Will Bolt shares what he hopes to learn from tough opening weekend slate

Opening weekend will be a doozy for Nebraska, facing three big-time programs to start out the 2025 season. Will Bolt takes his team out West to Scottsdale, set to play UC-Irvine, Vanderbilt, and San Diego State. Nebraska is not easing into the schedule and instead, jumping into the deep end.

Bolt believes there is a lot to learn from the weekend, no matter results. He recalls last year when Nebraska went 1-2 against three Big 12 teams but still wound up finding success.

“You learn every time you go out, that’s for sure,” Bolt said. “Right out of the shoot, playing these type of teams, it’s kind of like last year. We left the weekend 1-2 but I felt awfully good about our team. Not that we played close and lost but there was some moments there that didn’t pass up by that the other team took advantage of… We’ll learn a lot like we do any weekend. But certainly playing in that type of venue against those opponents that we’re going to play this weekend… We’ll learn a lot pretty quick.”

Nebraska opened 2024 in Arlington, TX, and beat Baylor to start the year. Texas Tech and Oklahoma went on to get victories and spoil the Huskers’ weekend. Bolt learned a ton then and as mentioned, felt good about the club in front of him. Going on to make the NCAA Tournament eventually proved his feelings to be true.

A lot of the guys from that team are now back. Having veteran presences inside the locker room is a massive positive in Bolt’s opinion. They know a poor weekend does not mean all is lost but finding success will not immediately translate to success moving forward.

“I feel like we’re going to find out a lot but it doesn’t define our season either,” Bolt said. “We have to stay consistent in what we do and we have a veteran club. We have a bunch of guys that have seen it, been there done that but they understand also that it’s a new season as well.”

Nebraska will play in the MLB Desert Invitational’s first game, scheduled to face UC-Irvine on Friday at 2 p.m. CT. The program has not made back-to-back NCAA Tournaments since 2016 and 2017, hoping to break a little drought. A massive weekend ahead for the Huskers and Bolt seems prepared for the games ahead.