Nebraska LB Javin Wright plans to return in 2025 for a seventh year
Nebraska’s defense got another boost for the 2025 season, and this time it’s not from the transfer portal. Linebacker Javin Wright plans to return to NU for a seventh season in 2025.
Wright confirmed his plans to return to HuskerOnline Thursday morning, as he won’t participate in the upcoming NFL Draft process and will return to campus when classes resume on Jan. 21. The “soft” deadline to declare for the draft and play in an all-star game was Jan. 6, while the traditional hard deadline to declare is Jan. 15.
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The 6-foot-5, 230-pound Wright will be the first-ever known seventh-year player in NU program history. He arrived in Lincoln for the 2019 season, and his recruiting process dates back to Scott Frost’s first season in 2018.
Wright redshirted the 2019 season and played in only two games in 2020 and 2021 before seeing time in 32 games over the last three seasons.
For Wright to return for a seventh year, he had to prove he missed two full seasons due to medical reasons. Wright has battled a blood clot issue since the beginning of this time at Nebraska and even was forced to miss the first four games of 2024 before playing 230 snaps over the final nine games.
During an interview with the Husker Sports Network at the Pinstripe Bowl, linebackers coach Rob Dvoracek first hinted at the possibility of Wright’s return.
“It’s been a long year for him with some injury things that he’s been dealing with,” Dvoracek said. “Obviously, he’s been here a long time, too, so for him to play in a meaningful bowl game like this is really cool for him. We are working on him coming back next year, so it will be good.”
Throughout his career, Wright has played 699 defensive snaps and another 317 on special teams. During NU’s 20-15 win over Boston College in the Pinstripe Bowl, he played 43 snaps on defense – the second most in his career.
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Wright, the son of Nebraska great Toby Wright, finished the bowl game with eight tackles, tying his career high and giving him 34 tackles on the season.
Wright Wright, Nebraska’s LB room has plenty of options
With Wright now set to return for a seventh season in 2025, Nebraska’s linebacker room will enter the year with plenty of options.
Back are veterans like Wright, Vincent Shavers (203 snaps) and Willis McGahee IV (144 snaps). Then NU adds transfers Dasan McCullough (913 career snaps) from Oklahoma and Marques Watson-Trent (2,502 snaps) from Georgia Southern, along with a talented freshman class coming in that features three four-star players – Dawson Merritt, Christian Jones and Pierce Mooberry.
The Huskers lost John Bullock (1,017 career snaps) to graduation, while both Mikai Gbayor (Missouri/617 career snaps) and Stefon Thompson (Florida State/1,661 career snaps) entered the transfer portal.
The team is expected to report back to Lincoln on Jan. 20 for the second semester, while classes begin on Jan. 21.
