2 weeks Ago By LUKE MULLIN Lincoln Journal Star
Matt Rhule took several steps to his left, peering past a row of cameras and bright lights to pick out someone seated in the back of the room. “I see a D-lineman back there, is that Keona back there?” Rhule asked as he spotted the second-year Husker waiting for his turn at the podium. “Keona and those guys get mad at you because you don’t let them get near the quarterback,” Rhule said, smiling.
In the spring, when quarterbacks wear green no-contact jerseys and 11-on-11 live action is rare, Nebraska doesn’t need Davis to wreak havoc in the backfield. It'll need that from him this fall when Davis could be one of the standouts on a new-look Husker defensive line. That optimism comes from a freshman season in which Davis played in 12 of 13 games, only sitting out of a narrow road loss to Ohio State.
The defensive lineman wasn’t a game-wrecker in 2024 — Ty Robinson and Nush Hutmacher were instead — but he was gaining valuable reps. Having played 10 or more snaps in six different games, including NU’s bowl game victory, Davis recorded an efficient 10 tackles as he adjusted to the speed of the college game. “Because of that (experience), I now have more confidence and I’m more comfortable playing,” Davis said.
It’s been a busy 12 months overall for Davis, given he was still a senior in high school during Nebraska’s 2024 spring camp. As a late addition to NU’s 2024 recruiting class, Davis was the school’s only February signee last year — and it took a late recruiting push from Tony White and Terrance Knighton to get Davis to Lincoln in the first place. That meant when White and Knighton left Nebraska for Florida State in December, Davis’s entire outlook at Nebraska changed.
“To be honest, I felt kinda scared and confused,” Davis said. “With them leaving, I didn’t know how the defense was going to be run and where I was going to be, so my mind was very frantic.” Within a week of White and Knighton’s departure, Davis had entered his name into the transfer portal.
Nebraska wasn’t ready to let him go just yet. Rhule stayed in communication with Davis, while defensive coordinator John Butler also got in touch to explain his vision for the Husker defense. Then came a FaceTime call from Terry Bradden, the program’s newly hired defensive line coach.
“He was real loud,” Davis said of Bradden. “It was awesome.” Two days after entering the portal, Davis heard what he needed to withdraw his name and return to Nebraska for another season.
Partially driving the decision was the presence of Bradden. While he’s not the defensive line coach Davis committed to playing for, Bradden is a coach who Davis feels will get the best out of him. “Every morning he’s always coming in with a big smile and saying hello to everybody,” Davis said.
"If you come in feeling down, you just feed off of his energy and it brings you back up.” Bradden has also helped Davis continue to build his frame. Having arrived in Lincoln as a 245-pound freshman, Davis said he’s now bulked up to 270 pounds — a 25-pound gain in less than a year’s time.
That weight gain firmly places Davis alongside Riley Van Poppel, Cameron Lenhardt, Elijah Jeudy and Williams Nwaneri as Nebraska’s top projected defensive line options. There’s more work left to be done to get there, though, with Davis saying that learning the playbook and playing quicker on the field were key goals for him this spring. As he goes through his first spring camp with the team, Davis is past being a potential contributor; he’s putting in the work to become a starter.
“The first mat drills were really rough; I didn’t expect it to be like that,” Davis said. “I’m grateful for it because it pushed me to be better, and with spring ball we keep accelerating and keep going up in my progression of being a better football player.” Get local news delivered to your inbox!.
