The long grind has hit a pause button. The Husker have reached their bye week after losing to conference foe Minnesota. There are a lot of small and big picture questions surrounding the program currently. The program is choosing to get out on the road this week recruiting for the first time this season as well.
Let’s get to the Recon
2022 Commits
Chase Androff, Tight End, Lakeville, Minnesota
Jake Appleget, Outside Linebacker, Lincoln, Nebraska
Ernest Hausmann, Outside Linebacker, Columbus, Nebraska
Ashton Hayes, Running Back, Reno, Nevada
Victor Jones Jr., Wide Receiver, Orlando, Florida
Grant Page, Wide Receiver, Boulder, Colorado
Gage Stenger, athlete, Omaha, Nebraska
Richard Torres, Quarterback, San Antonio, Texas
2022 Needs
| QB | 0 | DL | 0 |
| RB | 0 | MLB | 0 |
| WR | 0 | OLB | 1 |
| TE | 0 | DB | 2 |
| OL | 2 | K/P | 0 |
The Recon:
>> There were a lot of questions after the Huskers suffered a decommitment by Florida defensive lineman Hayden Schwartz. There usually are and multiple things can be true at once. One thing that accelerated this move is that Schwartz wanted to take other visits. In fact, he took a visit to Minnesota last weekend. The Huskers didn’t like that. Schwartz also had a desire to keep checking out his options.
>> It’s noteworthy that Nebraska defensive like coach Tony Tuioti’s first stop recruiting during the bye week was to Independence Community College. The Huskers offered Independence Community College defensive lineman Amipeleasi Langi on Thursday. Langi (6-6, 315) has the potential to be a nose tackle in the Huskers’ defense. Why would the Huskers need to search for nose tackle depth? It might be that Damion Daniels has indicated that he will not return next season. Daniels has put himself in the conversation to be drafted and has already been pursuing a master’s degree. Nebraska has also offered Independence lineman Jeffrey M’ba who is one of the hottest prospects in JUCO right now.
>> The Huskers practiced a couple times during the bye week. The team got work in on Tuesday and Wednesday. The team switched up the practice format as well. Will it have any real impact? That’ll be worth watching.
The Huskers specifically placed more emphasis on four-minute offense and pressure situations. The program has clearly struggled in that area so making an attempt to fix that is good. We’ll see if that carries over to a normal practice week or if it was just a bye week thing.
>>The status of senior safety Deontai Williams was brought up during coach Scott Frost’s availability this week. His knee injury looked bad in real time but he may have avoided major injury. I’m expecting him to miss a couple weeks. It’s a tough break for him as he had a shot to build momentum. He’s shown flashes of NFL potential but injuries have plagued him.
>> Look for the Husker coaches to get out to some local high school games on Friday night. The plan is to see the in-state commits in person. I’d also expect the staff to branch out to the few out of state commitments that are playing. Remember that Grant Page and Richard Torres are out with knee injuries so it’ll be interesting to see if the staff will visit them at this time. That time could be used to see a different player play in person. I’d definitely look for at least one coach to be at the Lincoln Southeast versus Elkhorn South matchup. Husker commits Jake Appleget and Gunnar Gottula star for Southeast. Legacy recruit Maverick Noonan plays defensive end for Elkhorn South.
>> I think we are going to find out a lot about how much the team has Frost’s back down the stretch of the season. His seat has never been hotter. He’s said that he doesn’t think this team will check out. A key storyline in the last four games is if the team stays engaged and excited for games. For whatever reason that did not happen at Minnesota. Can they recapture that early season juice? That has to factor in on the decision about Frost at the end of the year.