July Recruiting Thread… it’s almost gameday (5 Viewers)

[Jim14510]

Good thing he is off to our triple A team to straighten him out

View attachment 24840

Sounds like bullshit. Sent it to a dad on the team. See what he says.

 

[Faux Sean Callahan]

 

[stonesak]

I respect his decision.

 

[dsbigred1]

Taumua right now -

Didn’t @Nate Clouse post 😯 right after Tannor posted that?

 

[Scarlet ObsessioN]

Good thing he is off to our triple A team to straighten him out

View attachment 24840

He could be a physical specimen with a cannon arm and not be a good qb. It takes a feel for the game to be among the best.

 

[Herbie]

When does he get moved to OG

 

[BorWhiskey]

I was driving my 11 year old home from basketball practice last night. Occasionally he'll reach over and hold my hand while I'm driving, last night was one of those occassions. I said, "You know some day you won't want to hold my hand anymore" and he said, "Yeah I know, but I still want to now"

I will hold my kids hands, kiss them good night and hug them every morning until they won't let me. Makes me sad thinking about not getting to do that anymore.

All these sentimental stories reminds me of one my 4 year old boy and I had a few weeks back. We live five minutes from his school. I go in to pick him up in the rain. We run out to the car, buckle him in, and then I hop in the drivers seat.

With his high pitched voice I hear from the back seat, “it’s fucking raining.” I ask for clarification thinking maybe I’m not hearing him right a couple times and he subsequently repeated it two more times.

We get a little further down the road, and I start asking him what he wants for dinner. He says firmly “nothing”. I say, “I’m hungry though, and want to eat.” Odin says, “well you can eat your butthole.”

These precious moments.

 

[Bootleg11]

All these sentimental stories reminds me of one my 4 year old boy and I had a few weeks back. We live five minutes from his school. I go in to pick him up in the rain. We run out to the car, buckle him in, and then I hop in the drivers seat.

With his high pitched voice I hear from the back seat, “it’s fucking raining.” I ask for clarification thinking maybe I’m not hearing him right a couple times and he subsequently repeated it two more times.

We get a little further down the road, and I start asking him what he wants for dinner. He says firmly “nothing”. I say, “I’m hungry though, and want to eat.” Odin says, “well you can eat your butthole.”

These precious moments.

That’s funny

But also my kids ass would be painted red if he talked like that. Then I’d laugh about it later when he wasn’t around.

 

[Dawgsauce]

Good time to remind those with kids that although silence is golden, it is duct tape that is silver.

 

[Eaton Beaver]

Good time to remind those with kids that although silence is golden, it is duct tape that is silver.

Yep, told my kid he will make the 2027 team easy.. just pretend you're a fullback

 

[11husker23]

All these sentimental stories reminds me of one my 4 year old boy and I had a few weeks back. We live five minutes from his school. I go in to pick him up in the rain. We run out to the car, buckle him in, and then I hop in the drivers seat.

With his high pitched voice I hear from the back seat, “it’s fucking raining.” I ask for clarification thinking maybe I’m not hearing him right a couple times and he subsequently repeated it two more times.

We get a little further down the road, and I start asking him what he wants for dinner. He says firmly “nothing”. I say, “I’m hungry though, and want to eat.” Odin says, “well you can eat your butthole.”

These precious moments.

Sounds like an angry old man not a four year old child.

 

[BorWhiskey]

Sounds like an angry old man not a four year old child.

What makes this extra funny for us is he is the sweetest kid. He’s the one that runs over to another kid and helps them up if they fall. He gives out hugs. He holds hands with the other kids in the classroom. He was on fire that day, though.

His younger brother on the other hand… we call him honey badger because he doesn’t give a shit. He’ll frequently put his body on the line for things and assume someone’s going to save him. He also hits. He growls at other kids on the playground to try and scare them. Speech delayed so we hope once he starts using more words his behavior will settle.

My favorite Auggie story is we were at the playground for a friend’s 3 year birthday party. They had a bunch of those Flintstone kid cars at the play ground. The ones that you use your feet and walk it around while sitting in it. More than enough for the kids that wanted to play in them. Auggie gets his eyes set on one that had a driver. So he yanks the kid out of the car, gets in and speeds off.

My wife sees it happen so runs over to punish him and apologize. The dad I was talking to starts laughing… “did your kid just car Jack another kid gta style?” About 15 minutes later he landed a left hook on a kid that yelled at him for moving one of the cars.

