Travis Fisher has been remodeling his room dramatically since he got here. Yet it was the remodeling of a certain cornerback who was in this program even before Scott Frost's staff arrived that probably jumped out as much as anything in Nebraska's secondary in 2019.

We're about to fully focus on the Husker year ahead in all we do, but before that deep dive, one last look back at the year that was for Fisher's defensive backs.

Worth highlighting: Lamar Jackson's career took him from hyped recruit, to a freshman struggling to find his way and going home with tears in his eyes, to a starter who lacked some polish and physicality and got benched halfway through his junior year, to ... a pretty darn good story of what sticking with something does. His senior season finished with him having 12 pass breakups, three interceptions, 40 tackles, including 3 1/2 for losses, and two forced fumbles with a fumble recovery. It would lead to Jackson being the most recognized Husker this postseason, finishing as second-team All-Big Ten with a hopeful NFL future ahead, given his measurables. Both Jackson and Dicaprio Bootle showed they were capable of not letting top-notch receivers get loose for monster games. Bootle did a heckuva job holding down Colorado's talented Laviska Shenault Jr., and Minnesota's NFL-ready receivers weren't the big reason the Huskers got shellacked in that game. Elsewhere, Marquel Dismuke did more organizing on the back end than is probably known after the Deontai Williams injury, so any critiques of him should at least come with that in mind. And Cam Taylor-Britt started to show some of his ball hawking, as he was used all over the field, from nickel to safety to corner. He forced four fumbles, which was the most by a Husker in 20 years, including one that produced a touchdown. He also had a pick six against Iowa to finish a year in which both he and Dismuke finished it out with banged-up bodies. Taylor-Britt is a good young leader, and was Lifter of the Year in 2019 – which tells you something of what he does behind the scenes. He's also a really good peer recruiter with his infectious personality.

Worth worry: The Deontai Williams injury was a major bummer for this team just 15 minutes into the season. Judging by all the practice talk last offseason, he was viewed by many as Nebraska's most likely playmaker on that side of the ball. He's had a lot of recovery time from the shoulder surgery, but this program needs him to catch a break with his health in 2020. Some other young players like Noa Pola-Gates and Javin Wright from the 2019 class also had health issues that got in the way of them logging as much time on the field as you'd hope there first fall in Lincoln. There's reason to have high hopes for Myles Farmer, Quinton Newsome, Pola-Gates and Wright to change the feeling about secondary depth this year, but we don't know for sure yet what each can do at this level. You hope that someone like Braxton Clark, trying to become a full-time starter for the first time in 2020, can get pushed like heck by some of those guys and the new signees in a competition that runs hot through August. Also, the Huskers have to shore up some things with their run fits on the back end. It was Nebraska's second- and third-levels that put out some bad film in some of those games where Nebraska got gashed for big rushing plays. Some returning Husker DBs also learned a tough lesson on how one misstep can turn a game you feel like you're controlling into an 'L' against Colorado. Pushing the envelope and getting burned on a 96-yard flea flicker against the Buffaloes was as damaging as any play in that overtime loss that set an early negative tone on the season.

Numbers watch: Nebraska ranked 24th in allowed yards-per-pass attempt (6.6) and 30th in passing defense overall, so that looks good on paper. The Huskers moved from giving up about 238 passing yards a game in 2018 to 200 last year. I'd like to see the interceptions pick up. Nebraska had 11 last season, which isn't bad on the surface, though only six came in conference play. Among returning secondary guys for the year ahead, Taylor-Britt had three and Braxton Clark had one. Dicaprio Bootle is still looking for his first. For a staff that saw a UCF team rake in 20 interceptions one season, you know they're going to want to see that defense become more greedy going forward. This Husker team broke even in turnover margin this year, but needs to work to the plus-category to flip the page on these close defeats.

Thoughts for the road: I liked the late-season move of switching Bootle to safety and Taylor-Britt to corner, so how Fisher moves the puzzle pieces of guys he likes to cross-train is going to be one underrated storyline. Of all the position groups, Nebraska's secondary may get the most immediate flu shot after walking wounded to the finish line this past year. That's because Jaiden Francois, Henry Gray and Tamon Lynum are all planning to enroll early and be part of the Huskers within the next two weeks. So the odds of at least one or two of them being a piece of the equation by the fall go up quite a bit. In addition to all that, there's no question in my mind that Travis Fisher is a coach other head coaches around the country have looked at trying to bring to their staff. So the fact he tweeted out on early signing day his plans to stay in Lincoln a while was as important as any of those signatures he helped get.