Expect Huskers' Emmett Johnson to Get Bulk of Carries, But Also Get a Breather

Twenty-five times Nebraska junior running back Emmett Johnson ran the ball against Cincinnati on Thursday night. Twenty-five teams he plowed forward against a Cincinnati defense geared to stop him. Twenty-five times he took punishment, and handed some out, too.

The Bearcats didn’t stop him, and barely slowed him down. Johnson ran left, ran right, ran straight up the gut. Johnson's grind gained 108 yards (4.3 yards per carry) in Nebraska’s 20-17 opening-game victory. Nebraska led the time of possession, 39:30 to 20:30.

He added seven receptions for 27 yards, rechecking a desirable box as a dual-threat back. Johnson’s 908 all-purpose yards led the team in 2024.

Matt Rhule wants backup running backs to get playing time

Huskers coach Matt Rhule, knowing a good thing when he sees it, said at a news conference Monday that Johnson will continue to see the bulk of the carries. But Rhule also is thinking long range. He knows the importance of not burning out one player. It’s a long, physically demanding season. He knows the value of getting more players involved in the offense.

Against Cincinnati, the Huskers ran the ball 35 times — four by quarterback Dylan Raiola. The Huskers gained 113 yards, a 3.2-yard average.

The second-leading rusher on Thursday? A tie between Heinrich Haarberg and Janiran Bonner, each with four yards on two carries each.

Nebraska running back Emmett Johnson gained 108 yards on the ground vs. Cincinnati in season opener. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

Rhule was asked about his backup running backs getting so little playing time against Cincy.

“I wasn’t happy with it,” Rhule said. “Dana [Holgorsen, the offensive coordinator] was like, he made the call. I let my coordinators coach.

“I wanted to get Isaiah [Mozee] and Mekhi [Nelson] in but once Dana said to me, ‘Hey Coach, I made that call,’ I said: OK, cool.

“Emmett was hot, we went with Emmett. We’ll have to get Isaiah, we’ll have to get Mekhi and we’ll have to get Kwinten [Ives] in the game more …

“I’m just biding my time with those guys. I wanted to play them more but Dana was feeling it. He went with what he went with and that’s his call. So I was good with that once he said that.

“But that won’t be the plan moving forward I don’t think. We’ll have to play more guys.”

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Nelson had one carry for zero yards. Mozee had one carry for minus-two yards. Ives did not play.

Huskers’ plan

Akron can expect to see a full dose of Johnson on Saturday. The Zips also might see some of the Huskers’ depth at that position.

“There’s no running back discussion for me,” Rhule said. “We have backup running backs. We have a starting running back and we have backups.

“If the starting guy, he got really hot, the way the game went and we had these long drives, I think they’re the backups. If he needs a blow we’re going to put them in. But he’s the guy right now.

“I’m just looking for them [backups] to have another good week of practice. They had earned the right to play more. We just got in the game and the coaches decided not to play them.

“[It’s] tough. I looked at them both and said, ‘Bide your time. Your time is coming.’ But sometimes that happens. It’s nothing about them …

“He [Johnson] was just in a zone. I felt like, well Dana felt like, hey, we’re going to keep him in there. So did E.J. [Barthel, running backs coach]. It’s hard to do that the whole year long. That was a must-win game. The game got closer than you probably wanted it to. It felt like it was going to go one way and then it didn’t. Credit to Cincinnati. As I said to our guys, ‘This is Power 4 football.’

“When Mozee gets out there, he’s going to do big things. I know Mekhi is going to do big things. I’m excited for them. It didn’t work out the first game. Hopefully, we’ll get them in this game.”

Emmett Johnson’s career

Johnson, a 5-foot-10, 200-pounder from Minneapolis played in all 13 games last season. He made five starts. He was Nebraska’s second-leading rusher with 598 yards on 117 carries in 2024.

Johnson set a career high last season with 39 receptions. He accumulated 286 yards through the air and had two touchdown receptions. The 39 catches were the most by a Nebraska running back since 2007.

His seven catches against Cincinnati shows Raiola has confidence in Johnson’s receiving ability and it also gives the Huskers another play-calling option, and weapon, in their offense.

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