He’ll be interesting to watch grow.

 

[Carm]

a former target update: Ernest Campbell commits tomorrow - CB to A&M

 

[Juro]

a former target update: Ernest Campbell commits tomorrow - CB to A&M

I feel like when we got Barney, we cooled on him.

 

[Carm]

College football recruiting: Big week of commitments upcoming on the 247Sports YouTube channel​

​

ROBBIE WEINSTEINJul 10th, 1:10 PM0


Typically once mid-July hits, college football recruiting slows down a bit before the NCAA dead period lifts at the end of the month. But that's not the case this week, as a large handful of four-star prospects are set to announce their commitments on the 247Sports YouTube channel.

Plenty of top Power Five programs are in the mix for the six players who will commit live on air. All are coveted prospects, and here's what you need to know about them before they announce this week.

4-star OL Preston Taumua — Saturday, July 15, 2 p.m. ET

(Photo: Blair Angulo, 247Sports)
Taumua is a talented O-lineman who is looking at programs from across the country. The Hawaii product took official visits to Arizona, Auburn, Nebraska and Oregon last month ahead of his decision.

Nebraska and new coach Matt Rhule hold the lead on the 247Sports Crystal Ball as of Monday afternoon with one prediction in their favor. Listed at 6-foot-4, 315 pounds, Taumua projects as an interior lineman at the next level rather than a tackle.

 

[Huskerforlife]

Exclusive Tunnel Talk: 7/14/2023​

HuskerOnline Staff • about 12 hours

Welcome to the latest edition of HuskerOnline.com’s most popular member feature, Tunnel Talk. Our staff gives you the latest inside information on Nebraska football, basketball, volleyball, and recruiting.

Now, on to the scoop…

Callahan’s weekly nuggets​

***There was a lot of interest in Daniel Kaelinand the Elite 11 and what type of rating bump he might receive. When it was all said and done, Kaelin did not get a boost from his showing at the Elite 11.

Why is that? I tried to get more from the Tater Island ratings team on what went into keeping Kaelin where he was in the rankings. Remember, he’s still an Industry four-star and a high three-star quarterback overall by everyone else.

“With Kaelin, he was honestly back of the pack for us at Elite 11. So for us, just making (the Elite 11) or being in the counselor’s group doesn’t weigh a ton. The biggest thing will be senior seasons for all those guys.”

I know this is not the answer Husker fans wanted to hear, but I am just shooting you straight. Also, a year ago, I think many locally thought Zane Flores was probably a better QB than Kaelin going into his senior season, and Flores never touched four-star status. Today, Kaelin is 89.14, and Flores finished out at 88.78 in the Industry Rankings.

***One player we mistakenly left out of our tight end/fullback camp preview was Luke Lindenmeyer. We didn’t see Lindenmeyer play in the spring game due to being in concussion protocol. Before that, he had seen work with the top units all springs. He’s for sure a name to watch.

***A few weeks ago, we reported in Tunnel Talk that Jason Maciejczak went from offensive line to defensive line this summer. I also have been told Mason Goldman has made the move over to the defensive line as well.

That means NU has seven true freshmen on scholarship listed as defensive linemen and edge players. It also makes you feel a little better about the low numbers at those spots in the 2024 recruiting class, as they stockpiled there quite a bit in 2023.

This, too, will allow Nebraska to take an extra offensive lineman, possibly in this class, if it can land both Grant Brix and Preston Taumua.

***We still have not seen Nebraska do an official roster update. A few players on the Huskers.com roster are no longer with the team. By not removing them from the roster, they have done a good job of protecting guys that have taken the early retirement package. It will be a non-story by the time it happens in late July or early August, as all the focus will be on fall camp.

***Just seven players remain on the roster from Nebraska’s 2020 recruiting class and 12 from the class of 2021. Seven of the 18 high school recruits NU signed in 2022 are no longer on the official roster. I believe there could be another defection from that 2022 class we also don’t know about. That means the current roster has around 28 high school recruits left from the previous three cycles when you remove the eventual two more defections.

***Running back Nate Frazier named Nebraska in his final eight schools. The hope/plan continues to be to get Frazier back to Lincoln for one of the early home games on an official visit.

-Sean Callahan

As Sipple sees (and hears) it​

***Nick Henrich is ready for dorm life.

“You’re going to be around your boys all day,” he told me Wednesday. “I definitely wish I was sleeping in my own bed, but I think it’ll be a lot of fun.”

