It was an eventful week for the Huskers. The team got on the board with the first 2022 commitment. Columbus outside linebacker Ernest Hausmann is the first player “N” for the Huskers. He hopes to be a great peer recruiter for the class which led him to join now. Now the Huskers efforts will continue to fill in the class around him in the coming months.
Let’s get to the Recon.
Husker Commits
Ernest Hausmann, Outside Linebacker, Columbus, Nebraska
2021 Needs
| QB | 1 | DL | 2 |
| RB | 1 | MLB | 2 |
| WR | 2 | OLB | 2 |
| TE | 1 | DB | 3 |
| OL | 3 | K/P | 0 |
The Recon:
>> Last Saturday we ran a story with Kansas 2023 tight end Jaden Hamm. He’s an intriguing tight end prospect in that class who is seeing his recruiting profile gain steam in recent weeks. After the story went live Hamm reached back out to say that the Husker coaches are pushing to get a visit from him as soon as it’s allowed. It’s something he’d love to do.
“I would like to visit them,” Hamm said. “It would be a great experience and get me time to meet the coaches in person.”
You are going to see more and more prospects start talking about visits lining up at we get closer to the end of May. It’s becoming expected that the NCAA will make some sort path forward on visits in June.
>> In the latest episode of the Straight Up Breakdown podcast, Jay Foreman and I spoke about Hausmann. As a former Husker and NFL linebacker, it was interesting to hear Foreman’s take a what makes Hausmann a good prospect from the film he’s been able to watch of him. One of the things he mentioned was his experience playing cornerback and wide receiver. That could have a direct impact on his ability in coverage from the inside linebacker position.
>> The Huskers’ search for a 2022 quarterback or two will continue into at least the summer. One of the top signal-callers in the country that Nebraska has a chance with is MJ Morris. The Georgia native likes Nebraska and has told me that he wants to visit. However, Florida State and others are making a strong push for him. There is an interesting wrinkle though with him considering Florida State. The Seminoles already have a quarterback in their class. A different Husker target Nicco Marchiol from Arizona is committed to Florida State. Morris doesn’t seem to be afraid of the competition but that is something to keep an eye on.
>> If you missed it, Derek Peterson wrote a great piece on what is happening with center recruiting across the country. He looked into several factors that are contributing to the evolution of how teams recruit the position. He spoke with former Husker all-conference tackle Rob Zatechka who said many things that stood out like this.
“When I was in high school, almost every team’s center in high school was a two- or three-year starter because you had these kids who had been playing it for a bunch of years. It was a very well-developed position in the mindset of coaches,” Zatechka said. “That underhand spiral is tougher to learn. Quite frankly, it’s damn near hard to learn. … And that’s why, for years, the only guys who played center in college were guys who played center in high school and the guys who played center in high school had been playing center since youth football.
“It’s kind of fostered this notion that anybody now can play center. I think that’s led to an overall degradation in the skillset across the board for centers.”
There is definitely something to this notion that more coaches now feel like anyone can play the position. It works out to varying degrees around the country.
