Mike Riley Reveals Names of 5 Suspended Nebraska Players vs. BYU

Nebraska Cornhuskers head football coach Mike Riley announced Thursday that five of his players are suspended for Saturday's season opener against BYU.

Samuel McKewon of the World-Herald reported Michael Rose-Ivey, Cethan Carter, Jonathan Rose, Robby Painter and Joe Keels will be held out of action to kick off the 2015 season. McKewon also added context for the first three players mentioned:     

Riley is in his first year at the helm in Lincoln, taking over for Bo Pelini after a 12-year stint at Oregon State. He had previously confirmed that five players were suspended for one game in mid-August, per the Journal Star's Brian Christopherson, but didn't reveal their names until Thursday.

Nebraska beat writer Michael Bruntz of 247Sports hinted at the uncertainty entering the BYU contest with a new coach in Riley taking over.

"I think it will be a pretty close game. Finally going to see what [nine] months of work looks like for [Nebraska]," said Bruntz, per ESPN 99.1 FM.

The Cornhuskers lost three of their last four games last season to finish with a 9-4 mark. The hope is Riley will provide a fresh start to get the program over the hump in a talented Big Ten.

At least Rose-Ivey, a 2013 member of the conference's All-Freshman Team, is the only marquee Nebraska player who will be held out of the impending showdown with the Cougars. But Riley's side could have used Rose-Ivey's help in facing a dynamic, dual-threat quarterback in BYU's Taysom Hill.

Tommy Armstrong Jr.'s skill set provides Nebraska with an athletic signal-caller of its own. It will be interesting to see how Armstrong fares considering he completed just 53.3 percent of passes in 2014 and no longer has the services of running back Ameer Abdullah, now a member of the Detroit Lions.