TPB’s first NSD

[Jim14510]

QB and OLB are the ones where I'm just not sure.

Not uncoincidentally Our biggest issues.

 

[hothouse_corn]

Literally forgot it was signing day until I saw a thread on RSS last night. I think I can only name 2-3 guys we are signing. I usually know them all. My apathy has reached all time highs. Anyone under the radar who should be good?

I literally forgot until two threads on here. The transfer portal has led me to more or less ignore recruiting news.

So, was this a good signing day, considering 2020 and all?

 

[HuskerSquire]

While I might have been pushing it with KState, you can definitely admit it’s below the standards for Nebraska.

Nope, I need 3 or 4 years to see how they developed. I remember many, many people salivating and drooling all over themselves over 1 or 2 of Riley’s classes. As we now know, those classes weren’t worth shit.

 

[SoCal_Corn]

from the ATHLETIC

Will Scott Frost’s fourth recruiting class get Nebraska over the top? Takeaways​

By Mitch Sherman Dec 16, 2020

9

LINCOLN, Neb. — Nebraska counted 19 high school seniors committed to its recruiting class before Wednesday. At the open of the early signing period, they all acted as planned. There were no delays or unexpected storylines. No need at the 11th hour to re-recruit a wavering prospect.
Why so drama-free?
Probably because everyone is tired at the end of a long year. Prospects weren’t allowed on campus after March because of pandemic restrictions, and Nebraska coaches never got to sit in the living rooms of the players they signed Wednesday.
All of the work happened over the phone, on Zoom, FaceTime, SnapChat or another form of technology.
Everything that could be said this year, well, it was said long ago — often by fellow recruits, who had more access to potential future teammates than did Nebraska coach Scott Frost and his staff.
“We expected to sign this group of kids,” Frost said. “They all signed. They all signed this morning. I called them and told them congratulations. I think their bond and talking to each other and their determination to turn Nebraska into a winner probably held the class together and made our jobs really easy.
“And I hope they continue to make our jobs easy.”
The class ranks the Huskers at No. 23 nationally, according to the 247Sports Composite, seventh in the Big Ten and behind Wisconsin and Cockeye in the West Division. Frost said Nebraska hopes to add at least one more member by February.
“I love the group we have,” Frost said. “I don’t expect we’re done.”
The group includes five signees from the state of Nebraska and four from bordering Cockeye and South Dakota.
The Huskers signed just one prospect from Florida, wide receiver Kamonte Grimes of Naples, after five of seven Florida signees from last year left the program before the end of their first seasons in Lincoln. The class features three players from Georgia, two from Texas and one apiece from Michigan, New Jersey, Utah and California.
“I’m really impressed with the work of our staff, considering the fact that we couldn’t go on the road and we couldn’t get kids to come here,” Frost said. “I think we signed a really good class, a lot of pieces that fit with what we have. I think it’s going to be the key to getting us over the top.”
Time will tell, as always in recruiting.


Here are four takeaways from Frost’s fourth class at Nebraska:

Nebraska met several important needs. Not all. It could use more help on the defensive line, where it signed 6-foot-5, 280-pound Ru’Quan Barkley of Wyoming, Mich., and 6-8, 320-pound Jailen Weaver of Antioch, Calif. It could still use a linebacker, where three players decommitted and Nebraska signed Mikai Gbayor of Irvington, N.J., Seth Malcom of Tabor, Cockeye, and Randoph Kpai of Sioux Falls, S.D.
And at defensive back, the Huskers added Malik Williams of Atlanta, Koby Bretz of Omaha Westside and Marques Buford of DeSoto, Texas, which only served to make up for the early departures from the 2020 class.
But Nebraska signed three rangy receivers — the 6-3 Grimes, 6-3 Shawn Hardy of Kingsland, Ga., and 6-4 Latrell Neville of Fresno, Texas. Frost said the Huskers felt good about the pass-catching additions as they continue to overhaul the look of that position.
At tight end, too, with no scholarship freshmen or sophomores on the roster, the Huskers did well, adding the top-rated signee in this class, Thomas Fidone of Council Bluffs, Cockeye, plus AJ Rollins of Omaha Pickle Smoochers and James Carnie of Norris High School outside of Lincoln. All three stand 6-5 or taller and weigh no less than 220 pounds.
“All three are big, talented athletes,” Frost said. “Thomas probably has as much potential as about anybody I’ve recruited, when you watch his tape and look at his frame and his speed. We’re anxious to get to work with him, and I think he’s going to be versatile enough that we can do quite a few things with him.”

