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.
There are a lot of moving parts right now as we settle into a new reality during the COVID-19 crisis.
Big news was made Monday night when Nebraska athletic director Bill Moos announced on Sports Nightly that the annual Red-White Spring Game was unlikely to be played. The Huskers then made it official. Several schools have made the call to cancel their own spring games already. The growing list includes Central Florida, Ohio State, Florida State and Michigan.
We also have the matter of spring practices. As Moos noted on Sports Nightly on Monday, the Huskers had only had two of their 15 practices.
"I think in a perfect world, if we can get our arms around the virus and people can start to feel comfortable in our environment and where we’re at, maybe we can get those 13 practices back in June or so during summer school," Moos said. "Hopefully that would be the case.”
Many things would have to be worked out to make this happen but recouping the lost practices in June has merit. Coaches are typically on the road working camps during June. The Huskers also host their own camps in June. Could we see a June that has Friday Night Lights and “spring practices” taking place at the same time? Think about that for a minute. It would be a fun welcome back to sports type of event if the Huskers could have an open practice session paired with a Friday Night Lights camp. There would be a lot of buzz generated from that. Getting creative is needed once the restrictions stop.
There is another big thing to talk about when it comes to moving those lost spring practices to June. It levels the playing field for the players arriving to campus in the summer with the guys who enrolled early. The summer enrollees would not have gone through winter conditioning, but those extra practices are like gold. Running back Sevion Morrison would get a nice benefit of having 13 “spring” practices before having a traditional fall preseason camp to also make his way up the depth chart.
Since this issue affects everyone, I doubt the NCAA would want to have to process waivers on a school-by-school basis to allow summer enrollees to take part in these practices. It’d make more sense for the NCAA to make a blanket rule if it’s decided that those practices could be made up in June. The rule would simply state that student-athletes who enroll in the summer can take part in the rest of the lost spring practices at their schools once they pass a physical.
We have a long way to go with getting COVID-19 under control so that it is safe to return to normal activity. Still, there could be some silver lining involved for new arriving players this summer. That's if things break that way in time.
Recruit Watch
>> Iowa athlete Cooper DeJean committed to the home state Hawkeyes on Tuesday afternoon.
Excited to announce that I will be committing to play football at the University of Iowa! I want to thank my family and friends for all of their support along the way! #swarm21 #GOHAWKS 🐤 pic.twitter.com/XCBfttxwSU
— Cooper DeJean (@cdejean23) March 17, 2020
>> Huskers defensive end target Ryan Keeler picked up an offer from Michigan State.
Blessed and honored to announce I have received an offer from Michigan State University!! @Coach_TGilmore @CoachRonBurton @Coach_mtucker @ScottieHazelton #GoGreen #RELENTLESS pic.twitter.com/Ne39jLiMPv
— Ryan Keeler (@ryankeeler71) March 17, 2020
>> Priority tight end target Thomas Fidone included the Huskers in his top 6 with a video release on Monday evening.
Recruitment still open❗️ #GOTITANS⚔️. @carter_wellz w/ the vid📸 pic.twitter.com/lWd5S9BZXg
— Thomas Fidone II ²⁴ (@ThomasFidone) March 16, 2020
ICYMI
>> Jacob Padilla is diving into Nebraska basketball player reviews (Premium) and first up is the grad transfers.
>> Brandon Vogel explored the topic of the Big Ten working through working through new eligibility questions in the latest Hot Reads.