Steven Sipple: Wynn brings championship mentality to a Nebraska defensive line that suddenly is intriguing thanks to transfers
Stephon Wynn Jr. considers it a blessing to have spent four seasons in Alabama’s football program.
That could be a blessing for Nebraska, too.
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A 6-foot-4, 300-pound defensive lineman, Wynn last month announced his transfer to Nebraska. He said Thursday he plans to arrive in Lincoln next week. He’ll arrive intent on proving himself worthy of an NFL Draft selection. He’ll also arrive determined to turn all those losses that NU suffered last season into wins, he said.
I’m not suggesting Wynn will be a surefire star at Nebraska or even a surefire starter. He’ll have to earn his way into the lineup like anyone else. Same goes for fellow Husker defensive line transfer additions Ochaun Mathis and Devin Drew.
But you certainly can say this about Wynn: He knows what it takes to win big.
He has a national championship ring for being part of Alabama’s 2020 squad, and the Crimson Tide twice finished runner-up for all the marbles in his years at the school.
He doesn’t plan to bring his national title ring to Lincoln.
“But I’m going to bring that sort of mentality, and that can rub off on some of the guys – and we can win together,” Wynn said during an interview sponsored by Athlete Branding and Marketing, the agency that assists Husker players in the name, image and likeness world.
A South Carolina native, Wynn saw action in seven games last season as a backup, recording five tackles and a quarterback hurry. All told, he appeared in 21 games in four seasons with the Crimson Tide, finishing with 16 stops.
I don’t want to say his statistics are beside the point. Yes, he was a rotational player in his years at Alabama. But it means something – actually, it means plenty — for any Tide player to say he lasted four seasons (and five springs) in Nick Saban’s program. Saban reels in top players nationally every season, and he doesn’t keep players around for the sake of keeping them around.
Wynn had to fight hard for any playing time he could muster.
He came ready to battle daily.
He’ll do the same in Lincoln, is my guess.
He’s convincing in that regard.
“As a competitor who loves the game of football, you want to compete against the best if you want to be the best,” Wynn said. “I want to be the best and want to compete against the best. Alabama’s going to bring that out of you because there’s not a day that goes by when you can just half-practice or half-workout. You had to stay on the grind every day.”
It’s safe to say Wynn will well-prepared mentally for Nebraska’s preseason camp, which begins in late July. One probably can say the same for Drew (from Texas Tech by way of Iowa Western Community College) and Mathis (from TCU).
They’re mature, veteran players who know what to expect.
They certainly contribute to the energy surge the program’s experienced in the offseason.
Nebraska DL major question mark in spring
Nebraska’s defensive line was a major question mark coming out of spring practice in large part because of lack of depth and overall lack of experience. With the transfer-portal additions, the Husker D-line is now, well, intriguing at the very least. Especially from a pass-rush standpoint.
The 6-foot-5, 260-pound Mathis recorded 13 sacks combined for TCU in 2020 and 2021. He was a three-year starter who could force offenses to slant protection his way. That obviously could benefit Wynn and Drew, not to mention Husker returning defenders such as Ty Robinson, Garrett Nelson and Caleb Tannor, to name a few.
Nebraska managed only 20 sacks last season, which ranked in a tie for 101st nationally (Alabama led the nation with 57). Expect improvement in that area. Mathis should help matters, obviously, but Nelson and Tannor also are veteran players coming into their own.
Although Wynn and Drew obviously could help matters in the interior line, Nebraska still isn’t exactly loaded with proven run-stoppers. Nebraska’s run defense is a bigger question mark than its pass-rush capability, at least in my eyes.
But the Huskers’ interior defensive line is no longer an area of grave concern, as was the case coming out of the spring. A dire situation became even scarier when Casey Rogers and Jordon Riley bolted for Oregon.
Enter Mathis, Drew and Wynn. All three have maturity that is striking. They’re grown men.
The 6-3, 285-pound Drew made 34 tackles in 31 games for Texas Tech this past fall and had 55 stops in all in two seasons at the Big 12 school.
“I’m a guy who will be there for you every day,” Drew says. “I’ll show up to work.”
Wynn speaks the same sort of language. Yes, he said, he noticed during his recent decision-making process that Nebraska needed help in the defensive line.
“But I have a competitive mindset,” Wynn said. “I don’t want nothing given to me.”
He wants to be a team leader, he said.
He understands he’ll have to earn it.
This much is certain: His new teammates surely will take note of his experience at Alabama, as they should.
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