Happy August 1st to those who celebrate. Hope those who truly celebrate the holiday have an unlimited data plan and didn’t plan on sleeping much after midnight.
Plainly stated, college coaches are now allowed to directly contact Class of 2025 football recruits. NCAA recruiting rules state coaches cannot contact a recruit directly until August 1 ahead of the prospect’s junior season. Historically, some coaches treated this rule like children on Christmas morning, eagerly hitting the phone at midnight. Nebraska Director of Player Personnel Omar Hales said he’s doing things a little different.
I’m not texting you at 12 pm. We have over a year to build a Realationship . Get some rest. #2FiveCrew
— Omar Hales (@Omeezi_) August 1, 2023
With already 24 commitments in the 2024 class, the Huskers are turning a chunk of attention towards 2025. A swath of recruits visiting this past Sunday are members of the 2025 class, including Millard North safety Caden VerMaas and Omaha North lineman Tyson Terry. Those two are currently the only committed members of Nebraska’s 2025 class. A few of the highest-rated 2025 prospects, including 5-star edge rusher Dylan Stewart, committed on Tuesday.
Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule mentioned the importance of roster development, talent evaluation and building the team’s core through high school recruiting during Big Ten Football Media Days. (More on that in a future notebook.) The mastermind of social media reach and creative media also gave the thumbs up to the Huskers’ future branding of #2FiveCrew. That’s a follow up to the 2024 class, #24Ours. And the Huskers released a hype video to young recruits associated with the new, and old, era of Husker football.
The standard has been set. We will follow the lineage set before us.#24ours x #2FiveCrew pic.twitter.com/IUtEXNEREZ
— Nebraska Football (@HuskerFBNation) August 1, 2023
As Hales stated in his tweet, Nebraska has time to build relationships with recruits. The Huskers also have time to show a proof of concept for the rebuild. For example, members of the 2025 class were born around 2007. Nebraska has won the conference division four times (three in the final years of the Big 12 and one in the Big Ten) since then. The Huskers haven’t played in a bowl game since the Class of 2025 was in fourth grade. Seeing is believing, so the Huskers are attempting to show proof that Nebraska can win and become a powerhouse again.
#2FiveCrew 💿🎧 pic.twitter.com/n4Soqv5wxU
— Nebraska Football (@HuskerFBNation) August 1, 2023
Recruit Watch
VerMaas tweeted his excitement for his upcoming junior season at Millard North. The Nebraska high school season is also underway this week with roads leading to August 18, the first week of competitive games.
2023 season loading…@MillardNorthFB pic.twitter.com/WuV0rLHfSP
— Caden VerMaas (@Caden_Vermaas) August 1, 2023
Louisiana big man Joseph Cryer, who was once a Nebraska target and visited Lincoln, flipped his commitment from Ole Miss to LSU this week.
One of the 2025 recruits who heard from Nebraska on Tuesday is Xavier Ukponu from Denton Guyer, Texas. Ukponu is a 3-star defensive lineman who hasn’t yet received an offer from Nebraska. He finished last season 6-foot-3, 270 pounds and holds interest/offers from the likes of Oregon, Ole Miss, Texas, Texas A&M and Oklahoma.
ICYMI
>> The Nebraska men’s basketball team European excursion began with an overtime victory on Monday. Head coach Fred Hoiberg recapped the performance, which included short-handed Huskers with capped minutes.
>> Nick Henrich doubted if he’d ever play football again. That’s how difficult recovering from an ACL injury is. But the Omaha Burke graduate is back with a clean bill of health and the hardened mentality of someone who’s overcome potentially career-ending adversity.
>> The Nebraska women’s basketball team is also overseas this week, playing in Greece. The Huskers started their competitive portion of the trip on Tuesday with a lop-sided victory over a Greek All-Stars team.
