Stryker Pregame Perspective: Promising Freshmen (Defense)

The Kansas City metro area is well represented among young Blackshirt contributors.

Dawson Merritt (40) assists on a tackle of Houston Christian quarterback Jake Weir. | Kenny Larabee, KLIN

The future looks bright for Nebraska’s defense, if my pregame survey of 100 Nebraska football fans is any indication. At least, there are no shortage of favorites among the freshmen who are battling for prominence on the Blackshirts.

On a beautiful Saturday morning before Nebraska hosted Michigan, I asked fans tailgating in the large lot at Haymarket Park this question: “Who is Nebraska’s most promising freshman on the defense?”

The vote was quite balanced, with five of the six players getting at least 10 votes.

The winner was Dawson Merritt, the true freshman linebacker from the Kansas City metro area. Merritt claimed 34 votes.

The next three players were all within three votes of each other. Williams Nwaneri, the redshirt freshman transfer from Missouri (another KC metro player) was next with 18 votes, followed by Kade Pietrzak, the true freshman defensive lineman from West Fargo, North Dakota, with 17 and Donovan Jones, the redshirt freshman cornerback from Omaha North, with 15.

Caleb Benning, the redshirt freshman safety from Omaha Westside, was next with 10. One of Benning’s enthusiastic supporters said, “His IQ is off the chart.”

Rex Guthrie, a redshirt freshman from Littleton, Colorado, was the only one in single digits, with six votes.

All six have seen significant playing time in the first three games of the season.

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