First-year Nebraska head coach Matt Rhuletold HuskerOnline in early June that he plans to house his entire 110-man fall camp roster in the Selleck Quadrangle Dorm on NU’s main campus just steps away from the student union.

Players and all the assistants will spend the first 12 days (or so) of the camp in the dorm, Rhule said.

Bring it on, Henrich said.

“I think it’s going to allow us to be so tight and close as a team and just continue to bond even more than we have so far,” he said. Henrich is eying a full return from a knee injury that sidelined him for the final five games of last season as well as all of spring ball.

Two weeks ago, he was cleared by the team medical staff to practice full go.

“I’ve been sprinting and cutting for a while,” he said. “But it’s been gradual. It’s about an eight-month process, which is a long time.”

Henrich is among a group of inside linebackers that also includes Luke Reimer, John Bullock, MJ Sherman, and Garrett Snodgrass, although new Husker defensive coordinator Tony White likes to shift players to multiple positions.

It’s not as easy now to pinpoint who’ll be where.

***Along those lines, Henrich has worked diligently to learn White’s 3-3-5 system.

“It’s definitely a different philosophy and different style,” said the Omaha Burke graduate, noting he had to learn the defense in the spring while sitting out of practice. “I was preparing like I was playing, just doing what I teach the young guys. That’s kind of helped me learn it.”

I hesitated to ask Henrich what he liked most about White’s system. I’m sure he gets asked the question all the time.

“I’d just say it gives you a lot of freedom to really play fast and just find the football – which is great,” he said. “It allows you to keep athletes on the field and allows a good swarm. It really comes down to the ability to let loose.”

Nebraska players report to preseason camp on July 30.

“Camp’s going to be huge for us again,” Henrich said. “You can never get enough reps before the season. It’s important to bank more reps and just get used to the philosophy and the style of the defense.

“We’ll be ready to roll.”

***Reimer, by the way, is poised to reach an exalted status in Nebraska football history.

With 245 career tackles as a Husker, he’s highly likely to move past Mike Brown into third place on the school’s all-time tackle chart. Brown, a hard-hitting defensive back from 1996 to 1999, finished with 287 career stops.

In fact, Reimer has a chance to move past Jerry Murtaugh (1968 to 1970) into the No. 2 slot, as Murtaugh finished his time at NU with 342 stops.

Barrett Ruud is the school’s all-time leader with 432 tackles.

Keep in mind, Reimer had 108 stops in 2021 before making a team-leading 86 last year, even though he missed two games due to injury.

No wonder he’s one of the three Nebraska players who’ll be on hand for Big Ten Media Days in Indianapolis.

***Granted, Reimer has racked up his tackle total in four seasons (including 40 during the 2020 Covid campaign). But he had only 11 stops as a freshman.

Bottom line, he’s been a consistent force. He was Nebraska’s best defensive player last season because of his sideline-to-sideline playmaking ability.

***Many folks seemed surprised earlier this week when it was announced that veteran offensive guard Ethan Piper would be one of Nebraska’s player representatives in Indianapolis. It made sense to me in the context of a mature move Piper made last October.

Nebraska’s offensive line had just come off an extremely poor performance against Rutgers. It had been only so-so up to that point. Nevertheless, Piper was among a handful of players who materialized for the team’s weekly media luncheon the Tuesday following the Rutgers contest.

It couldn’t have been easy for him, as the O-line was drawing heavy criticism from fans and the media.

“I’ve always thought that, especially being a Nebraska fan, it’s good to share what’s going on here and help people know the culture,” said Piper, a Norfolk Catholic graduate in his fifth year in the program.

Yes, that’s maturity.

***All-time Oklahoma quarterback great Charles Thompson plays host to a sports radio talk show in Oklahoma City (105.3 FM). Yours truly appeared on the show with Charles this week, and I wondered how much he would say about Nebraska, considering his son, Casey Thompson, was the Huskers’ starting QB last season.

Charles Thompson didn’t share much insight on NU. He’s a savvy veteran. However, at one point, he did mention that Nebraska’s offensive line “had trouble moving their feet.”

He might have had that Rutgers game in mind, when his son endured quite a beating.

***I’ll write next week about exactly what Northwestern needs in its next head coach. For now, I’ll just say scratch Paul Chryst. He did an excellent job at Wisconsin, but he is the type of coach who wants to concentrate mostly on X’s and O’s and out-scheming foes. He isn’t particularly fond of the headaches in modern-day coaching (NIL, transfer portal, etc.).

