Nebraska Football: Offense takes a hit with JD Spielman transfer

Nebraska football’s offense will have one less weapon in 2020, as JD Spielman is entering the transfer portal.

If the 2020 season does indeed take place for the Nebraska Cornhuskers, their offense will be taking the field with one less weapon. Wide receiver JD Spielman has made the decision to enter the transfer portal less than three months until the season was set to begin.

Spielman stepped away from the program in early March for unknown reasons and while fans were hopeful he’d be returning to Lincoln for the 2020 season, the longer he was away from the action, the less likely him returning seemed to be.

Now it’s official. Spielman won’t be catching passes for the Huskers in 2020 and that definitely hurts the offense, who took a step back this past season.

Spielman was very productive for the Cornhuskers during his three years in Lincoln, totaling 170 receptions for 2,546 yards and 15 touchdowns. He also was a return man on special teams and had two returned punts for touchdowns. That could honestly be where Nebraska misses him the most is on special teams because that has been a unit that has definitely struggled since Scott Frost took over the program in 2018.

Where Spielman is off to next is unknown, but Nebraska has depth at the position fortunately, though a lot of that depth is pretty young. The Huskers will lean even more on Wan’Dale Robinson to make plays for them and they also have incoming players Alante Brown and Omar Manning who can help fill the gap.

The 2020 season is a big one for Nebraska. It’ll be year three of the Frost era, which unfortunately has been a disappointment so far. The Cornhuskers have yet to reach a bowl game with Frost as their head coach and the hope is that they can accomplish that in 2020, but it won’t be easy, as their schedule is downright brutal.

Spielman would have been a senior in 2020 and would have definitely been one of the leaders for this offense. Instead, Nebraska is going to have to rely on the younger players to step up and carry the load. It could take some time, but maybe this could really help the Cornhuskers in the long run.

Hopefully there’s college football in 2020 (even if fans aren’t allowed to attend games) because it’s a critical season for the Nebraska football team in their development. Their young players are going to have to step up on offense this year, that’s for sure.