Fresh off of the Friday Night Lights camps and Nebraska picking up a couple of in-state commits, we received some recruiting questions that required a bit of homework and a strong sense of recent and past history, which is right up our alley.
Hail Varsity staff members Mike Babcock, Jacob Padilla, Chris Schmidt and Aaron Babcock provide the answers this week.
Did we get any leverage with Parsons? Who’s the surprise commit? (@jonr402_jon, Twitter)
CS: I think the leverage Nebraska got Friday night was the amazing show of fan support. Coach McBride told us on radio those are the “little things” that many places can’t replicate and when it comes to decision time it could be a separator. I think Nebraska made quite an impression for getting a return visit. Parsons will likely be deciding between PSU/Ohio State with Nebraska on his mind. As far as a surprise commit he’s it.
JP: Nebraska still has a lot of work to do to even make any kind of final list for Parsons, but this was an important step towards that. Parsons got the chance to see the Nebraska facilities, coaches and fans in person and now has an idea of what being a Husker entails. Now Nebraska has to keep building that relationship with him and score an official visit. If they do that, you can feel pretty good about Nebraska’s chances.
And touching on the Friday Night Lights camps as a whole, they were pretty productive even beyond getting their foot in the door with some elite prospects. The Huskers identified a few players worth offering (Garrett Nelson, Justin Holm as a preferred walk-on, Jordan Clark and now Cade Beresford) and even landed a couple of commits in Nelson and Holm.
Which NE high school class A B C has delivered the most D1 football recruits from Solich to current? (@CoryHonold, Twitter)
CS: Off the top of my head I would have to say Lincoln Southeast is up there. Loos, Birkle, Cotton (times two) Ruud (times two) Jerald Foster, Luke Gifford and a number of walk-ons that earned time or scholarship including Sutton, Foster, Fyn Anderson. I think Elkhorn has done well too, with both the Long brothers, Jay Moore, Roach, and Weber. Also, Omaha Central with Lafleur, Horne, Grixby, Neal.
MB: My addition, which is suspect, has 80 in-state scholarship recruits since 1998, Frank’s first season as coach, with a high of nine in that first season. Of those, 51 have been from Class A, 14 from Class B, 10 from C-1, four from C-2, and one from D-2, Steve Kriewald (North Loup-Scotia in 2000). As always, Chris is right, no doubt about that, though I’m not counting walk-ons. The Long brothers, Trevor Roach and Chris Weber all walked on. Even so, Elkhorn has had the most Nebraska scholarship recruits from Class B with three: Clayton Sievers (2004), Moore (2002) and Phil Peetz (1999). Norfolk Catholic, C-1, has had two, the most there: David Engelhaupt (2016) and Aaron Schulte (2007). Chris is a Lincoln Southeast guy, so you knew he’d nail that. The Knights have had 11, followed by Omaha Central with eight, and Lincoln Southwest and Millard North four each. Finally, 39 of the 80 came during Frank’s six seasons. Don’t keep track of Nebraska kids who leave the state.
In the last ten years, who are the biggest misses for Husker recruiting? Kids who NU really wanted and went on to be very successful elsewhere. (@IBeLionsBeats, Twitter)
CS: Nebraska was in the hunt for Lamar Jackson (Louisville Heisman winner) and at one time he was a silent commitment to Nebraska, at least according to what I was told. That’s the main reason Nebraska didn’t go after Joe Burrow who is at Ohio State. Another guy they wanted back in the day was Justin Smith out of Missouri; he ended up a Tiger and went on to a great college and NFL career. Lastly, Barry Sanders and Marshall Faulk were both on campus for visits. Nebraska lost out to SDSU & Oklahoma State because Nebraska was inclined to play both initially at defensive back.
When and where can we get this year’s awesome Hail Varsity Husker Football Schedule poster? (@Corn_Huskers, Twitter)
AB: Great question! Our football schedule posters are incredibly popular and we are already working on this year’s design. Those should be available by early August and are usually available at Husker retailers like Best of Big Red (Lincoln), Husker Headquarters (Lincoln) and Husker Hounds (Omaha). We’ll announce the specific details once this year’s poster is available.