Big Ten Media Days: Nebraska Center Justin Evans Looks for a Resurgent Offensive Line

Evans: ‘I would just like to see us be dominant and play a lot more physical, and I think you can expect that’

Justin Evans enters his senior season with 31 starts under his belt. | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

Pressure permeates the Nebraska football program. From top to bottom, from inside and outside the building, the Huskers are desperate to return to the greatness that was this program’s defining character.

Huskers center Justin Evans feels that pressure — as much as anyone, maybe more given his leadership role and his position directing the always-important offensive line. Nebraska is coming off back-to-back 7-6 seasons, which represents an improvement after seven consecutive losing seasons.

Evans plays a pedigreed position at Nebraska. “I would love to hear my name with the great centers that came before me,” Evans said at Big Ten Media Days in Chicago.

“I think it’s a huge honor to be even mentioned with Dominic Raiola, Cam Jurgens, even Dave Rimington.

Dave Rimington's stellar career at Nebraska earned him a spot in the College Football Hall of Fame. | 1982 Nebraska Football Media Guide

“Just to hear my name in those conversations is a big deal for me and that’s highly important to me.

“I’m just glad that I can be … in those conversations and just to leave the legacy behind of helping Nebraska turn the program around I think is a win for me.”

New faces on offensive line

Evans has a new position coach in Geep Wade and three new offensive line mates from the transfer portal. Nebraska ranked 115th in the nation in sacks allowed in 2025. Those 33 sacks were not all on the offensive line — quarterback Dylan Raiola wasn’t very mobile and he was slow to release the ball — but offensive linemen tend to accept the responsibility.

But last year’s offensive line also helped Emmett Johnson rush for 1,451 yards, best in the Big Ten.

Joining Evans and left tackle Elijah Pritchett — both NFL prospects — are left guard Paul Mubenga (LSU), right guard Brendan Black (Iowa State) and right tackle Tree Babalade (South Carolina).

“When you bring in new guys, it’s always going to be a process,” Evans said. “You don’t know their personalities. You don’t know their playing styles and you don’t know what type of coaching they’re used to.

“But I can say the guys that we’ve took in, they have been been able to adapt to the program tremendously. This is probably like the best group that I’ve been around and just how eager they are to learn, from myself and from even coach Geep and just how important it is to them.

“I can tell that they’re not going to take this lightly and they’re going to do whatever is in their power that they need to do to help Nebraska win and to help bring back the standard of the O-line.

“I think Brendan and Paul are both very explosive and I think they’ve even taken my game to the next level just playing [with] them and just competing with them in practice … 

“Tree is awesome. I’ve never seen anything like him, like watching his tape and just watching his film. He’s big, he’s strong, and for his size, he can move and that’s one player that I’m really excited to see this fall, too.”

Geep Wade is now the man in charge of the Huskers' offensive line. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

“Although I didn’t play with Cam Jurgens, I’ve been around guys that did play with him and just hearing the stories of his leadership and how he led the team. I think I learned a lot just hearing those stories through the experience of players."

“I would say just be confident and stay consistent. You at center, you have to be confident. You can’t afford to make any mistakes in the moment cuz sometimes in the fire it does get hot, but you have to just trust yourself and just go with your gut feeling of what you want the call to be or just be free out there. "

“Don’t overthink it. Just go with it and go with the flow."

“The best part about playing center is just you could take charge of the line, you know? I think just embracing that and just being tough."

“Centers are tough. It’s the hardest position to play and I’ve embraced that and that’s probably my favorite thing about it is just embracing the natural leadership role."

“You have to know everybody’s job. That’s the hardest part … I have to know my job, the guard’s job, the tackle’s job, and while snapping the ball. That’s probably the hardest part, but I embrace it."

“I would just like to see us be dominant and play a lot more physical, and I think you can expect that from this upcoming line this year.”

Cleaning up November

In Matt Rhule’s three seasons, Nebraska is an unsightly 2-10 in November. Winning programs don’t behave that way. The last three games were particularly gruesome — blowout losses vs. Penn State, Iowa and Utah."

“I think games like those you can always learn from them,” Evans said. “We try not to dwell on the past, but we can always learn something from each week or each game, no matter if it’s a win or a loss.”

Nebraska coach Matt Rhule speaks during Big Ten Media Days in Chicago. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

November 2026 looks mostly difficult: at Illinois, at Rutgers, vs. Ohio State, at Iowa.

“Yeah, I think the best thing for us is to just take it one day at a time, one week at a time,” Evans said.

“Eventually, we’ll get to November, and that’s where the grittier part of the season gets, where you have to stay tough, and you have to stay gritty in those tough moments towards the tail end of the season."

“You want to win the games no matter what month of the year it is.”

How’s the new quarterback?

Evans will snap the ball to Anthony Colandrea, who came to Nebraska after two years at Virginia and last year at UNLV.

“He’s been a burst of energy and you know him coming in filling shoes as a quarterback has been a big deal and he’s just been nothing but supportive of the group and on the field, I think he’s very smart,” Evans said.

Nebraska quarterback Anthony Colandrea is expected to bring a running threat to the offense this season. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

“He helps me out with calls a lot and I ask him questions, he asks me questions and I think he’s going to do great things as well."

“I think he’s going to do whatever he needs to do to make plays and to make plays happen and to get those explosive plays that we need."

“I think he’s going to be a lot more mobile and I think that’ll be good for us upfront.”

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