The next Northwestern coach will have to go through the rigmarole of trying to restore some semblance of order in the program while also dealing with a lot of people within the university community who don’t care much at all for football (or sports in general).

Sounds like a wonderful job.

Also, scratch Ed Orgeron. Oh, he’s proven he can win at a high level. But it would be a terrible cultural fit for a program with virtually no chance of competing for a national crown.

Would Orgeron even want the job?

-Steven Sipple

Mongo’s Musings​

***Things have been fairly quiet for Nebraska recruiting. The Huskers haven’t picked up a commitment since July 1. They could pick up a couple of commitments in the coming weeks beginning this Sunday in Hawaii.

***Preston Taumua is set to announce his commitment on July 16. The event has a local time of 5:00 to 10:00, so 10:00 CT in Lincoln is when the news could first break. It seems that he will be announcing things over his Instagram, and we will be on to cover the news.

Taumua announced on July 7 that he was down to five teams: Nebraska, Oregon, USC, Arizona, and Alabama. Taumua took official visits to Nebraska, Oregon, and Arizona and an unofficial visit to USC.

Things began to trend with Taumua to NU a couple of weeks ago. At that time, the Tater Island RPM was leaning toward Oregon and Auburn. I have been told privately that it’s really been a race between Auburn and Nebraska. I put in my prediction for Taumua to Nebraska on July 7.

***Taumua could fill a big need in the class at OT, but I think Nebraska is still interested in adding another like Grant Brix to the class to get a full complement of offensive linemen. Brix, from Loyola-Magnolia (Cockeye), doesn’t have a timetable for his decision.

At the beginning of July, Brix was very transparent about his process. He was ready to put the travel and the stresses behind him, get back to FAA, show some animals, and enjoy his summer. Who can blame him?

I think that things changed for Brix once Notre Dame offered. He went from being a regional recruit to being a national guy. The phone has been ringing constantly for him ever since.

During our conversation at the beginning of July, Brix indicated that four schools stood out: Nebraska, Kansas State, Oklahoma, and Alabama. Through some other sources, I have put together in my mind that Nebraska and Oklahoma are on top.

If you have been paying attention to Oklahoma, things are not well in Soonerville with their offensive line coach. They have hosted double-digit offensive line recruits for official visits and have only one commitment.

And while it may indicate the overall class and not necessarily Brix, the Sooners have offered a couple of new offensive line targets as recently as this week. There is still the strong desire by people around Brix for him to stay closer to home, which also gives Nebraska an edge to me. I put in my prediction for Brix to Nebraska on June 29, and while this has already had some hangtime, it could have several weeks more to add to it before Brix announces his decision.

***In a perfect world, Nebraska would nab both Taumua and Brix and be done on the offensive line. But, the class would still have some gaps, and it seems that Nebraska may be interested in grabbing at least one other recruit whose position group isn’t necessarily a need.

The Huskers need a pass rusher, and one of Nebraska’s top targets, Jacob Smith, announced yesterday that he was headed to Ann Arbor with his brother. Smith was very serious about Nebraska, but with his twin brother at Michigan, I am sure it would complicate things for their family.

The delay in Smith’s announcement and my comment that it wouldn’t change the outcome (of Smith choosing Michigan) was pretty evident if you knew what you were looking for. Smith has tried to add as much suspense and doubt with his final teams, but when he set an announcement date and was working with a service, the secret got out quickly. I take it that he wasn’t too happy about it not being a surprise and would push back the date.

The other options for Nebraska to grab a pass rusher are Devoux Tuataga from Eagle Mountain (Utah) Cedar Valley and possibly Jayshawn Ross from Kansas City (Mo.) Liberty North. First, let’s talk about Tuataga. He’s more of an Edge. At 6-foot-6 and 225 pounds, he has some great length and athleticism.

Tuataga has been set to visit Nebraska but has had to cancel and reschedule. As I see it, the issue with that is that Tuataga was planning on taking an official visit to Lincoln in June and will now be in Lincoln on the last Friday of July on an unofficial visit.

Ross has visited NU twice before, the most recent being in June with his high school teammate and Husker commitment, Keelan Smith. Smith has been working to get Ross more interested in Nebraska, but Ross was very high on Oklahoma at the time.

Things have changed between Ross and Oklahoma. Some say the two have gone their separate ways, which might open the door here for Nebraska. A good indicator would be if Ross officially visits NU in September.

