Not long after the Nebraska football team announced the players who will wear Blackshirts and single-digit jerseys in 2026, it became clear that one of the defense’s leaders would not play in the season opener.
Linebacker Owen Chambliss, who will wear No. 0 this season, was not in uniform during warmups and won’t appear in the game against Ohio. Chambliss has been nursing a hamstring injury for the last few weeks. There was hope he’d be able to shake it off in time for Saturday’s 11 am kickoff, but it was not to be.
Nebraska football will not have Owen Chambliss for season opener against Ohio
Chambliss’ absence certainly wasn’t a huge surprise, even if Nebraska mostly kept the extent under wraps. That there was any problem at all only surfaced when defensive coordinator Rob Aurich mentioned on August 22 that the transfer linebacker hadn’t been in practice all week.
However, just a few days later, head coach Matt Rhule reported that the Huskers were relatively injury-free, noting only one player out for the year, Kahmir Prescott. That seemed to indicate that while Chambliss had missed several practices, he was back and healthy. It turns out he wasn’t all the way back…