The Nebraska football team is dealing with a bit of a shortage of players that can play running back in the 2019 season. With the future of Maurice Washington very much in doubt, who will be the starter in September is very much up in the air.

While Rahmir Johnson is considered the darkhorse candidate to win the job, there is a favorite. The issue with that favorite is that his future is also still a bit in doubt.

Though if you talk to him, that future is quite a bit more certain than it looks at first glance.

Dedrick Mills has been excited to get to Nebraska since he committed last fall. Now he says that he's still slated to reach campus later this month. Sam McKewon of the Omaha World-Herald reported on Friday that he spoke to the JUCO transfer on the phone on Thursday and things are still on track for him to be a Husker.

Long strange trip still strange

Dedrick Mills has had a heck of a road to Lincoln. He's still no that road but there was a time when it appeared the car he was driving had blown a gasket and couldn't move anymore.

He was expected to sign with the Cornhuskers during the regular signing period but that period came and went and he had not become officially a member of the Nebraska football team.

There were originally some worries that he was going to head to another school. It was later found out that he had gotten himself into some legal problems. It turns out those legal problems weren't his first.

When talking about Mills and Washington both having those issues, it made sense to think that Nebraska might end up cutting ties. Instead, they stood strong. They also stood strong when it turned out that the running back still had to finish up some course work.

That appears to be the reason his future in Lincoln is still up in the air.

According to Dedrick Mills, he'll be landing in Lincoln in the next few weeks.

Doubt still creeps in

When and if Mills does make it to Lincoln, it seems as though he could be the starting running back pretty easily. Of course, he's going to have to get back into football playing shape, as he missed all of spring practice. So did Rahmir Johnson though, so he's not behind the eight-ball in that regard.

If the Maurice Washington fixes itself, he's obviously going to be the first candidate for the back who gets the most carries. Of course, he also had very limited action during the spring. That really does mean the starting spot is wide, wide open.

It could even mean that the Nebraska football RB1 spot will eventually go to Dedrick Mills.

He's got to get himself to Lincoln first, then he can carry out all the rest of the promise he's been showing since his first couple of snaps at Georgia Tech. He might even be able to carry the team to the turnaround national prognosticators say it will have.