Nebraska football running back has yet another day in court on Monday morning. At 11 am central time, the sophomore has a hearing scheduled that will help determine who will be his attorney in California for the remainder of this case. This hearing is needed because the attorneys that have been working with him so far, are licensed in Nebraska but not in California, where the charges were filed.

This hearing is expected to be uneventful, and that's not entirely good news for Husker fans who just want to know what's going to happen and whether they might need to plan for Washington to miss any time during the 2019 season.

This is actually the third hearing since Cornhusker fans got wind of the fact that the running back had been charged with a crime that could see him do some jail time should everything go very much wrong.

Positives of Monday's hearing

Now that Maurice Washington has entered a plea, and will have a lawyer established in California, it's possible that things could move quickly. On the other hand, not being licensed in the state where charges were filed didn't necessarily keep the Nebraska football star's lawyers from trying to work out a deal over the last few months.

At the moment it's anyone's guess just what the next step will be. It's also anyone's guess just what Scott Frost is going to do when the situation resolves itself.

It seems likely that if a plea deal is reached, Washington will have to accept some responsibility and will technically be convicted of a crime. As a general rule that's something that would get a player at least some kind of suspension.

On the other hand, the Huskers have been very careful when it came to playing time for Washington since they have learned the specifics of his case.

It's possible that the Nebraska football coaches could decide the situation was best served by determining he has basically done "time served" as long as the final outcome of the trial doesn't turn out worse than some expect.

Thin at running back

While there is a reason to be concerned about how the Washington situation plays out on a human level, there is also a very real football reason for being concerned.

The Nebraska football team has a bit of a hole at the running back spot with the graduation of Devine Ozigbo. Maurice Washington was expected to step in and win the starting job, allowing players like Rahmir Johnson to get a bit more settled into the pace of college football.

JUCO transfer Dedrick Ward was supposed to help with that transition as well. Unfortunately, there are plenty of questions as to whether or not he'll ever set foot on campus, despite telling those who cover Nebraska football that he expects to be here in May. Should both those situations play out in the worst possible way, the Nebraska football team could enter the season with a former walk-on, or a true freshman who didn't even participate in spring practice as the starter.
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