John Bullock opens up on change to linebacker

Nebraska walk-on defender John Bullock has played all over the field in practice during his first few seasons with the Huskers. He started out as a linebacker before moving to defensive back as a mainly nickleback but he has not returned to linebacker.

He said he likes the move back to linebacker, saying the position fits his game.

“I like it a lot. I’m able to fly around a lot more, just make a play. It’s not a gap defense so just see ball hit, ball. I feel like flying to the ball, getting to the ball, being fast, playing fast is my biggest thing so I like that a lot,” Bullock said after a recent practice.

He will hope that leads to some more playing time. Bullock spent the first two seasons without making an appearance in a game.

The past two years, he has been a cog on special teams, making six tackles over the two seasons.

The Nebraska defense is set to be a fast one, as transfer linebacker MJ Sherman described earlier in the week.

“Fast,” MJ Sherman said. “That’s how I would describe it. It’s fast. There’s a lot of speedsters on the field. That’s what this 3-3-5 gives us, a lot of guys that can move around fast.”

Sherman and Bullock come from different background but could both be key players in the linebacker room. Bullock is a walk-on from Omaha. Sherman was the No. 31 overall recruit and No. 7 linebacker in the 2020 On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies, making him a five-star recruit.

The Nebraska quarterbacks played well in their second scrimmage

Time is running out on spring camp for John Bullock, MJ Sherman and the rest of the Nebraska football players.

The spring game is just two weeks away, and the Huskers played their second scrimmage of the year this past week. Head coach Matt Rhule shouted out the quarterbacks for the job they did.

“That was the best that the quarterbacks have played … And I think they needed that. They needed the live reps,” Rhule said after the Cornhuskers’ second spring scrimmage. “[They needed] to get hit, to speed up their process. We came out to practice today and we went out to stretch and went right into quarterbacks live [drills] from inside the five-yard line.