Recruiting never stops and it’s easy to miss the top stories day-to-day. Hail Varsity recaps all things Nebraska recruiting news, analysis and more so you never miss a thing.
Friday night lights have officially returned to Nebraska. After high school teams started fall sports practices across the state on Monday, Aug. 8, it’s time to get play underway later this week. To start, Friday, Aug. 19 has a couple of big-time matchups to keep an eye on.
The first game of the season kicks off Friday at 6 p.m. CT between St. Patrick’s High School and Bridgeport. The two featured games of the week—according to MaxPreps—take place between No. 10 Bellevue West at No. 15 Creighton Prep, and North Platte at No. 23 Papillion-LaVista South. Both are scheduled for 7p.m. CT. The other three matchups for Friday are Riverside against Summerland, Columbus versus Fremont and Alma versus Superior.
Things really get started the following week with 17 games scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 25 and 120 games scheduled for Friday, Aug. 26. The featured matchup for Aug. 25, also per MaxPreps, is No. 1 Gretna at Omaha Burke, while the featured games for Aug. 26 are Skutt Catholic at No. 2 Bennington, No. 3 Omaha Westside at No. 15 Creighton Prep and No. 20 Wahoo at No. 4 Pierce.
For a number of programs, their annual scrimmages took place on Friday, Aug. 12. This allowed programs the opportunity to get acclimated to game situations while also allowing fans the opportunity to support the teams. Bellevue West, for example, hosted their annual Gatorade Scrimmage last Friday. All fans had to do to get an early look at the team was bring a sports drink for admission. Those drinks will then be used throughout the season to fuel the team.
Our 2022 Gatorade Scrimmage is this Friday at 6:00PM!!! Any sports drink is acceptable… let’s take care of our fellas this season #PlaymakersInPurple pic.twitter.com/pyPIEPZzgf
— Bellevue West Football (@BellevueWestFB) August 11, 2022
For Husker fans hoping to check out Nebraska commitments and prospects in person this fall, there will certainly be opportunity. There is one particular matchup that’ll be particularly interesting next week.
It’s the battle of two Nebraska commitments on Friday, Aug. 26. Edge Maverick Noonan and the Elkhorn South Storm will travel to face offensive tackle Gunnar Gottula and the the Lincoln Southeast Knights on that Friday, which is one Nebraska fans should have circled to attend if able. Kickoff is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. CT at Seacrest Field.
Wide receiver and Nebraska target Malachi Coleman’s season gets started on Thursday, Aug. 25. He and Lincoln East kick things off against Kearney at home. The 4-star athlete plans to make his commitment announcement on Oct. 15, so it is expected that Husker fans will be keeping a close eye on his season.
As for tight end and Nebraska commit Ben Brahmer, his season is set to begin Friday, Aug. 26. Pierce and Wahoo are scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. CT.
There will be plenty to watch and update as the high school football season gets going in Nebraska (and beyond). For now, if you’d like a look at the Nebraska Class A landscape, Jacob Padilla and Damon Benning broke it all down in the latest Nebraska Preps Postgame.
We’ll have plenty more to come here at Hail Varsity but for now, it’s nice to have those Friday (and Thursday) night lights back.
Recruit Watch
>> Tre McLeod, a 4-star running back from Wyncote, Pennsylvania, has narrowed his list to 12 programs. Nebraska made the first cut.
First 12 Where’s home? #AGTG #Blessings pic.twitter.com/ShCMkvwpE7
— Tre Mcleod (@tremcleod13) August 11, 2022
ICYMI
>> The Huskers have struggled to establish a consistent hand-off running game since Devine Ozigbo left Lincoln, but the backs have impressed players and coaches during fall camp.
>> Scott Frost said wide receiver Decoldest Crawford will be out for “an extended period of time” due to a knee injury suffered in the Huskers‘ most recent scrimmage.
>> Jacob Padilla dove into the film to discover what SMU transfer Emmanuel Bandoumel will bring to the table for the Huskers in 2022-23.
Erin is the Deputy Editor and Digital Marketing Strategist for Hail Varsity. She has covered Nebraska athletics since 2012, which has included stops at Bleacher Report, Cox Media Group’s Land of 10, and even Hail Varsity (previously from 2012-2017). She has also been featured on the Big Ten Network, NET’s Big Red Wrap-Up, and a varsity of radio shows nationwide. When not covering the Huskers, Erin is probably at Chipotle.
