It was a big Monday for 2024 Bellevue West quarterback Daniel Kaelin. The day started off normally with him getting a typical workout in. Then he looked at his phone. That changed his day in a big way.
“One of the quarterback coaches from QB Collective, the camp I was at two weeks ago, let me know that I need to go call Coach Dillingham from Florida State,” Kaelin told Hail Varsity. “He gave me his number. I actually FaceTimed him. We talked for a little bit. He told me he’s heard a lot of good things and he’s really excited about me. I’m actually going down there this week for a camp. He’s excited to meet me and see me throw. He let me know that I got an offer. It was pretty special.”
Kaelin was speechless for a couple of seconds when he received his first scholarship offer. It felt surreal to him because he’s worked hard to achieve this goal. To actually hear the words was a special moment. The 6-foot-2, 190-pound quarterback didn’t have to wait long to hear those words again.
“I think it’s about an hour later, Coach Huffman called me and told me to talk to [Nebraska quarterbacks] Coach Verduzco,” Kaelin said. “He gave me his number and told me to call him. I think it was about an hour later. I called him and we talked for a good 15 minutes. It was a good phone call. He told me he sees a lot of potential in me and that Huffman has told them a lot of good things. It was really cool.”
Blessed to receive my second offer from the University of Nebraska! @Coach_Verdu pic.twitter.com/7WA2pQNvSh
— Daniel Kaelin (@DanielKaelin5) June 1, 2021
Huffman was proud of his quarterback for getting the offers but reminded his young quarterback to keep working so that good things will keep happening for him. Being among the youngest in-state quarterbacks to ever get an offer from Nebraska is special though. There are things that stand out to Kaelin about head coach Scott Frost’s program.
“The biggest thing probably is it’s the in-state school,” Kaelin said. “I’ve been surrounded by the fan base and obviously it’s crazy so, I’ve seen a lot of that. I’ve seen the atmosphere at games. It’s definitely a special place.
“And some of the players that I know within the program, that kind of stands out. Definitely the atmosphere and fan base around the Huskers are the biggest standouts.”
The cool thing for Kaelin is that while being such a young prospect with an offer is unique ,he isn’t alone on his team. Wide receiver Dae’Vonn Hall also holds Power Five offers, including Nebraska. The pair got a chance to talk on Monday night and Hall was happy for his quarterback.
Despite having a big start to the week things are about to pick up even more for Kaelin. He has an aggressive camp and visit schedule for the month of June. He was on his way to Iowa State’s camp on Tuesday morning when I spoke with him but there is more on the agenda.
“This Friday, I’m going to be down at the Lindenwood mega camp,” Kaelin said. “I’ll be at the Florida State mega camp on the sixth this weekend. Then the 12th I’m at North Carolina. The 13th I’m going to be at Vanderbilt. The 26th I’m going to be at Oklahoma and the 27th I’ll be at Kansas State.”
Kaelin does not have a Nebraska camp locked in just yet. He has a good reason for not having one on the books yet. He knows that Nebraska will be at the Lindenwood camp that he is going to. He’s trying to fit in as many individual camps as possible based on who he feels is showing the most interest so far. Kaelin wants to fit in a Nebraska camp if possible.
It’s very early in his recruitment. Still, Kaelin has two big factors that he will be working with on narrowing down his school choices.
“One of the biggest things is where am I going to be able to play. I want to be able to play as much as possible,” Kaelin said. “I really want to be able to visit places because in my opinion culture and how the team and everyone gets along and how they portray themselves is important. To me the overall culture of the program is going to be really important to me.”
It will be interesting to track Kaelin’s recruitment over the next couple of years. He’s yet to start a game for Bellevue West but will have a lot of Division I talent to throw to. The signal-caller could end up being a very highly-recruited player by the time he signs a letter of intent.