Bonner had four catches for 58 yards, highlighted by an impressive touchdown grab in the scrimmage.
The 6-foot-2, 220-pounder came into the Huskers as a wide receiver and caught 50 balls for 816 yards as a high school senior. He’ll still be used as a Swiss Army knife in NU’s offense, as he took his first snap of the spring game at fullback.
Sean
Sipple
Robin
Abby
36th
31st
NR
35th
36. Henry Lutovsky, OL, Jr.
Injuries decimated Nebraska’s offensive line last season, and Henry Lutovsky was a key reserve who helped keep the unit together.
The junior guard played in all 12 games and made two starts at right guard against Purdue and Iowa. The 6-foot-6, 325-pound native of Crawfordsville, Iowa, has made 26 appearances and four starts over his first three seasons as a Husker.
It remains to be seen where Lutovsky will end up in NU’s offensive line pecking order in 2024. However, his experience should give him every opportunity to remain a fixture in the rotation up front.
Sean
Sipple
Robin
Abby
37th
NR
NR
22nd
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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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