Nebraska Football's Late Addition at Cornerback: Ceyair Wright

The transfer from USC is likely to have every opportunity to play his way into the starting lineup as the Huskers' season unfolds.

Apr 15, 2023; Los Angeles, CA, USA; USC Trojans wide receiver Brenden Rice (2) and defensive back Ceyair Wright (22) fight for a pass during the Spring Game at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. / Kiyoshi Mio-USA TODAY Sports

Ninth and final installment in Jeremy Pernell's series on Nebraska's additions via the transfer portal. Previous articles: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

The "resignation" of Evan Cooper on July 5 as Nebraska football's defensive backs coach came as a shock. Cooper had worked alongside Matt Rhule at each of Rhule's four head coaching stops and on more than one occasion turned down opportunities to advance his career at other programs.

With the hire of John Butler, with all due respect to Cooper, you're upgrading from a coaching and X's and O's perspective. Butler is highly regarded amongst his peers, and many are viewing him as the presumptive DC in waiting when Tony White inevitably leaves to run his own program — whenever that happens.

Where this coaching change is going to be felt most is with the program's talent-acquisition process. Cooper had long been Rhule's top lieutenant and the pair were perfectly aligned on player evaluations. Cooper knew what Rhule wanted regarding physical characteristics and traits. The loss of Cooper is tantamount to Rhule losing his GM.

Not only were more than half of the scholarship players in the secondary recruited to Nebraska by Cooper, but he had a hand in many others. His fingerprints are all over the roster. It's going to be interesting to monitor the dynamics in the recruiting department moving forward.

Also worth keeping an eye on is what sort of changes — if any — we see in terms of the physical profile Butler looks for on the recruiting trail as he molds the room.

We might see a glimpse of that this coming season as the defensive staff tries to solidify its core starters in the backend.

As I covered yesterday in my Blye Hill recap, the most pressing question for Nebraska's defense heading into the season was who would man the cornerback spot opposite returning starter Tommi Hill?

Blye Hill's emergence this spring was a sense of relief to coaches. When he suffered his patella injury, one of the players the coaches turned to was Marques Buford. Although probably better suited to play safety, does Buford occupy one of the cornerback spots in an attempt to get the five best guys on the field? Can one of the youngsters or newcomers unseat him at cornerback?

With Hill's return date initially murky, the Huskers decided to look for a cornerback with experience in the portal during the spring transfer window.

Apr 15, 2023; Los Angeles, CA, USA; USC Trojans wide receiver Brenden Rice (2) and defensive back Ceyair Wright (22) fight for a pass during the Spring Game at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. / Kiyoshi Mio-USA TODAY Sports

Coming out of Los Angeles (Calif.) Loyola High School, Ceyair Wright was a consensus four-star recruit in the 2021 class. He was ranked No. 56 (On3), No. 78 (247Sports), No. 104 (Rivals) and No. 110 (ESPN) overall nationally. He was also selected to both the All-American and Polynesian Bowls, although neither game was played because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition to his work on the gridiron, Wright played on Loyola’s baseball and track teams. He had a PR of 10.84 in the 100 meters and 21.74 in the 200, and was part of Loyola's 2019 state champion 4x400 relay team.

Wright held nearly 40 offers including Arkansas, Florida State, Michigan, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Oregon, Penn State, Tennessee, Texas and Utah, among several other Power Five schools.

He also held an offer from the previous Nebraska staff. Wright was heavily pursued by Erik Chinander and Travis Fisher and both sides had strong initial interest. Wright had wanted to visit Lincoln, but COVID wiped out in-person recruiting so he never got the chance.

Wright ended up committing to USC during the All-American Bowl declaration special live on NBC, over finalists Michigan, Notre Dame, Oregon and Jackson State.

He enrolled in July 2021 and redshirted for the Trojans after seeing action in two games.

The 6-foot, 180-pound Wright looked like a future mainstay in USC's secondary after a strong offseason heading into the 2022 campaign. He started the first 11 games at corner for the Trojans, but lost his starting job at the end of the season and was a backup for the final three games. Despite the demotion, Wright seemed to bounce right back.

According to reports, Wright enjoyed another strong offseason last year and those around the USC program felt he was poised to be the Trojans' top cornerback following the loss of Mekhi Blackmon to the NFL.

Wright began the 2023 season starting USC's first four games. He eventually was replaced in the starting lineup in Weeks 5-7, and was part of a rotation that saw as many as four cornerbacks regularly used each week. He last appeared in a game for the Trojans October 14 against Notre Dame.

