It’s never really the wrong time to talk about quarterbacks. It’s the most important position in football. It’s also the focal point for Nebraska coach Scott Frost’s offense. It is hard to make this offense hum along at its full potential without good quarterback play.
Throughout Frost’s and quarterbacks coach Mario Verduzco’s time in Lincoln, the team has taken a scholarship quarterback each season. The staff identified Adrian Martinez immediately upon talking the job. He signed during the 2018 transition recruiting class. Quarterback Logan Smothers committed for the 2020 recruiting class before the team had a 2019 quarterback in the boat. Luke McCaffrey became that class of 2019 quarterback. Kearney Catholic signal-caller Heinrich Haarberg was the quarterback signee in the 2021 recruiting class.
Of that group, McCaffrey was the latest to commit. He pledged to the Huskers in June leading up to his senior season. So, history tells us that Nebraska would like to have its quarterback commit in the class by this summer. Since quarterbacks are key peer recruiters in a class, that makes sense.
Where are we with quarterback targets for the 2022 recruiting class?
Nebraska offers as many players as any team in the country. However, the team has always been pretty selective with offers at quarterback. There are only 14 total offers out to quarterbacks for the 2022 class. Of the 14 offers, two are already commits. Walker Howard pledged to LSU and Beau Pribula committed to Penn State. Howard was likely one of the Huskers’ top overall targets for the entire cycle but was an LSU legacy.
There are a few names that I’d like ot highlight at this point who are still uncommitted.
Alex Orji (6-2, 205) is a 3-star quarterback down in Texas at Sachse High School. It’s the same school that produced Devine Ozigbo. As a junior, Orji posted 1,647 yards with 11 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He was money in the ground game too, racking up 980 yards and 16 touchdowns. He has two brothers that played college football. Both went to Vanderbilt.
One of the big-time quarterback targets in 2022 for many schools is Georgia native MJ Morris. The 4-star prospect holds 33 offers including Alabama, Florida, Auburn, and Oregon. Morris (6-1, 175) is rated as a top 100 prospect in the country, per 247Sports. He participated in Nike’s The Opening in 2019 where he posted a 4.7 40-yard-dash and a 38-inch vertical.
The last quarterback to highlight for now is Kentucky native Gavin Wimsatt. The 6-foot-3, 200-pound and 4-star player enters his senior season as the number one player in Kentucky. The Huskers offered him early. Since then he’s racked up close to 20 offers from around the country. Wimsatt is a true dual-threat quarterback who throws the ball well and is dynamic in the running game.
Quarterback recruiting in the 2022 cycle will be a coast-to-coast affair for the Huskers. There are 11 different states represented on the quarterback offer list. The lack of on-campus visits may make quarterback recruiting slow down nationally. Quarterbacks tend to commit very early. But the 2022 class will have had very little opportunity to visit schools. Keep an eye on the situation as a wildcard in the Huskers quest for a signal-caller.