The glorious Nebraska running back tradition may be coming back in the form of Ameer Abdullah.
The junior Cornhusker ran for a career-high 225 yards and two touchdowns on just 20 carries in Nebraska’s 39-19 pasting of Illinois on Saturday. It was his fourth 100-yard effort in five games this season (the other being a 98-yard day against UCLA) and the most yards in a game by a Nebraska running back since Roy Helu had 307 versus Missouri in 2010.
On the season, Abdullah now has 690 rushing yards and five touchdowns. He is on pace to rush for over 1,600 yards, which would be the best rushing output by a Nebraska running back since Ahman Green rushed for 1,877 yards in 1997.
With quarterback Taylor Martinez out each of the past two games due to turf toe and his replacement, Tommy Armstrong, still getting his feet wet, the Cornhuskers offense has been forced to rely more on its running backs. As a result, Nebraska has rushed for exactly 335 yards in each of its past two games.
Abdullah has been the main catalyst for this change, showing slippery moves in traffic and great vision in the open field.
If he keeps it up, it will make the Nebraska quarterback’s job that much easier...whoever that ends up being.