Greg McElroy defends leaving Nebraska off Top 10 defenses in college football list

The Nebraska Cornhuskers have a storied history, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. There, the blackshirts are known for being one of the most vicious defenses college football has seen, and it’s a standard head coach Matt Rhule is hoping to get back to in the 2025 season.

Despite high expectations, analyst Greg McElroy left Nebraska off his list of Top 10 defenses for the 2025 season. That was a decision he broke down on his show Always College Football.

“This is a group that I’m expecting a pretty significant jump from,” Greg McElroy said. “Look, new defensive coordinator. John Butler is taking over for Tony White. Tony White was really good at that 3-3-5 scheme. He now leaves for Florida State, but Butler, who was commanding the secondary last year, he’s now been promoted. So, there is some continuity that I think is created when you promote from within, especially when things were done pretty well last year, but it sounds like there’s going to be a few more different fronts. There’s going to be a few more exotics. There’s probably going to be some aggressive pressure packages. If you read some tea leaves about what might be coming, they’re going to be a disruptive group.”

Last season, Nebraska was 17th nationally in scoring defense, giving up 19.5 points per game. The Cornhuskers were also 18th nationally in total defense, giving up 317.9 yards per game. Now, with a new system, Rhule will turn toward a pair of key linebacker additions to improve on that impressive season defensively.

“I do think the linebackers, that’s probably the part of the team that I feel really, really solid about. Mostly because of two significant additions. You bring in Marques Watson-Trent, who is a transfer addition who led Georgia Southern in tackles last year. Had nearly 120 tackles. Forced a bunch of fumbles, was an all-conference performer when he was at Georgia Southern. He’s got a lot of experience and is a bit of a playmaker there at the second level,” McElroy said.

“Then, Dasan McCullough, who’s kind of a chess piece. Can do a lot of different things for you. He transfers from Oklahoma. He was at Indiana and was a freshman All-American a couple of years ago. He’s got length and he’s got some twitch. So, we’ll see exactly what position he settles into.”

The problem for McElroy that he runs into at Nebraska is that the Cornhuskers have massive turnover. In particular, along the defensive line, it will be a new-look team.

“But there are some massive losses that must be accounted for. Jimari Butler, Ty Robinson, Nash Hutmacher. That defensive line turnover is significant,” McElroy said. “But I am cautiously optimistic with some of the new additions, like Watson-Trent, like McCullough… and you should be pretty excited about what this group is able to do.”

Where Nebraska stands defensively is going to be revealed relatively quickly in the season. The Cornhuskers open play with the Cincinnati Bearcats. Then, on September 20th, they open Big Ten play against the Michigan Wolverines.

“I’m expecting a pretty big leap for Nebraska this year in a lot of facets,” McElroy said. “But I do think on defense they can take a jump as well.”