Roster
Nebraska's 2026 Roster: 31 Nebraskans, 30 Transfers, and Only 18 Seniors
Husker fans, camp is over and the roster is set. So let’s actually look at who is on this team — because the answer says more about where the program is than any depth chart will.
115 players. 31 of them are from Nebraska. 30 came from another college. And only 18 are seniors.
The portal half
Read the transfer list and it stops looking like a rebuild.
Nebraska brought in players from Alabama, LSU — two of them — Oregon, Michigan State, Missouri, Pitt, Boston College, UCLA, California and Georgia. Offensive lineman Elijah Pritchett came from Alabama. Paul Mubenga and Mac Markway both came from LSU.
Some have been around. Defensive lineman Anthony Jones Jr. lists four previous schools before Lincoln — Oregon, Indiana, Michigan State and UCLA. That is a lot of football, and a lot of playbooks.
Quarterback Anthony Colandrea, who Matt Rhule said Saturday “would play for us right now,” is on his third program.
The Nebraska half
Then there’s the other 31 — and this is the part worth sitting with.
They are not all Omaha kids. Nine are, from Westside and Millard South and Creighton Prep and North. But the rest come from Ainsworth. Yutan. Battle Creek. Wahoo. Hickman. Scottsbluff. North Platte. Blair. Norfolk.
Elkhorn alone put five players on this roster.
That’s a map of the state, not a map of one metro.
Where Nebraska still recruits Nebraska
Here’s the number that surprised us most.
The tight end room is four of six in-state — Carter Nelson from Ainsworth, Luke Lindenmeyer from La Vista, Cayden Echternach from Bennington and Eric Ingwerson from Papillion.
Linebacker is six of 13. The offensive line is six of 20.
Now compare that to the skill spots. Wide receiver is two of 16. Defensive back is three of 21.
The pattern is hard to miss: Nebraska goes to the portal and out of state for speed, and stays home for the guys who have to block, tackle and play in the trenches. Whether that’s by design or by what’s available, it’s what this roster actually looks like.
And it is young
Eighteen seniors on a 115-man roster. Forty-two sophomores.
That’s the context for what Rhule said about development at the end of camp — that who a kid was two years ago isn’t who he is now, and that one of his defensive linemen put on 30 pounds since the end of last season.
A roster this young either grows up in front of you or it doesn’t. There isn’t a veteran class deep enough to hide behind.
Husker fans, this is the team. Half of it was assembled from everywhere else, half of it grew up watching these Saturdays — and starting with Ohio, we find out what that adds up to.