Top 40 Huskers for 2023: 1-5

With Nebraska football’s 2023 season around the corner, the HuskerOnline team voted on the top 40 Huskers for Matt Rhule’s first season.

The voting criteria was to rank the players based on importance to the team, overall talent and future potential for the upcoming season. Our voters focused specifically on the 2023 season, not future seasons or a player’s long-term importance or future talent.

The voting panel consisted of HuskerOnline Publisher Sean Callahan, columnist Steven Sipple, senior writer Robin Washut and staff writer Abby Barmore. Each voter submitted their own Top 40 list from which the votes were tallied.

Our series concludes with the top 1-5 Huskers out of 40. The final five features three integral offensive transfers along with two key defensive returners.

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RELATED: 40-36 | 31-35 | 26-30 | 25-21 | 20-16 | 15-11 | 10-6 |

5. Luke Reimer, LB, Sr.

Sean	Sipple	Robin	Abby
3rd	6th	6th	5th

It’s obvious why Luke Reimer finds himself in the final five of the Top 40 Huskers. He’s dependable, tough and Nebraska’s top linebacker from 2022.

The Lincoln North Star product made 10 starts in his junior season and missed two games due to injury. His first came against Purdue seven weeks into the season and snapped a streak of 18 consecutive starts. Reimer played through those injuries all year but did not appear in the season finale at Iowa.

Even with those two absences, Reimer led the team in tackles with 86 stops including 3.5 tackles for a loss and a sack.

This past spring, the 6-foot-1, 225-pounder said Tony White’s 3-3-5 defense allows him to play free and described it as an attacking defense with lots of movement.

Undoubtedly, Reimer will be a cornerstone for White in 2023.

4. Ben Scott, OL, Jr.

Sean	Sipple	Robin	Abby
5th	2nd	5th	8th

Of Nebraska’s transfer-portal acquisitions, Ben Scott may go down as the most critical. Apart from the No. 1 name on the Top 40 Huskers ranking of course.

The former Arizona State Sun Devil arrives in Lincoln with two seasons of eligibility remaining. His time in Tempe featured 28 starts from the 2020-2022 seasons and a redshirt year in 2019. The 2020 and 2021 campaigns he spent at right tackle before becoming a center last year.

He very well could be NU’s top offensive lineman. According to Pro Football Focus, Scott has allowed nine quarterback hurries and just four sacks in 1,776 career snaps.

From player accounts, it appears Scott is already fitting in to a tight-knit unit. His role as the starting center appears to be solidified, too.

3. Billy Kemp IV, WR, Sr.

Sean	Sipple	Robin	Abby
7th	5th	3rd	2nd

For a third consecutive season, Nebraska’s primary receiver may come out of the transfer portal. Trey Palmer paced the Huskers a season ago, Samori Toure in 2021 and Billy Kemp could follow in that duo’s footsteps in 2023.

Kemp has no shortage of experience as a sixth-year senior. He made 25 starts and appeared in 50 games throughout his Virginia career. The 5-foot-9, 180-pound Kemp caught 192 passes for 1,774 yards as a Cavalier. He closed his career 10th on the all-time receiving list and fourth in career catches.

Punt returning is another area of focus. Kemp averaged 6.2 yards per punt return which ranked 36th nationally a year ago. He caught two passes for 39 yards during Nebraska’s spring game.

2. Quinton Newsome, CB, Sr.

Sean	Sipple	Robin	Abby
2nd	3rd	2nd	3rd

Quinton Newsome is arguably Nebraska’s best defensive piece.

Entering his senior season Newsome has started 24 consecutive games and was an honorable-mention All-Big Ten selection last year. He led the team with 10 pass breakups, tallied 44 tackles and sacked the quarterback twice.

In 2021, he recorded a career-high 57 tackles along with a sack and four pass breakups.

Rhule referred to Newsome as a potential NFL talent earlier this spring. That confirmed similar praise the Suwanee, Georgia, native received from former defensive backs coach Travis Fischer last season.

The 6-foot-1, 180-pound Newsome is one of the Huskers’ most experienced defensive players and will step into a major leadership role this season. While the list of candidates to work as the corner opposite Newsome is long, Evan Cooper has to feel confident in the standout’s ability on that side of the field.

1. Jeff Sims, QB, Jr.

Sean	Sipple	Robin	Abby
1st	1st	1st	1st

Placing Jeff Sims at the pinnacle of the Top 40 Huskers may seem like an obvious thing to do, but it’s safe to say Nebraska’s season hangs on his level of play. The departure of Casey Thompson late April takes a quarterback battle off the table and Sims is in the driver’s seat for the starting job.

In his last three seasons at Georgia Tech, the 6-foot-4, 220-pounder produced some big-time numbers in 23 starts. Sims’ career featured 5,500 yards of total offense including 1,115 passing yards in seven games last year. An injury held the duel-threat athlete out of the Yellowjacket’s other five games but he led the squad with five passing touchdowns.

Sims has totaled 1,152 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns in his career.

But offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield wants to make sure Sims isn’t thought of as only a running quarterback. He made his thoughts on Sims’ arm talent abundantly clear when speaking to HuskerOnline at a camp in Texas earlier this month. Satterfield used the word “really” five times to describe his quarterback’s ability.

For the Huskers to reach their first bowl game since 2016, Sims needs to realize his potential and meet expectations.

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