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Huskers Looking for Young Playmakers to Step Up Against Colorado

Wide receiver Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda is done for the season with a torn ACL

Joe Hudson

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Nebraska will be down a starting receiver for Saturday’s Colorado game and for the rest of the season.

Husker football head coach Matt Rhule confirmed Monday that Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda tore an ACL in last week’s loss at Minnesota.

Who will need to step up?

“It’ll be those young guys," Rhule said. “We got Jaylen (Lloyd) in and got him on the reverse (against Minnesota). Hoping Malachi (Coleman) can help us. Obviously we’ll have Marcus (Washington) now back full time, so it’ll just be all hands on deck. We used Heinrich (Haarberg) last game a little bit so we’re just going to have to go with the guys that are there and trust and believe that they’ll make the plays.”

He said he hopes to get wide receiver Billy Kemp and tight end Thomas Fidone more involved as well. Neither player caught a pass against Minnesota.

The defense will be tested Saturday by new coach Deion Sanders’ Buffaloes. “They’re going to attack you on the perimeter. They’re going to take 10 deep ball shots a game. They have the guys. They can go down the field and their ball skills are elite. They have a quarterback that can make those throws. It’s really a perfect storm and perfect hire.”

Rhule said he “wasn’t surprised at all“ by Colorado’s success Saturday in its 45-42 win at TCU. Sanders, he said, has “won at everything he’s done in football. He’s won as a player. He’s won as a coach. ... His poster was on people’s walls for a reason as a player. He is one of the hardest-practicing, hardest playing people who’ve ever played the game. So why would we think his team wouldn’t be the same?”

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Joe Hudson
JOE HUDSON

Joe Hudson has operated a Husker-related website since 1995 and joined forces with David Max to form HuskerPedia (later renamed HuskerMax) in 1999. It began as a hobby during his 35 years as a newspaper editor and reporter, a career that included stints at the Lincoln Star, Omaha World-Herald, Philadelphia Inquirer and Denver Post. In Denver, Joe was chief of the copy desk during his final 16 years at the Post. He is proud to have been involved in Pulitzer Prize-winning projects in both Philadelphia and Denver. Joe has been a Nebraska football fan since the mid-1960s during his childhood in Omaha. He earned his bachelor of arts degree in journalism and economics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1976. He resides a few freeway exits north of Colorado Springs and enjoys bicycling and walking his dogs in his spare time. You can reach him at joeroyhud@outlook.com.

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