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Nebraska In-State Recruit Heads To Minnesota Golden Gophers

By Oliver Vandervoort

Nov 15, 2014; Madison, WI, USA; Nebraska Cornhuskers mascot Herbie Husker performs during the game against the Wisconsin Badgers at Camp Randall Stadium. Wisconsin won 59-24. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 15, 2014; Madison, WI, USA; Nebraska Cornhuskers mascot Herbie Husker performs during the game against the Wisconsin Badgers at Camp Randall Stadium. Wisconsin won 59-24. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports /
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Nebraska in-state recruit Brett Kitrell announced on Friday that he was going to be a Minnesota Golden Gopher but was this a loss for Mike Riley and company?

Whenever a Nebraska kid goes anywhere else, especially when they go to another power five conference team, there’s bound to be some hand wringing. Nebraska doesn’t have a talent base that’s very comparable with the Michigan and Ohio States of the world.

Because of this, fans tend to want to make sure anyone from Nebraska who can play football, does so for the Cornhuskers. For the most part, the coaches would tend to agree with this approach.

Mike Riley has gone on record talking about his desire to rule the “500-mile radius.” At the same time, not every kid who can play football in Nebraska should play football at Nebraska. Last year, the biggest loss when it came to in-state kids was Noah Fant.

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Fant, an Omaha native, was one of the best players in the state. The Huskers were heavily recruiting him to play either defensive end or tight end and they still eventually lost out to the Iowa Hawkeyes.

This year, Ashland native Brett Kittrell is going to Minnesota. Yes, it certainly isn’t fun to lose out to a conference rival for a kid right in Lincoln’s backyard. Kittrell is certainly a talented player, but there are quite a few differences between the situation this year and last.

First of all, while Kittrell visited the Nebraska football camp in June, he didn’t emerge from that camp with a scholarship offer. It’s possible the coaching staff was slowplaying Kitrell until they could see how the rest of the recruiting class was going to shape up.

Even if that was the case, even if the player would have eventually got an offer, it’s hard to argue Nebraska lost this recruiting battle, when they were barely fighting it.

Secondly, it should be pointed out that Nebraska was looking at Kittrell as a defensive tackle. The Golden Gophers have him listed as an offensive lineman recruit. It’s also hard to win the recruiting war if the player you’re recruiting and your coaches don’t see eye to eye on what position he’s going to play in college.

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It’s possible that Riley and company got this one wrong. Despite looking rather impressive since that win over UCLA in last season’s bowl game, this coaching staff has made mistakes before. It just doesn’t seem like this player getting away is a mistake Nebraska football fans need to get too upset about.

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