Welcome, Husker Nation, to another Fast Friday edition, and casual Friday edition, of the Carriker Chronicles, where as you know, I keep it quick and easy each and every Friday. A quick update on Beardgate, yeah I’m still winning the battle! I’m just not sure how much longer I’m going to win the war so stay tuned in the near future to see how that turns out.

Today I wanted to talk about Huskers entering the NFL Draft. We are the only school since 1963 to have multiple players drafted each and every season since then in the NFL Draft. That’s over a half of a century. This year we’ve only had two players invited to the NFL Combine, that’s Nate Gerry and Cethan Carter. I thought guys like Kevin Maurice, possibly Jordan Westerkamp or a couple other guys might have an opportunity. Typically the NFL invites about 330 players, give or take the talent pool, to the NFL combine each and every year. There’s about 224 players drafted in the NFL Draft each and every year unless a team loses a draft pick for one reason or another. I want to talk about how many Huskers will be drafted come April and will that streak continue.

Let’s take a look at Nate Gerry real quick. He’s 6’2” 220 lbs, the dude is built. I have a sneaking suspicion that he and I would have a lot of fun in the weight room together. The last two seasons he’s had nine interceptions and five passes defended. He was one of the top-graded coverage safeties in all of college football in 2014. He struggles a little bit when working backwards, passes over his head can be a bit of an issue.

Tackling is also something, and this surprised me a little bit, that he struggles with just a little bit as well. He missed 25 of 163 tackle attempts the past two seasons. Why that surprises me is in 2015 he led the Huskers in tackles, and this past year he was second on the team in tackles. Over the past two years, he’s had about 150 combined total tackles. I guess that makes me wish he hadn’t had so many tackle attempts, especially as a safety but I digress, let’s move forward.

The suspensions are also a bit of a question for him as well. Obviously, the academic one for the bowl game this past year, and the ones for tackling too hard. Hopefully the NFL doesn’t hold that against him! Honestly, I would be shocked if Nate Gerry doesn’t get drafted, he will get drafted. Now where he’ll get drafted, I’ll look at that as the NFL Draft gets a little bit closer. A couple more things, Nate does a nice job working downhill when the play is coming toward him. The dude is just an intense baller and a playmaker. I think he would be a good fit for a two high safety team.

The other guy invited to the NFL Combine, Cethan Carter, 6’4” 240 lbs, true freshman All-American after his freshman year. He also had offers from LSU and Miami, and he chose the Huskers over those two schools, smart move dude! He has shown he can be a fierce blocker at times throughout his career with the Huskers, and he can run with the ball in his hands as well. On a couple of tight end reverses, he took one for a 32-yard touchdown a couple years ago. The guy has plenty of talent, he just needs to be a little more consistent. I think the Combine is going to be huge for Cethan and the individual workouts he’s going to have with teams as well. I’m still curious to see what some of the other guys do, if maybe they can possibly get drafted as well, Westerkamp and some of these other Husker players.

I wish I had worn my targeting shirt today. I wore it on Wednesday because of the whole Nate Gerry thing. I wore it on Wednesday in part one of my two part interview with Husker legend Vince Ferragamo, big shout out to Cornhusker Memes for that shirt, by the way, love those guys. If you didn’t see part one on Wednesday with Vince, fun to talk to, check it out. Part two will be posted on Monday, be sure to stay tuned for that. Part two might even be better than part one.

Like and share the Carriker Chronicles with all of your friends and until Monday, Husker Nation, Go Big Red and always remember to Throw Them Bones!