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Husker portal pursuits: The offers that are out
ByBRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON 3 hours ago14
The numbers are already outdated, because it's like trying to keep up with a tornado.
But as of dinner time last night, there were 842 FBS players in the transfer portal, which is far more than the 616 at this time a year ago, which was by far a record. Until this crazy scene in 2021.
College football is chaos at the moment, but we're about to see who can find the most control amid it, and who can navigate the portal most wisely. Because everyone is using it more and more to fill out rosters – certainly Nebraska.
"I think for the rest of the time that college football exists, it's not going to be the basic 25-man recruiting class anymore. It's going to be a lot of moving pieces and parts and you're going to have to figure those things out on the fly," Husker head coach Scott Frost said recently.
Oh, things are flying. Some Nebraska portal offers are too. Here is who we know the Huskers have offered out of the portal so far.
ISAIAH GARCIA-CASTANEDA – WIDE RECEIVER, NEW MEXICO STATE
Garcia-Castaneda put up 578 yards on 37 catches this past season for the Aggies. He also had 953 yards his freshman season at Saddleback College in 2019. The receiver has offers from other FBS schools like Utah, Minnesota and Cockeye State, so he's a wanted man by some proven coaches. The fact he still has two years of eligibility ahead makes him an attractive prospect too.RYAN STAPP – DEFENSIVE BACK, ABILENE CHRISTIAN
Definitely keep an eye on this one, given that the Huskers are hosting Stapp this weekend.
Stapp was second-team all-WAC Conference during the 2021 season for a team that finished 5-6. He also returned some kicks at points in his career there and had 296 yards in that part of the game his freshman year in 2019. Originally out of College Station, Texas, he still has two years of eligibility remaining. His offers this week beyond Nebraska include Minnesota, Mississippi State and Washington State.
SIONE FINAU, OFFENSIVE LINEMAN, FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL
Teams are trying to raid Florida International's roster right now after a coaching change. It was a 1-11 football team record-wise, but obviously many coaches don't think it's not a school without some talented parts in it. Finau is one of three players from the program the Huskers have already offered.Listed at 6-3, 300 pounds, he already has Big Ten offers from Nebraska, Maryland, Indiana and Purdue, as well as South Florida, Houston, Texas San-Antonio, Marshall, Vanderbilt, Tulane and Colorado State. He started 21 games on the interior of FIU's line.
"I feel although the record from this year says as so, there were a lot of games that could have gone either way and were very close by a score or so," he told Husker247. "I feel that the program is still headed in the right direction and I am aware of the (O-line) coach situation that they have at hand currently."
Nebraska will have to make offensive portal players feel comfortable about who's coming in, or the plan involving the new coaches even if they aren't announced yet. Because Finau is like other prospects who wants to get a jumpstart in his new program by January.
TYRESE CHAMBERS – WIDE RECEIVER, FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL
This is a popular guy in the portal right now.
Here's why: The 6-foot-1, 185-pound Baltimore native caught 45 passes for 1,074 yards and nine touchdowns last season as a sophomore, making him one of 30 players in the country to eclipse the 1,000-yard receiving mark.
Chambers started his career in 2018 at Fort Scott (Kan.) Junior College in Kansas before taking his first game snap at FCS Sacred Heart the following fall. He racked up 50 receptions for 811 yards and eight touchdowns for the Crusaders before the school's 2020 season was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. He's good in the classroom and on the field.
The offers are rolling in for him. Nebraska had Sean Beckton on the scene getting to see him in person on Thursday too.
MILES FRAZIER – OFFENSIVE LINEMAN, FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL
Miles Frazier is a 6-5, 305-pound O-linemen with three years still available. A guy with his frame has people running his way too.
“Everything definitely happened quick,” Frazier told 247Sports a day ago. “At the end of the day I entered the portal on Monday night, I had over 11,000 notifications all on Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat. Right now, I currently have 27 offers.”
Nebraska is one of those, but it's going to be elbows out to land this guy. Texas A&M has some connections. Florida State has one Crystal Ball prediction in for it to land Frazier. He wants his decision so he can enroll in January.
