Rex Burkhead is the undisputed focal point of the Nebraska Cornhuskers offense. Or, he was, at least for the next few weeks. “Superman”, as Husker faithful call him, sprained his MCL at the end of a nine yard run just a few players after he opened up the scoring with a 57 yard touchdown run.
While the Huskers have a plethora of depth, it is hard to lose your starting running back. Cornhuskers’ coach Bo Pelini said, “day to day, week to week”, when he was asked about the injury sustained to Burkhead.
Rex sustained a Grade 1 sprain. Doing a quick google search, a variety of lengths of times to miss exist. A good guess is 2-3 weeks of rest. Because it is a grade 1 sprain, and not more serious, Burkhead should be okay for the Huskers, but he will be out for a few weeks. Because he is an athlete, Burkhead is in better shape than most people, and should be on the ready to go on the shorter side.
But with a semi-serous injury, Pelini will probably make sure Superman is 100% healthy before putting him back on the field.
So what happens to the Huskers offense without their starting running back?
Today, Taylor Martinez proved that with his arm that he is more than capable of leading this offense. Ameer Abdullah, Braylon Heard, and Imani Cross all came in and did a decent job running the football.
Against a smaller opponent, it was a bit disappointing how little the Cornhuskers did rushing the football once Burkhead left the game. It was not until late in the game that they Big Red really started to open up gaps against a smaller unit.
Perhaps, however, this could be a really good thing for the Huskers.
Ameer Abdullah had a lot of experience last year, but Braylon Heard was rarely used. This year, Imani Cross in a true freshmen. With all three going to get looks behind Burkhead, and all three with different running styles, the Huskers are going to make teams account for a lot of different options.
With all three getting snaps, it will give Tim Beck a lot of options and continue to grow the confidence of Heard and Cross. Nebraska has been missing a big, bruising back like Cross, and when combined with fullback Mike Marrow, the Huskers have a lot of beef that needs to get tackled.
Experience is going to be a key for the Cornhuskers, especially come conference schedule time. Better to get the experience now then be a deer in the headlights at a place like The Shoe.
Paul Troupe is the lead writer for the Nebraska Cornhuskers and San Antonio Spurs, while covering many major sports for RantSports. You can follow him on Twitter @gamin4HIM
