New Washington wideout coach JaMarcus Shephard has added a dynamic youngster to his room from the transfer portal as the Huskies make their way through spring ball.

Will Nixon, a transfer wideout from Nebraska, announced he intends to transfer to UW. Nixon has fours seasons to play for the Huskies after an injury wiped out his first year at the college level.

The 5-foot-11 Nixon came to Nebraska as a wideout but was viewed as a player who could move around to a few positions out wide or work out of the backfield. He appeared in only three games for the Huskers, though, catching one pass for 5 yards.

Nixon was is a former 3-star recruit and the 115th-ranked wideout in his class, per the 247 Composite. He chose the Huskers over offers from Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, Purdue (where he was recruited by Shephard), Baylor, and Penn State, among others. A native of Waco, Texas, Nixon is the son of current Carolina Panthers running backs coach and former Baylor offensive coordinator Jeff Nixon.

As a senior at Midway (Tx.) High School in 2019, Nixon ran for 546 yards and 10 scores on the ground in just four games (6.7 yards a carry). He also brought in a pair of receiving scores.

If Nixon slots in as a running back who can play wideout, he might have a better shot at seeing the field early rather than the other way around. Washington’s running back room is in a precarious spot. UW has already added former Virginia back Wayne Taulapapa and New Mexico transfer Aaron Dumas to a room that is currently down a handful of scholarship backs due to injury. Richard Newton, Cameron Davis, and Emeka Megwa are all out for the spring.

“We use the running back a lot in the pass game,” head coach Kalen DeBoer told reporters last week. “These guys are going to catch a lot of balls.”

Nixon certainly projects as the kind of player DeBoer can use.