Nebraska receiver Jacory Barney's to-do list: Better routes, punt returns and even more joy

Nebraska was holding its only public practice of fall camp, and the initial buzz from the scattered Memorial Stadium crowd had been replaced with a quiet hum. Then Barney re-elevated the noise all by himself.

The sophomore receiver was to the left of Hohl and began his usual mid-practice routine of nonstop shouting. It became the soundtrack to Hohl’s work, Barney bouncing up and down the field with a giddy energy, yelling encouragement as Hohl made kicks from progressively farther.

“Show them how far you’ve come, John!” Barney shouted as the placekicker  set up for another attempt.

Barney assumed the role of Hohl’s hype man a season ago, introducing his yelling routine to try to instill confidence in the then-freshman as he found his footing the last five weeks of the regular season. It has since expanded to the other Husker kickers.

“It’s not even that it’s getting in your head to miss,” Cal transfer Kyle Cunanan said. “You’re sitting back there trying not to laugh because he’s being so funny.”

Barney is flush with joy and confidence he tries to spread to his teammates. He carved out a role for himself as a freshman with his speed and elusiveness.

And hasn’t been bashful in expressing his greater ambitions for Year 2.

“I feel like if you work hard enough and you put the work in behind the doors, when your time comes, you should be ready for that moment,” he said. “And I feel like I’m ready because of all the work I’ve put in over all the years.”

Days after the start of training camp, Barney said he planned to be the best punt returner in the country in 2025. It didn't matter that he returned three punts in 2024. He knows of new special teams coach Mike Ekeler’s track record coming off a four-year stint at Tennessee in which the Volunteers had the leading punt return unit in the FBS.

The difference between the players Ekeler coached at UT and his weapons in Lincoln? It’s pretty simple, Barney said.

“I’m the guy he needs,” Barney said. “The rest of those guys he had, I feel like they weren’t me. So if they can do it, I can do it. So I feel like I’m the next one.”

Ekeler also helped foster Barney’s unapologetic ambition since he re-joined the coaching staff in February. It’s the mentality he wants out of his young returner, one of several players charged with improving Nebraska’s special teams.

“I don’t go to Vegas because if I played blackjack I’d push all the chips in the middle,” Ekeler said, “so I respect that.”

Before summer began, receivers coach Daikiel Shorts gave Barney a list of areas for improvement: Creating more separation on his routes, knowing when to burst forward. Shorts used Houston Texans receiver Tank Dell, who he coached at the University of Houston, as an example.

As fall camp began, Barney said he was playing and processing faster than he had as a freshman. He attacked his second year with the energy that defined his career to that point, the intangibles pushing him forward as he tries to build on a lifetime of work.

“When he was a little kid, I’m sure out in the backyard they didn’t have to twist his arm to go out there and play ball. I’m sure he was the kid rounding up everybody in the neighborhood and getting them ready to roll,” Ekeler said. “So he just loves the game. I love that. I respect that about him. And not only does he love it, he respects the game.

"You respect the game by going out and playing your (rear end) off. That’s what he does every day.”