Another possibility to grab a spot in the class is Miami (Fla.) Gulliver Prep cornerback Amare Sanders. Sanders took an official visit to Nebraska on June 2, and then things went pretty quiet. He was closely linked with Jacory Barney, who visited Lincoln with Sanders, but Barney took other official visits in June.

I caught up with Sanders, and he said that he planned to make a decision before the start of his season, which I take as before the start of fall camp (so in the next couple of weeks). I asked him if Nebraska was a school he was considering, and he said, “Nebraska is in the picture,” and declined to name any other schools he was considering.

Another source gave me the heads up that they thought Amare was “All N” and that he should be announcing for Nebraska around the end of July or early August. This source hasn’t been wrong for me before. I put in a prediction for Sanders to Nebraska on July 11.

Several names after Taumua, Brix, Ross, and Sanders could be in the picture for a spot in the class, including slot receiver Derrick McFall from Tyler (Texas). McFall met Nebraska quarterback commitment Daniel Kaelin in California, and there the two became quick friends.

McFall officially visited Louisville in June and held several other offers. There might be a difference here between what was committable and what were probably evaluation offers. He told me that Nebraska could be a place for him to call home, and I would consider the Huskers the frontrunners if they offer.

After McFall, several other names that Nebraska fans are asking about include Caleb Benning, Nuku Mafi, Semisi Tonga, and Christian Nwosu, to name a few. Things have cleared up with Tristan Johnson committing to UTSA. Evidently, NU wanted to close the deal with Johnson immediately following his camp but likely got the news on Carlon Jones‘ eventual commitment.

Benning, Mafi, Tonga, and Nwosu are hard to put any type of percentages on since they are extending their processes into the fall. Almost a second market when schools find room to take one or two more players late or coaching changes could favor those players in the fall, improving G5 offers in July to P5 in November/December.

***The All-American game jumped on the other postseason games next year when they extended an invitation to 2025 Omaha (Neb.) Westside linebacker Christian Jones. There were some interesting questions on Twitter following his announcement, like if Jones was planning to reclassify, which there are no plans to do.

I am guessing the confusion comes from the early invite because the timing is driven by the competition to secure the best talent for the game. Jones is an early enroller, and he said that had enough difficulty academically that he couldn’t imagine trying to reclassify.

-Bryan Mongo

 

[jickey moseph]

Exclusive Tunnel Talk: 7/14/2023​

HuskerOnline Staff • about 12 hours

Welcome to the latest edition of HuskerOnline.com’s most popular member feature, Tunnel Talk. Our staff gives you the latest inside information on Nebraska football, basketball, volleyball, and recruiting.

Now, on to the scoop…

Callahan’s weekly nuggets​

***There was a lot of interest in Daniel Kaelinand the Elite 11 and what type of rating bump he might receive. When it was all said and done, Kaelin did not get a boost from his showing at the Elite 11.

Why is that? I tried to get more from the Tater Island ratings team on what went into keeping Kaelin where he was in the rankings. Remember, he’s still an Industry four-star and a high three-star quarterback overall by everyone else.

“With Kaelin, he was honestly back of the pack for us at Elite 11. So for us, just making (the Elite 11) or being in the counselor’s group doesn’t weigh a ton. The biggest thing will be senior seasons for all those guys.”

I know this is not the answer Husker fans wanted to hear, but I am just shooting you straight. Also, a year ago, I think many locally thought Zane Flores was probably a better QB than Kaelin going into his senior season, and Flores never touched four-star status. Today, Kaelin is 89.14, and Flores finished out at 88.78 in the Industry Rankings.

***One player we mistakenly left out of our tight end/fullback camp preview was Luke Lindenmeyer. We didn’t see Lindenmeyer play in the spring game due to being in concussion protocol. Before that, he had seen work with the top units all springs. He’s for sure a name to watch.

***A few weeks ago, we reported in Tunnel Talk that Jason Maciejczak went from offensive line to defensive line this summer. I also have been told Mason Goldman has made the move over to the defensive line as well.

That means NU has seven true freshmen on scholarship listed as defensive linemen and edge players. It also makes you feel a little better about the low numbers at those spots in the 2024 recruiting class, as they stockpiled there quite a bit in 2023.

This, too, will allow Nebraska to take an extra offensive lineman, possibly in this class, if it can land both Grant Brix and Preston Taumua.

