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.
This weekend will be a recruiting weekend for the Huskers. Well, kind of. Nebraska uses its spring game as well as any school in the country as a big recruiting event. The annual Red-White Spring Game typically sees 70+ prospects on campus to take in the atmosphere and see the final practice of spring football.
This year will be pretty different. While there are recruits expected to be on-hand for the game, it will not be the same. We are still in a dead period so recruits had to purchase a ticket to attend the game. They are also not allowed to tour facilities or interact with the coaching staff. Running backs coach Ryan Held noted on Wednesday that the staff won’t so much as wave to recruits since that would be a violation.
“It is nice that there’ll be some recruits that will be here,” Held said. “That’ll be good so they can see. Everybody’s been excited to be able to come see what’s going on so that’ll be good. Then obviously in June, that’s going to be a marathon. I mean, I told my wife, I’ll see you in a month, because there’s just no way.
“It’s travel and 18 hour days because we have to make up for so much lost time. Getting kids on official visits, hosting camps, traveling to other camps, which is awesome though because we’re excited to be able to go out and actually see kids in person or have kids on our campus.”
The satellite camp schedule is still being finalized for the Huskers. There are a lot of moving parts. Coach Scott Frost has to balance sending his coaches out to those camps with having them in Lincoln for the camps Nebraska is hosting. There will also be official visit weekends in there too. Assistants will have to be in town to make an impression on recruits. It’s fair to say the Huskers will have an aggressive schedule. After missing out on in-person evaluations for over a year the staff is eager to get back on the road.
Nebraska will want to get caught up with evaluations for the 2022 cycle which has been challenging. Each cycle brings unique challenges but the current cycle going on during a pandemic has been tough. It’s been a long time since the staff could evaluate in person or have kids on campus. Getting players on campus is a winning part of the equation for the Huskers.
Now the team has to work hard to sell their vision to the next round of recruits. In a roundabout way this weekend will be a good step to showcase the program. This spring game will set the stage for a busy recruiting summer for the Huskers ahead of the 2021 season.
Recruit Watch
>> Ryan Held shared a graphic on Wednesday highlighting the rich history of running backs at Nebraska.
We have a tremendous tradition of RUNNING BACKS at Nebraska! #ProBigRed pic.twitter.com/p7uNTfJuPx
— Ryan Held (@CoachRHeld) April 28, 2021
>> Priority running back Justin Williams shared a graphic the Huskers made for him about the NFL Draft.
#GBR pic.twitter.com/yfkM0N9IXE
— JUSTIN WILLIAMS AKA J-WILL (@sh4fty) April 28, 2021
>> Another quarterback came off the board on Wednesday when Tayven Jackson committed to Tennessee.
COMMITTED🟠⚪️ #AGTG @xfactorQB pic.twitter.com/iOOab7Ntpa
— Tayven jackson (@Tayvenjacksonn2) April 28, 2021
ICYMI
>> Husker tight end Thomas Fidone is out with an injury and could miss a portion of the season.
>> Scott Frost talked about a physical spring, the format for the weekend and more following Husker practice.
>> As I wrote, an uneven spring (Premium) will lead to an important offseason for the Nebraska running backs.
>> The Huskers are excited to welcome fans back to Memorial Stadium for the spring game.
>> In the latest Mind Your Own podcast, Erin and Sausha reveal that balance is hard.
>> Derek Peterson and I discussed who and what we are looking out for in this weekend’s game.
>> Who is working at guard for the Huskers? That’s the subject of Derek Peterson’s spring game storylines (Premium) review.
>> This week’s Padding the Stats takes a chance on predicting spring game stars this year.
