WR Zavier Betts moves on from Nebraska football program
Wide receiver Zavier Betts has moved on from the Nebraska football program. NU head coach Matt Rhule confirmed on Saturday that Betts left the team this week.
The news of Betts’ departure comes as a surprise, as he rejoined the program in January after initially leaving in the spring of 2021. Betts returned to the team after entering the transfer portal for less than a week in January.
“Zavier Betts has left the team,” Rhule said on Saturday. “He came to me and said, ‘Coach, my heart is just not in it.’ I’m very, very proud of what Zavier has done as a person, getting eligible. I think he intends to stay in school and work to graduate. I’m disappointed in the timing, but what we ask people to do is hard. If his heart is not in it, I certainly understand it. I’m proud of the growth he’s made, and I wish him the best. He’s a guy I love and care about, and I hope he finds what he’s looking for.”
The Bellevue West product had to work hard in the classroom to get back, as Rhule confirmed he passed 21 credit hours over the spring and summer semesters at UNL.
“It was honestly a really easy decision for me to come back and to play,” Betts said on the Husker Radio Network in July. “But I really did it for my family and then for the fans, really, because I know a lot of people were sad when I left. Honestly, I felt like I let everybody down, so I wanted to come back and show everybody.”
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Nebraska must find another big-play threat to replace Betts
What Betts brought to the offense was the big play. In 18 appearances in 2020 and 2021, he had 32 catches for 417 yards and three rushes for 109 yards.
In 2020, he had a 45-yard touchdown catch to help the Huskers beat Penn State. He then produced an 83-yard touchdown run on an option play against Northwestern in 2021.
The 45-yard scoring reception was NU’s longest of the 2020 season, while the 83-yarder against the Wildcats was the longest rush by a Nebraska player since 2021.