After not being spotted at practice for several weeks, USC head coach Lincoln Riley confirmed Wright was "not currently with the team" when asked by reporters about his extended absence from the field. Riley declined to give specifics other than that Wright was away from the program for a personal matter.

This offseason, Riley was asked by local media on multiple occasions about Wright's status but declined to offer anything more than he was still away from the team. Wright did not participate in spring camp and was not listed on USC's roster, although Trojan coaches held out hope he would eventually rejoin the team at some point.

Instead, Wright officially entered the transfer portal on April 26, days before it closed, which reportedly took USC coaches by surprise.

According to Pro Football Focus, Wright played 849 defensive snaps for the Trojans during his three-year career at USC. He appeared in 23 games with 15 starts, finishing with 41 total tackles, 30 solo tackles, one tackle for loss, one interception and five pass breakups.

Wright graduated in May with a degree in communications. He also has an extensive background as an actor and model. He appeared in the TV shows “2 Broke Girls,” “Training Day,” “Life in Pieces,” “Instant Mom” and “Grown-ish.” He also played the son of NBA star LeBron James in the 2021 movie “Space Jam: A New Legacy.”

Wright's next move on the football field had been completely unknown publicly until news broke in mid-June that he planned on taking an official visit to Lincoln June 21-23, just before a long recruiting dead period.

In a June 20 press conference with reporters, Matt Rhule acknowledged he was open to adding another cornerback to the roster after word had gotten out about Wright's visit. “Our job, instead of taking the easy way out and always looking outside, it’s to look inside first,” Rhule said. “But, again, if there’s a corner sitting out there who wants to come in and compete for the job, I’d take him right now, because that’ll help those young guys to be better players.”

Ceyair Wright's position coach at USC was Donté Williams, the former Nebraska assistant. Williams left USC in December to take the Georgia defensive backs job vacated by Fran Brown, who took the Syracuse head coaching job. Williams gave Wright the opportunity to transfer to Georgia, but with a clearer path to playing time in Lincoln, Wright decided to join the Huskers. He publicly announced his decision to transfer to Nebraska with two seasons of eligibility on June 28.

Wright's addition is fascinating. Trojan coaches and others who were around the program who watched Wright during his time at USC really liked his game. He was widely viewed as USC's best cornerback during the 2022 and 2023 offseasons.

At the same time, you can't help but wonder why it didn't all come together for him. Despite beginning both seasons as a starter, he wasn't as much of a standout as his practice play would have suggested. Why was that?

How much blame do you place on a USC defense that had been so putrid that it eventually (finally) cost Alex Grinch his job? Was Wright's descending play each of the last two seasons a byproduct of his ability or the scheme? Without absolving Wright completely, considering Donté Williams believed in his talent enough to extend an opportunity to rejoin him in Athens, I tend to lean toward Grinch's system taking a fair share of the blame.

Wright joined the Huskers at a less-than-ideal time, having not arrived on campus until after the 4th of July. He wasn't afforded a traditional offseason with the program where he could have used winter conditioning and spring practices to get familiar with his teammates, coaches and playbook.

He also didn't have the desired runway to get acclimated to the culture and standards. There will probably need to be an effort made to deprogram Wright from what he experienced at USC.

Not only was he playing in a different scheme and technique than what he'll be asked to do at Nebraska, but the effort and expectations in Lincoln will be much more demanding. That could be an adjustment and take some getting used to.

Having not been part of a team for almost nine months, I wonder where his conditioning was when he arrived in Lincoln? Having less than a month to prepare for fall camp, it shouldn't come as a surprise that early reports have Wright running with the second and third teams.

You can be sure, though, that the coaches aren't just going to add a player late for the sake of adding to the roster. They brought Wright in with the expectation he would be a key contributor this season.

While I don't think Wright will be given a starting spot coming out of camp, I believe he'll be worked into the rotation during nonconference play with every opportunity to play his way into the starting lineup.

Can he eventually displace a veteran like Marques Buford who the staff loves? Will Jeremiah Charles — who is currently in a tight battle with Buford for the open corner spot — continue to ascend and be too good to take out of the lineup? Will anyone play well enough to let the coaches move Buford back to safety and still field their best five DBs? Also adding to the intrigue is Blye Hill's impending return to the practice field. It's a good problem to have. The competition should make everyone better.

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