Two Nebraska signees participated in the All-American Bowl Saturday afternoon at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
Lincoln East standout Malachi Coleman and Manor, Texas, star Princewill Umanmielen both played on the West team that suffered a substantial 41-10 loss. The East team jumped out to a 14-0 lead before the West ran its second play from scrimmage. The West’s offense couldn’t match firepower after that.
Coleman started at receiver while Umanmielen came off the bench at defensive end. Lincoln East’s own had no catches and was targeted just once. Coleman got his hands on that pass and could have made the potential catch. The defender, however, made a superb break on the ball and knocked it away before Coleman could haul it in. He blocked well on the perimeter and his size advantage against corners was evident. Coleman gained national attention for his work in practice, catching a few deep balls from multiple quarterbacks.
Umanmielen didn’t register a tackle but consistently found the East backfield. He pressured 5-star UCLA commit Dante Moore twice, once knocking Moore down deep in the backfield as the quarterback threw the ball away. Working out of a two-point stance most of the time, Umanmielen used his quick feet to beat the tackle on the edge. He utilized a quick swim move on the tackle to get into the backfield on a play when Moore mishandled a pass attempt. The ball came out before he could throw, resulting in a fumble the quarterback jumped on just before Umanmielen. The new Nebraska edge rusher also moved along the line of scrimmage in run pursuit.
Both 4-star recruits signed with Nebraska on Early National Signing Day on December 21. Umanmielen committed to Nebraska just two days before following a recruiting push by Matt Rhule’s coaching staff. Coleman, of course, announced his commitment to Nebraska on signing day to conclude his recruitment saga. He committed to Nebraska during the season but reopened his recruitment amid the coaching change. Visits with Rhule, including an official visit last month, was enough to keep the state’s top recruit within its borders.
Upon completion of the game, Nebraska ranked No. 25 in the national 2023 recruiting class rankings and No. 4 in the Big Ten.
Update from Kevin Warren
Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren joined the NBC broadcast crew at halftime to talk about the status of the league. Of course, the Big Ten just signed new TV rights deals that move an increasing amount of conference games to NBC starting this upcoming season. Warren said he’s excited for the conference to join NBC and its plans for a marquee weekly primetime game. He mentioned the stage allows the “brands” of schools and athletes to grow on a national stage.
Warren also touched on the addition of UCLA and USC, which was just announced back in July. He said they’re both excellent academic universities with high reputations. He also said they’re competitive in most sports, beyond just football and basketball.
“What it allows us to do is to become a really coast-to-coast conference,” Warren said. “We’re working on the integration process, everything is going well, and we’re looking forward to having them join our conference.”
Following some contractual work with the University of California regents, UCLA is officially in line to join the Big Ten with USC ahead of the 2024 season.
