The Huskers have been busy during June hosting official visitors. The visits have had pretty standard timing with many of them occurring over the weekend. The only visitor to come to Lincoln during the week was transfer Tyreke Johnson. That changed this week when Colorado lineman Jake Maikkula came to town with his family.
GBR! Having an amazing time out here in Lincoln! Big thank you to @coach_frost @GregAustin2717 @CoachLubick @SeanDillonNU @TMossbrucker #GBR #thegoodlife pic.twitter.com/vvQakeS7Xb
— Jake Maikkula (@JakeMaikkula) June 23, 2021
Maikkula has taken several visits during June. He’s visited Colorado, Virginia, Minnesota and Kansas State. He may squeeze in a couple more visits before the month is over. He has lots of options but is drawn to the Nebraska program.
“It’s a staff that I really like,” Maikkula told Hail Varsity. “I really like Coach Austin and Coach Frost. I like the way they teach the game, the way they care for the players. And if you look at the history of the program, it’s incredible. Out of all the visits we’ve been on, I really liked the Lincoln area. I think it’s a really cool college town and the Haymarket area, I think is a great spot to be.”
His expectations were pretty high coming into the trip. He knew the facilities and stadium were incredible. He came into the visit knowing he liked the coaches but it is tough to get a great feel for people over Zoom.
Being able to get around the staff in person even exceeded his expectations. He’s the latest recruit to describe the Huskers staff as genuinely good people. Maikkula especially liked his interactions with offensive line coach Greg Austin.
“It was great sitting with Coach Austin,” Maikkula said. “He’s a great family man. Great personality. Funny dude. He’s the type of guy you want to coach you for sure. I really like the way he teaches the game as well.”
The facilities and the campus got high marks from Maikkula. He knows the facilities are only going to continue to get better with the renovations underway. Maikkula’s parents have been there for all the visits this month. They felt the same way Maikkula did coming out of the visit.
“My parents were both really impressed,” Maikkula said. “My dad grew up in Minnesota. He’s a Midwest guy. He was pretty excited to get on campus there and see that. Mom really enjoyed it too. She was very impressed.”
We are getting to crunch time for Maikkula to pick a school. There is a reason his family had an aggressive visit schedule this month. The lineman wants to pick a college in the next two weeks. As he comes to that final decision, he going to go off the feeling that he got from each school.
“Honestly, it’s kind of hard to even put into words what I’m looking for in a school,” Maikkula said. “People, the campus, the town, academics, football, there a lot of factors that I can’t really put into words. I just feel like I’ll know at the end of the day after visiting all the schools then sitting down and thinking about it.”