Former All-Mountain West honoree itching to make big plays for Nebraska

Sometimes a surprise player or two needs to step up when a program looks to turn the corner, which is something Matt Rhule's Nebraska Cornhuskers are hoping to do in 2024.

The Huskers have their quarterback of the present (and hopefully future) in star freshman Dylan Raiola. They have plenty of returning contributors on defense and they made a big splash in the transfer portal by bringing in former Wake Forest wideout Jahmal Banks, who notched 1,217 yards and 12 touchdowns over the last two seasons for the Demon Deacons.

Speaking of the transfer portal, Texas wideout transfer Isaiah Neyor may not have the hype that Banks is carrying heading into Lincoln, but the 6-foot-4, 220-pound senior recently relayed that he's itching to make a big impact for Nebraska after a stint with the Longhorns that never really got off the ground. He was injured during fall camp in 2022 at Texas and didn't play a game that season and only played in one game for the Longhorns in 2023.

“I’m so hungry. It was tough having to miss those two seasons,” Neyor recently told the media (h/t On3 ). “So, as I was going through that, I’m just sitting there, it’s just building up and building up. Now that I finally have the chance to come out there and compete at a stage like this, it’s just great. So, I’m super excited for the season and I’m excited what we can do this year.”

How Neyor bounces back from essentially two full seasons without football is a bit of an unknown, but it's worth noting that he has flashed incredible talent in the past.

His college career started at Wyoming, where he broke onto the scene in 2021 with a second-team All-Mountain West campaign. He caught 44 passes for 878 yards and 12 touchdowns in that sophomore season, averaging 19.95 yards per catch.

He's a big play threat and that's exactly what Rhule needs in his offense. He said as much when discussing Neyor, earlier this year.

"Neyor brings to us a guy at six-foot-three, 220 pounds who’s a 4.3 player. He has got good ball skills,” Rhule said, per On3 . “If you’re going to try to play man coverage, we want to try to run by you. If you’re going to try to play quarters coverage, we want to try to run by you. We weren’t really able to do that very much last year – here and there we could. That’s what Isaiah brings.”