Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini announced Thursday that junior defensive back Charles Jackson will undergo surgery for a knee injury and will be out for the 2014 season.

"After evaluating it, for his long-term best interest, they're going to go ahead and fix it," Pelini said. "Fortunately for Charles, he has a redshirt year so he'll still have two years left. It's not a horrible injury. It's a very unusual injury, but when they decided whether they wanted to rehab it or come back, they determined that for his long-term health, the best thing was to fix it now. He'll be better than ever when he comes back."

Jackson was expected to be Nebraska's starting nickel back going into the 2014 season, and his loss puts junior college transfer Byerson Cockrell with the top group. Freshman Joshua Kalu is playing with the second team nickel group right now after Jackson's injury.

Pelini described the injury similar to the one Rex Burkhead suffered during his senior year. Pelini said he expects Jackson to have surgery in the next couple days.

"It's a hard deal for him, and I feel for him because he's put a lot of work in, a lot of time in to it. It's very unfortunate for Charles and fortunately we have some depth and we'll be able to absorb that. I feel for him right now. He'll come back better than ever."