Nebraska's Anthony Grant's offseason focus, and other running back notes

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Nebraska’s crowded running back room thinned out slightly after spring camp. Dynamic redshirt freshman Ajay Allen entered the transfer portal in April, a move that both alleviated the Huskers’ logjam in the backfield and robbed them of an intriguing young back who flashed potential in four games before getting injured in 2022.
Position coach E.J. Barthel appeared on Sports Nightly on Tuesday to discuss his group entering 2023.
The Huskers’ top back remains Anthony Grant. The sixth-year senior playing for his third school rushed for 915 yards and six touchdowns a year ago. His focus over the offseason has shifted to the smaller details: reading blocking schemes, doing a better job of receiving the handoff and having the patience and vision to become a better back than he can by relying solely on his natural abilities.
“As a running back from Pop Warner to high school, even in some colleges, you usually rely on your athleticism or you rely on your speed or your power or something,” Barthel said. “But (at) this level, you can’t win every battle that way.”
Since his debut in 2021, Gabe Ervin has proven to be a productive, Big Ten-caliber runner. The challenge has been staying on the field. A knee injury cut his true freshman season short after two games, and he was limited to eight games in 2022, hampered by turf toe. In his limited action, he’s rushed for 218 yards on 57 carries.
Even without regular playing time, he’s become one of the leaders of the group almost by default. Among running backs, only Rahmir Johnson has spent more time at Nebraska than Ervin.
“When he makes a mistake it’s about getting right back, correcting that mistake himself in front of the guys,” Barthel said. “There is no pouting or, ‘Oh, I messed up.’ It’s, ‘Hey, we’re here to get better,’ and he’s a leader by action. I’m not too much of a rah-rah guy but I think that he’s becoming a leader and he’s really developing his practice habits, his training and taking care of his body the right way.”
Johnson and Emmett Johnson are the other candidates to get regular snaps in the backfield, barring a breakout season from freshman Kwinten Ives or a walk-on. Rahmir Johnson has been a regular contributor for the Huskers over the past four years but rarely a bell cow back.
Emmett Johnson, a redshirt freshman and former three-star recruit, appeared in four games on special teams last year. The process of forming himself into a Big Ten running back has been gradual and single-minded, Barthel said. The younger Johnson focuses on something new he wants to improve every week. It can be a route as a pass-catcher out of the backfield or something technical in his abilities as a running back.
“Emmett is a very competitive kid,” Barthel said. “He’s got some good explosiveness and some natural gifts and he wants to go, go, go, go, go. I appreciate that about him, but he’s really become a really mature young man the last few months.”