***We still have not seen Nebraska do an official roster update. A few players on the Huskers.com roster are no longer with the team. By not removing them from the roster, they have done a good job of protecting guys that have taken the early retirement package. It will be a non-story by the time it happens in late July or early August, as all the focus will be on fall camp.

***Just seven players remain on the roster from Nebraska’s 2020 recruiting class and 12 from the class of 2021. Seven of the 18 high school recruits NU signed in 2022 are no longer on the official roster. I believe there could be another defection from that 2022 class we also don’t know about. That means the current roster has around 28 high school recruits left from the previous three cycles when you remove the eventual two more defections.

***Running back Nate Frazier named Nebraska in his final eight schools. The hope/plan continues to be to get Frazier back to Lincoln for one of the early home games on an official visit.

-Sean Callahan

As Sipple sees (and hears) it​

***Nick Henrich is ready for dorm life.

“You’re going to be around your boys all day,” he told me Wednesday. “I definitely wish I was sleeping in my own bed, but I think it’ll be a lot of fun.”

First-year Nebraska head coach Matt Rhuletold HuskerOnline in early June that he plans to house his entire 110-man fall camp roster in the Selleck Quadrangle Dorm on NU’s main campus just steps away from the student union.

Players and all the assistants will spend the first 12 days (or so) of the camp in the dorm, Rhule said.

Bring it on, Henrich said.

“I think it’s going to allow us to be so tight and close as a team and just continue to bond even more than we have so far,” he said. Henrich is eying a full return from a knee injury that sidelined him for the final five games of last season as well as all of spring ball.

Two weeks ago, he was cleared by the team medical staff to practice full go.

“I’ve been sprinting and cutting for a while,” he said. “But it’s been gradual. It’s about an eight-month process, which is a long time.”

Henrich is among a group of inside linebackers that also includes Luke Reimer, John Bullock, MJ Sherman, and Garrett Snodgrass, although new Husker defensive coordinator Tony White likes to shift players to multiple positions.

It’s not as easy now to pinpoint who’ll be where.

***Along those lines, Henrich has worked diligently to learn White’s 3-3-5 system.

“It’s definitely a different philosophy and different style,” said the Omaha Burke graduate, noting he had to learn the defense in the spring while sitting out of practice. “I was preparing like I was playing, just doing what I teach the young guys. That’s kind of helped me learn it.”

I hesitated to ask Henrich what he liked most about White’s system. I’m sure he gets asked the question all the time.

“I’d just say it gives you a lot of freedom to really play fast and just find the football – which is great,” he said. “It allows you to keep athletes on the field and allows a good swarm. It really comes down to the ability to let loose.”

Nebraska players report to preseason camp on July 30.

“Camp’s going to be huge for us again,” Henrich said. “You can never get enough reps before the season. It’s important to bank more reps and just get used to the philosophy and the style of the defense.

“We’ll be ready to roll.”

***Reimer, by the way, is poised to reach an exalted status in Nebraska football history.

With 245 career tackles as a Husker, he’s highly likely to move past Mike Brown into third place on the school’s all-time tackle chart. Brown, a hard-hitting defensive back from 1996 to 1999, finished with 287 career stops.

In fact, Reimer has a chance to move past Jerry Murtaugh (1968 to 1970) into the No. 2 slot, as Murtaugh finished his time at NU with 342 stops.

Barrett Ruud is the school’s all-time leader with 432 tackles.

Keep in mind, Reimer had 108 stops in 2021 before making a team-leading 86 last year, even though he missed two games due to injury.

No wonder he’s one of the three Nebraska players who’ll be on hand for Big Ten Media Days in Indianapolis.

***Granted, Reimer has racked up his tackle total in four seasons (including 40 during the 2020 Covid campaign). But he had only 11 stops as a freshman.

Bottom line, he’s been a consistent force. He was Nebraska’s best defensive player last season because of his sideline-to-sideline playmaking ability.

***Many folks seemed surprised earlier this week when it was announced that veteran offensive guard Ethan Piper would be one of Nebraska’s player representatives in Indianapolis. It made sense to me in the context of a mature move Piper made last October.

Nebraska’s offensive line had just come off an extremely poor performance against Rutgers. It had been only so-so up to that point. Nevertheless, Piper was among a handful of players who materialized for the team’s weekly media luncheon the Tuesday following the Rutgers contest.

It couldn’t have been easy for him, as the O-line was drawing heavy criticism from fans and the media.

“I’ve always thought that, especially being a Nebraska fan, it’s good to share what’s going on here and help people know the culture,” said Piper, a Norfolk Catholic graduate in his fifth year in the program.

