Jeremy Pernell's 2025 Nebraska Football Preview: The Defensive Secondary

It's a large and competitive group with young up-and-comers vying for roles, but veterans are getting the nod to start the season.

After just a few months on campus last year, Ceyair Wright saw extensive action at cornerback after Tommi Hill's injury. | Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images

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• QBs & RBs  • WRs & TEs • O-line • D-line • LBs

Secondary

Week 1 depth chart:

• CB: Ceyair Wright (Sr.), Jeremiah Charles (Soph.), Amare Sanders (RFr.)
• FS: Marques Buford (Sr.), Caleb Benning (RFr.)
• Rover: DeShon Singleton (Sr.), Rex Guthrie (RFr.), Derek Branch (Sr.)
• Nickel: Malcolm Hartzog (Sr.), Jamir Conn (Jr.)
• CB: Andrew Marshall (Jr.), Donovan Jones (RFr.)

Nebraska football's defensive secondary is at an interesting mesh point. Several multi-year starters are being pushed by youngsters who are entering their second and third years in the program. It's a large, competitive room that has seen a lot of jostling this spring and summer to try and establish roles this fall.

The Week 1 depth chart has shown us the coaches will defer to the battle-tested upperclassmen — at least to start the season.

I really like the depth and talent at cornerback. Former USC transfer Ceyair Wright arrived at Nebraska in late June of 2024 and was playing primarily on special teams to start the season. That changed during the Illinois game when he was thrust into the lineup after Tommi Hill sustained the plantar fasciitis injury that would hinder him the rest of the season. Wright started the next week against Purdue and quickly established himself as Nebraska's best defensive back.

Cornerback Andrew Marshall transferred to Nebraska after being named first-team All-Big Sky at Idaho last season. | Nebraska Athletics

He'll be joined at corner by incoming transfer Andrew Marshall, who started 14 games in two seasons at Idaho and was named first-team All-Big Sky last season. I'm a big fan of Wright's, but I think Marshall has a higher ceiling. If Wright takes another step in his development and Marshall's transition to the Big Ten goes smoothly, these two could be one of the better CB duos in the conference.

There are a trio of youngsters behind them who could probably start for several Power Four teams. Donovan Jones practiced primarily at safety for much of last season before taking reps at corner during bowl prep. He played most of the Pinstripe Bowl opposite of Ceyair Wright and looked very good in the first extended action of his career.

Jones returned to practicing mostly at safety in spring before another switch back to corner for most of fall camp. His time's coming. It won't be long before Jones is playing a big role in this secondary, whether that's ultimately at corner or safety.

The staff likes the potential of Jeremiah Charles. | Nebraska Athletics

Jeremiah Charles is one of the best athletes on the team. He had a rough debut in his first-ever start against UCLA last November — getting pulled early for poor play — but this staff remains high on his potential. Charles was a late addition to Rhule's first recruiting class and was brought in as an athlete after being put on the staff's radar by Bob Wager — his high school coach and brief member of Rhule's initial staff. Coaches were recruiting his teammate Ismael Smith Flores when Charles caught their eye during a basketball game. Charles arrived at Nebraska extremely raw, but now in his third season he's knocking on the door to get into the lineup.

Amare Sanders is someone who received a lot of praise publicly from his Husker coaches and teammates last season while he was redshirting. I think coaches would feel comfortable with him in the lineup in only his second year on campus. He has a bright future.

While it's not uncommon for teams to substitute their safeties during games, you don't usually see that at cornerback. When you have two guys playing well and are in the flow of the game, they are rarely taken out outside of injury or garbage time. I'll be interested in seeing how the staff handles this spot with three FBS-caliber starters on the bench. I wouldn't be surprised if there were some dime packages where these guys were on the field with Wright and Marshall.

Marques Buford Jr. bounced around between safety and cornerback last year but is back at safety this season. | Amarillo Mullen

As a whole, Nebraska's safeties had an up-and-down season last year. Marques Buford and Malcolm Hartzog bounced between playing corner and safety as coaches attempted to get their best five on the field after Tommi Hill's injury created a hole at cornerback.

Both are back playing safety — positions they're best suited for — and coaches are hoping this will result in more consistent play from them like we saw in 2023. With several starts under Hartzog's (30) and Buford's (25) belts, coaches are hoping they stabilize the deep middle of the defense. If not, I could see Caleb Benning or Jamir Conn getting the opportunity to take one of those jobs away at some point this season.

Conn is a transfer from Southern Illinois, where he started 11 games at cornerback last season for the Salukis, tying for the team lead in pass breakups with six. He played for Husker senior football assistant Jamar Mozee at Lee's Summit (Mo.) North, and Mozee went to bat for him when he entered the transfer portal. He was turning heads early this winter, but offseason surgery took away valuable spring reps. He came back in fall camp with a vengeance and has grabbed the attention of associate head coach Phil Snow and secondary coach Addison Williams. He's nipping at Hartzog's heels.

Benning is currently listed as Buford's backup at field safety, although I actually think he has a higher ceiling at rover, a position I think his skillset is best suited. I've long assumed he was next in line when DeShon Singleton graduates, but either way, he's going to be a fixture in this secondary at some point.

DeShon Singleton has moved from safety to rover for his final year of eligibility. | Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

After playing safety his first two years in this defense, Singleton is moving into the rover spot vacated by the graduation of Isaac Gifford. Singleton enjoyed a tremendous start to the 2023 season and was Nebraska's best defensive back for the first four games of the year. Unfortunately, he sustained a season-ending knee injury on the second play of the game against Michigan.

It was a grueling rehab, but Singleton was back in 2024 and started every game for the Huskers while finishing second on the team in tackles (71). I think he has another level to his game and playing closer to the line of scrimmage fits him better. Singleton was initially denied a hardship waiver from the NCAA for a sixth season, but in January a temporary waiver by the NCAA granted players who played junior college another season of eligibility. I think he's going to make the most of it.

This is a deep room with guys like Rex Guthrie, Mario Buford, Derek Branch, Larry Tarver, Justyn Rhett, Braylen Prude and Kahmir Prescott also on the come.

Despite stretches of poor play from the secondary last season, there were very few substitutions. In 2023, however, the Huskers rotated a lot more. Was the shift in philosophy due to the change at DB coach, where John Butler may have brought the NFL approach of playing your first-team guys exclusively?

Remember, Butler acknowledged there was a learning curve when he returned to college from the NFL and talked about initially struggling to balance coaching the bottom half of the room as much as the frontline guys.

Associate head coach Phil Snow is one of three high-quality defensive backs coaches on the staff. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

Last season there were too many instances of defensive backs having their eyes in the wrong place on play action or not doing a good enough job of fitting in the run game. I think coaches will give these youngsters some snaps to see how ready they are, and if these incumbent starters revert to last season's hiccups, they could see their jobs taken.

With 24 players in the room, I like that there are three extremely good defensive backs coaches on staff. With Addison Williams, Phil Snow and John Butler, there is plenty of teaching and development happening from top to bottom. I think Nebraska will have one of the better pass defenses in the Big Ten. I expect them to be very creative and efficient in pass coverage. You're going to see a lot of different packages on defense, particularly on third down or obvious passing situations with unique player groupings.

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