The University of Nebraska football is apparently going to be without one of its freshman receivers this fall, should the 2020 season occur. Evan Bland of the Omaha World-Herald reported on Monday that Will Nixon is rehabbing a knee injury. The freshman receiver posted a short video to Instagram over the weekend titled “ACL recovery,” which appeared to show Nixon in bed with his leg wrapped in bandages.
Along with the video was a caption that appeared to show the receiver knows he’s not going to be playing this fall.
“Can’t wait for the next five months,” Nixon wrote. “(Going to) come back better and ball out. That’s on 100% working hard every step of the way.”
Bland said previous posts over Nixon’s and his friends’ social media channels indicated he suffered the injury sometime this month. It isn’t clear whether he hurt it during voluntary workouts with the Huskers or if he did it off the football field. The university has not issued a statement about Nixon’s post at all. Nebraska head coach Scott Frost tends not to go public with comments about injuries, citing player privacy.
The true freshman reportedly arrived in Lincoln earlier this summer just in time for the team’s voluntary workouts. Since the injury to his knee was just divulged, it’s not clear how much he was able to work out with his new teammates.
Bland reported that what does seem clear is he’s going to miss the 2020 season, assuming it’s played in the fall. The writer said the Huskers planned for Nixon to step into the Duck-R hybrid position. Nebraska has used that spot to be a place where a player can either carry the ball as a running back or catch a pass out in the flat.
Bland said Nixon showed the versatility to play the position in high school. As a three-star prospect out of high school, he accounted for over 2,000 yards of total offense and 29 touchdowns. Nixon is the son of current Carolina Panthers assistant coach Jeff Nixon.
The wide receiver/running back is the first known major injury to a member of the Nebraska football team since the Huskers began their voluntary workouts this summer.
A member of the 2020 recruiting class, Nixon had more than a dozen scholarship offers when he decided on the Cornhuskers. Among the schools, he picked Nebraksa over was the Baylor Bears. His father was the running backs coach for that team until he was hired by the Panthers this past winter.