Yes, that’s maturity.

***All-time Oklahoma quarterback great Charles Thompson plays host to a sports radio talk show in Oklahoma City (105.3 FM). Yours truly appeared on the show with Charles this week, and I wondered how much he would say about Nebraska, considering his son, Casey Thompson, was the Huskers’ starting QB last season.

Charles Thompson didn’t share much insight on NU. He’s a savvy veteran. However, at one point, he did mention that Nebraska’s offensive line “had trouble moving their feet.”

He might have had that Rutgers game in mind, when his son endured quite a beating.

***I’ll write next week about exactly what Northwestern needs in its next head coach. For now, I’ll just say scratch Paul Chryst. He did an excellent job at Wisconsin, but he is the type of coach who wants to concentrate mostly on X’s and O’s and out-scheming foes. He isn’t particularly fond of the headaches in modern-day coaching (NIL, transfer portal, etc.).

The next Northwestern coach will have to go through the rigmarole of trying to restore some semblance of order in the program while also dealing with a lot of people within the university community who don’t care much at all for football (or sports in general).

Sounds like a wonderful job.

Also, scratch Ed Orgeron. Oh, he’s proven he can win at a high level. But it would be a terrible cultural fit for a program with virtually no chance of competing for a national crown.

Would Orgeron even want the job?

-Steven Sipple

Mongo’s Musings​

***Things have been fairly quiet for Nebraska recruiting. The Huskers haven’t picked up a commitment since July 1. They could pick up a couple of commitments in the coming weeks beginning this Sunday in Hawaii.

***Preston Taumua is set to announce his commitment on July 16. The event has a local time of 5:00 to 10:00, so 10:00 CT in Lincoln is when the news could first break. It seems that he will be announcing things over his Instagram, and we will be on to cover the news.

Taumua announced on July 7 that he was down to five teams: Nebraska, Oregon, USC, Arizona, and Alabama. Taumua took official visits to Nebraska, Oregon, and Arizona and an unofficial visit to USC.

Things began to trend with Taumua to NU a couple of weeks ago. At that time, the Tater Island RPM was leaning toward Oregon and Auburn. I have been told privately that it’s really been a race between Auburn and Nebraska. I put in my prediction for Taumua to Nebraska on July 7.

***Taumua could fill a big need in the class at OT, but I think Nebraska is still interested in adding another like Grant Brix to the class to get a full complement of offensive linemen. Brix, from Loyola-Magnolia (Cockeye), doesn’t have a timetable for his decision.

At the beginning of July, Brix was very transparent about his process. He was ready to put the travel and the stresses behind him, get back to FAA, show some animals, and enjoy his summer. Who can blame him?

I think that things changed for Brix once Notre Dame offered. He went from being a regional recruit to being a national guy. The phone has been ringing constantly for him ever since.

During our conversation at the beginning of July, Brix indicated that four schools stood out: Nebraska, Kansas State, Oklahoma, and Alabama. Through some other sources, I have put together in my mind that Nebraska and Oklahoma are on top.

If you have been paying attention to Oklahoma, things are not well in Soonerville with their offensive line coach. They have hosted double-digit offensive line recruits for official visits and have only one commitment.

And while it may indicate the overall class and not necessarily Brix, the Sooners have offered a couple of new offensive line targets as recently as this week. There is still the strong desire by people around Brix for him to stay closer to home, which also gives Nebraska an edge to me. I put in my prediction for Brix to Nebraska on June 29, and while this has already had some hangtime, it could have several weeks more to add to it before Brix announces his decision.

***In a perfect world, Nebraska would nab both Taumua and Brix and be done on the offensive line. But, the class would still have some gaps, and it seems that Nebraska may be interested in grabbing at least one other recruit whose position group isn’t necessarily a need.

The Huskers need a pass rusher, and one of Nebraska’s top targets, Jacob Smith, announced yesterday that he was headed to Ann Arbor with his brother. Smith was very serious about Nebraska, but with his twin brother at Michigan, I am sure it would complicate things for their family.

The delay in Smith’s announcement and my comment that it wouldn’t change the outcome (of Smith choosing Michigan) was pretty evident if you knew what you were looking for. Smith has tried to add as much suspense and doubt with his final teams, but when he set an announcement date and was working with a service, the secret got out quickly. I take it that he wasn’t too happy about it not being a surprise and would push back the date.

