McKewon: Nebraska's identity as a developmental program gets closer scrutiny starting Saturday

To Holgorsen, he looked 210 pounds. And not a guy who was going to figure heavily into Holgorsen’s plans.

“I’m like, I don’t see it, I don’t see it,” Holgorsen said this week.

Twenty months and 20 pounds later, Holgorsen sees it. It took a full-bodied position change to tight end. And two surgeries. And a healthy offseason of eating and lifting that leaves Nelson, now 250, with an upper body suited for the Big Ten.

“Good for him,” Holgorsen said. “He’s put himself in position where he’s going to play some ball on Saturday.”

Nelson arrived at NU a top-100 national prospect worthy of Georgia and Notre Dame’s attention. Roughly the same height and weight as Nelson — and a state high jump champion like Nelson — Quinn Clark arrived at NU as a top-1000 prospect. And Holgorsen didn’t exactly see it with Clark, either.

“I didn’t know if he was going to be able to turn the corner or not,” Holgorsen said. “You looked at him and he had the size, but he didn’t have much of a pulse.”

Clark remained at receiver. He added a few pounds, up to 215, made a few plays in 2025, and had the same kind of relentlessly optimistic offseason that Nelson. He’s NU’s No. 4 receiver — prepared to play as many snaps as starters Kwazi Gilmer, Nyziah Hunter and Jacory Barney.

“There ain’t many places where he wouldn’t start,” Holgorsen said.

The duo, in their third years on campus, represent where Nebraska wants to go — where, when coach Matt Rhule arrived in December 2022, thought things would go — in terms of developing freshmen into Big Ten-caliber starters and major contributors. NU signed roughly 60 players in its first two recruiting classes with that intention.

Back-to-back 7-6 seasons required, in the coaches’ minds, the kind of pricey transfer portal class that could contribute right away. I thought the same — what NU had on hand, especially at quarterback, the lines and linebacker, was likely to produce either another 7-6 season or worse.

Twelve of the players Nebraska signed in January now have spots on NU’s depth chart including three offensive linemen and three defensive linemen who effectively moved to the front of line while most 2023, 2024 and 2025 high school signees continue to bake in the development oven.

Clark and Nelson, plus three young running backs and several young defensive backs, are a leading edge to whether the original plan can still be viable or whether Nebraska embraces, like its basketball team has, a transfer-heavy approach that prioritizes maturity over molding clay.

An argument could be made for either one, or even the hybrid model Nebraska currently employs.

Indiana won a national title on the strength of transfers, including quarterback Fernando Mendoza.

Iowa punches above its weight — and routinely sends players to the NFL — through a pipeline of development that currently includes two offensive linemen, tackle Trevor Lauck and center Kade Pieper, who could go in the first round of the 2027 draft.

Oregon blends very high-profile transfers — quarterback Dante Moore, safety Koi Perich — with top-10 recruiting classes.

Nebraska wants the development-to-blend model.

It has that, currently, at running back, tight end and, potentially, receiver once Hunter and Gilmer depart.

NU’s top four backs were recruited out of high school or prep school. Ditto with the tight ends. The two position coaches, E.J. Barthel and Marcus Satterfield, were part of Rhule’s original Husker staff and have worked with him for years.

Nelson’s trajectory changed several times. Satterfield was offensive coordinator when Nelson signed, and Satterfield carved out an early role for Nelson as a pass-catcher. His offensive touches went down dramatically once Holgorsen took over.

“He wasn’t in the tight end room, he moved into the tight end room, he’s never had to do anything close to what tight ends do,” Holgorsen said. “Then you mix in hip surgery and shoulder surgery and missing two springs – I mean, this is not his fault.”

Nelson has responded, Satterfield said in training with an “unbelievable sense of urgency” since recovering from his latest surgery.

NU has moved Janiran Bonner — vacillating between receiver, fullback and tight end for years — officially to tight end, too.

At receiver, where Holgorsen’s bar is “extremely” high, he said, Nebraska added Gilmer from UCLA but otherwise stood pat in the portal. All three of NU’s starters likely have at least two seasons left at NU, and Nebraska likes the prep-recruited depth — including Clark, Cortez Mills, Keelan Smith and Nalin Scott —behind them.

And while the Huskers added Penn State transfer running back Tikey Hayes this summer, they dismissed him from the team within weeks after multiple disagreements with coaches and players. Who remains are all backs who signed with Barthel since his arrival.

In the defensive backfield, 2025 transfers Andrew Marshall and Jamir Conn, plus 2026 transfers Dwayne McDougle and Victor Evans III, could trot out to the field Saturday as four of five secondary starters. But a glut of 2023, 2024 and 2025 recruits, including Jeremiah Charles, Rex Guthrie and Caleb Benning, could see time, too.

But few players fit the development track more than Nelson, the in-state star who eschewed the big out-of-state offers to stay home, invite a spotlight and find his way to more playing time.

“He’s just now growing into his body,” Holgorsen said, “and developing into a positional player that we can use.”

We’ll see what that usage looks like for Nelson and Clark. Nebraska media has a history of expecting a breakout performance that doesn’t materialize.

But where Nebraska wanted to go — and still wants to go — gets closer scrutiny Saturday.