Can't speak for the fanbase, but while I had concerns with the RB room as a whole heading into last year, I felt ok with Emmett being RB #1. He had over 1,000 yards in his NU career heading into this past season and showed an upward trajectory once Holgerson showed up last year. Right now, we have no RBs that have proven much of anything, particularly in conference play, and Holgerson and/or Barthel showed less faith in the backup RBs in the amount of carries and PT they gave to that group than any NU coach in my lifetime. While I had concerns last year on our RB situation, they are amplified this year. I didn't see the bowl game, so missed whatever Nelson showed in that.Benning has been the same way since he was on 1620 and even before that and long before he was the radio color guy. He does say things that are critical of the program. Just yesterday or the day before, he was talking about how they need to do something different for bowl practice. That giving kids that much time off was a bad idea. He was also questioning if the team is still mentally fragile, because when the wheels start to wobble they lose the entire axle, this was in reference to the last 3 games. To single him out is a bit "lazy". The media in Nebraska is all the same. The only two that speak out at all are the dude at the paper Sam McKewon and now Schaefer after he was let go at 247, he apparently found his sack.
As far as RB position goes, the post on this thread this year are exactly the same as last year. All you need to do is change the name from Johnson to Mozee or Nelson. I have no idea if the room will be sufficient next season, I do know there are 6 or 7 guys in the room right now many with the same level of confidence from the fanbase as Emmitt Johnson had last year.