Nebraska Football: 5 Immediate Transfer Portal Targets on Offense

These potential transfers could help the Cornhuskers remake their offensive depth chart in a hurry.

Author:
Brandon Cavanaugh
Publish date:
Dec 6, 2022

Devin Leary, NC State Wolfpack Football — Former NC State starting quarterback Devin Leary is a player in the transfer portal the new Nebraska coaching staff should try and convince to come to Lincoln.
Rob Kinnan-USA TODAY Sports

Hope peeks over the horizon once more for Nebraska football as 2022 comes to a close. Straight off the heels of naming a new head coach, the rebuild is well underway. We all know the tales of Matt Rhule's catapulting Temple and Baylor into relevancy.

But a brand-new feature of the college game exists today that could speed up a Cornhuskers renaissance: The ever-alluring transfer portal.

It’s an opportunity for fresh starts and the Huskers have more of those on offense than Santa has elves for shelves. A plethora of names could step in for a shot at stardom as the Next Big Red Thing under Rhule. Today, we focus on five faces to get familiar with.

QB Devin Leary, NC State

With 6,807 yards and 62 touchdowns thrown during his Wolfpack tenure, Leary has the chops to be a major player from day one.

Regardless of whether Casey Thompson returns for another year, Rhule needs signal-callers in the worst way. Without the former Texas Longhorn taking snaps in Iowa City, Nebraska likely skids into the offseason on a losing tear.

Leary missed six games with a torn pectoral muscle in 2022 but had surgery to patch things up last October. Now he’s angling for the spotlight once more and few are bigger right now than the one shining on Lincoln.

RB Nathan Carter, UConn

With the running back room in flux, Carter's a natural target now that his former position coach (EJ Barthel) is on the Huskers’ staff. Before having his season cut short due to a shoulder injury, Carter picked up 405 rushing yards through five games, averaging more than six yards per carry.

If Rhule and company can convince Ajay Allen to return, a backfield featuring him and Carter would be dynamite.

WR Dorian Singer, Arizona

The Trey Palmer Show was a treat, but he opted to declare for the NFL draft. That leaves Nebraska needing someone else to posterize defensive backs. Enter Singer. Opposite Jacob Cowing, Singer led the Wildcats' receivers with 1,105 yards and six touchdowns.

Syncing the pride of Arizona’s 2022 wideouts with a hot shot signal-caller could put Palmer’s freshly-minted single-season yardage record at risk straight away.

OG Michael Furtney, Wisconsin

You’d have to go back a decade to find a Husker offensive line that gave up more sacks than the 2022 bunch. Like most areas of the program, the bar for improvement following the Scott Frost era is on the floor.

Despite any dips many Big Ten programs face, some can't help but churn out studs at a given spot. If you want a game-changing wide receiver, you go to Ohio State. Need a quality tight end? Talk to the Iowa Hawkeyes. If you want a brutish offensive lineman, you hit up Wisconsin.

Furtney may not have been the cream of the Badgers' current crop in Madison, but the Huskers need bullying, beefy boys up front. Introducing him to new strength and conditioning leader Corey Campbell helps address that problem in a big way — literally.

QB Jeff Sims, Georgia Tech

Sims' name comes with a twist. If former Georgia Tech head coach Geoff Collins finds his way onto Rhule’s yet-to-be-officially-announced staff, these two may very well meet again in Lincoln.

The 6-foot-, 219-pounder from Jacksonville, Florida, racked up 1,115 passing yards and 292 rushing on the year before leaving an eventual loss to Virginia with a sprained foot. Backup quarterbacks Zach Pyron and Zach Gibson stepped in and Sims was relegated to "In Case of Emergency, Break Glass" status.

His dual-threat abilities lend well to the run-pass option style Rhule prefers and, if nothing else, his addition would help foster competition in a room full of new blood.