Recruiting never stops and it’s easy to miss the top stories day-to-day. Recruiting analyst Greg Smith recaps all things Nebraska recruiting news, analysis and more so you never miss a thing.
The only constant is change.
That saying is certainly true given the current state of college football. We’ve seen massive changes to the sport over the last handful of years. The early signing period, new transfer rules and NIL are a few of the big ones. Those large changes have all happened while coach Scott Frost has been back in Lincoln.
There have been unintended consequences to these new changes. One is that the December signing period has completely overtaken the February date as the premier date on the recruiting calendar. Over 90% of the top players in the country sign in December. That makes for very little excitement on the traditional signing day. We spoke with Frost this signing day. He said that he didn’t think college football would be moving backwards anytime soon. This is the new reality no matter what his comfort level is with the new system.
“It doesn’t really matter what I think how comfortable I am, that’s the game and we have to play it,” Frost said on the February signing date. “We’re going to lose kids. Every school is losing kids. Some they don’t want to lose some and some that they might want to lose. You used to try to plug any holes you have on your roster with junior college kids and now there’s 1,000 kids in the transfer portal that you got to sort through.
“It’s going to change our structure a little bit. We’re going to have keep track of a lot more things and kids that could potentially leave and those type of things to gather information. That’s the way it is now so we’re going to do the best we can with it.”
The Huskers are already making changes behind the scenes to the recruiting operation. The team brought Vince Guinta back to Lincoln last week. Guinta will be the new senior director of player personnel and recruiting. That role will oversee a potential specific person that then oversees the transfer portal. Frost noted that the team currently gets alerts on players jumping in an out of the portal. The staff has done a good job evaluating those players but more help could be needed.
“You know, baseball teams and pro baseball teams have scouting departments for high school kids and college kids,” Frost said. “Then they have to scout each other’s teams too. There’s a lot of schools in the country to try to scout all the rosters and then you’re trying to anticipate who might jump into the portal and who might not. Could it be a full-time job? Absolutely.”
We’ll see where things go from here on more behind the scenes hires for the Huskers. Either way, we know the program is open to staying current with the changes in the sport. That’s part of the battle in adapting to a whole new world.
Recruit Watch
>> Nebraska recently offered athlete Mikal Harrison-Pilot from Temple, Texas. He is a three-sport athlete, competing in football, baseball and track for Temple High School.
Blessed to receive an offer from the University of Nebraska 🔴⚪️ #GBR @VincentGuinta @daboot02 @_Recruit_Temple @247recruiting @NextLevelD1 @samspiegs @BamPerformance pic.twitter.com/kK2bDr2Sjg
— Mikal Harrison-Pilot (@MikalPilot) February 11, 2022
>> Cornerback Shadarian Harrison picked up an offer from Nebraska on Friday. He plays for Kathleen High School in Lakeland, Florida.
Blessed to receive an offer from the University of Nebraska @HuskerFBNation 🙏🏾@CoachTFisher @Coach_Brim @coach_frost @coachkstrong @KHS_Football @BlessRee27 @H2_Recruiting @DemetricDWarren pic.twitter.com/VRMwFBD8GG
— Shadarian Harrison (@ShadarianHarri2) February 11, 2022
>> Christian Ford, a safety from McKinney, Texas, also received an offer from Nebraska.
After a great!! conversation with @BryanApplewhite #AGTG I am blessed to receive an offer from NEBRASKA University!❤️🤍 #WAWG @McKinneyHS_FB @Coach_Shavers @coachjordan03 @MayomiOlootuJr pic.twitter.com/R6LsBy7bUL
— Christian Ford (@CFord13_) February 10, 2022
ICYMI
>> Zac Taylor is coaching the Cincinnati Bengals in the Super Bowl. Here’s a quick story on Taylor, a hat and his path to this moment.
>> After three-game road swing, the #Huskers will use Sunday to prep for yet another ranked team—the No. 7 Indiana Hoosiers.
>> Jacob Padilla spent his Saturday in Grand Island for the annual Heartland Hoops Classic. Here are recaps from the first and the second sessions.
Greg is the Recruiting Analyst for Hail Varsity and has covered Husker athletics since 2013. He has always had a passion for sports while growing up in the Chicago area. As he got older and had to hang up his cleats and sneakers, he realized his passion for sports went beyond just watching and attending games. He has covered many events from the Rose Bowl to championship boxing matches. If he’s not talking sports, he’s hovering over his grill. He is married to an amazing woman, Kim, and they have a dog that barks when Greg yells at the TV during games.
