Six Backs, One Ball: Nebraska Just Lost an All-American and EJ Barthel Says This Room Is Better

Husker fans, Nebraska lost a first-team All-American at running back and its position coach walked into Tuesday’s press conference and said this:

“This is the most talented room I’ve had.”

That’s EJ Barthel, and he was not being polite.

What left

Emmett Johnson carried it 251 times last season — the most in the Big Ten — for 1,451 yards and 12 touchdowns, caught 46 passes for 370 more, and was named a first-team All-American and Big Ten Running Back of the Year. Kansas City took him in the fifth round.

You don’t replace that. Barthel isn’t pretending you do.

“We get a lot of heat about the running backs and who’s the guy, and we didn’t replace him.”

What’s left

Then he went down the room, one by one, and it’s a longer list than most people realise.

Isaiah Mozee is up to 215 pounds and can still run slot routes. That’s the part Barthel kept coming back to — most players lose a step putting that on. “That’s a testament to our strength staff and nutrition.”

Jamal Rule, the freshman, is also 215 and runs a 4.4. Physical, inside or outside. Kwinten Ives is 215 too, blocks in protection, and showed in the bowl game he can handle short yardage. Conor Booth ran for 3,000 yards in high school in Wahoo and is fighting to get reps. Vincent Genatone runs 4.4, “can jump out the gym,” and is one of the older guys in the building.

And Mekhi Nelson is back.

Short yardage is a three-man race — Genatone, Ives and Rule.

The film sessions

Here’s the best thing Barthel said, and it explains the confidence.

When Johnson played his first NFL preseason game, Barthel pulled the highlights into the meeting room and paused every single play. Then he asked the room what he was about to say.

They knew. “Off-arm weapon. Press the heels. Make the defender miss. Pick a side of the defender.”

“That was evidence for them to say, that’s the standard. They know what it looks like.”

He also let something slip about last year that lands differently now:

“I remember in camp I’d say NFL rep, or Heisman rep. And maybe people would chuckle.”

Nobody’s chuckling.

The hard part isn’t talent

Six backs. One ball. Barthel knows exactly what that does to a room, and he says holding it together is his biggest challenge.

So they spent the summer at his house by the lake. Damon Benning — two-time national champion as a Husker back, now Nebraska’s director of player development — came in and talked to them about the backs he played alongside and how close they were.

“We have to find love for each other so we can get out there and be happy for one when someone has success. That’s really the only way to truly compete.”

And then the line that says what he’s actually teaching:

“I’m teaching them how to be pros. Because in the NFL you’re going to have to learn that — you can be best friends with a guy, and you’re trying to get his job.”

One number to watch

Ball security. Barthel says this is the best group he’s had at it, then immediately knocked on wood. They chart it every practice.

Husker fans, the question all summer has been who replaces Emmett Johnson. The answer from the man who coaches them is that nobody does — and that’s not the point.

See you September 5.