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National Recruit Signing Day: 2015 Husker Defensive Ends and Defensive Tackles

By Brent Craig

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National Recruit Signing Day was a special day for college football all across America. Teams across the nation  celebrated their recruiting success as head coaches prepared for press conferences and recruiting events to celebrate with their fans. Nebraska Cornhusker Head Coach Mike Riley was no different as he held his press conference and attended the Nebraska Football National Signing Day Party last night. NSD is also a special day to Husker Nation as we get an official look at what players we will get to see don the Husker uniform and represent Nebraska on the football battlefield.

The Huskers have scored big on the Defensive line on NSD. After Bo Pelini was fired, the Huskers lost a defensive end commit and almost lost another. Coach Riley had to work extremely hard to impress the duo already committed to Nebraska to keep them signing on the dotted line with Nebraska.

The second to sign his letter of intent on NSD for Nebraska was defensive end Alex Davis.  Davis is one of the recruits who just recently committed to the Huskers last Sunday. Only a two star but in the gym his 6’5″, 225 lb frame can be developed into a force on the defensive line and in causing havoc in the backfield.  Charlton Warren was the lead recruiter on Alex Davis, and his commitment was a nice surprise for Husker Nation.

The sixth confirmed signee for the Huskers was defensive end DaiShon Neal. It was touch and go for  awhile there with Neal as many thought he would end up at Michigan or Oklahoma, but after his January 24th visit to the Husker Meet and Greet, the deal was sealed. Michigan was no longer in the picture. I expect big things from this Omaha Central defensive end as he has lots of potential.

Two other huge victories for Nebraska on signing day were the confirmations of the letters of intent on the Kansas City duo Carlos and Khalil Davis. Huskers could potentially have two Ndamukong Suh’s on the d-line playing next to each other.  Khalil Davis is listed as 4 star recruit by all the publications, but Rivals and 247 has Carlos Davis listed as a three star recruit.  ESPN disagrees though and has Carlos listed as a four star recruit.

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The D-Line is one area that made huge gains for the Huskers on signing day. The Nebraska coaches did a great job with the little time they had in shoring up and landing these recruits. Husker coaches DC Mark Banker, DL Hank Hughes, and DL grad assistant Max Onyegbule will have some great talent to work with in these four young men.

Husker D-Line was very scarce with scholarship talent.  Besides the new Husker signees, there are only 4 defensive tackles and 8 defensive ends who hold scholarships. Huskers just lost arguably their best defensive end in Randy Gregory, who declared for the draft so someone will need to step up in his place. The Husker defensive tackles are senior Kevin Williams, and juniors Vincent Valentine, Maliek Collins, and Kevin Maurice. The defensive ends consist of seniors Joe Keels and Jack Gangwish, juniors Greg McMullen, sophomore AJ Natter, and red-shirt freshmen Peyton Newell, Mick Stoltenberg, Sedrick King, and Freedom Akinmoladun.

Oct 18, 2014; Evanston, IL, USA; Northwestern Wildcats wide receiver Tony Jones (6) is tackled by Nebraska Cornhuskers safety Corey Cooper (6) and defensive tackle Vincent Valentine (98) during the first half at Ryan Field. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports

It was an exciting signing day for the Huskers D Line. Fall camp will be extremely exciting to see how fast the Husker coaches can develop these four new recruits. Until then we can only image what they will be able to do. Tickets for Spring Game are on sale now. Go Big Red!!!

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