Nebraska football star Maurice Washington has pled not guilty to the two crimes he's been charged within California.

Now that he has officially entered a plea, Husker fans got a glimpse into his legal strategy as well as what is going to happen next. The plea was entered, and now the trial process will be delayed until May 13.

It appears this date was set specifically so that Washington could continue to focus on his studies. This date is after UNL's spring semester has ended.

Nebraska football looking ahead

Since the Husker coaching staff learned that these proceedings were going to go down this spring, they have made it very clear they want Washington to focus on keeping his grades up and making sure he's doing the right thing in the trial.

While the staff has allowed him to participate in spring practice, he's always been a limited participant.

It appears now that his practices are basically over until at least the summer. On the same day that Washington entered his plea and found out when the trial will take the next step, head coach Scott Frost announced the running back would not be playing in the Spring Game.

It's hard to know exactly what the thinking behind this decision is. It's possible it's all about making sure that Washington isn't allowing the emotion of the week to carry over to the game. This is, after all, nothing more than a glorified practice. It would be a massive shame if he were to suffer some sort of injury because he was trying to do too much against his own teammates.

What we do know is that the Cornhuskers are not turning their backs on Maurice Washington. They've made it clear that they feel as though he's done everything he needed to do.

They, like Washington himself, now just have to sit and wait and see what becomes of this trial.

Deal not expected before next step

For those hoping that this whole situation might get resolved before the May hearing, Benjamin Rada, a spokesman for Santa Clara County Superior Court told the media on Wednesday that it would be "extremely rare" for a plea deal between Washington's attorneys and the prosecution before May 13.

Rada also said the running back might not be required to attend the next hearing, because it's simply to determine who exactly will be representing the player in California. Washington's Lincoln attorney is not licensed to practice in California. The back was represented by a public defender at the plea hearing.

As far as what the coaches think of what's going on with what would almost certainly be the favorite to be the Nebraska football team's starting running back, Maurice Washington's head coach said “we’re going to sit back and let the process play out and see where it lands."
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