Sizing up position battles

Competition or controversy?

If a football team has two good quarterbacks, it’s a controversy. If the team has two good middle linebackers, it’s a competition.

As fall camp enters for the Nebraska football team, as with any season, there are position battles that bear watching.

The No. 2 quarterback position will especially bear watching as Zac Lee is the odds-on favorite to replace the graduated Joe Ganz. After Lee, the race for No. 2 includes Kody Spano, LaTravis Washington, Cody Green and potentially Taylor Martinez. I remain very adamant that Green and Martinez should redshirt. For starters, it’s going to be very rare that head coach Bo Pelini does not redshirt a true freshman.

In an ideal world, Washington would redshirt too given that the junior is a converted linebacker. However, I kind of made the same argument last year when Cody Glenn moved from running back to linebacker but not redshirting Glenn seemed to work just fine. Redshirting Washington now, however, would logjam the position for the future.

Spano, who is a redshirt freshman, would be the No. 2 man ideally but is he fully recovered physically and mentally from a torn ACL injury? I say, plan on making Lee the main guy and find a role for Washington. Perhaps the Wildcat role.

Wide receiver and right guard will also be a compelling thing to watch. At the former, Menelik Holt and Niles Paul are likely to be the starters for the season opener. Both had meaningful snaps last year behind Nate Swift and Todd Peterson but being the lead guy is a whole different deal. Behind Holt and Paul, you have Chris Brooks, Will Henry, Curenski Gilleylen, Brandon Kinnie and Marcus Mendoza, Antonio Bell, Tim Marlowe and Khiry Cooper.
For right guard, the wild card is backup center Mike Caputo, who could possibly be the start and move Jacob Hickman to right guard. Or keeping Hickman at center and having Ricky Henry and Caputo battle it out at right guard. It’s really a battle to see whether sophomore backup center Mike Caputo progresses enough to surpass junior Ricky Henry at his position, right guard. Obviously the possibility has been brought up, because current center/former right guard Jacob Hickman talked about it at length at Big 12 Media Days.Middle linebacker will also bear watching. Linebacker was an area of weakness for much of the year but senior walk-on Colton Koehler was a bright spot.

The wild card is what happens to Phillip Dillard, who has fallen out of favor with the coaching staff (specifically position coach Mike Ekeler). Dillard has enough talent to be an asset but will his mind be in the right place?

Then there is also redshirt freshman Will Compton, who is highly touted but young players also come with a learning curve.

You also have five guys battling for two cornerback positions -- Anthony West, Prince Amukamara, Dejon Gomes, and Alfonzo Dennard and Anthony Blue. For now, West and Amukamara are the favorites but if he’s healthy, Blue might be the best corner.