It’s been a wild few days to start the week. The Nebraska staff has not really slowed down their efforts in their second full week on the job, so let’s take a breath and talk about some of the news and notes since Sunday.
>>Scott Frost has clearly made it known that 4-star QB Adrian Martinez is a huge priority. If you needed more evidence of that look no further than Frost's Tuesday travel schedule. He coached a UCF bowl practice in the morning, then had a press conference for the Peach Bowl. After that, he hopped on a jet and flew 2,500 miles to Fresno, California, to see Martinez before flying back to Orlando to get ready for this next bowl practice this morning.
I caught up with Martinez briefly this morning and he said the visit went very well and Frost and Verduzco got to meet the whole family. A decision is coming in “the next couple days” according to Martinez. I continue to feel good about a flip to Nebraska here.
>>One of the 2018 players flying under the radar for Nebraska fans is 3-star offensive lineman Hamilton Hall. The Chamblee Charter (Georgia) prospect has great size (6-6, 320) and could be a great addition to the class. He holds offers from Indiana, Ole Miss and Mississippi State. The staff was all over him while they were at UCF and he does have a visit set to Nebraska the last weekend in January before National Signing Day.
>>While the Nebraska coaching staff is in Florida for a few days conducting UCF bowl practices, you can assume they will be focusing on some of the Huskers' Florida recruiting targets. This morning, 4-star safety prospect Johnathan Huggins tweeted out that he had a great home visit with Erik Chinander, Jovan Dewitt, Greg Austin and Sean Beckton. It will be difficult to pull Huggins out of Florida. He was a Florida State commit and is trending towards the Gators now but did express high interest in Nebraska when Frost got the job. It’s imperative for the Huskers to get him on campus to have a real shot.
https://twitter.com/jhuggins_23/status/940929262714064896
>>In case you missed my update on the board, not all news around the new staff’s recruiting can be good news. Former Nebraska commit, 4-star Mario Goodrich has ruled Nebraska out of the running for him. I saw Goodrich play in person this season and he is a tremendous loss for the class, especially at a position of need in the defensive backfield. I would expect him to end up in the SEC at this point.
>>Nebraska will be hosting a #Homegrown Nebraska event for walk-on candidates and their families. There will be academic presentations, a Husker player panel, facilities tour, plus an opportunity to meet Frost and members of the staff. This is an excellent idea to continue pushing the walk-on program even if the dynamics of pulling this off in 2017 have changed drastically since the time Frost played at Nebraska.
The heart and soul of Nebraska.
šš½š“#GBR #WallpaperWednesday #HomeGrown pic.twitter.com/tQ2VOLkzwM
— Nebraska Football (@HuskerFBNation) December 13, 2017
>>Who is the next UCF commit to keep an eye on? This weekend 3-star tight end/wide receiver Katerian Legrone will be taking an official visit to Nebraska. I would definitely put him on flip alert just like I did for Justin McGriff, who ended up joining the Nebraska class. I’m told that the staff sees LeGrone as the perfect complement to McGriff in terms of what they want to do with their tight ends in this offense. He has the size (6-3, 230) to both be an in-line blocker and the speed to be split out wide to create mismatches. At this point I would not rule out a position change for one of the existing tight ends on the roster or even a transfer out of the program with the way Frost is attacking the tight end position.
Greg is the Recruiting Analyst for Hail Varsity and has covered Husker athletics since 2013. He has always had a passion for sports while growing up in the Chicago area. As he got older and had to hang up his cleats and sneakers, he realized his passion for sports went beyond just watching and attending games. He has covered many events from the Rose Bowl to championship boxing matches. If he’s not talking sports, he’s hovering over his grill. He is married to an amazing woman, Kim, and they have a dog that barks when Greg yells at the TV during games.