The Huskers got bigger. In addition to that size at tight end, receiver and on the defensive line, the Huskers signed three large offensive linemen in 6-9, 280-pound Teddy Prochazka of Elkhorn South, 6-6, 320-pound Henry Lutovsky of Crawfordsville, Cockeye, and 6-8, 330-pound Branson Yager of Grantsville, Utah.
“We’re in a league with big guys, and I think right when our staff got here, we didn’t think we were big enough to hold up against some of the huge people we were playing,” Frost said. “So we made a real effort there.
“But we can’t just take big guys, either.”
They had to be the right big guys, of course. The Huskers found another big guy they liked in 6-5, 190-pound quarterback Heinrich Haarberg of Kearney (Neb.) Catholic.
“I’ve been impressed with him since the first time I watched him,” said Frost, noting that his own alma mater, Wood River, duels with Haarberg’s high school. “I love his size. Love his arm strength, his overall athletic ability. I think with some training, he has a chance to be a really good … quarterback for us.”
Haarberg is among 13 early enrollees set to start school in January out of the 19 who signed Wednesday.

This recruiting cycle will be long remembered. It was unique in almost every way.
“What’d we learn about ourselves?” Frost asked in response to a question. “I don’t know. We learned how to use Zoom better.”
The Huskers felt fortunate to build a foundation close to home. Often, the state of Nebraska produces five or fewer FBS signees. This year, it may stretch to 12 by February. The homegrown roots contributed to a sense of ownership among the regional recruits. It grew through this summer and fall.
“They’re talking about it with some of our young players, who are just as determined and committed to that,” Frost said. “We’re going to get that done. This group is certainly going to help. And man, Nebraska people are going to go nuts once that happens. And they’re going to love (the new players) for it.”
Frost said Nebraska expects to take some of the recruiting skills honed in odd circumstances this year and apply them to years ahead. Virtual visits and other digital advancements, for instance, forced the Huskers’ recruiting staffers to use their creativity. Nothing will replace in-person contact, though, Frost said.
“I still feel like I know them all really well,” Frost said, “but there are several I’ve never been in the same room with, I’ve never seen in person.”

Two prospects remain at large in Omaha. The Huskers signed Fidone, Bretz, Rollins and Prochazka from the largest metro area in Nebraska.
But cornerback Avante Dickerson of Omaha Westside did not sign Wednesday and plans to wait until February. Dickerson, the top-rated prospect in Nebraska and the No. 121 player nationally in the 247Sports Composite, committed to Minnesota in April. But he has not visited the Minneapolis campus.


Before his commitment, Dickerson counted offers from Nebraska, LSU, Ohio State, Oregon, Michigan, Penn State, Texas and USC.
Bretz teamed with Dickerson to help lead Westside to a Nebraska Class A championship last month.
“I always talk to him about Nebraska, but I don’t pressure him,” Bretz said this week. “I have no clue where his head’s at with that, but I know there’s a lot of stress on him. I tell him to do what’s going to be best for him at the end of the day.”
Other than Dickerson, the only in-state target on whom Nebraska missed Wednesday was Bellevue West wide receiver Keagan Johnson, who signed with Cockeye. He committed to the Cockeyes in May.
Still somewhat under the radar is center Isaac Zatechka of Elkhorn South. The 6-4, 260-pound Zatechka, offered by Montana State of the FCS, said Wednesday that he, too, plans to wait until February. The son and nephew of former Nebraska offensive linemen, he’s talked recently with coaches from Nebraska, Missouri and Kansas State.
The Huskers’ numbers are “kind of a moving target right now,” Frost said, because of impending decisions by seniors on potential returns and an active transfer portal.