HUNTER NOURZAD – OFFENSIVE LINEMAN, CORNELL
The Huskers obviously want to beef up the O-line room through the portal, possibly even with multiple additions.A couple factors at play here: We already know NU won't have starting right guard Matt Sichterman back and there is very much uncertainty about what center Cameron Jurgens is going to do with 2022 from what Husker247 has learned.
Also, the Huskers don't have a recruit on the O-line in the 2022 class but might feel with the 'young' core they have – at least young by class label – that some experienced guys from the portal are more meant for the moment. Consider alongside that this Frost quote, "This recruiting class, we're going to focus on maybe some immediate impact guys a little more. Probably not sign as many freshmen. When you're as close as we've been, one or two more pieces, one more two more guys, will get you over the hump."
In the case of Nourzad, he'd seem to have at least two years of eligibility ahead, since he redshirted in 2018 and the Ivy League didn't even play a season in 2020. The lineman checks in at 6-foot-4, 298 pounds, having started as a right tackle for two seasons.
MJ GRIFFIN – DEFENSIVE BACK, TEMPLE
M.J. Griffin was a 2019 recruit so he's been in college football for three years, but he also still has three years of eligibility. He totaled 65 tackles for Temple this past season, including three TFL and four pass breakups.
As a redshirt freshman, Griffin had 65 total tackles (42 solo, three tackles-for-loss), one sack, one fumble recovery and four pass break-ups in 2021. He has portal offers beyond Nebraska from Louisville, Georgia Tech, Miami-Ohio and Kansas. I'd expect that offer sheet to grow. Out of high school, the Michigan native had offers from the likes of Kentucky, Cockeye State, Cincinnati, Indiana and Louisville.
JARED VERSE – D-END/OUTSIDE BACKER, ALBANY
Jared Verse's name went in the portal at 8 a.m. one morning. By 11, he had missed 15 calls and had more than 30 texts. That's not even counting Twitter attempts to reach him.Make no question Verse is a target of many beyond Nebraska, with the redshirt freshman defensive lineman also quite capable as a stand-up defender.
Verse finished the season with 11.5 tackles for a loss and 9.5 sacks for Albany in 2021. The defender also had four sacks in the shortened season this spring where he was the Colonial Athletic Association Defensive Rookie of the Year At 6-foot-4, 247 pounds, Verse definitely has the size to be a potential outside linebacker in Nebraska's 3-4 scheme.
But many others are thinking about what a versatile chess piece he could be for them too.
TIMMY BLEEKRODE – KICKER/PUNTER, FURMAN
You can be a hero, Tim.
After more struggles in the kicking game in 2021, the Huskers offered Furman kicker/punter Timmy Bleekrode. He handled both kicking and punting duties last season for Furman as a redshirt sophomore. As a placekicker, Bleekrode was 15-for-18 with a long of 51 yards. As a punter, Bleekrode punted 52 times for an average of 42.15 yards per punt, with 13 being downed inside the opponent’s 20-yard line. Bleekrode was a 2021 Preseason All-Southern Conference honoree as a punter.
Both spots are in flux for Nebraska this offseason, as the Huskers graduate scholarship place kicker Connor Culp. Chase Contreraz finished up the season as Nebraska’s placekicker, but the pair combined went 8-for-16 on field goal attempts. Daniel Cerni is on scholarship at the moment as a punter, but struggled, and William Przystup handled more of that duty late in what was a mixed bag for the Huskers – especially when it came to directional punting.
BRADY WEAS – LONG SNAPPER, GEORGETOWN (COMMITTED TO HUSKERS)
You know long-snapper is in good shape when you don't hear about him at all.So the hope is you will see Brady Weas' name here, he'll arrive to Lincoln and quietly do his job without fanfare. The walk-on long snapper from Georgetown has already committed to the Huskers, who were banged up at the position this year, with Cade Mueller and Cameron Pieper handling the duties.
Obviously every piece of Husker special teams warrants deep attention in that fix-it project.