The other options for Nebraska to grab a pass rusher are Devoux Tuataga from Eagle Mountain (Utah) Cedar Valley and possibly Jayshawn Ross from Kansas City (Mo.) Liberty North. First, let’s talk about Tuataga. He’s more of an Edge. At 6-foot-6 and 225 pounds, he has some great length and athleticism.

Tuataga has been set to visit Nebraska but has had to cancel and reschedule. As I see it, the issue with that is that Tuataga was planning on taking an official visit to Lincoln in June and will now be in Lincoln on the last Friday of July on an unofficial visit.

Ross has visited NU twice before, the most recent being in June with his high school teammate and Husker commitment, Keelan Smith. Smith has been working to get Ross more interested in Nebraska, but Ross was very high on Oklahoma at the time.

Things have changed between Ross and Oklahoma. Some say the two have gone their separate ways, which might open the door here for Nebraska. A good indicator would be if Ross officially visits NU in September.

Another possibility to grab a spot in the class is Miami (Fla.) Gulliver Prep cornerback Amare Sanders. Sanders took an official visit to Nebraska on June 2, and then things went pretty quiet. He was closely linked with Jacory Barney, who visited Lincoln with Sanders, but Barney took other official visits in June.

I caught up with Sanders, and he said that he planned to make a decision before the start of his season, which I take as before the start of fall camp (so in the next couple of weeks). I asked him if Nebraska was a school he was considering, and he said, “Nebraska is in the picture,” and declined to name any other schools he was considering.

Another source gave me the heads up that they thought Amare was “All N” and that he should be announcing for Nebraska around the end of July or early August. This source hasn’t been wrong for me before. I put in a prediction for Sanders to Nebraska on July 11.

Several names after Taumua, Brix, Ross, and Sanders could be in the picture for a spot in the class, including slot receiver Derrick McFall from Tyler (Texas). McFall met Nebraska quarterback commitment Daniel Kaelin in California, and there the two became quick friends.

McFall officially visited Louisville in June and held several other offers. There might be a difference here between what was committable and what were probably evaluation offers. He told me that Nebraska could be a place for him to call home, and I would consider the Huskers the frontrunners if they offer.

After McFall, several other names that Nebraska fans are asking about include Caleb Benning, Nuku Mafi, Semisi Tonga, and Christian Nwosu, to name a few. Things have cleared up with Tristan Johnson committing to UTSA. Evidently, NU wanted to close the deal with Johnson immediately following his camp but likely got the news on Carlon Jones‘ eventual commitment.

Benning, Mafi, Tonga, and Nwosu are hard to put any type of percentages on since they are extending their processes into the fall. Almost a second market when schools find room to take one or two more players late or coaching changes could favor those players in the fall, improving G5 offers in July to P5 in November/December.

***The All-American game jumped on the other postseason games next year when they extended an invitation to 2025 Omaha (Neb.) Westside linebacker Christian Jones. There were some interesting questions on Twitter following his announcement, like if Jones was planning to reclassify, which there are no plans to do.

I am guessing the confusion comes from the early invite because the timing is driven by the competition to secure the best talent for the game. Jones is an early enroller, and he said that had enough difficulty academically that he couldn’t imagine trying to reclassify.

-Bryan Mongo

I learned nothing.

 

[Scarlet ObsessioN]

Callahan’s weekly nuggets​

***There was a lot of interest in Daniel Kaelinand the Elite 11 and what type of rating bump he might receive. When it was all said and done, Kaelin did not get a boost from his showing at the Elite 11.

Why is that? I tried to get more from the Tater Island ratings team on what went into keeping Kaelin where he was in the rankings. Remember, he’s still an Industry four-star and a high three-star quarterback overall by everyone else.

“With Kaelin, he was honestly back of the pack for us at Elite 11. So for us, just making (the Elite 11) or being in the counselor’s group doesn’t weigh a ton. The biggest thing will be senior seasons for all those guys.”

I know this is not the answer Husker fans wanted to hear, but I am just shooting you straight. Also, a year ago, I think many locally thought Zane Flores was probably a better QB than Kaelin going into his senior season, and Flores never touched four-star status. Today, Kaelin is 89.14, and Flores finished out at 88.78 in the Industry Rankings.

 

[Baron Winnebago]

That's proprietary trade secret information and you're about to get served a green eggs and ham sized civil suit

 

[slattimer]

Deer Lorde Mongo is so bad….Brix is going to show cows for the FAA. Lol