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.
Is it time to panic because the Huskers don’t have a commit in the 2022 recruiting class?
A version of that question comes up with more and more frequency these days. It came up again in this week’s edition of the mailbag. The Hail Varsity staff answered some questions this week but I want to explore this one more:
When do y’all expect the recruiting dominoes to start to fall for the class of ‘22? What are the expectations (if any) for the 2 remaining scholarships for 2021? (@tschmidt723)
The short answer is that I don’t expect Nebraska to nab any commitments soon. That doesn’t mean they won’t. Plenty of surprise commitments have happened under Scott Frost and staff. There is a familiar feel right now with most prospects Nebraska is in on. A lot of them want to wait until visits open back up before locking themselves into a school.
That makes sense. Just consider that many of the 2022 prospects haven’t visited a single school that has offered them. Some have started taking self-guided tours of schools lately. Those can be helpful if you can make it out to a school that you are unfamiliar with. Still there is no substitute for meeting with coaches and staff face to face while on campus. It’s different being able to go through structured presentations about what a school has to offer. That gives players and their families the most information they can get. It helps them make informed decisions.
So we aren’t expecting many recruiting dominoes to fall in the short-term. It’ll likely be until the spring or summer before we see some movement. How abnormal is that for Nebraska under Frost?
Frost’s first full recruiting class was the 2019 class. He inherited a pair of in-state commitments. Garrett Nelson and Garrett Snodgrass were already on board before he was hired. The first player to commit to Frost was offensive lineman Ethan Piper. The Norfolk Catholic standout committed in March.
The 2020 class had a unique situation. Quarterback Logan Smothers committed in July of 2018. That was just a month after the class of 2019 quarterback Luke McCaffrey committed. The next recruit to verbally committed to Nebraska was wide receiver Zavier Betts. He joined the 2020 class in on April 3, 2019.
The 2021 recruiting class got off to a hot start. Teddy Prochazka, Henry Lutovsky and Randolph Kpai were all in the class at this point last year. Then Utah native Branson Yager joined the class in April.
So, Nebraska is slightly behind the pace they are normally at. Usually there are one to three prospects in the class at this point. Then there is a break before the spring game hits and things pick up again. The team isn’t so far off that it’s a reason for panic. Let’s say we get to June and there are no players in the class. Then we’ll have a different conversation about the direction of this class.
For now, it’s business as usual.
Recruit Watch
>> Omaha Burke linebacker Devon Jackson was offered by LSU on Tuesday night.
Blessed to have received an offer from Louisiana State University🟣🟡!!! #LSU #GoTigers @CoachBlakeBaker @LSUfootball pic.twitter.com/NxjKyzEyce
— Devon Jackson (@DevontheJet402) February 23, 2021
>> Columbus linebacker Ernest Hausmann showed off a cool edit the Huskers did for him.
⚪️🔴#GBR @CoachChinander pic.twitter.com/4R067ip9wH
— Ernest Hausmann (@Ernest_Hausmann) February 23, 2021
>> Lewis Central defensive tackle Hunter Deyo is putting together an impressive offer list so far.
— Hunter Deyo (@DeyoHunter) February 24, 2021
ICYMI
>> The Mind Your Own podcast is taking on part two of a mailbag in this week’s episode with Erin Sorensen and Sausha Durkan.
>> In the latest Padding the Stats Jacob Padilla looks into Teddy Buckets, Burger Boy Sallis and Devin Booker’s All-Star case.
>> Penn State’s perimeter barrage spoiled Teddy Allen’s big night in a close Husker loss.
>> Check out our photo gallery from that basketball game last night.