The 2022 recruiting cycle in Nebraska is producing a lot of high-level talent. The timing is interesting for the Huskers. Coach Scott Frost continues to build the program. Having good in-state talent is great because it should be easier to recruit them. It should be easier to build a program with local talent because of your home-state advantage. There is one big problem.
The game day results under Frost have not been good. That helps contribute to other schools coming into the state. Those schools have made real progress with the in-state talent.
The Huskers have offered five Nebraskans already for the 2022 recruiting class. Each player has over 10 scholarship offers from around the country. Two of those players, Omaha Burke linebacker Devon Jackson and Omaha Central offensive lineman Deshawn Woods released top five groups on Saturday. Jackson’s list is Texas A&M, Arizona State, Miami, Notre Dame and Oklahoma.
TOP 5️⃣❗️✍🏾 @gharms21 @AggieFootball @ASUFootball @CanesFootball @NDFootball @OU_Football pic.twitter.com/Ov5Vvuz50d
— Devon Jackson (@DevontheJet402) February 20, 2021
Woods’ list is Missouri, Texas A&M, Arizona State, Florida and Miami.
Top 5 💪🏾⛓😈 thx @gharms21 @MizzouFootball @AggieFootball @ASUFootball @GatorsFB @CanesFootball pic.twitter.com/g8HhcFwO0Y
— Deshawn woods (@Deshawnwoods8) February 20, 2021
It’s a tough but unsurprising blow to Nebraska’s recruiting efforts in the 2022 class. If there was ever a time that you’d like to see the Huskers take advantage of the swell in local talent it’s now. There is a path toward lowering the attrition rate Nebraska has seen lately. It would be to land more regional talent.
What you’ll notice is that neither prospect has Nebraska in the top five right now. Not only that but they don’t have a Big Ten school in the mix. That seems to suggest that Jackson and Woods want to make their own path elsewhere. They could want to experience a different part of the country. That’s valid reasoning that could be true. Still, we shouldn’t deny the impact of the product Nebraska has put on the field the last three years. There was bound to be an impact on recruiting even in-state from Nebraska’s struggles throughout the time that 2022 prospects have grown up.
With all that being said, we are a long way off from 2022 prospects signing letters of intent. These situations can change quite a bit in a short amount of time. We have a local example of that from the 2021 class. Omaha Westside cornerback Avante Dickerson’s original top three was Nebraska, Ohio State and LSU. He committed to Minnesota then left the class and signed with Oregon.
We’ll see where things go from here with Woods and Jackson but I don’t expect the Huskers to just give up on them.